What Did You Shoot Today?

[RicinYakima]

My shooting buddy Joe and our friend Mark went out yesterday for the first time since the major snow storm Thanksgiving weekend. Mark brought his bag of Nagant revolvers and mostly shot those. Joe brought his Hammerli 32 WC pistol and a S&W 32 Mag revolver and a Danish 8MM rolling block.

I started with the H&R 199 22lr, and then the ex-police Model 10 I restored, a great cast bullet shooter. 10 rounds through the Model 60-10 looking for a nice plinking load in 357 brass, as it is so hard to clean the cylinder shooting special brass. Lastly the 45 AR with the last of the "Bear Killer" loads from the early 2000's. These were the Ideal 452423 over Speer's load data from the 1970's (way too much 2400 powder).

We shot for about an hour and a half and the wind started blowing and dropped the wind chill down into the 20's, not much fun shooting pistols in the cold. But a nice trip to the range now that the snow is mostly gone.

 

[Rushcreek]

I tried out my Polish( scrubbed SCW) 98 8mm barreled action in the Oregon walnut/Texas pecan stock I just finished. Barley corn sights still suck like they did a hundred plus years ago- but I only had 6 rounds and one wouldn’t chamber.
So there’s a 3 shot group- then lifted the rear sight and shot 2 more. It looks to have potential.
Target was at 40 yards. The load was 9 grs of Unique with the Lee 175gr. Bullet.

 

[462]

Still having a lot of fun with the .223 Ruger American. The box-stock rifle, load, and I have had better days, but I'm happy with this morning's shoot.

I remember reading a Barsness Handloader article in which he said a statistician friend said seven shots is a more accurate accuracy indicator than five or ten shots. Don't know the truth of it, but decided to try it.

Bullet: Sierra 77-grain HPBT Match
Powder: 24.0-grains of IMR 4895
Primer: CCI small rifle
Distance: 100-yards
Shots: Seven

 

[RicinYakima]

That is also right: seven the minimum number that is getting close to valid, but add three more to ten only made it a few percent more accurate.

 

[Ian]

Michael, it sounds like your extractor needs the hook stoned and polished. Take out the slide spring and make up a couple of dummy rounds to slowly work through the action, pay particular attention to how the case rim slides up the breech face and behind the hook...I bet you find the rim is jamming between breech face and hook momentarily. The hooks are usually faceted, that is, flat ground in several places to make a sort of rounded shape. The facets should be blended on the back side of the hook from the bottom up to vertical with the breech face

 

[462]

Michael, it sounds like your extractor needs the hook stoned and polished. Take out the slide spring and make up a couple of dummy rounds to slowly work through the action, pay particular attention to how the case rim slides up the breech face and behind the hook...I bet you find the rim is jamming between breech face and hook momentarily. The hooks are usually faceted, that is, flat ground in several places to make a sort of rounded shape. The facets should be blended on the back side of the hook from the bottom up to vertical with the breech face

Thanks, Ian. I'll check the extractor as you mentioned, but that Lyman's ball-clone 452374 has never been troublesome, and only their 452460 SWC and Lee's 452-230 TC being the occasional problem makes me wonder if the issue has more to do with those bullets' nose profile. Don't recall if JHP/JHC bullets ever had problems, but I've only shot several hundred of them versus many thousands of cast bullets. By the way, the feed ramp was polished shortly after I bought the gun.

 

[ScottM65]

I just slung a magazine full in my Glenfield 20 at a metal squirrel I set up 30 yards from the back porch.

 

[Snakeoil]

Today was our .22 silhouette match. Scope shooters shoot at 3 MOA rounds set at 50, 100, 150 and 200 yds with 2 offhand shots at a 12" buffalo set at 300 yds.

The wind imparted a good dose of humility on many a shooter today. I heard one spotter tell his shooter "You must've shot at something that was not the target.". I'm not sure how you make a sight correction for that call.

I think only 1 perfect score was shot by the scoped shooters, and it wasn't me. Calling the wind was again like calling a neck and neck horse race. Velocity varied as much as, and at the same time as direction. The wind flag I use at 50 yds has two tails as it is made from Police DO NOT CROSS plastic tape tied around a piece of re-bar. More than once, one tail was indicating 3-9 and the other tail 9-3. I finally realized that it was a headwind that was varying back and forth very quickly and splitting the tails.

Still had a great time. Never had a bad day shooting yet!!

