Catch-22

Hi Nick, yes it is. PM inbound.

That’s the tactical because the front portion is threaded to accept a moddy. The thread protector on the front, are you unscrewing it the correct way? Remember AI is left hand tightening (anti clockwise), not right hand tightening (clockwise) like most normal threads. If you’re doing it the wrong way, you’ll be tightening it on ever more, but thinking you’re trying to unscrew it.

No probs - thanks for letting me know. Cheers

I’ll take this please! Please PM me your payment details. thanks

Yeah, that looks like a nice job. And great results on paper too! Those mono pods are just a complete pile of $hite - I have zero idea why anyone buys them?!? 🤨

It’s not possible to send pics / attachments via PM. You’ll have to send via email/Whatsaap etc or upload to this sales thread.

If you’re referring to Optics Trade EU…then they’re good. I bought my 34mm Era Tac QD mount from them a while back and a massive saving from using the U.K. distributor (that was even after paying shipping, import and vat). Shipping was prompt and problem free. However they won’t ship everything to the U.K. I was after another S&B PMII and they had a great deal on, but said they won’t send rifle scopes here. Their service is good. Depending on the item you want, best you double check they can ship it to the U.K. before ordering.

Bump

Bump

Seemingly made of substandard materials that don’t last long…so I’ve heard/read. I think you’d be better off with an all steel unit from MAE, ASE or Jet Z or the like. My MAE compact dampens things very well on my AI AWM .300wm.

Currently using 10.6gn of Viht V340, 240gn shellhouse cast bullet, starline brass in a Rossi 92. Shoots well, not too much oompf. This I’d say is a Viht equivalent of a Unique load, given N340 is in a similar burn rate to Unique. However, I asked around for an even lighter load was was recommended around 6.2gn of either Vectan GM3 or Maxam CBS-5. I couldn’t find Vectan locally but bought a few tubs of CBS-5 to try. Haven’t tried it yet though.

SKB iSeries 6018-8. Fully waterproof/airline approved mil spec case (alternative to Peli). I used it to bring over my IMPACT/MPA gun, clutch of barrels and various other goodies last year. Has 3 layers of foam and nothing’s been cut. The impressions in the foam are from the gun and stuff being transported. Should fade over time. Case has only been used for transportation from the US, never been on the range or elsewhere. Unfortunately there’s the plastic wrap from customs papers on the lid which isn’t coming off without being scraped off...which I didn’t want to do. Otherwise case is perfect. This is a very BIG case! You could easily fit 2-3 full rifles and accessories in here. Dimensions approx; L = 152cm W = 45.5cm D = 20.3cm REDUCED again, now only £275 - massive saving over the $580 I paid (minus import and VAT). Collection or can bring to Monmouth Tunnel shoot by arrangement.

SKB iSeries 5014. Fully waterproof/airline approved mil spec case (alternative to Peli). I used it for my Defiance/Eliseo tube gun with spare barrel, scope, moderator, bipod and mags. Only the middle 50mm foam has been cut, but the 50mm foam below hasn’t been touched. Case has only had light use, in and out of the car too and from the range. Dimensions approx; L = 128cm W = 38cm D = 15cm SOLD!

No doubt the ‘skateboard tape’ will be marketed as a design feature for when “you’re rolling around in a muddy battlefield with bloody hands”. That feature alone probably justified an extra £100 to the RRP. 😂 Thanks for the review.

Get a .338 Norma Magnum…an inherently more accurate case design. I have one and it’s been a joy to shoot. Load development with any 250-300gn bullet has been very easy. I shoot a 300gn Scenar at around 2800fps. Can easily hold 0.5MOA out to 1000m if I don’t fluff the wind calls. I believe the newer flavours of AI can come in .338NM. That would be my choice if looking for an ‘off the shelf’ gun in the calibre. Otherwise, go custom (I’ve got a Defiance Mutant Tube Gun action in an Eliseo Tube chassis). These big mags are expensive to run. Double to triple the cost of brass, bullets and powder to something like a 6.5cm, .308w etc per shot. I use over 94.5gn of RS80 (that equates to loading only 163 rounds per Kilo of powder) , which is why I buy 10kg a time. A 50round range session is likely to cost in the region of £80-90 just on consumables (not barrel cost) if you’re reloading. You've got to ask yourself…will you realistically shoot it that much? Otherwise, it’ll quickly be yet another expensive purchase with low round count that ends up in the For Sale section …like so many others have done in the past. But they are just plain good fun to shoot…always guaranteed to bring a smile to your face every time you pull the trigger! 👍

Another thought, when f/l sizing, do you still have the expander ball in the die? If so, as you size the case neck (for the 2nd time!) on the up stroke of the ram, some expanders ‘rip’ their way through the case neck and can elongate the neck a bit. Ideally you should chuck the expander ball/rod in the bin and get yourself a dedicated expander mandrel die and calibre specific mandrel (which slips into the expander die). Not expensive (about £15 for the die, £10 per mandrel) but will stop over working the neck and will stop an expander ball ripping through the necks, stretching and distorting things horribly.

