Range Report

To celebrate Memorial Day, I took the 700 5R back to the range with a small range of loads to test. First, yesterday afternoon I thoroughly cleaned the barrel until it was as sqeeky-clean as I could get it. I did not, per the recommendation, use Bore Paste on a patch wrapped around a brush, since this barrel had, at that point, only 50 rounds fired through it. I scrubbed it three times with foaming bore cleaner, followed by Butch’s Bore Shine until the patches came out clean. Then I treated it with Ultra Bore Coat per the instructions, and let it sit overnight.

At the range, after setting up everything (except my spotting scope, which I neglected to bring), I fired 20 rounds at a load-and-fire rate to warm the barrel up and condition it, also per the UBC instructions. If you recall from my previous range trip, I had to move the scope back on the Picatinny rail, so it was no longer sighted in. It took me another 15 rounds before I was back on paper, because it was shooting a little low and a lot right. After I got it sighted in, I cleaned. The instructions warn to not use a bore brush, and if you must, us a nylon one. I used just a slotted jag and a patch soaked with Butch’s Bore Shine, and then a button jag and patch after patch. The first couple of patches had flakes of what I assume must be the Bore Coat material – black, shiny specks, but fairly rapidly the patches started coming out clean. No copper fouling was evident.

Then I settled in to do some shooting.

I brought 100 rounds of 175 grain Sierra Match Kings in Lapua brass, loaded with Varget and primed with WLR primers. Twenty each of 42.0, 42.2, 42.4, 42.6, and 42.8* grains. I’d burned two of each load warming up the barrel, and fifteen more of the 42.0 getting on target. That left me three of the 42.0 load, and eighteen each of the others. I fired the three 42.0’s to foul the barrel, and then started shooting for groups.

Overall, I’m pretty happy. The heavier I went with the charge weight, the better it shot. After I’d put about forty rounds through it, I cleaned it again, and I was getting almost spotless patches quite rapidly. (As I noted previously, I don’t like cleaning, and I’m not a fanatic about it.) The best group of the day was the last one I shot – rounds 91-95, with a center-to-center spread of 1.24″ at 200 meters, or a hair over 0.6MOA.

That was with the 42.8 grain load. One other thing: this rifle craters primers. Even at 42.0 grains, there’s a little cratering evident, so I’m no longer going to assume that the cratering I saw previously is actually a sign of high pressure. There was no evidence of piercing at all.

Other comments: The HS Precision stock looks very nice, but it is not very ergonomic – at least not for me, shooting off the bench. My right hand is sore from assuming an odd position in order to get my finger on the trigger properly. Major kudos to Ninth Stage for providing the spirit level. It’s amazing how easy it is to cant the rifle off of vertical without noticing, and that little device stops that cold. Ninety-five rounds of 175 grain SMKs at something on the order of 2600fps beats the CRAP out of you. Individually, they’re not bad, but the beating is cumulative. I let somebody else shoot the last five. I think my next test will be with the 155 grain Lapua Scenars, which are actually as long as the 180SMK. The Williams bottom metal was worth the money, as was the Evolution Gun Works 20MOA scope base. The bottom metal doesn’t make it shoot better (I don’t think), but it appears to be a lot more rugged. The Burris Xtreme mounts do not let the scope move a nanometer, and the scope? Given its wince-inducing price, it does the job I bought it for. It’s clear and crisp, the adjustments are positive and repeatable, the side focus works as advertised. I’m very pleased with the whole package.

*Use this load data at your own risk. Not responsible for typos or tyros who blow up their guns using load data from someone you don’t even know. This is safe in MY rifle. YMMV.

Reloading

A while back Kim asked via email, well, let’s use his own words, since he apparently isn’t going to do the post, and I don’t want my work to go to waste:

After my offhand comment the other day about how people should get into reloading, I’ve received over a dozen emails asking how a complete tenderfoot would get into it: with a low budget, modest reloading amounts, and so on.

I would appreciate advice from you all as the a “basic” set of equipment one would need, as well as some recommendations for stuff like powder and such.

Here are the parameters.

1. Go to this page at MidwayUSA, and select the items you think would work for a beginner. Please use only this page as the starter — I am aware that other places may offer more choices, but this is as good a place to start as any. Get to the item as though you were about to stick it in the shopping cart, and then save the link (eg. thus: Hornady Lock n Load Single Stage Press) and include it in your return email to me.

