After a week of rain, it's finally supposed to be nice and sunny for a few days here. I've got some loads to try in my 256 win mag, and pulled out my trusty 22 hornet. Both factory Contender barrels. I hope to get to the range on Tuesday. That should give the mud time to dry out.
Have to leave anything bigger in the safe for a few more months (until the doctor says I can).
So what are you guys shooting?
I haven't shot anything for a while now, still trying to get my stuff together and get my loading gear set back up after a move. I have accumulated several new toys lately and need to get going!
i have been slacking on shooting my rifles and Contender. it took me about 2 weeks to get the shoulder and fire forming the 30 Herrett in a 10" Contender barrel. it's been awhile since i shot the Contender, so my grouping of bullets is a little bit suspect. :(:o also, i got a 10" Contender barrel in 22 Hornet and 35 - 45gr bullets to load up.
i still have to load up for my son's 6.5x55 and i have to sight in my '08 Brazilian Mauser with a Burris scope. AND i want to find a load for my Remington m14 in 30 Rem. i have other gun werk to do, but i can put that on the back burner for now.
I loaded for my 257AI today. Prepped brass , turned necks. See if it likes H4831SC & Hornady 110gr. ELD-X’s. Loaded a ladder from 48.5 to 51.5
On Friday, it was just a trip to the indoor range. I shot 4 guns total. With the Contender I shot some standing practice at 30 ft with the 10" 7TCU (plinkers mostly, then a handful of IHMSA loads) and my 8" 32 ACP stub tube. A 1.5" square at 30 ft is about the same MOA as IHMSA big bore targets at their distances.
Last weekend was an IHMSA match. I finished the rams on a production card from an event that got rained out. Final total was 36 out of 40. This was with the 10" 7 TCU, 128 gr Lee PC and gascheck @ 1900 fps.
Then I spent a bunch of time trying to get a revolver dialed in (to no avail).
Then I went back to the 7 TCU and shot a round. I did poorly, only hit 31. By the time I got to the turkeys, my focus was gone.
Been busy loading ammo for my annual prairie dog safari in July
Finally getting a chance to play with my new 22 K-Hornet barrel from SSK. Discovered that 3 grains of Titegroup under a 70 grain Speer Semi-Spitzer, in a WW-Super case with a Win. small pistol primer is the point that it goes supersonic. I backed it down to 2.8 grains and its about the same tone as a CCI quiet but hits my little 2" steel plate with much more authority at 100 yards. I'm gonna chronograph it and play with the seating depth this week to see what kind of groups I can get. I may pick up some the Hunters Supply 58 grain slick coat bullets to see how they shoot. I'll also be be working up supersonic loads with Speer 33 grain HP's & Hornady 40 grain V-Max's.
Last few years I have found it fun to lob super quite .22lr bullets at 300yds. Even 50yds is fun.
I just don’t have anywhere to crack the center fires that is fun. They don’t seem to be fun to me anywhere inside of 500yds
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hamiltonkiler
take the 22lr out groundhog/prairie dog hunting. you'll have a blast!!!
I’ve got more unfinished projects than I care to admit and haven’t done much with any of them in a couple months. One day it’s the weather, then it’s yard work. Turkey season took up my spare time over a 3 week period. In between, its other excuses, unfortunately.
I finally MADE my self go yesterday, I was miserable the grass weed pollen were I shoot was in full force with a non stop wind, I fell stepping over a short barbed wire fence and my foot hurt the whole time golden years my a__, Finished 2 of the 6 projects I brought between leaking eyes and sneezing, Best part of the trip two of my adult kids went with me and we had a great time, I still out shot them LOL. Now we see if I can make myself go before another 6 months elapse. I truly hope not more than a few weeksQuote:
Originally Posted by BT
Just back from the range. I admit I did get tired and pack it in early, not sure if it was the heat (upper 70's with no shade), or if I just got tired from the walking around. I sure miss having a spotting scope to check groups from the bench. Oh well, baby steps here. At least I'm shooting again.
