Tag: guns

Sorry About the Hiatus

KevinLeave a comment

Saturday I made a trip to the range with the M25 and the 5R, and today was my 15th wedding anniversary.

The reloading problem is taken care of, as is the scope mounting issue, but my first handloads for the M25 weren’t all that stellar. I also tried out some new handloads for the .38 Super. Berry’s 124 grain hollowpoints don’t work very well with the feedramp on the Witness. 1,300fps though, and nice, tight little groups when it did feed.

I did Vicious Circle Thursday night, and got all gun-geeky afterward with Aepilotjim discussing handloads. I’m a little concerned that the loads I’m testing are a bit too stressful for the M25. I started off with 45.5 grains of Reloder 15 in a Lake City “LR” case – the case used for the M118LR round – under the Lapua Scenar 155 grain BTHP, touched off by a CCI #34 military primer. It’s a very slightly compressed load, and if my chronograph is to be believed it yielded an average velocity of 2890fps and a standard deviation of 16.4 out of the M25, and 2920fps and a standard deviation of 10.8 out of the 5R.

My standard load for the 5R is 46.4 grains of RL-15, same bullet, Lapua case and CCI benchrest primers. THAT load over the same chronograph, produces 2790fps out of the 5R with a Sd of less than 10fps. The difference being that the latter load out of the 5R typically groups well under 1MOA at 200 yards. (I busted some rocks out at a laser-measured 650 yards just for fun with that load.) The Lake City-cased load grouped about 1.75MOA. Out of the M25, a bit over 2MOA.

Part of the performance difference, both velocity and accuracy, may be reduced case volume due to the use of a small-base sizing die and military brass (the M118LR brass is not supposed to be as thick as standard Lake City 7.62 brass, but still). The smaller case dimensions after sizing may also adversely affect bore concentricity out of the 5R, too. The military “magnum” primer probably has some effect as well. However, Jim pointed out that Reloder 15 is a much slower powder than is normally recommended for the Garand/M-14 gas piston design. I did a little research previously, and the standard powder for the M118LR load is Reloder 15, but in the Sandbox they discovered that high temperatures were causing the standard load to be too hot for the M-14 based rifles, and this resulted in bent op-rods. The correction was to reduce the powder charge. The M118LR uses a 175 grain Sierra Matchking bullet. I’m using a 155 grain bullet, and pushing it a LOT faster. Hmmm….

The plan is to try to find one load that both rifles like. That might not be possible, I acknowledge, but it’s my intention to try.

Range Report: Ted Brown LRB M25, Part 1

KevinLeave a comment

I finally took the M25 to the range today. I had 100 round of 175 grain Sierra Matchking reloads, 40 rounds of Black Hills 175 grain BTHP Match, and about 18 rounds of Black Hills 168 grain Match. I used the 168 to get on to paper, then shot some groups at 200 with the 175 grain Black Hills for a baseline. Then I ran a couple of groups of the same ammunition through the 700 5R just to compare.

The best group out of the M25 was right at 2″ at 200 yards, strung vertically, about 1.5″ wide. The 700 5R did about as well, though its dispersion was more horizontal. I ran some of my handloads through the 5R to compare, and the group sizes shrank just a bit, but that rifle really prefers the 155 grain Lapua Scenar bullet.

Remember back in 2007 when I wrote that post on reloading? I said in it:

Once the case is sized and decapped, wipe it clean with a rag or a paper towel to get the lube off. Again, PUT THE FIRST CASE IN YOUR GUN TO MAKE SURE IT WILL CHAMBER. Either that, or buy a case gauge.

When I did these rounds I didn’t have the M25, and I don’t have a .308 case gauge.

Guess what? I didn’t size them enough. They fit in the 5R just fine. They stick in the M25 chamber just short of being in battery. And I mean they stick. I had to use my foot to operate the mechanism to get the cartridge out.

Guess what I’ll be ordering right after I finish this post?

I need new scope rings, too. I wrote LaRue Tactical about the rings I have, and was advised not to use them with the scope base that comes with the M25. That base, manufactured by Sadlak, has a groove down the center of the Picatinny rail to allow the shooter to use the iron sights, but the LaRue rings have an abbreviated engagement surface, and it only makes contact with the Sadlak base at its corners. I can already see where those tiny contact patches have worn from recoil. THAT can’t be conducive to accuracy.

I took the M25 over to Black Weapons Armory here in Tucson, Friday after work to see if I could find anything that would allow me to move the scope back another inch. They had a lot of options, but none of them would work. Everything commercially available has cross pieces spaced four, five, six, or seven slots apart, but the Sadlak base has slots eight, nine, and ten spaces apart. Right now I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I’m not taking it to the range again until I have new rings on it.

