Andrew

Ah! I have quit competitive shooting. The most I do is shoot across canyons at 1MOA targets dotted along the landscape out to 1860 yards. In this kind of shooting, the best and most conscientiously assembled handloads will be taken off course by shifting prairie winds -often blowing onto the target from two directions simultaneously. My rifles are accurate and my handloads are good but on somedays the wind gods just have their way with them. ~Andrew 

While I like the idea of neck uniformity, I question whether any kind of mandrel can do the job as described above. Setting neck tension by micro increments means that the brass is exceptionally uniform in dimension and metallurgy to begin with, and that your bullet diameters  are within a tolerance level that won't defeat your efforts. With care and sorting it is possible, but like most reloading endeavors, if you are not sorting out the components for uniformity, then the efforts are buried. Much like weighing powder to an exactitude, Unless you are assuring the case volume is identical, neck tension is identical, and bullet diameter and weights are identical,  weighing to an extreme is a probably a wasted practice. Just random thinking out loud here....~Andrew.

Forster makes nifty neck reamers for handling these problems while sparing the thumbs. ~Andrew

Unless you weigh and sort all the other components, having powder weighed to an exactitude (at least to the degree that you're worried about a kernel or two) is meaningless. ~Andrew

10 hours ago, martin_b said:

Does anyone have links to, or know even if they exist..

1: A really small ( pen sized) vacuum  that i can use to clean up the grains of powder that always seem to escape.

2: A Powder pipette. The way i load is that i use an electronic scale to weigh the case, zero the scale then use a Lee drum to fill the case to within say 1 grain of target, then manually make up the difference. What would be handy is if i could trickle the powder direct into the case mouth whilst its on the scale. I see extruded powders being the problem.

Your loading method baffles me. Why weigh the case and then zero the scale to weigh the powder with the case? What is your goal? I'm curious. ~Andrew

Nice sporter.~Andrew

Thanks!

I got back yesterday from the hunt. I did not shoot but let my girlfriend have her run at some river-bottom whitetails. We saw a few but moving too fast for a shot. My buddy shot a mule deer that dressed at 250 pounds. Spent the morning butchering it and enjoyed thick cut, pan-seared sirloin for dinner. All in all we saw about 1000 deer and a dozen or better elk. 

No worries. I will shoot one or two in the next few weeks. I also bought a new Tikka UPR in 6.5 Creedmoor. Zeroed it with Hornady MAtch and Precision hunter this afternoon. Bug holes....~Andrew

Ran out again in final prep and during a stretch of cold (-10F) temps. The Grendel shot 1" at 200 for four, three shot groups with my hunting loads, off of a bipod, with numb digits. Ready for this weekend....~Andrew

I was back out to the range in some very inclement weather last week (snow, wind) testing the 120 Sierra Pro Hunters in my Varmint 6.5 Grendel. All cases trimmed to same length, and loads finished with a Lee FCD. Off of a bipod resting resting on frozen slush, all rounds cut each other at 100 yards. Can't necessarily attribute that to the crimp, but it didn't hurt. ~Andrew

Dropped straight in. I have it on the Tikka I use for long range target work. ~Andrew

4 hours ago, Mark II said:

 

But I will still put it in a oryx chassis when I get the funds 

I bought the KRG for one of my T1X. Couldn't be happier.~Andrew

I'd say it shoots very well. Good shooting on your part also.

I just ordered some Lapua Center X. It was the only 22LR ammunition my main distributor had and I've been wanting to try it. I suspect it will shoot as well as I can hold. 
~Andrew

3 hours ago, Triffid said:

You might well be right, it's using the results from one computer model (Quickload) as the input into a second (Shooter ballistic app). The chronograph will soon tell!

However I'd like to get my extreme spreads down. And as charge weight variation is within my control, it seems like one of the more straightforward ways of doing this.

Triffid 

I understand. I'm just saying that you shouldn't' hang your hat on these numbers.

Neck tension and (resulting) ignition have more influence: Intangibles that QL can't model which is why I'm suggesting that you won't see this in the open air of the range.  Computer modeling too often considers things like component weight and case capacity as a constant which, unless you are sorting your identically prepped cases by weight, and bullets by weight and diameter, it isn't.  ~Andrew

20 hours ago, Triffid said:

Nice shooting.

I've Googles the AutoDrum toothbrush mod, but cant find anything, so please tell more. . .

I'd really like to get the Autodrum to be more consistent and I've done quite extensive trials using different baffles and throwing techniques. But using N140, the best I can manage is a 0.5gn extreme spread (charge weight 44gn, n=20). Which models to about 25fps difference in MV using Quickload. Which models to a 9" vertical spread at 1000X using Shooter ballistic app.

Triffid

I doubt if you'd see that in the real world of actual shooting.~Andrew

Here, the BATF would consider the rod a shoulder stock, condemn the whole rig as a short barreled rifle and toss you in prison! It's all madness. I like my GSG and once used it for informal bowling pin shoots.  I still shoot it whenb th efit takes me. ~Andrew

You'd fit right into our crowd. We like to shoot at push pins at 100 yards. 12 ga hulls at 200. I also have a GSG 1911 that I like to shoot. 