2. Include everything that will make the beginner’s life less complicated — simpler is better, but precision/quality might also be better. Err on the “budget” side — remember, we’re starting from scratch, and a big ticket will just scare people away. A comprehensive list of stuff is imperative, however: scales, calipers, dies, manuals, videos, whatever.

3. Assume that the beginners will be reloading a modest selection of calibers: .38 Spec/.357 Mag, .45 ACP and and one “esoteric” cartridge like, say, .30 Luger for pistols, if that would require different handling; and .22-250, .243 Win, .308, .30-06, and one “esoteric” cartridge like, say, 32-20 or .30 Carbine for rifles. Assume also that only about 50 cartridges will be reloaded at a time, and assume FMJ “practice” bullets only.

4. Keep it simple. The more technical you get, the less likely someone (like me, for instance) will listen to you. Also, stick to SAAMI “medium-strength” loads if possible.

5. Powders: a single clean-burning “universal” powder each for rifle and handgun cartridges (quick-burning for handgun, slow-medium for rifle).

6. Primers: one pistol, one rifle brand (or just one if that will do double duty).

7. Finally, include a simple, step-by-step process of reloading. Assume you have ONE expended .45 ACP and .308 Win cartridge casing, and take it from there. Avoid jargon. (“Now ream out the casing” is meaningless, for example, unless a description of the tools and action is included.)

I responded almost immediately, and waited for Kim’s post. I waited a couple of weeks, then dropped him an email asking if he was going to carry through, and got no response. Now that it’s been over a month, I thought I’d go ahead and post my response for your review. You can tell me if I was overcomplicated.

Without further ado, Reloading 101:

I started off dirt cheap, and until recently still used the original press I purchased in 1987. Here are my recommendations:

Beginner’s press kit:

Lee Anniversary kit – $89.99

Includes powder measure (not a great one, but it functions), priming tool with (most) shell holders, scale (again, not great, but functional), and a reloading manual.

Dies:


.38/357 Lee Carbide
– $30.99
.45ACP Lee Carbide – $21.99
.30 Luger Lee Steel – $20.99
.22-250 Lee Deluxe 3-die – $24.99
.243 Lee Deluxe 3-die – $24.99
.308 Lee Deluxe 3-die – $24.99
.30-06 Lee Deluxe 3-die – $24.99
.30 Carbine Lee Carbide – $30.79

Case lube:

Hornady One-Shot
– $6.99

Calipers:

6″ steel dial caliper – $25.99

I’d recommend case gauges, but this is sufficient for a beginner who doesn’t load large quantities.

Loading Block:

Hornady universal 50-round – $4.79

Reloading manual (in addition to the Lee that comes with the press – two manuals are a MINIMUM)

Speer Reloading Manual #14 – $26.99

Rifle Powder:

IMR 4064 – $18.99/lb

Use this for .22-250, .243, .308, & .30-06 – 30 Carbine is more of a pistol cartridge.

Pistol Powders:

.38/.357, & .30 Carbine: Winchester 296 – $17.99/lb

.45ACP, .30 Luger: Winchester 231 – $17.49/lb

Pistol Primers:

CCI Small Pistol (.38/.357) – $21.99/1000

CCI Large Pistol (.45ACP) – $21.49/1000

Rifle Primers:

CCI Large Rifle – $22.99/1000

CCI Small Rifle (.30 Carbine) – $22.49/1000

(It looks like Midway’s getting out of the primer business – lots of “out of stock, no backorder”)

Case Cleaning & Prep:

Iosso Brass Case Cleaning kit – $14.99 (Cheaper than a tumbler)

Lee Primer Pocket Cleaner – $2.09

RCBS Chamfer and deburring tool – $13.79

Safety Glasses – $8.99

Total: Less than $550.00 not including freight, and not using the sale prices.

INSTRUCTIONS:

First, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. Yes, I know that “real men don’t need instructions,” but seeing that you are potentially building little bombs that can blow up your gun and disfigure you for life (or kill you if you’re REALLY unlucky), RTFI! Read the instructions that come with the press, read the instructions that come with the dies, read the instructions that come with the priming tool. Read the instructions that come with the powder measure. Read the instructions in reloading manuals. READ EVERYTHING.

Familiarize yourself with all the parts. Mount the press to a STURDY surface – you don’t want it moving around too much when you start resizing .30-06 cases. If possible, have a SEPARATE surface nearby on which to place your balance scale. This isn’t imperative, but it can be helpful. Make sure whatever surface you place the scale on is LEVEL and will stay that way.

