Firearms and Shooting

Me2: Yeah. There's nothing available.

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Bill22252 on YouTube. "See you space cowboy"

Resident Emerson Fanboi

Folding knives are fun, fixed blades are important.

Went by a Sportsmans Warehouse today and snagged a box of 9mm projectiles. Nothing special, but I can finish nearly all the empty cases I have sorted. There is stuff out there but it's either oddball or much more than before. They had 200 round boxes of 6.5 Grendel all over. Kinda kicking myself for not putting one together just for the ammo availability.

Well fortunately, my Henry H001 will shoot 22 Shorts fairly well. That's the only 22 ammo readily available locally. I can't complain too much though. 9 of 10 shots went into a 1.5" bullseye using the factory sites. These are the CCI copper plated hollow points, 29 grains at 1150 fps.

My AR10 also seems to be repaired. Cycled 10 shots and locked open on the last shot. It will also extract a live round when clearing the rifle now. I may still need to make some adjustments, but now I can proceed with mounting the scope and sighting it in.

Bought me some glass for my AR10:



Meopta Optika6 2.5-15x44 scope.

The reticle:



Should be a nice scope.

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Bill22252 on YouTube. "See you space cowboy"

Resident Emerson Fanboi

Folding knives are fun, fixed blades are important.

That's a sweet reticle. I haven't mounted mine yet. My rings just came in yesterday. I flip flopped on another cantilever mount or separate rings. I went with some XX High 1" rings. I think they'll be high enough I won't have to scrunch my face down in the stock.

I spent the afternoon getting my reloading press and powder measure set up. I haven't made any ammo yet, but hopefully by next weekend I'll have some 9mm to try. At 30 cents per round for factory ammo, it's got to be cheaper to reload it.

California can have normal sized magazines again.

Yeah, man! When I heard what the 9th ruled on that one I almost couldn’t believe it. It took a minute or two to really process it.

I can’t know this for sure but I suspect that Newsom was like, “Hey guys, people are leaving in droves, let’s throw them a bone.”

Newsome doesn't have any pull with the 9th circuit judges, and I doubt he instructed the CA legislative legal team to throw the case. I suspect new appointees were on the case, or well the arguments were about what is constitutional was listened to for once.

Hawaii has a suit to get rid of their magazine ban too. They are in the 9th circuit, but the decision was from a panel of 3 instead of all the judges. There are some legal gymnastics and a few days for the CA AG to file an opposing case before the ban is gone over all the states covered by the 9th circuit.

Well I hope it stays, for the sake of anyone covered by the 9th.

I don’t remember if I mentioned this previously, but my sister gave me her old deer rifle last spring. It’s a very basic Savage 110, in .25-06 Remington. It had the really awful Bushnell scope that the rifle came with, along with the rather crappy aluminum bases and rings.

I’m gonna have my uncle use the rifle this year because he’s got big-time shoulder issues, this one kicks far less than his old Monte Carlo stocked .30-06, but I can’t have him use that scope. So I’ve just had the local shop order a set of Burris Xtreme Tactical 2-Piece bases and a set of Burris Signature rings, so I can mount the Burris Fullfield II I have laying around. If anyone is curious I could share my observations of the mounts and bases when they come in in the next week or two.

I've been using weaver brand bases and rings. I'd be curious what the increase in cost of the Burris mounts might mean in terms of features.

Alrighty me2, I’ll do a short writeup about it, then. I do actually have a set of Weaver bases and rings for it already, coincidentally, so I can do a direct comparison.

My impression is the weaver brand stuff doesnt have as high a finish, but I've never bought the Burris stuff to compare. I have a Weaver thumb nut cantilever mount on my AR15 and a set of Weaver 6 screw XX High rings on my AR10. Both seem to work fine so far.

The reason I have the Weaver stuff is because that was my initial choice for a set of rings and bases, just because they’re inexpensive and locally available.

