We had a fantastic day yesterday, sunshine, temps near 60, slight wind. Staying inside would have been an indication of insanity so I did what my first impulse usually is on such days, I loaded up and headed for the range.
For the past three weeks I have been passing the time, waiting for the snow to melt, in intense bullet casting and cartridge reloading efforts. Nothing I had done had been tested and the time had come.
I was not using any of my old standard loads, since I still have not established a long standing load for either of the rifles with the componants I was using, a 30-30 and a .308. I had loaded a bucket of cast bullets for the 30-30 and I had changed projectiles for the .308 due to a big sale on a discontinued Hornady production lot where I got a near lifetime supply of 165gn BTSP bullets for real cheap.
What I had done with the 30-30 was also suspect, since I was using a bullet and charge weight that was an accident. I found that the 180 grain RCBS mold I had been using for 25 years did not throw 180 grain bullets, but after applying some gas checks I weighed the slugs and discovered that they were actually 200 grains each. I could not believe that I had never weighed one of those slugs!
I had loaded them using data fr the 175 grain bullet, which I thought it was very near. I had also never loaded cast bullets in the 30-30 to full charge. Cast bullets had always been plinkers with reduced charges of Unique.
There is no published load data for a 200 grain 30-30 reload! I had dumped 25 grains of IMR3031 in there and seated one of those big cast slugs on each.
After scouring the internet I did finally find good data for the 200 grain bullet in one of the published manuals rather than on a forum where Billy-Bob has done it and it worked OK, but there is no pressure or velocity data available. Apparently I was inside the safe zone established by the good people at Speer. I was also pushing the 200 grain slug at close to 1800fps.
When you do the math it makes this reload almost equal to a standard factory load, except there is no jacket and the expansion potential is total speculation.
I set up at the range and pulled the 30-30 out of the case and created an instant stir. My 30-30 is an old '94 to which I have attached a long eye relief scope. No one at the range had ever seen one set up like that, and the range was full due to the good weather.
Some of my former suspicions were confirmed since it seemed that everyone at the range owned a 30-30 of some sort.
I settled down into the "lead sled" and fired a shot at 25 yards, then another. They were near touching and I held my breath as the third shot only opened the group by a half inch or so. I made my scope adjustments and got the group settled into the middle of the target and moved to 50 yards.
My $0.10 cent each cast bullet reloads were piling into the bull one after another. Groups were about 2" at 50 which I considered adequate for that gun/cartridge/reload combination. Wheel weight metal cast bullets and charges dropped form a powder measure with none of the traditional QC measures being followed. Every empty 30-30 case in sight will now be filled and put to use.
I think there will be a few more 30-30 rifles with scout scopes in the Kentucky woods next year too. My modifications to mount the scope on the '94 only involve filling the rear sight dovetail with a drilled and tapped dovetail filler and drilling and tapping the barrel band. A base intended for a Marlin 336 is then screwed down and the scope mounted. It is about a one hour job using only a drill press and tap and die set. I am not about to pay $150 for a scout scope mount from some whiz-bang "tactical supply" dudes.
A couple of the older gents were really inspecting the rifle, probably hoping to put rifles they had retired due to bad eyesight back into use.
Since I also have a Weaver Guide peep sight on this rifle I am covered in case the scope blows up, falls off, or the cross-hairs disappear, as so many expect to happen even though scopes are now a 300 year old technology. Everyone seemed to think that was a good idea.
My ventures with the .308 were not so satisfactory. I only took one 308 rifle with me and it has proven to be a very picky rifle. It will shoot one load very well, but throws any other load into the wind and makes patterns and not groups. I don't know what I was thinking. I chose a test rifle with bad PMS.
I should have taken two rifles for comparison and I am seriously considering sending this errant .308 down the highway into the hands of one of the vast horde of "other shooters" I observed yesterday.
It being the first nice day in some time the range was packed and the shooters were rotating through rapidly. One thing I noticed was that may of the visitors were arriving, unpacking, sitting down and shooting a half dozen rounds then leaving. It suddenly occurred to me that they were not posting targets nor making any attempt at measuring accuracy, and there is no way that one can tell anything about where the projectile is hitting at or range other than watching the bullet strike the mud of the berm. With most centerfire rifles recoil prevents that. All these people could tell was that the rifle was firing.
It works! That's it! Let's go home.
I love being retired. I can truly tell anyone that wants to know, that a bad day at the range is better than a good day at work! When the sun is shining, the temps are pleasant, the coffee in the thermos is hot and you have a rifle, even a bad rifle, it's a good day.
Bookmarks