We’ll start with reloading straight-walled brass (.30 Carbine, .38/.357 and .45ACP). Because this brass does not have a significant taper nor a bottleneck, it can be resized without using lubricant as long as the resizing die has a resizing ring made of carbide or other very hard material. It is imperative, however, that the brass be CLEAN, as grit can damage the ring resulting in scored cases. The brass doesn’t have to be polished to a high sheen, it just needs to have no grit of any kind on it. This is doubly true for standard steel dies, as they are even more vulnerable to scratching.

Locate and insert the properly sized shell holder to the ram of the press – the steel rod that goes up and down as you operate the handle. Raise the ram to its full height, and screw in the resizing die until it just touches the shell holder. Lower the ram, and screw the sizing die in approximately 1 more full turn. Raise the ram back up until the shell holder presses on the die, and tighten the locking ring on the die with a wrench so it cannot back out. Lower the ram and look at the depriming pin on the resizing die. It should stick down low enough to push the primer out of the case completely. Adjust it per the instruction sheet and make sure you lock it down so that it cannot move once it’s adjusted properly.

Fill the reloading block with up to 50 clean cases. Insert the first case into the shell holder and slowly raise the ram. When the case reaches the die and begins to enter there will be significant resistance. It shouldn’t STOP, however. If it does, you need to make sure that it is fully seated in the shell holder, and not offset to one side or you will crush the mouth of the case against the bottom of the die. Operate the lever of the press to the bottom of its stroke. This will take some effort – you are, after all, squeezing metal. When it is all the way down and the ram is all the way up there MAY still be a slight gap between the top of the shell holder and the bottom of the die (that’s why you screwed the shell holder in an extra turn during setup.) You should also hear the primer pop out of its pocket. If the case stops BEFORE the handle is all the way down, the rod that carries the depriming pin is screwed in too deeply and has bottomed out in the case. Raise the operating handle and readjust the decapping rod, then size the case again (it won’t hurt it, and you’ve got to size it all the way.)

Take your first resized, decapped case and MAKE SURE IT CHAMBERS IN YOUR GUN. Drop it into all the cylinders of your revolver or make sure your automatic will close on the empty in the chamber. This is the quick-and-dirty way to make sure you’ve properly resized the case and you won’t be making fifty rounds that don’t fit anything. A better way to do this is to purchase a case gauge, but we’re attempting to start on-the-cheap, and this works just fine. If everything is copacetic, resize the rest of your cases.

Now, INSPECT the cases. What you’re looking for is any evidence of a crack at the case mouth, or a bright ring on the cartridge body near the case rim. If you’re using once-fired brass, or brass you know hasn’t been reloaded a dozen times already, you can probably skip this step, but it only takes a minute. Also, check the primer pocket. If it’s got a lot of soot in it, use the primer pocket cleaner tool to scrape it out. At this point you can use the chamfer/deburring tool to dress the inside and outside of the case mouth, but with pistol cartridges this is seldom necessary.

Remove the resizing die from the press and replace it with the expander die. It’s now time to open up the case mouth just enough to let you seat a bullet. Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions on adjusting the expander die, but bear in mind that if you mangle a case it may not be correctable. Do your adjustments in small increments until there is just enough flare at the case mouth to allow you to start a bullet without fighting with it. Too much flare may prevent you from crimping the mouth properly, so getting this adjustment right is pretty important, and bear in mind that this adjustment hinges on the cases all being the same length, so if you’ve picked up range brass of unknown origin you might want to check the cases with your dial caliper and sort them by length. (And make sure they’re within SAMMI specifications.) Otherwise, use brass of known origin, or invest in a case trimmer when you can afford one. Once again, once the die is properly adjusted, LOCK IT DOWN so it can’t come loose. Run all the cases through the expander. (They probably won’t chamber now, so don’t bother to try it.)

