As our season winds down here in the desert, I thought I’d share some experiences and observations from the season which might be useful to others as your seasons are just starting. These are mostly reloading topics, but maybe a bit of rifle stuff too.
The Whidden bullet pointing tool was the “best find†of the season. While it is a bit pricey, it is actually well worth the price if you are shooting near the top end of your matches and find yourself in close races with some degree of frequency. I definitely saw an increase in X count with the tool and a slight uptick in average scores. Most importantly, from a reloading standpoint, it’s easy to use and delivers consistent results. I no longer shoot unpointed bullets – except my old favorite the Lapua D46 185 gr. FMJ, kind of hard to make a FMJ pointier!
Meplat Uniforming – I’ve completely quit doing this. It hurts my fingers, it’s slow and pointing gives better results. I suppose you could argue that the combination of the two would be ideal, but I don’t have the interest level to really test that. Pointing works, it’s fast and painless, so pointing wins, uniforming loses.
Moly – still coating after all these years,apologies to Paul Simon). I haven’t found any reason to quit moly-coating. My bore scope shows good looking barrels with thousands of rounds through them. It also shows minimal copper fouling after each days shooting, and that’s my real goal – reduce fouling during the 70 shots that I fire per match. I haven’t tried any of the other coating more than very briefly with Boron Nitride. Moly still works, so looking for marginal improvements here hasn’t become a priority.
Some months ago I was able to find a carbide bushing in 0.331â€; I’ve been trying to get one for a long time! This thing leaves such a smooth finish on the necks, they look like glass! I can’t tell you the ammo shoots any better, but I really like it and sure wish I could find them in other useful sizes like 0.265â€, 0.268â€, 0.335†– hint to anyone who can make these!
A friend who is relatively new to reloading and competitive shooting dropped out of a match a few weeks ago with ammo problems. After it was over and we spoke he said he was blowing primers on his 6XC with a mild load from an internet source. In fact, the quoted load,39.0 H4831, 105) is a mild load. Mystery solved a day later when he called to ask if 4895 was about the same as 4831 because it turns out he used 4895… Nope, not even close to the same and clearly the source of his blown primers; thankfully he has a strong BAT action and there was no damage to anything. Lesson to all – check the information you get on the internet and then make darn sure you’re actually following your verified info! Please, none of this is worth getting injured over!
After having quit shooting my 30-06 about 4 years ago, I rebarelled one in January 2008 and by the end of the year had put together a second one in the RT10 Tubegun,Gun of the Week #91). While my aggregate scores with the 30-06 are typically a couple of points lower than with the 6BR at mid-range matches,500 and 600), I’ve had an absolute ball shooting the ’06 again. I’ve fired about 3,700 rounds through the two rifles since Jan. ’08 and about an equal number through the 6BR and 6XC. At 500 and 600 yard matches, my 6mm scores have been averaging 598 and my 30-06 scores are averaging 595, so there’s a real difference in favor of the 6mm, but not as big as we sometimes like to think. Phoenix is a pretty competitive place, though so those 3 points,on average) usually mean 4th or 5th place instead of top 3. Still, when I shoot the ’06 I leave the match more satisfied somehow and I’ve even won a few with it. At one club match last fall, I won the match rifle division and Ron Foos won the service rifle division with his Garand – when was the last time you saw that with a pair of 30-06 rifle? That was fun.
Speaking of the RT10 Tubegun, I really am enjoying shooting it. While not a reloading topic, I will say that it is my favorite rifle to shoot with these days and that’s part of the reason I’m shooting more matches with the 30-06, just to shoot the RT10!
Primers – the primer conversation has obviously shifted from “What’s the best primer?†to “Where can I get primers?†I’m in the same boat as everyone on that topic, they’re certainly scarce and who knows when we’ll return to normal supply levels. I see a lot more interest in primer testing than before and that’s really a useful area for some shooters. Frankly, you should be aware that gains here are small and can be tough to pin down, but if you’re scratching for that last little bit, it’s still a useful area for experimentation. My basic suggestion is to begin by chronographing a normal load for your rifle with a variety of primers. If you see that some are distinctly lower in average MV, that’s a good indication and those are the ones to pay attention to. Low SD of MV is a nice secondary indication, but low average MV is the strongest indicator of better performing primers that I’ve been able to determine. If you’re really into primer testing and want to build a rig to photograph the flash, write to me and we’ll chat about that.
