vujade

by the way, I also had some PRVI Partisan 308 cases. they are re-loadable but my small trials showed they didn't hold a group quite like the Federals. I guess even cases make a huge difference...like what .002 in difference can do right.

question - what is the benefit of putting a bevel on the case? thanks for all the info. I assume just keep firing the brass until it's too long and then trim it? Another question - in your experiences, how many reloads can you get out of a 308 case? Especially if I load lighter, I wonder how long i can use them.

question - like hair Lanolin right? and how much parts with how much alcohol (I assume rubbing alcohol?) thanks for the tip.

Hello. This is documenting my reloading first reloading attempt. I'll add some lessons learned and some additional questions for you seasoned folks. I'm also soliciting some advice on next steps to improve. This is the rifle: Savage (pre-accutrigger) 10FP in 308. 20 inch barrel. B&C medalist stock. Nikon buckmasters scope. I'm just shooting up to 100 yards only for now. Maybe 200 soon. I don't see myself shooting longer than that since I don't have access anyway. I'm using a dillon 550b but i'm using it as a 'single stage' since I don't have the powder funnel for 308 and I want to go as slow as possible. I used Lyman's edition, a booklet from Hogdon and their website to read/learn and check loads are below max. This is my work space: I'm using Federal cases. Winchester primers. Varget powder. Sierra Match Kings in 168 grains. (Question - what are these?) the upper left is the thing to clean the primer residue but I'm not sure of the others. This is currently my reloading process open for your suggestions: 1. clean the brass in media and I read somewhere to use a little bit of nu finish car wax and strips of cloth. Let it run for 2 hours. 2. Spray the brass lube. (lesson for me - let it dry and do it in an open room/turn on a fan) 3. use station 1 to re-size and de-prime. (i learned to use enough lube later on; at first, I thought I had to fight it). 4. remove the case and use the tool to clean the primer residue. 5. insert a primer and then back in station 1 with the case. I make sure to seat the primer all the way. It's basically flush or slightly above (barely can tell) 6. put the case in a tray and weight out the powder and use the funnel spill it into the case. (lesson for me is to make sure all the powder gets in there, for maybe 5 of the rounds, i found 3 or 4 grains stuck and thus made a few cases short powder). I used an old school weighing scale in grains after i zeroed it. I started with 42.0 grains of varget and then 42.5, 43, and then 44. I made a few others using inferior brass (PPU and sierra game kings) 7. put the case into station 3 and a bullet and seat it. (I wonder if you ran it through more than once...just to make sure it's good and tight and uniform. Aside from seating the bullet, this 'closes down the neck a bit right? I know i can load all the powder at the same time but I figure this is the safest since I have no risk of double charging. I load it with a pullet as soon as I put powder. 8. clean the bullet and set aside. I made 6 rounds for each 'weight' so I can shoot at 2 groups per weight I was testing. I'd weighed the complete round and then the over all length. I found that there was still some differences. I then tried to group each group of 3 into similar weight at least. The difference in length seemed to be due to the bullets. I measured the SMK from the box and they were not all perfect.. a few .001 or so inches off. ....at the range: I finally went to the range just yesterday. I had just placed a known good set of rings and re-sighted the gun with factory ammo. (old rings were a failure so I put some known good ones even if they are a little high) I would clean the barrel, wait about 2 minutes or during a clear and then proceed to shoot 2 groups for each 'weight group'. (see data). Main data is for teh 168 SMK but I shoot some of the SGK and also a group of FGMM (i had 3 rounds left); historical average with Hornady TAP or FGMM is .4 to .75 inches at 100 yards. I ran about 3-4 patches with gun oil to clean. It seems dirtier than Hornady TAP or FGMM. I maybe should have waiting longer for the barrel to cool. I shot off sandbags. At first, I was using sandbags on top of a plastic rest and it may have not been the most stable. When loading the rounds, some rounds were 'tighter' than others when chambering a round. It's all defnitely tighter than the factory rounds. Is it because I may be using different hand pressures when depriming/resizing? Is it advisable to run it down the resizer twice or more? These are some groups: (best group) with 43 grains of Varget (most groups look like this (see data)) I'm glad to see all of them under an inch though! at the least, I can replicate factory match ammo. Questions - is this an adequate test? I need to start to refine the loads around 42 and 43 (those seem to group the best with the smallest deviation in group? Next step, I plan to go in .2 grain increments. I like the less than full loads. Less recoil and I'm able to be a little bit more accurate. I don't mind saving my barrel and powder as well. (shooting short distances anyway (under 200 yards)). I'm thinking of going as low as 40 and working up. thoughts? Can someone explain why some rounds are tighter when i load them? I have not messed around with different lengths of seating the bullet. is that a good next step and any thoughts on that? I pretty much just took a factory round and tried to replicate it. Overall length of each round is 2.800. (It may be 2.798 for some of them, like I said, I think that are slight variances in the bullets.) ...back to the bench. I just cleaned out a new set of federal brass. This time I sprayed too much lube and so I washed them and I realized that got rid of more crud/dust/etc. and I am able to clean out the primer holes better. I used some q tips to clean out the inside and neck and hopefully that will help in accuracy? I didn't realize how dirty they are inside. Any other advise? What am I trying to accomplish? Stay safe and keep improving what I have. I'll add that this combines my favorites things. Saving money (or at least thinking I'm saving money since I reckon I'll just be shooting more). Shooting. Math/spreadsheets. I Love it!