Now it’s time to prime the cases. These are little explosives, so WEAR EYE PROTECTION. The kit I recommended includes Lee’s AutoPrime tool, which I like a lot. Again, read the instructions and set the tool up for the proper size primer for your caliber. The .38/357 and .30 Carbine use a small primer, .45ACP uses a large primer. The .30 Carbine uses a rifle primer, and yes, there’s a difference. Select the correct primer for your cartridge and PAY ATTENTION because, while they are the same size, rifle and pistol primers differ in hardness and power. I like the AutoPrime because I can easily dump 50 primers onto the tray directly from the primer box. Then by gently shaking the primer tray the primers will all “flip” until they are oriented correctly with the cup facing up. Place the correct shell holder in the AutoPrime before you do this. The shell holder for the AutoPrime is different from the shell holder for the press, but it bears the same size number. Once you have fifty primers properly oriented on the tray, put the clear cover in place, grip the handle so that the operating lever is fully depressed, and move the tool at an angle that will cause the primers to slide down toward the shell holder. Insert the first case into the shell holder, release the lever, give the tool a gentle shake to drop a primer into place, and then squeeze the grip. You should feel the primer hit the primer pocket, and then resistance as it slides into the hole. It is not necessary to squeeze like a gorilla, but a firm grip is necessary. The primer tool handle should move through almost its full range of travel before the primer bottoms out in the pocket. Relax your grip on the lever, but don’t let it open all the way, and extract the primed case. Examine the case. The primer should be seated so that the cup is just below flush with the case head. Run your finger over the case to be sure – the calibrated finger pad Mk. 1 works really well for this. If it is not, put it back in the tool and give it a little more grunt. You don’t want to try to seat another primer on top of the first, which is why I said to not let the lever go all the way open. Once you have a feel for just how far the lever needs to travel, you won’t have to do the visual inspection again. Finish priming the rest of the cases.

If you have a case where the primer went in with suspicious ease, you may want to discard that case, or at least mark it with a permanent marker so you don’t load it again. It has been shot too many times or overloaded so that the primer pocket has expanded. This is much less likely to happen if you use brass that you know the history of. Picking up brass off the ground at the range means having no clue what the yahoo before you did with it. Inspecting such brass for signs of overpressure (like a primer that has flowed out of the pocket) and discarding beforehand is strongly recommended.

Once you’ve resized, decapped, expanded and primed fifty cases, you should be ready for a break. I know I was the first time. WASH YOUR HANDS, kick back, have a drink (non-alcoholic!) or even take a day off. They’ll wait.

Charging the case and seating a bullet is next. Many reloaders charge all their cases and then seat all the bullets. I don’t. I charge each case and seat a bullet before moving on to the next case. Why? For me there’s a lower risk of screwing up that way. Time to set up your scale. Again, the scale needs to be on a level surface. Read and understand the instructions for your particular scale. Set it up and adjust it per those instructions so that it reads 0 grains when the powder pan is sitting in the scale. Check your loadbooks. Check them TWICE. Pick a good starting load, not the one marked MAX. Pull out your powder of choice. VERIFY that you pulled the right cannister (don’t, for example, confuse Winchester 231 and Winchester 296 just because they are in VERY similar packages.)

Now there are two ways to throw a powder charge. You can use the Lee dippers (which I do NOT recommend) or you can use the powder measure that came with the press. Bear in mind, it’s a pretty cheap measure and not likely to throw really accurate, consistent charges, so you’ve got a couple of options I’ll get to in a minute. Set up the powder measure close to the scale and follow the instructions to adjust it. This basically consists of closing down the adjustment to its minimum, pouring powder into the hopper, and then operating the handle to dispense powder into the powder pan. Place the pan on the scale, check the weight, and adjust the measure. Lather, rinse, and repeat until you’re at or near the weight you want. It is very important when operating the powder measure to do it the exact same way every time. You want the powder to fill the chamber just-so on each successive attempt so that the variation in weight is minimized. Here are your two choices: live with the variation that will inevitably occur (and, depending on the powder you use and the measure you have, it can be significant) or weigh each individual charge and – by hand – adjust the charge weight. Using a ball powder like Win 231 or 296 the variation is usually small, but on flake and especially on extruded stick powders like IMR 4064, it can be more significant. The variation is more important when the charge weight is small, as it is in handgun cartridges than in rifle cartridges where a +/- 0.2 grain difference isn’t all that much compared to a charge weight of 47 grains. If you want to individually weigh the charges, use a small bowl with some powder in it and one of the Lee powder dippers to add or remove powder from the scale pan. This is quite tedious, and probably the biggest PITA when it comes to reloading, especially if you’re interested in tack-driving accuracy. If you’re building “blasting ammo,” pick a charge weight that is safe +/- a half grain, make sure your scale will throw charges within that accuracy range, and reload.

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND checking the charge weight every tenth round or so to make sure the powder measure has not gone out of adjustment if you go that route.

