Strangely Brown

By the time this had happened the regiment had done at least three tours and lost one lad, I guess we were ready for close ops?

Late to the party as always... Brown Dog; I'll see your 1972 and raise you a 1978!

I posted 93 "brass tubes" to a friend a while back.

I've been in the exact position as yourself Dave; my assumption is that you're using CCI primers? Try the Russian Murom small rifle primers which I have found to be a better solution.

.303 Bessie Braddock

That sounds encouraging; I've sent emails with pictures etc so just a case of sitting back and waiting patiently.

Their after sales service is usually beyond reproach although currently they are working limited hours and contacting them has been a nightmare. I finally made contact via their FB page but things went quiet again hence the purchase of a Rock Chucker from Spud. It is what it is; a first world problem.

I reckon the "scoop" was an after thought to accommodate the larger headed dies.

John I believe both you and Spud advised me to get a Co-Ax when I was originally looking; you can lead a horse to water etc etc. 😉

Update and Analysis: I've had the Summit for 8 months now and three weeks ago it broke! RCBS sell it as, "almost" an arbour press that will full length resize; nothing wrong with that statement if .223 is your preferred calibre but try FL resizing 303 and it does become a bit of a struggle which is how mine broke. I still love the press and don't believe there is anything better for seating, de-priming, crimping and FL resizing smaller rifle calibres. However I do believe there are design flaws with the product. I suspect it ended up on a drawing board as homage to the old Hollywood column presses of my youth in the late 1950's ~ 1960's, to make it different from the Hollywood the die comes down to meet the case, in doing that the arm has to be attached to the top of an already high column making the end user stand to perform the process. The problems then kick in with a large scoop being machined out of the toggle, coupled with the lack of a full length pin connecting each side of the lower toggle. Rather surprisingly somebody sells a full length pin on Ebay to right this wrong. Why the large scoop and lack of full length pin? Without these the newer large competition seating dies and .50 BMG dies would fowl the toggle hence making the press fit only for smaller dies. Had RCBS designed the Summit the other way round with the case moving upwards then the arm would have been positioned lower and there would not have been cause to weaken the toggle because it would not have restricted the size of the dies. RCBS are currently way behind on their normally brilliant after sales service, I guess election events in the US have stalled things. Because of this I have taken delivery today of a Rock Chucker from our dear friend Spud. The rock Chucker lacks that fine quality feel that the Summit has, (or had in my case!) but is the ideal partner for .303 cases and the like. Now I'm sorted again my thoughts have turned to Shakespear's Henry V act 2 prologue and the line that says; now thrive the armourers!

Only a nutter would want to try .223 at 1200 yards!

I'm sniffing around the fringes of match rifle at the moment and wondered what the favourite choice of bullet weight is currently? The intended choice of barrel is 34" with a 1-10 twist.

Sad news indeed. I shot alongside Alan in the early days of CSR, it was always a pleasure to be partnered with him. One of our chats in the butts touched on his role in 4 Para and how well it was received by some of his family members living in the Irish Republic! My condolences to his family and shooting friends.

I managed to find one of the above in South Africa which arrived this week; whilst in good overall condition there is no original finish on it whatsoever. The sight that will be attached is a BSA 9c and looks to have been a "sleeper" still showing good signs of deep blueing. My thoughts are to blue it using heat and oil. This is something I have never attempted before, nor any other type of blueing come to that. Any thoughts tips; type of oil, colour of metal after heating etc would be gratefully received. I would appear to have some spare time on my hands over the next few weeks! 🙄

I posted a few weeks ago that I was thinking of changing over from my 33 year old Redding Boss to an RCBS Summit, of which I had seen some very mixed reviews. I made the change and as expected bullet seating is much more consistent; this had been my chief complaint in recent times and I believe wear at the top of the ram was responsible. The Summit is quite different and it would be interesting to know if RCBS created it with nostalgia in mind for those of us who read Guns & Ammo in the 1960's. The articles often featured items like the old Hollywood column presses which were an unattainable dream in those far off days and the RCBS Summit bears more than a passing resemblance to it. With the advantage of hindsight had I bought a Rockchucker in 1987 I would probably still be using it as I believe it set the gold standard then. That's not to say that 33 years use of the Redding Boss was a waste of money. When time and space allow the Redding will be equipped with a universal de-capping die and used immediately upon my return from the range. I reckon in this capacity it will last at least another 33 years if not more.

Frankfort Arsenal but I suspect you will find the same item with many names for the jewellery trade. Accurate enough for .303 British service rifle events but pushing things for events like the McQueens. Cost was something in the area of £45~65. During the warmer weather the + .02gr error goes away!

My electronic scales whilst slightly quicker to use have an occasional error of +0.2 tenths of a grain, using them this morning I was checking them against my RCBS 10-10 and wondered why on earth I had gone electronic in the first place!

That's an option I haven't considered Catch-22. Thanks!

I have Triffid, and its one of the very few good reviews out there for the Summit press!

I'm about to retire my 33 year old Redding Boss press and replace it with a table top mounted press; the RCBS Summit was one of the two I had lined up for further research however there appear to be rather a lot of bad reviews online about them. Does anybody on here have experience of them? My other choice and favourite is the CH4D 444 H Press which appears to be a cottage industry product according to some reloaders in the USA. I bought an earlier version of one of these on Ebay a few years ago but some arse wipe stole it in transit from the US.

This is Mark's sister Kathleen lighting the touch hole. (Picture courtesy of the NRA)

I'm forever bumping into film crews for various productions, albeit during the week days and the quieter months at Bisley. Last year or the year before the Canadian Pavilion was cast as the government residency in Rhodesia and the front of Fultons was a railway station!

My memory seems to recall about 5 watches in the Bty survey store issued to the two OP officers and their acks, (I was told to FO when I enquired !) the survey sergeant always got the pick of them. This would have been 71 ~ 74.

To be honest I haven't taken much notice but I did think Force lived up to its name!

Yes Matt although I think it runs better on CCI Mini Mag although I'm convinced Force & Contact group better. To be honest I haven't been able to use it as much as I would have liked this year due to ongoing spinal problems. I should add I've had the op and am currently on crutches and recovering... again! 😉