vujade

I know we really love pictures especially of rifles in threads so I'll share this for now until I can report back after my test. Here is the rifle: (old pic, I've changed the scope since) Here is one of my best groups with the Varget:

Hello seasoned reloaders. I've been googling and reading threads all week and ready to step into unfamiliar (for me) territory. I'm rather fond of my face so if you don't mind, I'd like to share my process and ask for a sanity check to make sure I'm doing everything I can to be safe. I'm reloading for 308. (3 different rifles but for now, this will be a Savage 10FP pre-accutrigger with a 20 inch barrel and a 10x scope). After working up a load using OWC and tweaking with OAL, I settled on a load I'm very happy with. (41.9 grains of Varget pushing 168 grains of Hornaday a or z max with Federal cases and CCI200 primers will give me 5 shot groups below 0.5 inches at 100.) I know, I may have been better off just sticking to Varget but I'm cheap by nature and always looking for a deal. With that, I picked up a 5 pound jug of "Long Range Match" Surplus powder, which I'll call LRM powder. It's supposed to be equivalent to RL 15. If it doesn't work well enough for sub .5 groups in the Savage, it'll be demoted to be used in my hunting 308 (enjoys 44.1 grains of Varget) and/or a semi-auto Saiga (still working up a load for that). But the main thing is 1) I'd like to keep all body parts safe and 2) keep the rifle intact. With that, this is my plan: (I'm using a mix of new and once fired Hornady Brass by the way). Research shows that the max load for RL 15 will be 44.3, 45.1 or 43.6. It's supposed to be somewhat close to Varget in behavior. 1) Load up (1) load of 38 grains in Varget and the LRM. I'm trying to get my hands on a chronograph. This should be well below and at least give me a benchmark comparison with my known Varget. If it's way high, i'll proceed with even more caution and may tweak the following below. If it's about the same or lower, I can at least breathe a bit. If i don't get a chronograph, it'll at least give me an idea by recoil on how much hotter this will be. It's not a perfect test but it'll give me an idea. 2) I've made 3 of the following loads following the 10% rule using 43.6 as my high. I made loads in .5 increments starting with 39.5 to 43.5. I won't shoot those yet though but this will be what I used for the OWC test. 3) I'll make a round each. 38.5, 39, 42.2, 42.4, 42.6, etc. all the way to 44 in .2 grain increments. At the range, after the first shot of 38.0, I'll then shoot the 39, start the first part of OWC test by going from 39 to 42, and then using my .2 increments until I see signs of over pressure (hard to extract, primers looked flattened/cratered, primers falling out from too much primer pocket expanding). I'll stop right when I get those signs and then go back to my OWC test up until I saw the signs of overpressure. I normally like to load my stuff lighter anyway so I'm not looking for the fastest/hardest hitting weight charge, I just want it accurate without being dangerous. I'm open to any criticism to my thoughts/plan above. I'd rather suffer a blown ego than face. =) I'll be sure to update and report back with pictures (of great groups, not a broken rifle) on my progress. Thanks in advance.

My mom lives in the 'good part of town' and still doesn't lock her doors and is pretty laissez faire with her security. I tell her all the time that bad and poor folks will likely not rob each in their neighborhood; they may more than likely smart up and drive the extra couple of miles to rob a subdivision that may give them a little better return on investment.

Good area in a not so great part of town. I've got great immediate neighbors but the best way to describe it was after the market crashed, folks lost homes and seedier folks moved in. It hasn't been the same since. Not this particular incident (not that I know off) but recent break ins have been linked to a few of the schools kids around here who then sell the stuff at the local high schools. I know of at least 2 kids that were caught and then released since they were under 18.

I'm such a dork. How do you change the title? I spelled adviCe wrong.