Once your powder measure is adjusted, you can throw a charge directly into the case mouth from the measure (probably, depending on the measure’s design) or place the funnel over the case mouth and throw the charge into the funnel. Once the powder is in the case, look to see how full the case is. NOTE THIS. On some cases it is possible to throw a double-charge, or put twice as much powder in as you intended to, if you are not being careful. Cases like the .38 and the .357 Magnum are good examples. The .38 was originally a black-powder round. Smokeless powder takes up much less space. This is one reason why I charge the case and then seat a bullet immediately. It greatly reduces the possibility of making this error.

Now it is time to set up the bullet seating die. If you’re using a bullet with a cannelure (a groove around the bullet that the case mouth is supposed to be crimped into) then setting up the die is pretty simple. If it does not (like a .45 hardball bullet) then you need to know what the overall cartridge length should be, and you will need to use your dial caliper to measure the finished cartridge as you adjust the die. Place an empty, primed, expanded case in the press and raise the ram to its full height. Take the seating die and unscrew the seating stem until it is almost all the way out. Screw the die into the press until you feel it touch the case. Back it out about half a turn and lock it down. Now, take the case out of the press, charge the case with powder and start a bullet into it. Place the case in the press (don’t let the bullet fall sideways) and raise the ram SLOWLY. You should be able to put it all or almost all the way up before the seating stem hits the bullet. If it does go all the way up, hold it there and screw the seating stem down until it touches the bullet. Lower the cartridge, screw the seating stem down a little bit, and raise the ram to press the bullet into the case. Again, do this carefully and in small increments. Either observe the cannelure or use your dial caliper to measure the overall cartridge length (you want it a little shorter than maximum) until the stem is adjusted properly for your bullet. Lock the stem down once it’s adjusted properly. You’re ready to rock. Charge a case, start a bullet, seat the bullet. Repeat until you’ve done them all.

You’re still not finished.

You need to crimp the case. The Lee die sets come with a “factory crimp” die. Follow the instructions and you’ll get a good crimp. If you’re using someone else’s dies, the seating die usually will also be the crimping die. The body of the die will either roll or taper crimp the case. It’s possible to do the seating and crimping as a single step, but I don’t advise it. It’s harder to set up, and you run the risk of screwing up your first couple of cartridges if you don’t get it right during the adjustment phase.

Once all your cartridges are crimped, you’re done. There, wasn’t that easy?

Now let’s do bottleneck cases! (Don’t groan!)

Actually, bottleneck cases are a lot easier, with fewer steps, but there is one additional thing that has to be done: case lubing.

Put your fifty cases in the loading block, neck up. Put your resizing die and the proper shell holder in the press and adjust as directed above (this part is no different from resizing straight-wall cases.) Again, it is very important that the cases be CLEAN. Once the die is properly adjusted, take your can of Hornady One-Shot and shake thoroughly. Spray the cases from above at about a 45 degree angle so that the spray can get into the case neck. Spray one side, making sure you get all the rows. Don’t skimp on the ones on the corners of the loading block. Turn the block 180 degrees and spray the other side of the cases. Let them sit for a minute and dry. If you’ve done it properly, each case should have a nice very thin greasy coating of case lube. More is better than less, but there is such a thing as “too much.” A little practice and you’ll know the difference. Now, resize just as you would a pistol case. Note, it will take more effort because there’s a lot more case to squeeze down, but it shouldn’t require Aaahnold’s biceps to operate the press. If it does, you didn’t use enough lube. If you REALLY didn’t use enough lube, you will get a case stuck in the die. We won’t be going there in this little tutorial, so USE ENOUGH LUBE. This is why I recommend Hornady One-Shot. It’s hard to use too much. Not impossible, just hard.

Now, when you lower the ram you will feel it want to “stick” partway down. This is the expander ball being drawn through the case neck. This die does three functions: it resizes the case, decaps the primer AND it expands the case neck for a new bullet. Rifle case mouths don’t get a “flare” like pistol case mouths do. 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. Once the cases area all resized, INSPECT THEM for cracks, dimples, and that bright ring near the base that indicates incipient case head separation. Little dimples are not a major worry. BIG dimples mean “throw it away, you used too much lube!” Clean the primer pocket if necessary.

