Attempts at amateur gunsmithing, citizenship, and other skilled trades
Hand-loading your own ammunition
Sometimes during load development you can fall back on the wisdom of the ages: even allowing for improved components, you don’t need to completely reinvent the wheel.
Such was the case with my 30-06, a rifle that was hugely popular decades before I was born–and still is. Lots of communal wisdom regarding pet loads out there.
I began the year with three beautiful bolt action rifles: two rebarreled Remington 700s in 270 Winchester and 30-06 Springfield, and a Tikka T3X in 6.5 Creedmoor.
They each shoot factory ammunition well and excel with handloads, and all three fit me like a glove. Between them, they could handle almost any reasonable shooting application.
My 6.5 Creedmoor and 270 Win (the latter rebarreled with a faster-twist offering) sufficed for light-to-medium hunting and target duty.
The 270 (with the 170 grain bullets made possible by the faster barrel twist) and 30-06 between them covered heavier projectile requirements.
However, there comes a time when one must abandon old ways and embrace the new.
Continue readingSetting optimum headspace on your rifle brass can be a confusing chore. But if I can do it, so can you.
Let’s start with the basics.
When I pull the trigger of a firearm, its firing pin strikes the cartridge primer, igniting it, which in turn sets off the powder charge.
I recently found a Rock Island Armory 1911 Ultra FS 10mm for sale on Gunbroker.com. It was marked down to an unbeatable price by one of my favorite sellers, so I pounced.
This after I’d said–not for the first time–“I don’t need any more guns!”
Continue readingShooting over distance requires you to adjust for bullet drop and windage. Calculating these corrections, or “dope,” ahead of time improves your chances for success.
My Opa learned over a lifetime of hunting to instinctively aim where he needed to cleanly hit his target. If he could see it, he could knock it down, quickly and humanely.
Unlike Opa I didn’t hunt to feed my family, so I lacked his motivation–and, sadly, his talent–to make every shot count by just looking.
Continue readingAs I mentioned in an earlier entry, you won’t necessarily save money by handloading your own ammunition. What you can do is tailor your loads to shoot better than factory ammunition (at least in your guns).
Here’s how I do it.
In an earlier journal entry I mentioned neck turning brass as a possible way to improve accuracy.
“Neck turning” consists of shaving the outer diameter of brass case necks to minimize variations in thickness. By uniforming the brass you’re supposed to get consistent neck tension, therefore consistent velocity and better accuracy.
A lot of smart people swear by it, but I couldn’t find much in the way of hard evidence for or against.
More of the equipment that’s earned a place on my reloading bench so far (continued from part 1).
Stumped by which reloading equipment to choose?
Trial and error can be a frustrating–and expensive–approach, so here’s a look at the equipment that’s earned a place on my reloading bench so far.
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