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Message started by Oldfeller on 04/30/18 at 11:24:20

Title: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 04/30/18 at 11:24:20

SHOOTING ELEPHANTS WITH A 7MM

When I started out shooting as a boy, there was 30-06 vs the 270 and 30-30 with 7mm Rem Mag as the up and coming fast shooting long distance fancy pants expensive nonsense cartridge that kept all the gun rags in circulation.

Then, as my generation slowly matured into wisdom, the 7mm-08 became beloved by all of us for its low recoil and wide wide range of bullets suitable for a 9 twist rifle.

Then our eyes went south and our surgeries came and went, and what the heck do we go do now? Fact is, we are all old and feeble now and shooting in general is a big disappointment as we suck at it right smartly now.

Answer, collect up the reloading stuff we always wanted, and add in whatever oddball fascinating cartridges and whatever oddball fascinating guns apparently.

My last episodic fascination has been with my favorite cartridge, the 7mm-08 Remington, a simple do anything cartridge that you can feed really really cheap using 7.62 NATO once fired brass and various pulled military powders by the gallon jug.

This gun can fling a wide range of bullets from 100 grain bullets and 110 grain bullets (both are varmint/coyote stuff at well over 3,000 fps). Ditto for 120 grain and 130 grain deer bullets at 2,900-3,000 fps. And 140 grain, 150 grain and 160 grain hunting bullets....

Hunting bullets range up by 10 grain increments all the way up to 175 grains, so we need some of each of those as well.

7mm bullets are still popular worldwide, and still come in varmint to deer to moose/buffalo construction types and in all the various weight ranges. This modern HIGH PRESSURE 7mm-08 rifle is a short action offshoot of the perennially popular 7x57 cartridge that itself has over 130 years of history as the "rifleman's pick" --- picked by the real he man for his wife to use on safari, of course.

Bwana would never never confess to not always using his 375 Rigby Magnum simply because his shoulder was all bruised and sore and his flinch had grown up to be the size of Texas from shooting his Bwana Rifle.

So, ring in the modern age -- we got us whole new classes of powder now that can do things that Cordite never dreamed of being able to do.

And new tricks, using barrel coatings and impact dry lubricant coated bullets (like Hexagonal Boron Nitride) that allow the new Reloader 19 powder to make a 22" barrel 7mm-08 into a 7mm Rem Mag using the exact same 160 grain high BC long distance bullets.

And after a while, all this good stuff begins to pile up on you -- finished up good stuff no less. Piled up until you have almost a complete collection of it.

Almost .....

===================================================

http://https://assets.americanrifleman.org/wp-content/uploads/Webcontent/images/2010-9/2010915141829-karamojabell_f.jpg
This is an actual pic of Bell's actual rifle and rounds,
courtesy of John Rigby & Co who had bought the gun from Bell's estate along with his larger much less used double bore Bwana rifle.

Kilimanjaro Bell had him a well used 275 Rigby (a British rebuilt 7mm Mauser action) that he used to brain shoot close to a THOUSAND female elephants over the years, shooting them with 175 grain round nosed "solids" (war time military surplus steel jacketed copper clad ammo). These slugs were running along at only 2,100 - 2,200 fps but would still penetrate to a 3 feet depth of elephant skull to drop a cow pachyderm in its tracks from 55-75 yards away. And Bell had used them simply because he needed a really really cheap dependable deep deep penetrating bullet to go get the cow elephant population culling job done for this season just so he could get paid the yearly culling bonus.

Rocky Mountain Reloading (contract scrap-sellers of factory pulled bullets from ATK/Speer/Federal ammo) came up with 250 of the 7mm soft point (very low velocity expanding) version of the Kilimanjaro Bell long heavy round nose format bullet. The price was right, so I bought 250 of them so I could go fill out my 7mm-08 ammo collection.

2,100 to 2,200 fps is VERY VERY slow now-a-days (that spaghetti stranded cordite stuff was nobody's speed demon compared to today's modern powders) and I am making me up a round to mock something that a modern 30-30 lever action could easily better speed-wise these days without even trying very hard.

Still, 2,300 fps is a pretty close modern equivalent, close enough for government work anyway .....