Priming a rifle case is identical to priming a pistol case. Select the proper tool size, get out the right primers, and go to work. Verify that you’re seating them to the proper depth. If you’re loading for a semi-auto, a high primer can contribute to a slam-fire, and you can blow up your gun that way so PAY ATTENTION. Once the cases are all primed, it’s time to charge the case with powder and seat a bullet. The instructions are exactly the same. It’s much harder to double-charge a rifle case, but it is possible to accidentally use a pistol powder instead of a rifle powder, and again, you can blow up your gun that way so PAY ATTENTION. It may be a bit more difficult to start a rifle bullet into the case because the case mouth doesn’t get flared. There are a couple of things you can do to make it easier. First, boat-tailed bullets are very easy to get started in a rifle case, so I recommend them if you’re willing to spend a little more money. Or, you can use the cone-shaped end of the chamfer/deburring tool to cut a bevel on the inside of the case neck so that the bottom of a flat-base bullet can start easier. Or, you can just push hard. Set up the powder measure and scale as previously described and charge a case. Set up the seating die as described and seat a bullet. Verify the overall length. Lock the die down and repeat until complete. If you really feel it necessary you can crimp your rifle cases. In most situations, I do not. Unless you’re reloading for a tubular magazine rifle, or your gun is chambered in an überthumper caliber, crimping is not (in my humble opinion) really required. Again, Lee makes a “Factory Crimp” die for most calibers that works quite well.

Please, use eye protection. Don’t eat or smoke while reloading. Don’t reload when you’re tired or in a hurry, and don’t let yourself be distracted. Wash up afterward. The residue from fired cartridges and from new bullets doesn’t contain much lead, but lead is a cumulative poison. It’s easy to wash it off. It’s not easy to get out of your system.

One note about my recommendations. A lot of people hate Lee reloading equipment. Personally, I think they’re equipment snobs. No, Lee does not make top-of-the-line stuff, but this request was not for top-of-the-line stuff – it was for someone trying to get into reloading on a tight budget to make practice ammo. Lee is absolutely fine for that, and a lot less money than RCBS or Hornady or Big Blue (and I love Dillon). Lee die sets come with the correct shell holder so you don’t have to purchase it separately. In addition, I love Lee’s collet neck-sizing dies. If you’re loading for a bolt-action rifle and you’ve only got one in any particular caliber, then neck-sizing is for you! The Lee collet die works beautifully, and without case lube. The “Factory Crimp” dies work as advertised, too. I have RCBS or Hornady dies for most of my rifle calibers, but I’ve got a Lee Collet neck-sizing die for every bolt-action caliber I own. I have a Dillon Square-Deal B press set up for .45ACP and an RL-450 for everything else, but I’m currently considering setting up my old Lee Challenger “O” press again for those jobs where a single-stage press is the right tool for the job.

I Have Never Met a Cheaper Bastard than a Shooter

And I plead guilty to the charge as well.

I went to the “End of the Year” AR15.com shoot at the Casa Grande public range today, and shot off most of my remaining .223 ammo. It’s time to order more components. My bullet of choice is the Hornady 75 grain boattail hollowpoint match. I load it over 23.5 grains of Varget (this is a safe published load, but use it at your own risk anyway) in LC brass – it’s about all that will fit with that long, long bullet. I was able to pop clay pigeons stuck in the 250 yard backstop with this load off the bench, and bust any rock that was big enough to see. My 9″ x 11″ x 1″ AR500 plate steel swinger was absolutely no challenge at all. But I’m out of the last thousand I bought, so I need more.

I went to the AR15.com reloading page and clicked on their list of reloading supplier URLs, then went through them one by one checking prices. This is what I found:

Midway Usa:

Hornady Match Bullets 22 Caliber (224 Diameter) 75 Grain Boat Tail Hollow Point Box of 100
Product #: 559619
Manufacturer #: 2279
Our Price: $14.29

Sinclair International:

P/N H2279
Hornady 22 cal 75 gr BTHP MCH Box/100
100 Count Price: $15.00 500 Count Price: $69.25

10% Discount When Purchasing 5-Pack Sleeves
Note: This discount ONLY applies if you purchase multiples of 5.
5 or more $13.85 ea.

Midsouth Shooter’s Supply:
HORNADY 75GR BOAT TAIL HOLLOW POINT MATCH 100CT

Item: 003-2279
Status: In Stock
Price: $13.23/100

Widener’s
Manufacturer: Hornady
Stock Number: H2279
Number In Stock: 0
Price: $13.50 each

And then I hit upon the Holy Grail for cheapskates:

Graf & Sons:

HRN 22c (.224) 75gr BTHP BULLET MATCH 600/BX
Item Number: HRN22796
Availability: In stock
Price: $69.99

And Graf & Sons includes freight. (There is a $3.95 “handling charge” per order, but that’s still a great deal.)

