In need of "airing"

[Mortblanc]

Here it is nearly the middle of February and I have not been out for a real pressure relieving trip in months now. Probably will not get out for another few weeks and I am nearly gone bonkers.

Today the temp is -10 at noon and I am NOT a cold weather camper. I have the gear in plenty, but it is for emergency use only as far as I am concerned. Cold is something I endure, not enjoy.

Si if I were in GB I am sure I would be waiting for the solstice and planning a trip to some stone circle to insure summer was returning. But even at the crack of spring I would be booking a hotel stay and not camping.

[CharlesHarris]

MB,

Same here. 2 inches of snow last night followed by freezing rain. Staying indoors, listening to the spinning tyres of those trying to get out and go to work. I am celebrating my American and Scots-Irish heritage by imbibing of a wee tot of whisky in my tea whilst casting bullets to feed my Webley MkVI .455 revolver.

[Pete Grey]

(5 February 2018, 17:36)Mortblanc Wrote: Here it is nearly the middle of February and I have not been out for a real pressure relieving trip in months now. Probably will not get out for another few weeks and I am nearly gone bonkers.

Today the temp is -10 at noon and I am NOT a cold weather camper. I have the gear in plenty, but it is for emergency use only as far as I am concerned. Cold is something I endure, not enjoy.

Si if I were in GB I am sure I would be waiting for the solstice and planning a trip to some stone circle to insure summer was returning. But even at the crack of spring I would be booking a hotel stay and not camping.

In the UK most camp sites do not open until easter, the problem here is not the cold but waterlogged ground, after a wet winter it’s not unusual for opening to be delayed even longer.

[Mortblanc]

(5 February 2018, 18:28)CharlesHarris Wrote: MB,

Same here. 2 inches of snow last night followed by freezing rain. Staying indoors, listening to the spinning tyres of those trying to get out and go to work. I am celebrating my American and Scots-Irish heritage by imbibing of a wee tot of whisky in my tea whilst casting bullets to feed my Webley MkVI .455 revolver.

I woke up this morning to the sound of the big garbage truck spinning its wheels in an effort to escape from our little lane. We have had lots of "nasty" but not enough snow for me to even crank up the Jeep to go find trouble to get into.

What mold are you using for the Webly?

I had one that was converted to shoot .45acp using half moon clips and I had to use the 255gn flat tip intended for the .45LC to get a bore size big enough to fill out the Webly barrel. Even then I had to use the .455 slug unsized and pray the soft lead would crunch into the pores of the rifling and hang on.

I used to use it to shoot bowling pin matches. That thing would romp 'em and stomp 'em. I would load it to about 700fps and it would take pins clear off the back f the table with no apparent effort. Mainspring looked like it was made from scrap railroad track by some Afgan with a hack saw and rusty file.

I have been casting bullets for some 30-30 loads for the past couple weeks. I have a 170gn block and a 200gn block.

Most of my friends shoot Marlins and the micro groove barrels do not like bullets pushed much past 1500fps. If I use the 200gn bullet at 1500fps for the Marlins they have nearly as much power as the 170gn slug pushed to factory velocity.

My Winchester has the deep cut rifling and shoots about anything I feed it. I have committed the ultimate sacrilege and mounted a long eye relief scope out on the barrel. It retains the easy handling of the '94 while giving scoped accuracy.

I put an aim-point on it a few years back and was nearly hung when I arrived at deer camp. Now most of that same crew is using red dot sights in the deep hollows where the sun don't shine but two hours a day.

I put together 3 boxes of .300 Winchester Magnum cartridges last night. I have one buddy that got a super deal on one but it stomps too hard for him to shoot. Probably why the guy sold it so cheap!

Anyway, I reload it down to starting loads, which are about equal to 30-06 top range loads. 168gn bullet at 2600fps. That way he can shoot it without pain that day and the next two, and it is a very accurate round.

I am so bored that if this weather does not break soon I am going to be neck deep in plastic butter tubs of reloaded ammo!

I caught myself eyeballing a plastic bucket of .223 brass yesterday and that stuff costs more to reload than you can buy it for surplus.

[Pete Grey]

Reading this reminds me of when i used to read Guns & Ammo magazine and of of evenings using my Lee loading press, happy days.

[Mortblanc]

These little conversations are one of the fine points of SUK one does not find on most other forums in the UK or the US either one. No arguments, no flaming, just passing the time and some information.

I bit the bullet and made a trip outside this afternoon. Still only -2c so I put on the flannel lined canvas pants, thermal knit underwear, fuzzy wool socks, pullover wool sweater and the down parka. Topped my head with a sock hat and found some gloves.

I loaded up the two rifles and a box each of ammo, grabbed the target stickers and stapler and headed for the range.

I got there and the place was empty, just as I like it for running these tests.

By the time I walked down to the target banks and set up, unloaded the guns, ammo, lead sled, sandbags, spotting scope I realized I was sweating!

I peeled off the parka and began the shooting. It was still cold but I was not suffering, except for a very cold trigger finger, which did stop me from shooting my best.

At least that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!

I got both rifles adjusted at 25 yards, then backed off to 100. In spite of the cold I was able to keep things reasonable with a 1" group for the .308 and about 2" for the 300 Win-mag. About half the primers I used on the Win-mag rounds were bad and that made me antsy enough to not shoot that rifle particularly well. It is capable of much better, but not when things go click instead of bang.

The groups were still good enough to get them positioned where they needed to be so I am calling the rifles zeroed and sending them home.

I will pull all the bullets from the reloaded rounds and get that problem sorted out. I had purchased 2 packs of primers from a local shop and no telling what they had been exposed too. That is the first time in my 50 years reloading experience that I have fallen victim to an entire batch of bad primers.

[Pete Grey]

I only used to load 38 special, 357 magnum and 9 mm rounds, i used CCI primers and Hercules Bullseye or Red Dot powders. Out of thousands of rounds i only had to pull a few bullet heads, it always pays to use the best components. As i never loaded any rifle ammunition i can’t comment but a 1 inch group at 100 yards sounds bloody good to me. One of the pleasures of reloading is trying different bullet heads and different weights of powder, thanks for the memory’s MB.

[CharlesHarris]

For the Mark VI I am using a custom gang mold made by Tom Ellis of Accurate Molds. The bullet generally resembles the profile of the MkVI service bullet, but with the nose truncated to a flat nose with 0.3" meplat diameter, which provides good stopping power on game, even at low, 600 fps velocity. The bullets drop .455" from wheelweights, and I had my gunsmith uniform and hone the cylinder throats of the cylinder to a .4555" all the way around in his Sunnen hone, which mostly removed the old pitting form use of the old corrosive military primers. load 3.5 grains of Bullseye pistol powder, which gives about 560-600 fps with the 262-grain bullet. I'll try to post some pictures.

[Midnitemo]

Got my annual dose of purgatory coming up this Saturday , the Dragon rally , one night under canvas in whatever the weather chooses to throw at us somewhere in North Wales with my loony mates drinking and chattin shit til the wee small hours , got a new bike to try out BMW has given way to an Africa twin....Just hoping for snow or at least a deep frost other wise we will all get trench foot

[MaryN]

Ahhh, boys and their toys!