Retro Powder of choice would have to be IMR7383 (at around 41 grains) as that would smell about right. Cordite stank distinctively when it was fired and so does IMR7383 as they are somewhat similar in composition. Gots to have that authentic Cordite type odor, or it jest wouldn't be real and true Kilimanjaro Bell certified pure quill fake antique stuff .....

https://www.chuckhawks.com/bell_elephants.htm

Bell recorded all of his kills and shots fired. It was a business to him, not pleasure, and he needed to record expenditures.

He shot exactly 1,011 elephants; about 800 of them were shot with Rigby-made 7x57mm (.275 Rigby) rifles and round nose 173 grain military ammo.
He also shot elephants with a Mannlicher-Schoenauer 6.5x54mm carbine using the long 159 grain FMJ bullets and noted that it was probably the most beautiful rifle he ever had, but gave it up due to faulty ammunition.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 04/30/18 at 21:27:09

Faulty ammo in the bush could get a guy killed I spoze,or, just be a loss, because he paid for the shot, but failed to make the kill.
Not sure
Culling
Was a great idea, but IDK.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/01/18 at 04:47:03

When Bell was in Africa, he dealt mostly with her Majesty's Colonial Government and the local tribe Chieftains. Both tribes and government thought of elephants as a big rabbit population that was running way out of control as the budding African agriculture scene was being treated as a garden patch by the ever hungry elephants (who thought crops were a lot easier to eat than tree tops).

Think of Bell as a Colonial Government Agriculture Agent who carried a gun to shoot rabbits with .....

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 05/01/18 at 07:20:40

I understand then .

I've read stories about communities and they have a guy who is the Elephant control cop. He was a clever guy.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by MMRanch on 05/01/18 at 20:05:08

So would elephants with a 7mm / 2200fps be like squirrels with a .177 / 700fps air rifle ?
I have yet to find an accurate "spring piston" or "air bag" rifle. There are some really accurate pump-up or cylinder rifles out there.
Squirrels can be pesky as elephants sometimes !

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/02/18 at 02:30:50

Springers are powerful, but not accurate. Pump ups are more accurate, and can be almost as powerful. Pneumatic (tank style) are both accurate and powerful, but are more expensive.

If I was ever going pig hunting for large pigs at fairly close range, I'd have me a round to do it with. Ditto for other larger body game at short distances.

Funny, the finished round actually resembles the K31 rifle rounds your son started out shooting, a big bullet, sorta slowish --- running the same powder type and charge as a matter of fact.

It's all relative. Other "Great White Hunters" said Bell was a surgeon who had a set of pathways to an elephant's brain that his 7mm could reach where as their cannons could go in at any old angle and get the job done. They tended to shoot both barrels from closer distances and were larger, more burly men that could handle the rather stout recoil.

Bell said he could shoot from the front or from the side at the elephant from "ignore the man" non-alarming distances of 75 yards and have the elephant drop right where it was, stunned, then he'd walk up for a coup de grace shot (if there were no other cows in the area as they would gather around to defend the fallen cow as a group).

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by MMRanch on 05/02/18 at 15:27:22

Makes ya (me) wonder what those Stone-Age hunters did when an Elephant was on the menu ... :-?
Could it have been people didn't know what Elephant tasted like till the modern times ? At least "Fresh Elephant" ;D

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/03/18 at 04:05:50

Stone age Neanderthal men hunted lone elephants with a group of 4-6 men, attacking a lone elephant from the sides with long spears while a really fleet footed hunter distracted the beast waving a fur in its face then running away between a gauntlet of hidden spear men.

They would set a spear or two into the elephant's softer guts from the side as the elephant rumbled past, then they would back off and follow the wounded beast for a day or so until sepsis finally killed it.

Not mankind's greatest moment, Neanderthal elephant hunting .....

::)

We are lucky that enough of these particular stone aged men survived to promote the species long enough to get them integrated into Homo Sapiens well enough to give us our genetic dispositions to food allergies, diabetes, beer guts and back problems.

(actually, we actually descended primarily from the other side, Homo Sapiens, the ones that drove whole herds of elephants over cliff edges using carefully staged grass fires)

I had a dozen or so bullets with malformed tips, so I used my seating die hollow pointing trick to put a nice little hollow point into the badly manged lead tip, reforming it into something more balanced and useful.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/03/18 at 14:07:41

Ok, so I have finished building up the last of the 7mm-08 rounds, so it is now on to some new turf.