thanks for all info guys...i have about 130 308 brass cases tumbling. I watched it for like 5 minutes in awe. =) Thanks for the info on the nickle cases; next I do need to buy to replenish the cases, I'll make sure to get brass.

hello. A few newbie questions here: 1) when you tumble cases, is there a 'maximum' number of cases per media used? Or just make sure the tumbler has 2/3 media and fill it with cases? 2) Can you mix the shiny silver cases with the brass? 3) I mixed some FGMM cases with just the cheap Walmart Federal cases from the blue box hunting rounds... does Federal use the same cases for all their ammo or is the good stuff entitled to good brass as well. I wanted to keep them separate to keep consistency. thank you,

hi guys. I want to move a rear sight off to the right (trying to move a group to the right). I've drifted a rear sight before but this one has this thing on the top. I've heard some may have a screw but this doesn't have a 'head'... what is that? can i just continue to hit at it and move it? (I think it's moved a bit but it is tough in there) I'm pretty sure it's the sights. My other handguns shoot at POI. I just got this off a trade and it's consistently shooting about 2 inches to the left (and low) at 12 yards. The gun is a PX4 sub compact. Thanks!

hi guys. I'm looking at the link (thanks tripledigitride) and it says the part is for a 22? Finger Lever Arm WINCHESTER 9417, 94-22, 94-22 CLASSIC, 94-22XTR, 94-22M, 94-22MXTR Finger Lever Arm Also, the pic has the part on the right hand side angled downwards in comparison to the lever. The finger lever arm on the parts side is on the left side and angled pointing up. and I'm curious, what does this part actually do?

That IS PRETTY.

Question - are the magazine tubes pretty much standard size? This will go into a 38/357 tube.

Hi guys, I've got an old 94 lever action (post 1960s though). I was adjusting the front sight and the punch slipped and scratched up the front sight. Suffice to say, one side of the front sight looks bad. I cold blued it and the color is fine now. It just looks mangled. I'm open to suggestions - should I sand the post until the bad parts are gone (I'll tape up the barrel to make sure I don't touch it) and then cold blue the sight? I know. Some would just leave it a long. I like to nit pick. And seeing it will bother me. But then again, I don't want to ruin it even more.

@Mike... I just googled prusik hitch. Nice idea! I knew I should have stayed in the boy scouts. question - is the magazine tube strong enough? and how do you attache it to the wrist of the stock? (just a large loop?)

thanks for the comments. The rifle has really nice wood (well, coming from a world of plastic - I'm starting to see why folks appreciate nice wood). And so I hate to do anything to it. I'd like to keep it as original as possible. However, a rifle without a sling just feels like going out without a belt. Plus, it's handy to carry around. I'll put a simple sling on there. Mainly to carry and put on a hasty sling to help steady it. It's already got a saddle ring. I guess I can mount one part of the sling there; how about the front? Is there a way to attach to the magazine tube? (without ruining the magazine tube of course. I notice the barrel band doesn't have a place to put a swivel unlike some of the marlins I've seen. Can one get a replacement barrel band that already has a sling swivel/post?

Hi guys. How does one attach a sling to a lever gun? It doesn't have any sling swivels. I don't want to drill into the wood. Thanks!

