25 years later

[JRanum]

Short story. In 1999 as a 17 year old, I purchased a new Remington 700 Classic in .17 Rem from the Powder Horn in downtown Bozeman Mt.

New nickel brass, Hornady Vmaxs, and I purchased my first 8 lb keg of IMR 4320 at our local gunshow for $105.

Loaded up the best shooting(hot!) load and shot jackrabbits by dozens, coyotes, crows.

Moly was the rage back then and I coated everything with Midways aerosol spray on moly. Couldnt clean the barrel squeeky clean so you wipe it out kind of clean every 100 rounds to keep it accurate.

Rifle was a solid .550” grouper.

Fast forward to today. After buying alot of rifles over the years, Neglecting the 17, and having never really cleaned CLEANED the barrel, I decided to shoot up the last of the 30 rounds I had loaded from 2004.



Theres not much in this story that would be recommended today. Times have changed.

I am going to work up a new load, a bit milder, with no moly. And clean the barrel. But after all these years the damn thing still shoots.

 

[357Mag]

Short story. In 1999 as a 17 year old, I purchased a new Remington 700 Classic in .17 Rem from the Powder Horn in downtown Bozeman Mt.

New nickel brass, Hornady Vmaxs, and I purchased my first 8 lb keg of IMR 4320 at our local gunshow for $105.

Loaded up the best shooting(hot!) load and shot jackrabbits by dozens, coyotes, crows.

Moly was the rage back then and I coated everything with Midways aerosol spray on moly. Couldnt clean the barrel squeeky clean so you wipe it out kind of clean every 100 rounds to keep it accurate.

Rifle was a solid .550” grouper.

Fast forward to today. After buying alot of rifles over the years, Neglecting the 17, and having never really cleaned CLEANED the barrel, I decided to shoot up the last of the 30 rounds I had loaded from 2004.

View attachment 1691723

Theres not much in this story that would be recommended today. Times have changed.

I am going to work up a new load, a bit milder, with no moly. And clean the barrel. But after all these years the damn thing still shoots.

JR -

Howdy !

You made a pretty good powder choice, for back then.

Great effort…shooting 21y.o. cartridges.

Still a capable rifle, and who knows what some new load work-ups might show ?

Keep up the good work !


With regards,
357Mag

 

[Tommie]

So glad you got a good one! I bought one of those 17 Rem Classics in 1999 and got shotgun patterns with it. Remington blamed the ammunition (which was Remington factory ammo). Your gun’s a keeper.

 

[jds holler]

I don't see anything to recommend changing from your old moly method. Seems to have worked pretty well. jd

 

[JRanum]

I think I do still have some moly coated Bergers I have never tried. I can imagine I would search for a long time for a can of Midways moly. I do remember it being a real pain standing all those 20 grainers up in mothers cookie pan for a spray down and oven session to bake it on

 

[searcher]

Yep - it seems every ten or twenty years, when looking back, one can see that they were, indeed, the good old days. I still have some boxes of Speer bullets I bought at a local shop back in the 80's (?). most boxes are marked $3.00 to $5.00. Primers back then were like .60c, a keg of powder around $80.00. I'd pick up rimfire ammo at K-Mart in the 70's on sale for .59c/50. While that seems so cheap now - it really wasn't for the time and despite how much we all bitch when ammo and component prices increase, they haven't gone up, in percentage, as much as a lot of other things. I think the price of primers, right now while they are overstocked, will be looked upon as a great deal down the road. I too got hot on moly, though not the spray. I still use moly when tumbled a lot. I doubt I'll stop unless something better shows up.

 

[ricco1949]

I think I do still have some moly coated Bergers I have never tried. I can imagine I would search for a long time for a can of Midways moly. I do remember it being a real pain standing all those 20 grainers up in mothers cookie pan for a spray down and oven session to bake it on

Moly wet tumble is a better option...