In North Carolina it used to be illegal to shoot big game with anything less than a .243 Winchester, this being based upon historical cup and core bullets blowing up unreliably in anything below .243 caliber for the longest time.

Then bullets in general went and got a lot better, especially the electro plated jacket Fusion stuff (atomically bonded jacket) and the Barnes swaged solid copper stuff with the skived petals. Bullets that literally could turn inside out and still stay together, penetrating 14 to 16 inches of "meat" in the FBI dense gel type testing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol8tgGtoXus

Now it is legal to hunt all game (deer and hogs and bear included) in North Carolina with a .223 with Fusion bullets and with Barnes total copper bullets. Heck, you can hunt with the new center fire Federal .20 caliber stuff if you use a decent bullet.

So, being retired, I went and bought me a short stocked kid's version of a heavy barrel CVA break open rifle in .223 to play around with, and 500 prepped cases and 500 62 grain fusion bullets. The little gun breaks down into a 20" long barrel package, so it can ride around in a saddle bag on my Barcalounger if needs be.

MM uses .223 so he knows what I am talking about. This is exactly like his Thompson Center pistol with double the barrel length and a full shoulder stock.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/03/18 at 21:36:11

So, this is the actual bullet, which can hold itself together at ~ 80% ~ weight retention at an average 15 inches of penetration, penetration which will likely exit on a lung chest shot and will surely exit a neck shot or head shot.

New tech means new rules ---- old dudes and kiddies can now go hunt with something they can actually stand to shoot.

The expanded diameter runs around .60" - .70" max petal to max petal with the petals tending to curling under around themselves to more firmly support themselves (tumbling and winding up in a ball like format).

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 05/03/18 at 23:35:42

Of all the evil deeds I've been accused of, 18" of penetration has never shown up in a complaint.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/07/18 at 18:01:05

Now I am going to be custom seating (length stretching) these rounds to exactly fit the break action gun, which means I am not being length limited and can fit the bullet seating depth to be extended somewhat, offering more powder capacity in the existing small case.

These rounds will not fit into a AR, ever. Especially after being fired once and expanded out to fit the CVA Hunter's chamber (neck sizing only from then on is planned by me, of course).

Plus, note that a .223 is actually the proportional shape of a tiny little miniature 30-06 or a really really tiny 50 caliber BMG (when you really scale it up a good bit).

The military really liked that particular case/bullet shape and ratio format over the last 100 years, they really really did. Used it 3 times in major rifle ammo, just shifting the total size and caliber up and down.

Using heavy charges of slow burning ball powder (26 grains for .223) you can expect throat erosion at a rate of .007" per 500, or so say the AR15 guys. So rather than using all my wear out factor all up during the initial fitting I think I will just smooth the throat out occasionally during routine cleaning and let it grow naturally deeper and deeper into the barrel.

My reloading set up is simplified as all case preparation and priming steps have already been done, so the only stations that are manned are the powder drop and the bullet seating.

Since the rounds are not going from a slam loaded magazine into a bullet/bolt head stressed AR-15 type set up I can leave off the bullet/case mouth post crimp operations too, which further simplifies my reloading set up.

My rounds will be rigorous enough since I will be stopping the rear boat tail change-over inside the neck itself, giving me a neck deformaton shoulder where the bullet boat tail still has a bit of neck left that is not yet expanded by the seated bullet.

So, my little pistol autoloader can serve to quickly load these rounds up, with me manually seating cases, bullets and hand manipulating the last tiny up bit of the auto-measure's up-down stroke to keep powder charges consistent. The machine will handle the rest, automatically.

I think the little thing is right cute, and it will perform far in excess of its size as long as I can shoot it accurately.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by MMRanch on 05/07/18 at 20:09:03

The little gun breaks down into a 20" long barrel package, so it can ride around in a saddle bag on my Barcalounger if needs be.

MM uses .223 so he knows what I am talking about. This is exactly like his Thompson Center pistol with double the barrel length and a full shoulder stock.

I get one shot stops just as much with the 223 as I used to with the ( 243 or 30-06)

and .... I shoot a "LOT" more accurate with the .223 round , I'm not expecting that recoil . Two of my hunting buddies who use (7mm Mag.) and (300 Win.Mag) give me a hard time about shooting a BABY round and I tease them both about all the times they have missed with them CANNONS they "try" to shoot straight... ;D

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/08/18 at 02:26:21

MM, recoil is all in your head and what you are used to.