I haven't shoot my Saiga that far away. The best i could do was have 4 of 4 rounds almost touching/touching at 25 yards; it had a red dot scope on it. Using cheap Russian stuff on prone. I shot the same cheap russian stuff on a ruger m77 chambered in 7.62x39 with a decent scope at 100 yards. 2-3 inches was the norm. Flyers were common; like every 3 or 4 rounds. Sometimes, I'd get lucky and get a 3 hole group to barely beat 1 inch but as soon as I tried a 4th round, it would fly away. This was on a bench. I have not tried any 'good' ammo or reloads. Again, this was with very cheap Russian ammo (Academy or Brown Bear I think).

thanks for the info. drat; i thought it was deer-shooting that i was getting into. where do i sign up for that? on a serious note - what is LBL? ..a few days before the 19th... I'll head off to public land and basically start to scope the area out. got it - it's 3 bucks per year. 3 doe per day but you need that special #94 license for that right?

the UTG leg holster just came in; it looks spiffy! and comfy! thanks everyone for the advice.

Hello. I'm new to hunting. I've taken the hunter safety course. I'll get my 2 licenses at Walmart later this week. I have an Uncle who has taken a deer before so can help me when it's actually time to make the kill, clean it up. I have one of those hunting guides (current one with the picture of the cat in the front) from Walmart which has maps of where the hunting lands are. Questions as I'm a newbie: - do you just pick a place on that guide, drive over there in the morning and look for deer to shoot? - any suggestions on where to go in the middle TN area? - no plans to sleep overnight...just want to get there in the morning and hang out until I find deer. - to make sure I understand the classes and the book right - no shooting doe unless you have the special 94 tag. Just shot the buck. Up to 3/day. (is there really that many deer around that the limit is 3/day?!). - to manage my expectations, how fruitful is an average hunt? should i not be disappointed if I don't get a deer my first season or should i question my skills if i don't get the 3/day? - I understand to get a boar, I pretty much need to find a landowner that needs my 'services'? thank you. Sorry for all the newbie questions. This seems like an awfully hard sport to get into.

My uncle is visiting from out of state. May he accompany me hunting (he won't be hunting, just to hang out) and not have to buy a license? He'll make sure to wear the orange/etc.

they are 'sexy' too.

it's my winter carry; great gun. Shoots about as well as my full size 9. and really fun/comfy for something sub compact.

thank you; I think I'll go with the 7.62x39 then. Thanks! I hope to report back with meat.

I didn't think of that! Something like this? Amazon.com: UTG Adjustable Leg Holster for Pistol, Black: Sports & Outdoors I just need to find one that fits a 4 inch revolver then.

This will be my first year hunting. I have (2) rifles to take. I wish I had something better but I blew all my lunch money on the hunting clothes and the hunting handgun (Someone seeded me the idea that my 9mm carry was inadequate and I needed something bigger just in case). Anyway - I want to hunt deer. I don't think I'll be climbing up a blind, just walking? I have a Savage 10FP in 308. Bull Barrel and a heavy stock. I'm very accurate with it (1 hole at 100 yards) and it's a good round but it's SO heavy (I even took out the bipod) and unwieldy. The other is a ruger m77 in 7.62x39. It's VERY light and i can carry it all day long. But I understand the round may be on the weak side. And this being my first time, I need every thing that I can move in my favor. Using cheap monarch ammo, I can get 1.5-2 inch groups at 100 yards. I bet most of the error is attributed to the cheap ammo. If I use this, I'll get some Remington/Federal/Fiocchi 'hunting ammo' (unless someone tells me that the 150-ish grain Wolf 'hunting' ammo is good enough). Thanks for your thoughts.

This season will be my first year hunting. My rifle may not be ideal (I'm still debating what to bring and how to carry it around but that's another thread) but I'll certainly look good with brand new hunting clothes and a new (to me) SW 686 4 inch in 357 mag. So question - I'll be wearing heavy clothes, jacket, orange vest, etc. What is the best way to carry the revolver? (I normally carry an LCP in the pocket or a sub com in an IWB holster so this will be different) I'm reading - some opine to carry it 'off side/weak side' so that it doesn't bang on your rifle. Any suggestions: My requirements: - has to protect the baby (because even if I do get a deer but mess up the 686; I'd be devastated); mine is a SS model; what's the best for that? - need to be able to wear it where I can easily access it but not have it stick out so much that if I don't get anything and we end up eating at McDonalds instead, it isn't the first thing folks see when I walk in. - cheap. I've got another 5-6 years of student loans. And I've blew all my lunch money on the hunting clothes and the revolver.