 

[462]

Not today, but Friday, I shot the .38 Special Uberti 1866 sporting rifle. A fun rifle, for sure, with little noise, recoil, and powder usage. During Friday's shoot, and one two weeks prior, a known accurate load shot holes all over a 5" 50-yard bull. Like many cast bullet shooters I rarely clean a well seasoned cast bullet rifle barrel. Last night I shined a bore light down the barrel and was unpleasantly surprised and embarrassed by all the accumulated crud.

Time, a large pile of patches, and copious amounts of Hoppe's No. 9 bore solvent, Ed's Red (without lanolin), and JB's bore compound got the barrel blindingly bright and shiny, and a final oiling with automatic transmission fluid finished it all off.

24 1/4" octagon barrel, its nine-plus pounds recoils .38 Specials like the Ruger 10/22 recoils .22 LRs, but its semi-buckhorn rear sight and bead front sight are getting less and less compatible with my vision.

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

Man I like that little rifle.....always wanted one as a kid.....still do!

 

[ScottM65]

Not today, but Friday, I shot the .38 Special Uberti 1866 sporting rifle. A fun rifle, for sure, with little noise, recoil, and powder usage. During Friday's shoot, and one two weeks prior, a known accurate load shot holes all over a 5" 50-yard bull. Like many cast bullet shooters I rarely clean a well seasoned cast bullet rifle barrel. Last night I shined a bore light down the barrel and was unpleasantly surprised and embarrassed by all the accumulated crud.

Time, a large pile of patches, and copious amounts of Hoppe's No. 9 bore solvent, Ed's Red (without lanolin), and JB's bore compound got the barrel blindingly bright and shiny, and a final oiling with automatic transmission fluid finished it all off.

24 1/4" octagon barrel, its nine-plus pounds recoils .38 Specials like the Ruger 10/22 recoils .22 LRs, but its semi-buckhorn rear sight and bead front sight are getting less and less compatible with my vision.
View attachment 32529

Have you ever tried Kroil?

 

[462]

Have you ever tried Kroil?

I have, but can't say that it was any more effective than Hoppe's or Ed's Red.

I think a lot of the crud was unburned 2400. Eight-grains and Lee's 358-158 RF is an accurate load, but I don't think it's enough for an effective burn. I'll re-visit Unique and SR 7625.

 

[Snakeoil]

I have, but can't say that it was any more effective than Hoppe's or Ed's Red.

I think a lot of the crud was unburned 2400. Eight-grains and Lee's 358-158 RF is an accurate load, but I don't think it's enough for an effective burn. I'll re-visit Unique and SR 7625.

It looks like 2400 is the wrong powder for what you are trying to accomplish. Here is the GRT chart for your load with a 24.25" barrel. You are only burning about 72% of the powder in the barrel.

 

[462]

It looks like 2400 is the wrong powder for what you are trying to accomplish. Here is the GRT chart for your load with a 24.25" barrel. You are only burning about 72% of the powder in the barrel.
View attachment 32535

Many thanks, Rob!

I probably don't have the patience to get the most out of GRT, but do you know if it compatible with Apple's operating system?

 

[popper]

GRT is released for Win and Linux only, so far.

 

[Snakeoil]

Here is a GRT run using 5 gr of Unique which gives you just about the same MV. Pressure is reasonable and above 10K psi. I think it was Ian who said that when you get below 10K psi things get unstable as far as MV and accuracy.

 

[462]

Here is a GRT run using 5 gr of Unique which gives you just about the same MV. Pressure is reasonable and above 10K psi. I think it was Ian who said that when you get below 10K psi things get unstable as far as MV and accuracy.

View attachment 32537

Ironically and interestingly, the Unique accuracy load is 5.1-grains.

 

[ScottM65]

That bullet and 5grs of Unique is what I shoot a lot of in 38's.

 

[Winelover]

Been using 5.0 grains of Unique, with 158 grain cast, in 38 Special since the 70's. Same load in 9mm with 115-125 grainers.

If limited to just two pistol/carbine powders, it would be Unique (38's, 9mm & 44 Spl) and Alliant 2400 (357, 44 Mag & 45LC).

 

[Mainiac]

20 degrees today,little wind.
Got brave and went out and shoveled my pistol bench out.havent shot all winter.
Shot my 10mm,,love that gun!!
Most accurate load is the mp 158gr hp,,,1500fps,, that bullet will shoot into same tear in the paper!

I knew that i was done with this brass,so i left them in the snow.they are win cases,been loaded 13 times,,and loaded hot,they dont fit in the dillon shellplate anymore,,super good brass,though!