I ordered two.

I am such a cheap bastard.

New Gun!

Well, new to me, anyway. Remember back in May 2004 when I said I was going to purchase a S&W Model 25 Mountain Gun chambered for .45LC? And then didn’t?

Well, at lunch today, I did. It looks just like this:

My favorite gun shop had a used one I found a couple of weeks ago. I traded in my Ruger SP-101 (that shot really low), scrounged up some cash (thanks, honey!), and bought it. Now I have to get some dies, brass, and bullets. Anybody have a favorite .45LC load they want to share?

Range Report!

I finally got out to the range today. It was a bit windy the last few days here, and I wanted to test my .223 handloads at 300 meters, so I put it off until this morning. Absolutely perfect morning to go shooting. I didn’t have sight settings for 300m, so I stapled up a bunch of sight-in targets and picked the target in the middle. After the first five rounds it was obvious that I was hitting VERY low, so I dialed in a few minutes of elevation, and like a moron I picked a HIGHER target for the second go-around. Five more shots, but I couldn’t see the impact points through my 45x not-so-great quality spotting scope, so I hopped in the truck (I had the 500m range ALL TO MYSELF!) and drove down.

Good news: A beautiful 2″ (4-shot) group! (Best group of the day, as a matter of fact.)

Bad news: Right through the top crossbrace of the target frame. My range charges $1 per hole in the target frame. I know it was a 2″ group because the frame is made of 2×2’s. I figure the fifth shot went just a bit high.

So now I know my sight settings for 300, 385, and 500 meters with that load, (75 grain Hornady BTHP) and it shoots about 1.5-2MOA at 300 meters which is, realistically, about as well as I can see at that range through a 10X scope.

I also took out my freshly restocked 1943-era M1 Garand and my .50 caliber ammo can full of Korean surplus ammo in clips on bandoleers. After a bit of sight tweaking, I was able to consistently drop the steel pig silhouettes with that combo, shooting off sandbags. Iron sights!

After a hundred and fifty rounds of .223 and probably ten or twelve clips or so of .30-06 (it’s so much fun, who’s counting?), it was starting to warm up and get windy, so I shifted down to the Law Enforcement range for a little pistol practice. The new S&W 60-14 I picked up on Saturday is a SHOOTER! This is the first revolver I’ve ever been able to shoot halfway decently double-action. At seven yards I was able to keep all five 125 grain Federal .38 Nyclads in the chest just as fast as I could pull the trigger. I even practiced double-taps and was able to get the two rounds with 2-3″ of each other. I’m quite impressed with this little revolver. The hi-viz fiberoptic front sight is definitely a plus. It’s VERY easy to pick up and makes follow-up shots much faster.

What a great day at the range. I’ve got to do this more often.

Edited to add:

I forgot to mention, I tested out my two free MWG Co. magazines, a 10-rounder and a 5-rounder. Each held the advertised capacity and no more. Each was a bit of a tight fit in the mag well, but I’d imagine they’ll wear in. Each fed properly.

Except the last round. Both mags. Repeatedly. The last round out would jam. I don’t know if the problem is with the follower or what, but I’d be interested to know if anyone else has had this problem with theirs.

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me.

I just got in my birthday present to myself. A thousand prepped and primed .223 cases from Top Brass. These are Lake City headstamped, cleaned, resized, trimmed, and primed with Winchester Small Rifle primers. All I’ve got to do is dump a powder charge in and seat a bullet. I’ve got enough WCC-846 pulldown powder (from Jeff Bartlett) left to load a thousand cases already. Now I’ve got to order a thousand Hornady 75 grain BTHP Match bullets from Sinclair. That’ll be next month, though.

I can build a sub-MOA load good for 600 yards for about $0.20 per round, or I can go to Ammoman and pay the same price for stuff that won’t hold 2 MOA, and isn’t really any good past 300 meters.

Or I cay pay $0.36 a round for Black Hills ammo no better than my handloads.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I handload.

Edited to add:

And this is what my pet load is capable of out of my AR-15 at 100 yards if I do my part:

OK, ONE More Tonight

It’s another one of those blog memes. What’s your workspace look like?