People who shoot trap all the time really don't notice rifle recoil as recoil -- because to them it isn't.

It takes up to 90 grains of powder, a 55 cent bullet and a 5 cent primer to fuel one of the big magnums. A .223 reloading cost is easily less than 1/3 that much.

The thought of a range session that does not involve aspirin afterwards will be a pleasant change for me also.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Ed L. on 05/09/18 at 06:34:55

Been following the thread and have to laugh about aspirin after a range session. I'm still old school and shoot 30-06 reloads which keeps me honest or bruised depending on how I hold the rifle.
Don't know about your range but the local county range I shoot at has so much 223 brass laying around I can fill a bucket in under 5 minutes if I want to. .223 components are way more affordable than the larger calibers for reloading.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/09/18 at 06:57:49

Ed, scrape us up a goodly bucket full of brass and next spring I'll come by and get it.

I missed seeing you guys in Florida as I was really looking forward to it.

Trip had a good plan, but stuff happens ......

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Ed L. on 05/09/18 at 15:25:11

Oldfeller, The range officer is pretty cool about letting me be a brass rat, I'll scoop what I can each trip and put it aside for you. I'm always looking for 7.62x54r and 30-30 brass and look at .223 brass as a by catch. The best picking is at the 50 yd range where the AR's play.
I've jumped down the Black Powder rabbit hole right now and am working on making my own with readily available house hold chemicals in the proper ratio. ;)

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/09/18 at 20:28:50

Ed, if you like range brass you will jest love this new $23.99 trimmer design from Dave Holub. I personally use it and I verify it works exactly as shown in this YouTube video ....

https://youtu.be/XMYAdkeDPBU

.... and you can buy it from Ebay and other similar sorts of "cheap source" places.

http://https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/QOwAAOSwQYZW1KHg/s-l500.jpg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223-5-56-Case-trimmer-HMR-WCT-Worlds-Cheapest-Trimmer/122992786444?hash=item1ca2f0fc0c:g:QOwAAOSwQYZW1KHg

It is an excellent trick for range brass lovers (and reloaders in general).

Other Calibers available:

[ch8232](if you pick 8mm Mauser you can cover most of these other cases)

300 Blackout

.308 Win

.30.06

30-30

6.5 Creedmoor

.243 Win

22-250

8mm Mauser

7.62x39

.204 Ruger [ch8232]6.8 SPC

Think a bit ..... any of the long or short case extended 30-06 family can use the same device by a simple set-up change for correct depth, and by that I mean 308, 7mm-08, 243 Winchester, 30-06, 270, 25-06 etc. etc. It can also do 8x57 and 7x57 as well if you are smart enough to start with the larger necked 8mm body instead of say a 308 body. Going long bodied (30-06 length) isn't needed, and yes you can shorten the delrin body if you need to (if the hole is too deep and swallows up your case).

It indicates and centralizes off the neck shoulder alone -- everything else (including the neck diameter) is in clearance during trimming.

All it is is a Delrin body with the neck angle and rough clearance size/depth step drilled into it, facing a standard two flute HHS end mill held in place by a set screw. You set the neck length off a trimmed case (proper dimension) and it stays right there until the end mill gets dull (5,000 plus trimming ops) then you take it apart and sharpen the simple straight edges of the end mill with a fine grit diamond file, put it back together and re-set the length and go back to cutting. No case pressure is needed to get it to cut, but please note the half wrist twist that is applied to each case during cutting -- you are seeking the cleanest clearest mate up angle to the neck taper form to get the smoothest squarest cut.

For equipment, a 3/8 drill is perfectly fine. Half inch drills get too pokey slow though.

;)

If you have several different caliber case mouth diameters of this item, realize that swapping the end mill from A to B gives you a new set of VIRGIN cutting edges at the needed mouth diameters to use all over again ...... And you can buy suitable 3/8" HHS milling cutters for 2-3 bucks each on Ebay or Amazon. I bought spiral ground four-fluted cutters for that low low cost for my set of two case trimmers.

Remember, CLEAN THE BRASS REALLY REALLY GOOD and resize the brass before trimming as shoulder/neck form consistency is what you get back in overall trim length consistency.