The problem with this was that when I tried to mount the new scope, there wasn’t enough room. It’s a long-action rifle and the scope tube of the Burris 3-9x40 is fairly short, I needed around another 1/8” to get it to fit.

But I really didn’t wanna get a one-piece rail because of the way this rifle loads, so I decided to go with the Burris Xtreme Tactical ones, because they have this feature:



The front base has an extra slot that will almost certainly let me use the scope without needing a rail.

And the rings, the Signature series from Burris, are very highly recommend by Nathan Foster and lots of other guys who really need high accuracy and durability. Both the rings and bases are also steel, as opposed to the aluminum of the Weaver stuff I’ve got.

So I’ll get to use a brand that’s new to me, designs that are new to me, and the mounts will match the scope itself in terms of branding. Hopefully everything works out.

Got a test batch of 9mm deprimed, sized, flared, and reprimed. I did each step one at a time, which I felt was necessary for safety and learning. My press is actually set up to work more efficiently and better not doing things that way. I won't have to chase old primers around the floor.

I want to have 2 magazines for my Shield and one for my MP9. I'll try the more efficient way tonight to finish the last 8 or so I need. 115 grain plated round nose with 0.1 grain more than the manual minimum charge, just to keep the numbers nice and round. Probably need a trickler at some point.

Quote
me2
Got a test batch of 9mm deprimed, sized, flared, and reprimed. I did each step one at a time, which I felt was necessary for safety and learning.

When I start doing it, that’s how I’ll proceed. One step at a time and not moving on until the current process is nailed down.




I’ve mentioned this before but I’ll reiterate it again just briefly, I really strongly recommend Nathan Foster’s book, available here: [www.ballisticstudies.com]

Perhaps the three most important things about his work are these:

- It’s not at all dogmatic or otherwise considered a finished work. He’s open to all questions or arguments, whether they’re to clarify his positions or challenge them.

- He does have a lot of experience with teaching, making lesson plans, etc. so the way it’s laid out is very easy to digest.

- He’s very responsive to any email or forum questions.

His book is definately on my list, particularly when I start reloading rifle cartridges.

37 rounds through 2 pistols with no failures, so pretty good for a first try. I started with the minimum recommended charge. I need to compare to some factory loads and see if the accuracy is similar. I loaded a few more to use up all my clean brass. I took advantage of the press' time saving features and it only took about 3 steps. Sizing, depriming, and repriming are all done in one stroke of the press. Flaring and charging through the flaring die is also one stroke. Finally the bullet is seated. I did not add a crimp, as the OD at the case neck was the same as on some factory rounds I measured. Now I have to go clean more brass and get a trimming die for my 30 30.

Managed to score some Hornady hollow points and did some incremental load testing today. 3 different charges, 2 different guns, 6 groups of 4 shots each. The highest charge tried gave the best accuracy between the 2 guns so it looks like I have my HP load. The maximum charge tried was NOT the maximum listed in the manual or the powder manufacturers on-line data.

I tried the same for the fmj bullets, but for these the lowest charge was most accurate.

For consistency, I did use a light crimp this time, and will likely continue to do so.

Do you have a chronograph me2?

Unfortunately no. For now, any velocity estimates are based on the loading manual charts and a SWAG for barrel length changes from the test barrel, if any. When I start reloading for rifles, I'll probably have to get one.

Tried my first rifle reloads today. I found some 110 grain FMJ and H335 powder and decided that seemed like a good combination for the 30-30 Marlin. The minimum load seems the most accurate so far. I'm using the factory iron sights for now. There were 2 loads with wild fliers and groups about 6" at 75 yards. I have 2 more loads to test at the upper range. Group size seems to be tightening as charge goes up but it will have to shrink quite a bit to match the 2.5" at the minimum charge.