James Lileks started it. Kim du Toit showed us his (so to speak.) Well, here’s mine, taken with my el cheapo Largan Chameleon Mega camera.

That’s my loading bench off to the left there with my single-stage Lee Challenger press and my Dillon Square-Deal B. In the back corner is the stock for my M48 Yugoslavian Mauser. Not seen further off to the left is my reloading component cabinet where I keep my powder, primers, loaded ammo, range bag, etc. All the bullets, my scales, powder measure & other stuff are in the bench itself. The kiddie gate keeps my grandkids out of the drawers. They got into them once.

Once.

It took me awhile to sort out all the different bullets by caliber, weight, and style.

This is in what should be the breakfast area of my house. The shot is taken from the kitchen. I had all my computer and reloading stuff in a spare bedroom, but after my daughter moved home with the grandkids, no spare bedrooms anymore!

They’ve moved out again, but my wife is providing daycare for the kids, so one bedroom is my grandson’s and the other is my granddaughter’s.

And I am relegated to the breakfast area.

But it works.

Another New Cartridge

There have been a number of new cartridges introduced recently, some say in an effort to boost lagging firearms sales because the new cartridges don’t do anything all that much better than the old ones. Maybe, maybe not, but one thing I believe is that cartridge development by the manufacturers generally follows the work of successful wildcatters – people who develop new rounds just for the fun of it.

I’ve been seriously considering getting a Thompson/Center Contender rifle barrel in the wildcat Tactical Twenty caliber, which is a .223 Remington cartridge necked down to .204″. There are (or at least there were) no commercial firearms barreled for a .204″ projectile, but there are several bullet makers producing bullets of this size – which means there’s a market for them. There are bullets available ranging in weight from 30 to 50 grains.

The wildcat Twenties include the .20 Squirrel, the .20 Ackley Hornet, the .20 Ackley Bee, the .20 Vartag, the .20 Vartag Turbo, the .20 Slammer, the .20 TNT, the Tactical Twenty, the .20 Terminator, the .20 PPC and the .20 BR.

The wildcatters have been having a field day.

At least one manufacturer has taken notice.

As I said, the Tactical Twenty is based on the .223 Remington case, and it pushes a 33-grain Hornady V-Max bullet out of a 26″ barrel at over 4200fps with reportedly excellent accuracy. This piqued my interest, but custom barrels and custom dies and all the other toys that go along with them tend to be on the expensive side, and I don’t have a lot of spare change laying around.

Well, Ruger has now introduced another new cartridge: The 204 Ruger. This is a .20 caliber based on the obsolescent .222 Remington Magnum case. According to Ruger:

When compared directly with either the 22-250 Remington or the 220 Swift, the 204 RUGER offers higher muzzle velocity and flatter trajectory. Because the 204 RUGER cartridge achieves a higher velocity with less propellant than either the 22-250 Remington or the 220 Swift, this new cartridge does not compromise barrel life. The 204 RUGER also offers lower recoil and muzzle report than comparable high-velocity, sub-caliber ammunition. Its conventional case shape avoids feeding problems and increased rearward bolt thrust associated with short and super short magnum cartridges.

You know, I’ve always wanted a Ruger #1.

Something like this:

Gotta start saving my pennies.

This Concludes the Blogging for Today

I’m going to load some ammo.

Blogging will be light tomorrow, as I have an appointment with my opthalmologist, and she’s going to dilate my pupils and practice Chinese Light Torture photograph my retinas, and do other things to and with my eyes. As a result, I won’t be able to see very well for a few hours.

Have a pleasant evening.

Leave a comment, if you would.

Reloader’s Alert!

If you reload, especially if you reload military rifle calibers (.223, .308, .30-06 & such) then you might want to look at Widener’s, specifically their military surplus pulldown powder. “Pulldown” powder is powder recovered from unfired surplus ammunition. They are apparently having a sale on WCC-844 (equivalent to Hodgdon H335) and WC-846 (equivalent to Hodgdon BL(C)-2). They’re selling both for $49 per 8lb. keg, plus freight and hazmat charges. I just bought one of each, and it worked out to $8.25/lb. Considerably better than the $20/lb. plus tax that I pay for the commercial versions here in town. I’ve seen the same powder elsewhere at $64 per 8lb. keg.

Oh, and that nice group I shot with the Enfield? The powder was WCC-844.

Get it while you can.