Anyway,
Nothing to write home about from the 256 win mag, but at least it's hitting paper now. 15.5 grs IMR 4198 with a Hornady 75 gr Vmax and a Rem 6 1/2 primer. There's room there for another half or full grain, but this load was shooting a shotgun pattern @ 100. Seems like 4198 likes to do that until you get near "max". I'm going to have to change that fixed power 2x scope into something with more magnification if I really want to shoot smaller groups. My old eyes don't resolve the paper target well enough at 2x (at 100yds). I might put the 2x on my 45-70 barrel, not like I'm going to shoot that one very far.
Shotgun pattern (there are 5 holes in that pattern from my AR (223) that I thought I would be able to tell size of holes vs. the 25 call ones, but I couldn't really):
Attachment 9523
Took my AR on a whim, and shot some test groups with BL-C(2) and Hornady 55 gr fmj's. Best group was my hottest one, 27.5 grs of BL-C(2) 4 really tightly clustered together, and one flyer that opened the group to an inch. That one could well have been the screw behind the trigger, but I don't recall pulling a shot. Bottom right group:
Attachment 9524
I was just moving the group impact around with the scope adjustment in order to shoot 4 separate groups and tell them apart.
Called it a day before I could shoot the Hornet. Next time I'll shoot that one first, but that's a well established load anyway.
Trying to finish some of the too many 'open' projects. Mostly shooting air pistols in the garage and back yard. Gotta get to the range with a real pistol.
I've been prepping brass the last couple weeks, mostly 223, 5.7x28, 9mm, 380, and 300 blackout. Just found another box of 223's looks like somewhere in the neighborhood of 800+, my son and his brood feeds 4 AR's so they go through a lot. I got my 30 Herrett all loaded up a couple week ago. Almost forgot got a couple hundred 40's to load as well. I guess I'll start prepping the 223 tomorrow.
I've only been shooting rim fires as of lately. But I took a ride to town today for some ice cream in between the rain clouds. Saw 3 young groundhogs on the way there and 5 more on the way back. That got my trigger finger itching so I came home and got the some 222 rem, 6mm TCU and 6mm PPC cases prepped for loading tomorrow. Hopefully I will be at the range one day this week if the rain allows
I fell down the 22 LR rabbit-hole this past January. I've been exclusively shooting a CZ AT-One. Been shooting for groups at 50 yards and I've gone through about 15 different ammunitions so far, found a couple that the gun likes well enough. There's a scarcity of quality ammo from certain manufacturers and I'm trying to work around that.
Well, like any of the shooting disciplines it's still 'practice-practice-practice'.......
My latest outing I did really enjoy the 22LR, So much so I called MGM yesterday to see about a non match chambering, OF course Andy says we can do that!!, Like I NEED another, ... Wanting stainless rifle barrel I think. Make room in the rabbit hole hear I come
Rabbit hole to small more like Bear den.
Might as well get a 17 mach 2 and save on shipping. That delivery truck fits right down that hole. LolQuote:
Originally Posted by sunnysmarine
I really like shooting the Mach 2 in both pistol and carbine.
I've got my brass fireformed for my AI Bob, and some test loads with IMR 4350 and 115 gr Nosler ballistic tips. Not sure when I'll be able to shoot it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mjshell
My go to load for my Hornet has been 40 gr Vmax, Lil-gun powder, and a Rem 6 1/2 primer. I'm not playing with sub sonic loads though.Quote:
Originally Posted by D. Sanders
I'm curious what bullet you're shooting from your 6 TCU? I'm shooting the long extinct Hornady 80 gr SSP bullets from mine (carbine), and I haven't found a suitable replacement that shoots even half as good ( I do have a small horde of them left, but sooner or later...).Quote:
Originally Posted by Kylongrifle
I’m shooting 65 gr. Vmax with great accuracy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slowpoke Slim
I've been really busy with boat projects this spring so I haven't been shooting at all. But!!....I just got my re-worked version of the 25-45 from Bullberry. The original SAAMI chamber was just too sloppy so Troy had the reamer re-worked and reamed a new barrel. He made this one 16.5 inches so I can shoot it as a pistol or carbine. I'm eager to get it mounted up and pick up where I left off with that round!!. :)
I stand corrected, just checked my data, 87 gr. V-max over H322. It has shot .90” at 200 yards. 3 shot groupQuote:
Originally Posted by Mjshell
Those are the exact components I'll be using if I ever find one of those round tuits.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slowpoke Slim
Took a couple of AR's to the range yesterday afternoon along with a few guys from work. I took a new to me .350 Legend along and shot a few rounds through it. I didn't shoot the .350 a lot but it seems like it wants to shoot so I may play around with it some this summer.