Group size didn't shrink enough to match the first one, so I'm going to load the rest up with the minimum charge. The highest charge must have been humming along pretty fast. With the sights set on the lowest or 2nd lowest notch (6th from the top), the 110 grain hand loads shot a full 8 inches higher than my old standard Winchester 170 grain factory ammo at 75 yards. Since this is a fun gun and I don't hunt with it, I will probably adjust the sights for the new lighter load. I have a box of 160 grain FTX bullets and some Leverevolution powder to try before making any permanent changes.

Being quarantined, I got to do a fair bit of reloading. Finished all the 110 gr 30-30 loads, and have the 160 gr test loads done. Added to my 9mm stash a bit and started test loads for my 5.56. Just a tip, assume any 223/5.56 primers have a crimp holding them in. I ruined 2 cases and wasted 2 very rare primers trying to get some 223 cases primed. There in fact was a crimp on them, even though that's supposed to be a military 5.56 step.

I ran through my current test loads. One load was considerably better in the 30-30, and it was one of the higher velocity loads. I have 2 loads that were very good in my AR15. One mid range in charge weight, the other the max charge from my manual. I'm cautious of max charges, so I'll likely go with the mid range. It was considerably more accurate too.

Still tinkering with the AR10. It shot well, cycled fine, but I may have to open the gas block one more click to get it to lock open on an empty mag. Its shooting pretty well with just 150 grain soft point hunting ammo.

I tested some 308 loads and found one that shoots just under an inch at 100 yards. I'll need to confirm and go to the range on a quiet day as someone next to me was trying to sight in a rifle and went through about 2 boxes to do it. Every shot moved my rear bag and cross hairs. In other words I think I pulled a shot wide and could do better.

I shot a doe on Sunday afternoon with the 7mm Rem Mag and the 165 grain Sierra GameChanger or Tipped GameKing. Range was 69 yards, impact velocity would be almost exactly 2,700 FPS from an average MV of 2,810 and a G1 BC of 0.61

Live weight of the animal should be around 165 to 175 pounds or roughly 75 to 80 kilograms. I’d call it just about average size and weight for a 2 to 4 year old female in this area.

At the shot, placed about right in line with the front edge of the front leg and midway up the chest, the animal collapsed and there was a fountain of blood pouring out of the exit hole, it literally looked like a garden hose. The blood spraying out lasted a few seconds, it was pretty heavy and steady. You’ll see evidence of that in the attached pictures. The animal expired almost immediately, only unconscious nervous system reactions like twitches and short kicks for a few seconds and then it was still.

The exit hole was quite impressive, I measured it at 1.125” or 2.8cm in diameter, and it was a clean and round hole. It looked like a hole had been bored through the meat and bone under the exit wound, just an empty tunnel leading to an equal-sized hole in the hide. Evidently there was plenty of hydraulic force still left in the bullet. Forgot to take a closeup picture of it, however.

I’ve attached a few pictures. One showing the animal as it fell after the shot, one showing the extensive damage done to the heart/lung area (the liver was basically untouched, no fragments hit it as far as I could tell), and one of me with the rifle and the deer.

I took the animal to a meat locker for butchering and they don’t want it skun (they sell the hides of course, and the hide left on means they can be less careful with handling the carcass before hanging it up in the cooler) so I couldn’t get pictures of the entrance and exit on a bare carcass, unfortunately.

The knife pictured with the heart/lungs is a Cold Steel Outdoorsman, it’s a 6” blade and 5” handle to get a sense of scale in the picture.

I’ll continue to document the performance of the bullet over the coming years until I run out of ammo. That way I can increase sample size and get a good idea of overall performance, and perhaps try some neck or rear-lung shots eventually as well. Then, after I run out, I’ll either get more of these bullets and bump up the velocity a lot or go a different route entirely.

It certainly hit hard enough in this instance. If impact velocity is bumped up by 200 FPS, this would likely be an extremely potent bullet in the same circumstances.

That shot certainly seemed effective. Did you get your reloading equipments set up or was this factory ammo? I recall you said something about the accuracy being so good with factory ammo it hardly seemed worth reloading. Was the shot a full broadside?