The primer related problems I’m seeing from other shooters are almost always related to misfires. While the primers frequently get the blame, the real culprit when a primer fails to fire is often found about six inches to the rear of the primer – also visible in your bathroom mirror in the morning. We like to fiddle with our rifles and ignition systems get a lot of attention because they’re easy to work with. Let me say this categorically: reduced weight firing pins will increase the probability of misfires. Increased spring rates are fine as long as they don’t make the cocking effort too heavy, but the light firing pin in rifles of modern design will move the whole system closer to the point of unreliability. The Springfield Model of 1903 had an excessively heavy firing pin and John Garand made a great replacement that caused no problems. Since then, every rifle made has been subjected to the “lighter is better†treatment by gun cranks,us) and by manufacturers. The problems arise, of course, when a rifle that a bright designer already made with a light, though reliable, mechanism is taken past the point of reliability by an untested modification. Mike Walker, who largely designed the Remington 700, holds a place of high esteem in my mind. He was an active Benchrest shooters,and a darn good one) and he knew what he was doing with that firing pin!
Primer seating, also known as “Misfires – Part Two†is another area where I’ve seen room for improvement in a lot of people’s procedures. It’s a delicate task, if you’re doing it on a press, may God bless you and protect you, but I doubt you’re getting the most from your primers. If you’re using a quality hand tool, make sure you are seating them all the way and then adding a touch of compression without deforming the cup. If it starts to look concave or if the edge radius is flattening, then you’re going too far.
I still load everything on an RCBS Rockchucker with Redding dies. The Hornady New Dimension dies are also very high quality and a great “non-bushing†die; the sets have a nice seater as well. Using O-Rings under the locking ring of the dies and making an index mark on the press and on the dies allows me to set up quickly and to make small changes in headspace to match various rifles chambered for the same cartridge but with slightly differing headspace.
Well, that’s enough rambling for now, I’d better get to work! Hope some of this is useful to someone.
The Whidden bullet pointing tool was the “best find†of the season. While it is a bit pricey, it is actually well worth the price if you are shooting near the top end of your matches and find yourself in close races with some degree of frequency. I definitely saw an increase in X count with the tool and a slight uptick in average scores. Most importantly, from a reloading standpoint, it’s easy to use and delivers consistent results. I no longer shoot unpointed bullets – except my old favorite the Lapua D46 185 gr. FMJ, kind of hard to make a FMJ pointier!
Meplat Uniforming – I’ve completely quit doing this. It hurts my fingers, it’s slow and pointing gives better results. I suppose you could argue that the combination of the two would be ideal, but I don’t have the interest level to really test that. Pointing works, it’s fast and painless, so pointing wins, uniforming loses.
Moly – still coating after all these years,apologies to Paul Simon). I haven’t found any reason to quit moly-coating. My bore scope shows good looking barrels with thousands of rounds through them. It also shows minimal copper fouling after each days shooting, and that’s my real goal – reduce fouling during the 70 shots that I fire per match. I haven’t tried any of the other coating more than very briefly with Boron Nitride. Moly still works, so looking for marginal improvements here hasn’t become a priority.
Some months ago I was able to find a carbide bushing in 0.331â€; I’ve been trying to get one for a long time! This thing leaves such a smooth finish on the necks, they look like glass! I can’t tell you the ammo shoots any better, but I really like it and sure wish I could find them in other useful sizes like 0.265â€, 0.268â€, 0.335†– hint to anyone who can make these!
A friend who is relatively new to reloading and competitive shooting dropped out of a match a few weeks ago with ammo problems. After it was over and we spoke he said he was blowing primers on his 6XC with a mild load from an internet source. In fact, the quoted load,39.0 H4831, 105) is a mild load. Mystery solved a day later when he called to ask if 4895 was about the same as 4831 because it turns out he used 4895… Nope, not even close to the same and clearly the source of his blown primers; thankfully he has a strong BAT action and there was no damage to anything. Lesson to all – check the information you get on the internet and then make darn sure you’re actually following your verified info! Please, none of this is worth getting injured over!