UPDATE: Solution found. It’s not optimal, but it’s acceptable. Sadlak’s extended rail for the M25 is (supposedly) available now, not in August as previously advertised. I’ll order one on Monday, and I have an order in for another set of Burris Xtreme rings now.

Bad Gun Handling

KevinLeave a comment

I’ve been watching the BBC TV SciFi program Torchwood. Breda got me hooked with her video clip of one character, Gwen, getting trained with firearms (in Blighty!)

But in one episode I just watched, Gwen’s training seems, well, deficient:

As far as I could tell in that episode, Gwen hadn’t fired a shot, yet the slide on her pistol is locked back, and she seems completely unaware of it.

Oopsie!

(This is the kind of thing that irks my wife when I notice it.)

UPDATE: And in a related post, Mrs. Borepatch comments on why it takes an American to actually pull a trigger. EXCELLENT piece.

FINALLY!!

KevinLeave a comment

First, the good news: The FedEx truck showed up at my house today at about 10 AM. (Click on image for super-size.)

Now the bad news. See the scope rings?

They don’t work. The scope needs to come back about another inch, inch-and-a-half. Those are LaRue Tactical LT719 30mm QD rings. I paid $195 plus $9.95 shipping, and they don’t work. (I mean, they do work, just not on this rifle.) I think I’m going to have to get a GG&G QD rail mount instead. Whatever I get has to be quick-detach if I want to be able to use the iron sights (and I do). This time, however, I’m going to have to check the dimensions very carefully to make sure whatever I get is actually going to work.

So, anybody need a set of LaRue 30mm QD rings at a discount?

I’m Often Glad I’m a Pessimist by Temperament

KevinLeave a comment

This way I’m very seldom disappointed but often pleasantly surprised.

Today I’m not pleasantly surprised.

My rifle was dropped off at a FedEx facility on Wednesday for shipment on Thursday and delivery on Friday by 3:00PM local time. I even received an automated phone message from FedEx yesterday telling me that a package was coming requiring an over-21 adult signature to receive. It’s currently 4:42. Do I have my rifle? No, I don’t.

I’ve been checking FedEx all day. According to their computer system it was “picked up” in Medford OR yesterday. From that point, it never went “in transit.” I called customer support just a few minutes ago. Apparently it’s on a flight NOW, but it was “missed” yesterday. They’re going to try to upgrade it to Saturday delivery, but if not I won’t get it until TUESDAY.

I took the day off to receive it today. I can’t take Tuesday off. My wife may (I emphasize may) be home to receive it.

We’ll see if it comes tomorrow, but (being a pessimist by temperament) I’m not holding my breath in anticipation.

UPDATE: Yup. Tuesday. No shooty goodness for me this weekend.

“Federal Express: When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight, we’ll screw it up!“

Woo-Hoo!

KevinLeave a comment

I received an email today from Ted Brown:

Your stock finally came in and I will be glass bedding and doing the final assembly this week. I’ll let you know when it’s done and the final charges. I really like the stock.

It’s a McMillan M3A.

Not much longer now!

This is Your Mind On Drugs

KevinLeave a comment

This is Part II. Part I was last year.

Pimp my shooter: The amazing bling guns that belong to Mexico’s drug lords

Mexican soldiers have seized an arsenal of gold-plated and diamond-encrusted weapons believed to belong to the Valencia gang, allies of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel and, it seems, fans of hip-hip excess.

Showing just how flamboyant gang members spend much of their ill-gotten wealth, pictures show how most of the 31 ‘pimped’ pistols found in a raid on a home in western Mexico had gold or silver-plated grips or were glittered with diamonds.

Three of the assault rifles are almost entirely gold-plated and there was even a silencer plated with gold. One particularly image-conscious gangster has made his pistol unique by adding rows of gaudy red and green jewels and a Ferrari logo.

I won’t fry your retinas with pictures this time. It’s more of the same, though possibly some are even worse.

Hat-tip to Phil B., our intrepid reader from New Zealand. Thanks, Phil. I think.

WANT!!!11!!

KevinLeave a comment

Can’t have! (Didn’t win the lottery. Some schmuck in Missouri did.) I’ve got the money to pay off my still-indeterminate delivery M14, but not for this:

US model M1903A4 Springfield bolt action 30.06 Rifles. These Rifles are built using original Remington-made World War II M1903A3 actions and turned-down bolts. These fine Rifles feature newly manufactured 4-groove barrels identical to the originals. Each receiver is carefully drilled and tapped using replicas of the original “Redfield” rings and mounts and an exact copy of the M73B1 scope, used on the 1st model M1903A4’s. Each barreled action has the original military parkerized finish

Price? A grand.

Damn.