newbie with 12FV, so many questions...

[upinthehills]

I got the front action screw shortened with a few trips to a grinding wheel and a harbor freight diamond file. It seemed every time I shortened it it needed more. Usually that means I'm cutting something twice and it's still too short but this time there was a happy ending. The bolt closes and both screws are firmly Loctited.

Around this time I also remembered that I had turned around my scope rail and put it in backwards to see if I wanted the scope mounted further back. This may mean my length of pull is too long. Anyway that was a mistake because it meant it wasn't screwed in properly, the front screw hole is a different height. So I sawed off the front toe of the rail and filed it nice and smooth with the diamond file ( ' cause diamonds! ). It is also installed properly now and the screws Loctited in.

Went to the range for some practice at some targets and also 3 quarters I taped to the board with some orange bullseyes. Couldn't find the first round with the scope ( it was 7" high ), moved to another target and tried again. These were visible and 2.5"-3" high. A few clicks and the height was correct and then a few more rounds and a couple of clicks left and it was pretty good. Tried the quarters and thought I got them all but missed the center one. Was heading home but pulled the gun back out of the bag and tried twice more to get the quarter. They both just missed at 10. Was unsure about adjusting scope so figured this was what the quad reticle was for and carefully measured the offset and the next shot went dead center thru poor George Washington's head. Further inspection then showed it was a 60 year old quarter so I'll try to use new ones now, LOL.

So I left in a pretty good mood. Still not sure if the aim is wondering a bit, I know I need a lot of practice. Next couple of trips should start clearing up the picture.

The list of stock things to do at the moment is
- maybe shorten length of pull
- the plastic 12FV stock has a much nicer recoil pad, so maybe get a better one
- piller bedding

[upinthehills]

TCOZ thanks for the reloading advice. I'll probably be on the reloading section soon with questions

My initial set of parts from Wilson came in. I have a case gauge, neck sizer die and simple micrometer bullet seater die. I measured several of my fired cases in the case gauge and they are well within limits. Then I did a partial neck sizing on a case and spent some time trying to find the rifling on my barrel by gradually moving the bullet into the case with the die and then checking it in the rifle.

I need to practice this a bit more tomorrow. The bolt applies a lot of leverage onto the cartridge so it pushes the bullet in and also the bullet may hang up on the rifling when the cartridge is extracted. So not sure I have good numbers yet. Maybe I can use a wood dowel to put a little pressure on the bullet to get it out. I can also go buy the Hornaday gauge...

[hereinaz]

Awesome!

[upinthehills]

Spent some time at the range yesterday with results somewhere between good and mixed.

Fired a shot or two and then aimed at a pair of quarters I had taped on the board. Both shots were hits, a little left. I have a mil/mil scope so 1 mRadian would be about 3.6" at 100 yards. So 1 click would be .36" and my calipers say that would be just about dead on. Still not really shooting 1 MOA though ( me probably ) so will keep a running average for a little while. Probably do this click though because most of my shots seemed somewhat left of center.

I fired the first rounds that I have reloaded. I made some attempt to keep track of the shots, but just getting started here so this was getting feet wet more than serious load workup etc. I am learning some things though like not to turn the cartridge up side down while trying to grab the bullet to seat it. :-)

I decided for my first effort to do reduced loads with H4895. For paper targets at 100 yds we are pretty well in overkill territory, and it seemed like a safe starting point with a little less wear and tear on this beginner. It seems like it was easy on my cases too. They don't seemed to have changed length and the neck is still tight enough that it takes an effort to push a bullet into them. These same cases after the factory load had play on a new bullet and it was easy to drop one inside.

The bullets I bought were 125 and 168 grain Sierra tipped match kings. I'm not completely sure why I picked the tipped versions, mostly it was availability and what seemed to be on sale ( but not at the cash register, grrrr.... ). I don't need the tipped versions for 100 yards. In the theme of trying to start off easy for me, I reloaded with the 125 grain bullets and use a little more than %60 charge of H4895, so groups of 5 with 31, 32 and 33 grains of powder. The max charge weight is 49 grains compressed and %60 of that would be 29.4.

I don't have a chronograph, but these groups were about 5"-5.5" lower than I get with the 168 GMM, so I'll take a look at JBM ballistics and try to guess my velocity. I will likely pick up a container of Trail Boss or even Titegroup or Clays at some point. I have a collection of powders now, which probably is not a big help - it's just they don't have the same ones each time I go to Cabella's. So I got 4064 my first trip, then the next rip they had Varget and also 4895. They had the trail boss on the first trip but I didn't get it then. What I would like is probably 2 powders, a good modern temperature insensitive one (4166 ) and one suitable for reduced loads. Basically if there ever is a fire in my house it will get put out - about the same time as a large crater is created....

The cases are dirtier now on the inside, either the reduced load or just the 4895 is dirtier than the original load. For the reloading above I cleaned the necks with a bronze brush and then resized the necks. I'm ordering some graphite lube for the necks but on this round I used just a touch of Unique case lube on the bullet seating area. I think I will seat the bullets a little deeper next time. I tried to work out the spacing back from the rifling but I could feel just a bit of resistance when I closed the bolt on these. Just enough that you would think "did I just feel that?", later when I did some more factory rounds that feeling wasn't there.