After having quit shooting my 30-06 about 4 years ago, I rebarelled one in January 2008 and by the end of the year had put together a second one in the RT10 Tubegun,Gun of the Week #91). While my aggregate scores with the 30-06 are typically a couple of points lower than with the 6BR at mid-range matches,500 and 600), I’ve had an absolute ball shooting the ’06 again. I’ve fired about 3,700 rounds through the two rifles since Jan. ’08 and about an equal number through the 6BR and 6XC. At 500 and 600 yard matches, my 6mm scores have been averaging 598 and my 30-06 scores are averaging 595, so there’s a real difference in favor of the 6mm, but not as big as we sometimes like to think. Phoenix is a pretty competitive place, though so those 3 points,on average) usually mean 4th or 5th place instead of top 3. Still, when I shoot the ’06 I leave the match more satisfied somehow and I’ve even won a few with it. At one club match last fall, I won the match rifle division and Ron Foos won the service rifle division with his Garand – when was the last time you saw that with a pair of 30-06 rifle? That was fun.
Speaking of the RT10 Tubegun, I really am enjoying shooting it. While not a reloading topic, I will say that it is my favorite rifle to shoot with these days and that’s part of the reason I’m shooting more matches with the 30-06, just to shoot the RT10!
Primers – the primer conversation has obviously shifted from “What’s the best primer?†to “Where can I get primers?†I’m in the same boat as everyone on that topic, they’re certainly scarce and who knows when we’ll return to normal supply levels. I see a lot more interest in primer testing than before and that’s really a useful area for some shooters. Frankly, you should be aware that gains here are small and can be tough to pin down, but if you’re scratching for that last little bit, it’s still a useful area for experimentation. My basic suggestion is to begin by chronographing a normal load for your rifle with a variety of primers. If you see that some are distinctly lower in average MV, that’s a good indication and those are the ones to pay attention to. Low SD of MV is a nice secondary indication, but low average MV is the strongest indicator of better performing primers that I’ve been able to determine. If you’re really into primer testing and want to build a rig to photograph the flash, write to me and we’ll chat about that.
The primer related problems I’m seeing from other shooters are almost always related to misfires. While the primers frequently get the blame, the real culprit when a primer fails to fire is often found about six inches to the rear of the primer – also visible in your bathroom mirror in the morning. We like to fiddle with our rifles and ignition systems get a lot of attention because they’re easy to work with. Let me say this categorically: reduced weight firing pins will increase the probability of misfires. Increased spring rates are fine as long as they don’t make the cocking effort too heavy, but the light firing pin in rifles of modern design will move the whole system closer to the point of unreliability. The Springfield Model of 1903 had an excessively heavy firing pin and John Garand made a great replacement that caused no problems. Since then, every rifle made has been subjected to the “lighter is better†treatment by gun cranks,us) and by manufacturers. The problems arise, of course, when a rifle that a bright designer already made with a light, though reliable, mechanism is taken past the point of reliability by an untested modification. Mike Walker, who largely designed the Remington 700, holds a place of high esteem in my mind. He was an active Benchrest shooters,and a darn good one) and he knew what he was doing with that firing pin!
Primer seating, also known as “Misfires – Part Two†is another area where I’ve seen room for improvement in a lot of people’s procedures. It’s a delicate task, if you’re doing it on a press, may God bless you and protect you, but I doubt you’re getting the most from your primers. If you’re using a quality hand tool, make sure you are seating them all the way and then adding a touch of compression without deforming the cup. If it starts to look concave or if the edge radius is flattening, then you’re going too far.
I still load everything on an RCBS Rockchucker with Redding dies. The Hornady New Dimension dies are also very high quality and a great “non-bushing†die; the sets have a nice seater as well. Using O-Rings under the locking ring of the dies and making an index mark on the press and on the dies allows me to set up quickly and to make small changes in headspace to match various rifles chambered for the same cartridge but with slightly differing headspace.
Well, that’s enough rambling for now, I’d better get to work! Hope some of this is useful to someone.