I set up a drill sideways using a small table clamping vise, trim all the cases to length and then pull the trimmer and replace it with a chamfer cutter and lightly deburr the inside of the case mouth. Outside mouth burr is very minimal and gets removed by firing, cleaning / tumbling and resizing so I generally don't bother with any mouth OD deburr ops.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Ed L. on 05/10/18 at 06:39:21

I've a Mini-mat micro lathe that I use for trimming which gives about 2 thousands of an inch accuracy on my cases and for the amount I actually shoot is plenty fast enough once it is set up. I shoot 30-06 and 7.7x58 Jap which is part of the 30-06 family. Just about anything that is close gets resized and reloaded, 8x57, 7x57, 270 and even some 30-06 blanks got resized for the Jap. I mainly load lighter cast loads for the Jap. I can shoot all day for about 8 cents a round and the accuracy is good enough out to 50 yds to have fun. If I want to go longer I break out the 30-06's. I have a Sedgley Springfield and a Remmy BDL 700 in that caliber, both shoot better than I can most of the time. Too many toys and not enough time. ;)

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 05/10/18 at 11:31:57

Too many toys and not enough time. Wink

My address is available.

I will send pictures of your toys
Playing and having fun and show you the comfortable environment they live in.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/12/18 at 08:26:44

Ok Justin,

Here is my new toy, all disassembled, cleaned, oil/greased, forearm clearance floated, scope mount reapplied with locktite, bore sighted, locked down and all ready to go.

Time to build me some fitted ammo ......

Comment time: Bergara built CVA rifles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KwDcP-_WSw yep, watch the YouTube video

I did not have to do very much to this gun, say as compared to a Savage/Stevens rifle or to a Remington rifle.

Trigger was fine from the box, best stock "low end" trigger I have ever dealt with. Trigger sear and lock up toggle system were both treated with moly grease by me which assures they will function smoothly for decades into the future. Neither required any sort of honing or tuning --- nice.

As rec'd the barrel required cleaning (gun was proofed before boxing after all) and the rifling is a very smmoooth button rifling job. Crown is very crisp and showed some fine attention to finish lapping that was done right at the crown exit. This is the only factory production level barrel I have ever seen this done on -- a nice touch to be sure.

Comparison to American scope base mounting systems (which use like two screws to hold the whole scope base and mount assembly in place -- drop it and have it it hit wrong and the scope mount screw shanks themselves can break off on you, yep, it surely does happen).

The Bergara mount system uses FOUR substantial hardened torqx headed fasteners to hold the little break open's scope package on to the barrel -- despite whatever handling and abuse that may come to it during its lifetime of hard use. Mine is seated with locktite on the base radius and on all 4 screws, as my scope mount habits were formed on the weaker American mounting systems that absolutely require this sort of reinforcement.

All in all, I was impressed.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 05/12/18 at 10:15:40

Neither required any sort of honing or tuning --- nice.

I am not worthy...

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/15/18 at 12:10:20

And for those who are curious, this is what 500 finished rounds in .223 looks like. A small box, dense and heavy, but still a small box.

Mine are 62 grain Fusion bullets running 200 fps faster than some of these due to increased barrel length and a larger powder charge of a modern specialty powder ..... faster fps tends to mean a greater diameter in the blow up zone and a trade off in less penetration depth. Which is all to the good, BTW as them NC deer are fairly smallish critters anyway. Most traditional rounds are only opening up good on the far side of little NC deer -- which is why the through the shoulders shots and neck shots are so beloved in NC woods. Even a 30-30 gets "mostly wasted" on the partially expanded flying exit from the far side of their little bodies .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol8tgGtoXus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otou1Fws4cQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DejxnUqQ92A

And yes, I'd carefully shoot a deer in the neck with one of these, or if he was further away go for a "through the shoulders" shot.

I would not lung shoot a deer with a .223" diameter Fusion bullet -- far far too many NC deer have run off into the woods further than the un-aided (no dog help available) hunter can blood spatter track them when they are lung shot with .308 caliber bullets that didn't open up well until in the last 10" of deer meat.

Small NC deer require a fast moving, fast opening bullet .... and these blow up jobbies do not always penetrate through and through to leave a good visible blood trail.