Good 22LR ammo is hard to find here.  In this area, you can't just go buy a box of SK or Eley. It's all by mail order. That is how I got my small stock of SK Biathlon, The only exception is that the local ranch supply sells old stock "Federal Ultra Match" which is RWS rebranded by Federal. They mistakenly ordered a large quantity of it and some of us have been buying it at $12.50/50 and stashing it away. (It will as good as I can hold from my Tikka) The Biathlon is almost as accurate in my Tikka at half the price so I have tried to stock up on that for general shooting.

In truth though, the accuracy from my Tikkas ( I have three of them in the house) has been great with everything but the last LOT of CCI Subsonic: Horrible in that it shot 3/4" at 50. The Tikka my girlfriend shoots will ring a 3.5" steel swinger at 200 yards with inexpensive, Eley-primed Aguila Standard Velocity as often as the wind and good follow-through will allow.

All of ours are 20 inch models and other than cleaning the action and bolt, the bore is left untouched. It is quite dry in Montana so this is never a problem. When we do clean the bore -like after a windy, dusty outing- it's a patch with a scant drop of oil, followed by dry patches. That is all the cleaning it ever needs.  ~Andrew

4 hours ago, Mark II said:

Shooting off bipod at the front and my hand /fist under the button. 

Forgot to say there was a slight breeze 3/5 mph.

I haven't found any biathlon in the area but I do have access to eley force, club and match that I haven't tried yet.

It will be interesting to see if removing the spacer in the barrel channel will make a difference. 

More to come next time I take it out.

It didn't effect mine. 

This is the way I shoot, by the way. Field conditions. I usually have a right to left dispersion that we call "fishtailing" Just an inaccuracy of hold. Wind will always show up on paper but I am my rifle's worst enemy when it comes to delivering absolutely faultless (ammo capable) grouping. My top accuracy, other than SK Biathlon, is R-50.~Andrew

Nice shooting. Bag or bipod? Mirrors my groups with SK Match. Can you get SK Biathlon? Seems to shoot better from my T1X.~Andrew

Weighing charges on a jeweler's scale???~Andrew

Why over complicate things? I use a black permanent marker to mark the number of times fired on the top of the plastic case guard box. Wipes off with Hoppes 9 bore cleaner or glass cleaner.

Makes me wonder how I ever survived reloading in the decades before computers. ~Andrew

Another vote for the Forster. I use one and keep extra primer tubes because, if there is a shortfall to them, it's the limited capacity. (50 ish) I use the priming unit on my forster press with great success for short runs -less than 100 cases. An oft overlooked item is the Lee Ram Prime unit. I had my Forster set for my 6.5 Grendel and wanted to run off 20 or 30 Creedmoors so I used the Ram Prime in my RCBS press. Very smooth.

I recently bought five  hundred NAMMO 7,62x51 UPB cases. The US web sites were complaining that Federal Match primers were "Darned near impossible" to seat into the tight primer pockets. With the ram prime they were a firm seat, but far from impossible. The leverage supplied by a bench mounted unit makes them worth owning.... at least this instance. ~Andrew

4 hours ago, Re-Pete said:

Getting a stuck case in your favourite custom F-Open rifle as a result of head separation takes swearing to a whole new level...................

Pete

Yup.~Andrew

I have a brass plaque in my reloading room which reads "NO SWEARING!"

Underneath it says "...unless you stick a case"

~Andrew

On 9/15/2020 at 2:58 AM, terryh said:

Andy,

The quality ammo does normally give smaller 'rounder' groups,

The CCI AR though is not the bottom end stuff (around £8/100) but quite reasonable mid range on price at £10.60/100 and the 2 groove barrel seems to like them. Only problem is they are well past sonic so even with a suppressor there is a good 'crack'

The Midas is a bit eye watering at £30/100 😱 and Tenex at £26/100 - think you'd save these for special occasions 😉

I'd try some R50 or Centre-X in your new toy just for grins.

T

ps - has anyone tried Lapua X-act yet, and I though Midas was ££

Switch those to dollar symbols and you are almost at US prices for that ammo. I was surprised to read some reviews of the Midas from my distributor and people were saying that the latest LOTs were not as accurate as those of a year or two back. Normally I take ammo reviews with a grain of salt but repeat customers for that grade of ammo usually have their marbles in one bag. One said that the latest LOT of SK Match he picked up shot with  the last LOT of Midas -or visa versa, I guess.~Andrew

I always buy in bulk. Powder in 8 pound tubs. Bullets and primers by the thousands.

I bought several hundred Peterson cases when they first became available here. The consistency in length and weight was impressive. (I posted the results here, someplace) The only problem I had was when I got lazy and rushed and loaded straight from the box. The resulting loads weren't that great. The next round of new brass I ran through the FL sizer first. All was well after that. I would at least neck size before using.~Andrew