Catch-22

Tbh, they had me at “Get a GBPRA hook and loop patch and vinyl sticker” 💪

😂

40 minutes ago, lapua said:

I don’t undeestand the comments about the barrel and action being lower in the chassis? The distance between the c/l of bore and the underside of the arca rail doesn’t look any less than other chassis’ provide. Or are they comparing it to older AI’s?? Does this really matter when you rest it on a big fat bag anyway? Care to explain please? Or is the shoulder/recoil pad just higher?

Couldn’t agree more. If you want a ‘true’ low bore axis and ‘true’ straight back recoil impulse, buy a tube gun chassis.

My AWSM (.300wm) is surprisingly soft shooting with a moddy. But my Defiance/Eliseo tube gun (.338NM) is not far off due to the very efficient brake and straight line recoil. Feels more like a ‘push’ then a thump. 

I use a MAE Super Compact BL all stainless steel on my .300wm AI AWSM. Lovely moddy.

Mine attaches to the muzzle brake but you can get them to attach direct to the end of the barrel.

https://www.sportingservices.co.uk/collections/rifle-suppressors/products/mae-super-compact-sound-moderator-up-to-30cal

I have both the cheap as chips Lee Auto Prime and the Rolls Royce of hand primers, the 21st Century Handprimer tool. I favour a hand primer as sadly I don’t have the space for a permanent reloading bench 😭

The 21st Century is stunning. It is so easy to use and I can use the thing all day long, even for priming large 338 cases. It is silky smooth, induces no fatigue and the tight tolerances prevents any hiccups. 

The Lee on the other hand is just a pile of crap. I got it for batch priming pistol cases and thought i’d give it a go, as it was the same cost (but more obtainable) as the .44mag 21st Century shell holder. Crazy thought that! Anyway, the Lee is just so ergonomically awkward. It’s painful to use, impossible to grip properly, is not smooth, constantly induces miss feeds and chokes priming.

Just last night I primed around 300x .44mag cases and had to call it quits as my hand basically looked and definitely felt bruised. Whereas priming 300x 6.5x47 cases in one sitting with the 21st Century hand primer was a doddle. 

4 hours ago, Jeffo1960 said:

Does fluorescent lights affect the A and D as I have 1 which will be approx 5 foot away, and anything else that will affect it, before I pull the trigger on one

Not tried with fluorescent lights but the A&D scales are very sensitive. They come with wind guards, worth using. I also use a line conditioner on the power supply. But the main thing to be aware of (I think it applies to all scales, not just the A&D) is being near a window or in a space that will warm up with the sun. I find if reloading during the middle of a warm day I notice the scales wander just a bit, I assume as everything warms up and the air in the room warms. It doesn’t wander much, perhaps about +0.02gn to +0.04gn (which is around 1 to 2 kernels of N140) not much, but something to note.

You won’t be disappointed with the A&D, especially if you hook it up with the Autothrow and Autotricker combo...it’s just so quick and very reliable. 

3 hours ago, Jeffo1960 said:

I have a target master and beam scales, which I highly rate, but recently my ES and SD are all over the place, I borrowed a digital scale of someone nothing fancy, and they came a little better, so I am guessing I got a problem with my beam scale, as hoping to get into long range shooting 

Do you anneal your brass? If not, that could very well be the cause of a sudden shift in your ES/SD as the brass becomes increasingly work hardened.

I believe the presence of a carbon ring, at the throat/neck junction, can cause increased pressure spikes, affecting ES/SD.

1 hour ago, Mattnall said:

Where is this written, please? Has it changed recently?

I think you are thinking of APDS which are mentioned in Guidance as being ammunition for prohibited weapons (and therefore prohibited in their own right), but the Guidance specifically states that shooters may want to manufacturer their own sub-calibre ammunition using sabot (para 13.92).

Good question. It was always written as a condition on my FAC, that I could not purchase ‘expanding and explosive ammunition, including sabot, and missiles’. However this no longer appears listed on my FAC since a recent renewal. Despite it no longer being stated as a condition, I believed sabot still wasn’t permitted. Apologies if that’s not the case. 

9 minutes ago, Jim DiGriz said:

The petals on the sabot of the slap round can engage with the vents on a muzzle brake causing much brief entertainment. So there is a vague link.

But not really as we’re not permitted sabot rounds in the U.K. without special license. So again, not really relevant.