Neck shots do shock damage to the spine and the through the shoulder shots bust up the front mobility joints, and the deer always tends to just flop over and park itself, kicking just a little bit until it quietly bleeds out.

"Hunting distance accuracy" on this rifle will be function tested by a small 3 by 5 index card with a dot in the middle, zero'd 1.25" high at 100 yards (it is hard to see out past 200 yards inside NC woods, period). A solid, sturdy little .223 rifle can safely ignore any woods distance drops as it is "within the index card" at twice the distance that you can actually see while hunting.

;)

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/17/18 at 04:54:42

A sling is needed for a carry gun. People get careless about sling installations, they need to fit right so they act as a shooting "tension" support when properly wrapped over your left forearm and elbow.

I once had an old dry rotted leather sling rip at the top sling loop while actually shooting it so I use ballistic nylon now for all my slings (plus it is a softer, more comfortable carry on the shoulder bone). Nylon is just a better material as the sling itself is strong enough to hold you up if needs be ..... and it doesn't rot over time.

However, nylon slings have dual adjustment straps and use plastic buckles that can break or work loose (had me one that did once) so I now sew upholstery thread (doubled) up both sides of my nylon slingwebs, bonding the two webbing strands into one thick strap and the continuous stitch lines up the two sides goes right on past the various adjustment buckles that now are just ornaments instead of adjustments. Slings are therefore a custom fit to just one rifle and the slings still can detach using the Uncle Mike's sling bevels that are now a permanent part of the sling assembly.

So this little gun is done, finito, pau, 30. I now have several carry rifles for larger game up to elk (7mm-08, 30-06, 8mm Mauser) and I also have a .223 carry varmint rifle good for game up to the size of a small deer.

The lighter guns that would actually get carried by me are the 7mm-08 and the .223 -- weight and pointing stability do count for more when you get older and weaker.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Ed L. on 05/17/18 at 08:10:18

A lighter gun for hunting is a must, my Remmy in 30-06 has the lighter barrel, sometimes at the range I wish I had gone for the bull barrel but back when I hunted I remember how the rifle got heavy real fast.
One of the guys I used to hunt with would carry a 357 Blackhawk, a 270 rifle and a 1911 along with extra rounds for each piece. I told him that if he ever stepped into a swamp all we would find of him would be his hat. He sounded like a tank going through the woods. ;)
Nice toy you got there :)

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 05/17/18 at 13:13:35

You'd like my 7mm-08 for carrying and light handling, but shooting it a lot at the range has some of the raw brutality factor still peeking out around the edges. I had to locktite the scope barrel inside the rings to stop it from walking on down the scope barrel (sharp abrupt recoil from the light 120 grain bullets, no less).

I have a bull barrel Police Tactical Barrier 30-06 with a 26" long barrel (intended for 180 grain AP rounds to shoot through car doors and bodies) -- but MM managed to split his eyebrow with it by getting all close focused and lost inside the end bell of the big scope .....

Everything kicks, some loads just do it more than others ......

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by Oldfeller on 06/12/18 at 12:17:49

Finishing details

See the butt stock holder for 9 finished rounds, nothing like having a fairly quick follow up shot without a lot of fumbling.

See the sewn elastic band over the trigger trick (an old Handy Rifle trick). By moving the simple elastic band up the back side of the trigger guard the effective trigger pull is adjustable. Moving it up the trigger guard increases the pre-pull and the trigger force needed to fire the gun goes down .... and down .... and down to mere ounces if you want it to.

This is one of them good old tricks that youngsters these days do not know about at all it seems.

Is it safe? Yes, because if you put too much elastic pre-pull on the trigger the trigger won't engage and you can't hold the hammer back on the gun at all. Low enough pre-pull to "click" to re-engage the hammer = approximately half a pound to a pound of force needed to pull the trigger. This very light trigger pull is safe enough since you don't ever pull the hammer back until you are ready to shoot (this constitutes your safety release on any form of single action pistol or rifle -- yep, pulling the hammer back has provided "safe action" for over 200 years now)

This elastic booster was called "a poor man's set trigger" back in the day ......

..... note: this trick is not safe on bolt action or auto-loader rifles --- it is only is safe on "thumb action on a pull back hammer" type guns.

Title: Re: The reloading bench -- aged nostalgia stuff
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 06/12/18 at 13:27:39

I stuck that in the
Don't Ever forget this
File.