terryh

Pbg Recurring question at our club also! All of those cartridges will work and if you miss it would not be down the the cartridge 😁 logical choice would be the creed, good selection of off the shelf rifles and availability of brass etc. I shoot a 6.5x47 as the Creed was not really available when I went the 6.5 route. Though in saying that, if I was starting again now I’d go for a 6-6.5x47, which does not really help you (apologies) Terry

Bilbo, open sights take a bit of mastering but are accurate once you’ve got the technique sorted. No issues in using a shoulder pad, I do it all the time with steel butt plate BPCR’s, (ignore the no doubt ‘pending’ man jibes - anyone who thinks its smart to hurt themselves is a bit of a *anker IMHO 😁). Yes, that sort of growth is not un-common, as i said brass from the factory has to fit every make/condition of 303 out there so will be made to the smallest dims. If you must size the brass do the absolute minimum. Be interested in your chrono results. Brgds T

What twist is required? Who’d you get them from/thru? Cheers T

....and also interesting observation of FB look up the TED talk by Carole Cadwalladr on FB and the Brexit vote ....... just saying T

John - Flatlines? T

As per title, what factors contributes to or accelerates them forming? loading techniques? Cartridge itself e.g high ‘intensity’ design, brass make etc. cheers Terry

Hobbit, First time out with new brass you put a small section O seal on the new case right up against the rim. When you close the bolt this O seal holds the brass hard against the bolt face. when to fire the round the case is then ‘blown out’ to the exact size of the chamber. Only neck sizing from this point onward means the case is not over worked and you will not get the head separation often seen in 303’s. As you should be able to see the brass does change quite a bit. If you FL size the brass and as the 303 has been made in various locations around the globe and will be in different conditions of wear then the FL sizer really is back to minimum spec. To ensure your brass fits, so the next time you fire is it really does have to expand - hence the quite common case failures. Re. ‘Fettling’, if you take the Lee collet die apart you will see that the sizing is carried out by 4 ‘fingers’ that are pushed upwards by the shell holder when it contacts the bottom of the die - this is the cramming action described in the Lee set up instructions. The fingers are pushed up and in when they contact the cone inside the die. If you stone the edges of the cuts so they are not sharp where they contact the inside of the cone they can go up and inwards easier. hope this covers it? Brgds Terry ps there are a slew of wives tales going round, things like ‘the no.4 action flexes’ etc. which causes the brass to stretch, but this is not the case (pun intended 😉). Smashing brass back to minimum specs in a round that was not really designed to be reloaded, not ‘that’ will cause the brass to fail. pls nothing wrong with Lee dies in certain applications

The Pard 007 works on a couple of my March scopes with no issues. They do though ‘focus’ down to about 5m ‘nude’ (even on 40x in one case). Re. Coatings on lenses. Different makers obviously have different techniques and coatings. When you get to a certain quality of scope I think this is what makes one scope ‘better’ than another for a particular person - what you’re eyes like. For a couple of years I’ve help out on an optics stand at the IWA where people can take scope A and compare it to scope B looking at outside targets. There are in most cases no clear winners (excuse the pun) between a couple of makes but I can say there are a couple of more frequent looses. Terry

Mick, Concur on the neck sizing as best method , hence the O seal on new brass, then only neck size from then on = no case stretching etc. I use a fettled Lee collet die which does just fine. Terry

Brock, Perhaps the 30 Nosler then, but think that’s is a std mag bolt face? None of these cartridges are going to be that ‘barrel friendly’ T

Shendy Actual load is 89.5g RS80 (aka Reloader 33). Norma brass, Fed LR mag match primer. Seated to fit mag (can go measure if you like?) This is in my rifle, which has a 1:9 Krieger barrel, from memory 27” For ref. tried N170, accurate but a bit slow, N570 got the speed but not the consistency. third powder (that is going to be available i.e. not H1000 etc.) was the RS80/Re33 which appeared to be working for others namely in the US. T

Just restarted loading for the No4. SMK’s over 41g N140 seems to be doing OK. Again not worried if the ladder sight matches the distance - you can always adjust it. Went the O seals on the new brass route/methods, seems to work very well and makes sense 😎 Forgot how nice they are to shoot. Terry