I don't post for any other reason than to hopefully spare someone some future headache/heartache. I was walking to my wife's car this morning to start it up as the family got ready to go to church. I found her car door ajar. It was broken into while we were sleeping. As neighbors gathered that morning, we all realized that SEVERAL of us had our cars broken into (all on one side of the road). All snatch and grab. They took the usual stuff like electronics, sunglasses, stereos. etc. For once I'm glad my wife kept the car dirty as my daughter DS (I already scolded her that she should never leave it in the car again) still sat there under a pile of sweaters and beach hats that my wife always leaves in the car. I happened to lock the car door that night but I didn't alarm it (I just locked it from the door instead of using the remote lock/alarm). One of my neighbors was an easier pickings as from talking to some of them, at least one of them left it open. I normally keep the cars in the garage but we happened to leave the car outside because we were cleaning the garage the other day. I'm glad my wife took the garage opener inside that night. There are always bad guys out there. Same advice you've heard before just but a reminder. Always lock your door and if you have an alarm use it. If you have a home alarm and you leave, always alarm it even if it's a 'quick trip'. (My neighbor just went to the neighborhood park for an hour and got broken into just that way). Don't leave any valuables in the car. Of topic but it was an eye opener 3 or 4 years ago when our house was broken into. Those doors/locks that builders put into new houses are weak. 2 heavy kicks will take it right down the hinges. Replace them with longer screws, stronger bolts and/or add a storm door for another bit of protection. Check your home owner's insurance and make sure you have adequate coverage. I found out that they don't cover any cash stolen, jewelry is usually capped to a small amount. Document/inventory your stuff. (I take a picture of everything and store it in several places). You can add items to be itemized for insurance (I have a few of my guns added just in case). If you have a safe - it's really not that safe. But at least bolt it down. And I usually carry 80% of the time outside of work, sometimes I just forget (my work doesn't allow it), I'm going to make it 100% now (except for prohibited places and outside of work, I'm going to minimize that)). There are a lot of scum out there. Be careful.

sorry guys. I should have clarified. What I meant by converting was replacing/moving the trigger forward. The stock Saigas are set in 'sporting' configuration with a 'traditional' stock and the trigger back towards the buttstock. Folks then move the trigger forward (and effectively replacing the gosh-awful 'trigger that goes up' of the 308) and adding a pistol grip. This is what it looks like converted: I made some rounds with Varget (google showed me a few threads where folks found luck around the 42-43 mark (which is also a sweet spot for my Savage 10). Seated the bullet a little lower so that it fits in the magazine. When I shot heavier factory bullets (175 grain), the groups were all over the place so I'll stick to something lighter like 150 FMJs. I'll report on how it goes!

I used to clean my bore religiously until I started handloading and really paying attention to group sizes. What I realized is that my groups (Savage 10 in 308) are slightly larger when it's bare metal clean (.5-.75 inches @ 100). It tightens up after maybe 2 or 3 groups worth of shooting. And then it stays TINY for about 70 rounds (equivalent to 3 range trips) (under half an inch) and then they open up again (.5-.75 inches @ 100). I don't know if that's just this rifle but now I tend to not clean my other bores as much. (and now I have more time to reload instead of clean bores). But to answer your question - I wipe it down with a CLP or some other gun oil. I use Remington 40-x bore cleaner (make sure you shake it). I add a little more oil to the patch because the 40-x is an abrasive and I baby my stuff. IF it's still got copper, I use sweets 762 but that's some strong stuff. And then I put out several patches of just CLP/oil. I usually don't use a brush unless it's really really bad and if I do, it ends up being every 4 or 5 cleanings only (like when I want to get back to bare metal).

yeah, but it is an AK platform and it was before a conversion. There is a much nicer trigger now so I hope that helps. (and hand-loading).

yeah. i'll just do a OCW test (thanks for the tip Dolomite); sometimes there isn't a shortcut and that's best.

Hi. Does anyone here reload for a Saiga 308 (16 inch barrel)? Best groups I can manage now (6x scope) with 150 core loct is about 4-5 inches at 100 (5 shot groups); I'm wondering what some careful handloads can do. I'm thinking of using either Varget, Long Range Match surplus powder (says to use RL 15 load data) or WC846 (says to use BLC(2) data). I'm reading that lighter bullets (150 grain) is best. If anyone has some real experience, please share. Thank you,

I have an old school type desk (solid wood) but it was too small. I bought some "hardwood panel board" from Homedepot. (they are heavy and have this white panel layer on it). I screwed those into the desk to extend the real estate. It also has long lips on either side to hang stuff like my press. it's very heavy even if the drawers empty. I like the white panel layer because it's super easy to clean. It doesn't soak any liquids. it's smooth.

(Howard Stern does an interview with Obama fans)

I stumbled across this video series on YouTube. Quite well done imho. Here is the first: (I ended watching all 20 in a row.) Picked up some pretty good tips (like using a 22 brush covered with a paper patch for cleaning).

great job! My 9 year old daughter has a pink Cricket also but has since claimed my 10/22 (she said the cricket is too slow to load). =) Really though, I love hearing about this. I attend a gun show or the range and look around. There aren't just a lot of kids out there; most of them are at malls or Justin Beiber concerts and these are the ones going to be voting later on. I think we all need to continue missionary work and share this with others.

How well do the alternatives work for a 308 bolt gun? (if you want them all in the same hole at 100 yards?) Just curious. My rifle loves the Varget but that's all she's tasted; $90 for 8 pounds is tempting with all that ammo it can make.