Well put off chores today and headed to the bench. Shot my 257AI ladder and narrowed down a starting powder charge weight. Then picked two loads and loaded 3 rounds of each. Faster load (2800 fps) was disappointing at 3” group. The second group loaded at 2700 fps produced a .6 group( 2 ragged hole with one out) will work on tweaking the load. Head space was a tad long.
Then shot my 226jdj and 280AI. They were shooting 18” high. Last time I shot them was at the Big Piney shoot last year. They were sighted in at 600 yards.
Then broke out a couple of revolvers. Ruger 38 special and a S&W Governor. Had never pulled the trigger on the Governor, Shot 45 acp, 45 Colt, and 410 buckshot. The Governor shot all three close to point of aim at 7 yards.
Took the 2x fixed Leupold off of my 256 barrel and mounted a Burris 4-14x rifle scope instead. Not worried about eye relief, as the pistol barely moves during recoil. I did have to top out the height adjustment in the "up" direction to get it roughly bore sighted where there Leupold was. ( I compared both with my laser bore sighter to hopefully be on paper with the new scope).
Anyway, it does kind of look ridiculous to have such a monster scope on it, but at least I should be able to shoot for group size now. I may leave it on after load development, or I may hunt down a "proper" handgun scope for it.
Forgot to put up a picture:
Attachment 9531
SlimQuote:
Originally Posted by Slowpoke Slim
I'm using the 65gr V-max In my 14 inch MGM pistol barrel with very good results. My 6mm TCU is used for varmint hunting only. I had a 20 inch carbine barrel that shot the 75gr Speers HP's very well. My 14 inch 6mm PPC will put 5 of the 75 gr Speers HP's into one jagged hole at 100 yards if I do my part.
Thanks KyQuote:
Originally Posted by Kylongrifle
I put some more test loads together for the 256 this week. Weather has been bad (mostly windy, but some rain), so haven't tried them yet.
I did bite the bullet and buy some IMR 4227 (at $50/lb!) to try next. Sure hated to pay that pirate price though.
I also swapped over my other target stock set onto the Hornet, so can shoot better off of the front rest/rear bag that I typically bench shoot with.
Here's an old picture of the same set (also with the Hornet barrel on it).
Attachment 9554
Back to Mayo next week, but hopefully the week after I can get out and try the new loads for the 256 win.
Got a little range time in this morning before it gets hot out.
Tried a couple more loads with the IMR 4198. Nothing to write home about (the first group printed so high, it was actually on the target above (hornet target-far upper right side)):
Attachment 9571
Was having trouble settling down on the bench behind the short eye relief scope, but that isn't accounting for all of that group size.
Then I tried 3 loads with the gold plated IMR 4227 (at $50/lb.):
Attachment 9568
Center target was load #1, bottom left was #2, and bottom right #3. 5 shots each. Bottom left is 4 into one hole and then I muffed one. Going to load #2 & #3 again and try again. I'm woefully out of practice, which I "proved" to myself by shooting the Hornet:
Attachment 9567
This load has been a proven "one-holer" in the past. That frame has a better trigger to boot. Fired 2 groups, one in center and one bottom right. I finally started settling down on shot 3-5 on bottom right.
It was getting hot fast, so I packed it up. No shade out on this little Game and Fish provided range:
Attachment 9569
Attachment 9570
slowpoke, I have more days like that now than ever before, I like those benches obviously not in CA, I did pick up a mid priced 10x10 shade canopy not simple to set up by your self but doable keeps the melon from baking