Have a 300NM, find it fun to shoot, not running it silly speeds, 2930 with the 230g Berger OTM’s. only gone to 1450 yards so far, it held elevation but lack of anything to read the (gusty) wind had left and right ‘variation’. Once more familiar/sorted would like to try the 2000 yards Have a second barrel on the way, would like/hope to pass 1000 rounds on a barrel 😳 Terry

Gruntus, Out of interest how big are the gaps you are looking to fill i.e. is the rail that poor a fit? Brgds T

Reeonip Did not have enough take up unfortunately. I am familiar with RI, that’s who I’ve used in the past few years for all my export from the US, good guys and very straight fwd to deal with. Will handle your own kit as well as sort items from their own stock or suppliers. Brgds Terry

John, The 1st round hit on the deer at 1140 yards was impressive - big smiles. The custom curve for AB seems to work very well as elevations at all distances were spot on - wind was, well a bit gusty! RS80 seems to be a good powder in the 300NM, I've a very solid load giving 2940 and low SD's so happy with that. elevations TBA as the ballistic app i was using was out (consistently out, but out none the less) - 1st time out with rifle and Apps so not too worried. Need to add the red dot to save time and stress at distance though! Good couple of days shooting at Tiff's place, good crowd as well 😎

thank you markR and Mark ‘Bradder’ - all is now clear! 😎 T

Cheers for input Dave question: how do you time up the ASE muzzle brake / adapter? Skim the back face or crush washer? Terry

Dave, Do you know if B&T do the brake / suppressor adapter (as in the AI design) in other threads than the AI metric i.e. 5/8-24 UNEF? I like the B&T as they are LH threads but as you say a good few beer tokens! T

Mark, Will have a look thanks as currently doing both days - why the 'regrets' about not going with the 'big' 30/338 version? Cheers Terry

Looking at suppressors for a 300NM preferably with a muzzle brake in the mount. Have no experience with the ASE Atra range but they have their BL system which seems to fit the bill? Needs to have a 5/8-24 UNEF thread , would also look to go to same setup for my 6.5x47 Any comments on ASE in general and the BL system if you've handled/used them? Who else B&T? Cheers Terry

Basic results, all loads refer to RS80, Bergner’s 230g OTM hybrids, Norma brass. Once fired, annealed, .002 shoulder bump back. 3 thousand neck tension 89.1. 2911 fps 89.4. 2927 fps 89.7. 2933 fps 90.0. 2947 fps 90.3. 2964 fps no pressure signs on brass/primers or feel of bolt opening. All loads shot pretty much the same re grouping. the .4 & .7 showed the lowest SD’s which matched the original stepped loading (as there is no data) with .5 giving the lowest SD at the time. doing a quick new brass comparison 89.4. 2941 fps 90.0. 2954 fps So will go with 89.5 for the first full batch. hust need to sort the non intrusive Magnetospeed mount. Terry

Shendy, Just in the process of finishing off my load development for the 300NM using the 230g OTM Hybrid Bergers Tried N170 and 570 but found it a bit too fast ie did not reach my expected velocity The other powder I had planned to try RS80 (Reload 33) is performing much better, speeds 2900+ and no signs of pressure at my target velocities. Obviously this is in my rifle running a 4 groove ‘standard ‘ rifling 1:9 27” barrel. The gunsmith who built the gun was waiting on a more ‘standardised’ reamer as there seemed to be some different versions of the 300NM dependant on end use ( from my memory/discussions with him) so mine works with AI 338 mag length rounds. Im to the range again to tidy up and settle on a load this week and will revert with my findings but so far this cartridge has been pretty easy to load for once I sorted the right powder. T

DJ look at what you want from the scope, features etc. Then get behind your chosen few, if at all possible side by side. Try to ignore things like the ‘what the pros use’ articles - can be a bit distorted when it come to scopes (pun intended) it is a big outlay and one you want to get right. From experience when you get to a certain level of scope it is more what your eyes ‘like’. Have helped customers out with side by side comparisons and bottom line there is no real winners. S&B are nice scopes, as are Kahles, some Nightforce, March, TT and IOR. You are a bit spoilt for choice, good luck! Terry

Sort of hoped that was the case 👌