That's a great/cheap idea for a target. it's harder than it sounds. Something similar - we took old CDs and shot them with 22 rifles at 25 yards. The goal was to get it through the hole without damaging the CD.

I just picked up a stack of 1 cent stamps. They are black with a little yellow; they should work nicely. I'm comparing them to some appleseed targets, these should simulate 250 yard headshots. These are going to be the cheapest targets ever (aside from using a black marker or those little green or orange price stickers you get from office stores) Once you shoot a group into them, it gives you instant scale of size when taking pictures. =)

Does anyone have a recipe for gun cleaner/oil? I thought I'd just use synthetic motor oil (Mobil 1) at one time (I figured, if it's good enough for a car's engine, it should be good enough for a gun). Well, I was wrong, it lubed it OK but it was extremely dirty after shooting it. I assume the oil needs a 'cleaning agent'. Well, I just went back to buying bottles of CLP-Breakfree. I think it'll still be cool to find a good alternative to paying $8 for a small bottle oil.

I've been using a Lee Safety scale since I started reloading (a few months ago). It always had trouble keeping zero or being consistent. The best I could do was re-weigh it 2 or 3x once it zeroed - that afforded me some confidence but it took so long to do each round. I just picked up a RCBS 505 and BOY! what a difference. It literally takes a 1/4 of the time to do each round. (and just to make sure (and force of habit), the first few, I removed the tray and shook the powder a bit and re-weighed again) and it consistently returned to zero. I started thinking... most folks spend quite a chunk of change on their reloading stuff and then like me, they use a cheap $25 scale for the MOST important part which is weighing the powder. That should be where you should spend a little more money. That RCBS 505 wasn't the most expensive scale there but I repent even waiting this long. 5 rounds later and I'm impressed and happy! I like this scale! (oh, as a side note. I zero-ed the Lee scale. (My 308 really likes 42.1 grains of Varget.) I weighed 42.1 grains on the Lee and then weighed that on the RBCS - The RBCS was zeroed also and the same charge weighed 41.8 grains.)

I saw this on some website and I've been doing it. I just bought a pack of different colored sharpies.... Say I'm doing 3 shot groups but I want to know where my 2nd shoot (or 1st or last) is, I paint the bullets with a sharpie. They transfer to the target. You can also color all 3 bullets for a group a certain color so that they show up easily as a set on the paper target.

yes, I love the clay pigeons! We lay them on the berm and blow them up. And then really test your marksmanship by 'getting rid off all the orange' by breaking the smaller and smaller orange left overs with 22s. Some other great target ideas: We got this off 'top shot' - try shooting off the tops of the q-tips with 22 rifles. very cheap and yes, it's difficult but feasible at 25 yards (at least that's as far as I could hit them) or tape some paintballs to some paper and watch them splatter!

awesome; i never thought of that! thanks for the tip.

I was at the range the other day and this guy was using 1 cent stamps for his 100 yard targets. They are perfect black square stickers. They look great especially when you shoot tiny groups into them. When you take a picture for bragging rights, they automatically have scale to them. I'm going to the Post Office tomorrow to get some! Here are a few more to share... I get pipe insulation from HomeDepot/Lowes (the long gray ones for about $1.50) and cut them to 1/4 inch longer than my barrel and then I insert my barrel into it. They protect my barrel when I lay them in the safe or when I tote them around. I don't like to carry guns in a gun case. Nothing says I have a rifle here than a big box of a case with camo designs. Ever since the old movie with Antonio Banderas where there was a guy with guns in a guitar case, I've always thought that was a cool way to keep a gun. What I ended up doing is getting a bunch of used guitar cases from music stores and packing my long guns in that when I head to the range. They are much cheaper (I have a nice Fender case for under $20) They have different sizes to fit your gun (I have a 10/22 with a folding stock that I keep in a ukelele case; it's perfect!). They come padded and main thing is that you can carry it around, transport it in a car and folks (especially in Nashville) just assume you're a musician! Your turn - any Macgyver-isms for the gun hobby you'd like to share?

My savage 10fp in 308 is my favorite rifle! I got it used a while ago and was never impressed at first. I debated and almost resold it once or twice. Then I realized I was shooting it using not the best ammo (I was shooting 150 grain hunting rounds from Walmart). I started using Hornady and Federal Match stuff and started getting groups between half an inch to 3/4 inch and I was happy with that... but then i started reloading and whew! Now i can say I Love that rifle! (I have the older pre-accutrigger version which I actually prefer; it breaks at a nice 2 pounds)