And, are you measuring length of brass and trimming accordingly? I remember once I forgot to trim before f/l sizing. I kept bumping my brass back and back, but still had issues with chambering. Essentially the end of the neck had stretched beyond the chamber…so making it hard to chamber. Nothing to do with the shoulder or body at all. Once I’d remembered I needed to trim, it was all good…though the couple of cases I sized and sized again had been bumped too far and were scrapped.

When measuring how much you’re bumping the shoulder, I see you’re using the technique of bolt drop. Are you also removing the ejector pin & spring from your bolt too? Remember that even with the firing pin removed, the ejector will be pushing against the case head as the case enters the chamber…giving false readings.

Using a cheap hardness testing device, per what Bruce shows, is really the only way to tell definitively. Using tempilaq as an indicator is wrong because it’ll tell you when you’ve reached 750f…but that’s incorrect for annealing brass. Annealing brass at 750f only applies if heating for…30mins, by which time the heat has has sunk into the case head and ruined the brass. To properly anneal your brass, without ruining the web, you need to go hotter 750f for shorter (called Flash Annealing), typically around the 1000f mark for a mere 2-3 seconds (all depends on the calibre, brand and metallurgy of brass used, output of the annealer, size and position of coil etc). But typically when reaching the 1000f mark, brass will change colour slightly and begin, ever so slightly, to turn a feint red. Bright orange is bad. Then the only way to test whether annealing at that given temp+time is going to make a difference to your ES/SD is to go shoot over a chronograph. Go anneal for different lengths of time and watch for a lowering of ES/SD before it increases again. The time+temp of the anneal which produces the lowest ES/SD is the optimum anneal point for your brass. Essentially, it’s this testing (finding the optimum anneal time+temp), and measuring hardness, is what you pay for with the AMP as they’ve done that leg work for you.

I bought the annealer (same as you see in the vid), the timer and an extension chord. I used a very small Tupperware box, with lid, as the box for the wires and the timer to go into. But as the video shows, you could use an only box for bullets. Ill pm you the eBay listings I used.

Yes worth doing. Easy to do, better than the flame torch, get good consistent results with it.

The induction annealer you’re looking at is the same as I’ve got. I followed the instructions per this video and it works a charm. Took 20mins to get setup (most of that was stripping the insulating plastic from around the cables) and is really great. I get very consistent results and it anneals beautifully

Yes. Works very well. Better than my flame annealer did.

That’s a relatively ‘fast-ish’ twist. 1-8” should be good stabilising bullets up around the 77gn mark. My own 1-7” twist (.223AI) is intended for the 77-88gn bullets. Personally I would look at load data for the the 69gn-77gn bullet weights. The thing that is likely to scuppa you is the right powder & velocity. With a heavy/long bullet, you really want to use the mid-slower burning powders to generate enough pressure and velocity over the entire length of the barrel to push the heavies at any meaningful speed. Like N140/RS52 etc. By way of comparison, my .223AI with 1-7” 26” long barrel is throwing a 77gn SMK out around 2980fps with N140. However, with a very short barrel (how short is it btw??) the mid to slow powders won’t do well because they simply can’t produce enough decent pressure/velocity before the bullet exits the muzzle. You’re therefore likely to see very low speeds - possibly around 2000-2200fps with my same load above. So you have 4 choices I see; 1. Go for the heavier bullets (per what your barrel twist is geared for) but try some faster burning powders to maximise pressure to barrel length. But be careful as you’re likely to run into some very high pressures, very quickly. 2. use the heavier bullets but use the normal go-to powders (eg N140) and accept velocity is likely to be very low. 3. Go lighter bullets (say 55gn-69gn) with normal go-to powders (eg N140, RS52 etc) but know that your barrel may not like these lighter bullets as much as the heavier type. 4. If 1, 2 or 3 don’t work, consider replacing the barrel with one that’s a bit longer to maximise the pressure/velocity It’s worth taking a look at the .223 reloading page on Accurate Shooter. Some good advice and useful starting points for load development. https://www.6mmbr.com/223Rem.html As ever, all just an opinion.

That does look fab. I once had a manual BB/air soft L85 as a kid. Is the main outer housing from a plastic, repurposed BB/air soft gun? Or from a deactivated L85 that you’ve changed the guts within?