Theres one thing not liking brakes, which I can understand. I own and use brakes on my own rifles but have/do experience concussion from others rifles when shooting near others. But hey, it comes with the territory. If you choose to engage in a sport who’s primary output is a massive bang and shockwave, then you’ve gotta expect you’re going to experience it. With appropriate hearing protection (I double up, with in ear plugs under my MSA electronic muffs) it’s not a big deal.

I think a previous suggestion to simply ask politely those with brakes be moved to one end is sensible. Using a brake isn’t wrong. It’s nothing to try and shun. Everyone has a right to shoot and we’re all in it together to enjoy our time on the range 👍😎

https://www.accurateshooter.com/cartridge-guides/6mmppc/

10 hours ago, Richiew said:

Moly cote P37 is good to 1400degrees C . After a range day of 200 rounds you can see inside the brake end of the mod a build up of carbon where the vents are on the brake thus could be the lockup area . Have tried both copaslip and nickeleeze and they both don’t stay greasy after 200 shots . The silicon grease also deteriorate s and the gas can leak and cut the oring . Regular changes of the oring helps . Some hi temp greases only specify 450 c so try something much higher . Due to its structure stainless is very good at picking up on threads ie seizing and alloy items don’t mix with other metals so will corrode to a white powder . 40 years in the chemical industry and we still haven’t found a way to stop threads catching under all circumstances. I’ll see if I can order the moly cote and see how it works. 
Hope you’ve got that mod loose 

 

That’s interesting.

I use Redline CV2 extreme pressure moly grease for barrel shanks and muzzle threads when swapping out my barrels and attaching brakes and direct thread mods. I’ve found the Redline works well, everything comes loose quickly and without effort. The grease is still there even after the barrel/brake gets hot.

However Ive only recently bought a MAE mod for my AI AWM and that’s got the O ring bushing to seal over the AI brake. I intend to put some Redline on the O ring and I’ll see how that performs. But your suggestion to use a higher temp grease, like MolyKote P37, might come in handy. Thanks!

Delightful!

Good luck with the sale 👍

This may or may not be of help, but when I tumbled, I used walnut media. I found it cleaned a bit better than corn cob as I think it’s a bit harder.

However, I gave up on all the tumbling stuff because I really disliked all the fine powder, carbon and other chemicals floating around and breathing in when you open the lid and empty the cases of media.

I switched to Ultra sonic cleaning. Only cost £50 of eBay and so far it’s been brilliant. Cases much cleaner than before and I feel it’s safer than before. If you go the U/S route, just apply some lube  to the inside of the necks before seating a bullet. I use HbN powder and works a charm. You could also use graphite or whatever. 

11 hours ago, 20series said:

It's as much about the ergonomics, personally I couldn't get on with the old AW thumbhole stock it was too small and my trigger finger didnt  fall properly, the pistol grip on the AT is far better.

 

Alan

Couldn’t agree more. The thumb hole stock on my AWM sucks ass - even with spacers it’s crap. Definitely agree the thumb hole is too small. A former rifle that had a Manners GAT thumb hole stock was much better. And my MPA chassis, with vertical grip, is simply 1000x times better than the AI.

Yep, good point. I always make a point of dabbing some moly grease on barrel threads (chamber & muzzle ends) and brakes/mods. I too learnt my lesson the hard way once. 

Here’s the RS website load data for .338LM:

https://www.reload-swiss.com/en/reload_swiss/service_2/rs_ladedaten_1/index.php?kaliber=338+Lapua+Mag.&pulver=-&hersteller=-&gew_gesch=gr&gew_ladung=gr&geschw_mass=ft
 

In my experience, their load data is on the low side and I’m often able to go significantly higher, without pressure signs, with all the powders I use of theirs.

You’ll probably find RS80 is too slow for 250gn bullets, I think a number of others have tried and got low velocity.

However, I think it’s a brilliant powder for 300gn bullets. I use it in my .338Norma Magnum (only 6% case capacity difference to the 338LM) and it’s an excellent powder with the 300gn Scenar. Very consistent.

Get your mates to sell theirs instead, don’t they know MOA is so last decade! MIL is what all the cool kids use 😎

4 hours ago, Popsbengo said:

I don't buy your last line; For sure annealing will assist in reducing ES by equalising neck tension but ES is also dependant on many other variables that must be managed.  Actually, if all the necks were equally hard then that would be a constant too - not conducive to long case life maybe, but equal.

With regard to "people doing it wrong" well, if they get case life and adequate accuracy I'd say carry on with what is working for them.  Empirical evidence rules !

Thats not what I’m saying. True that ES/SD is affected by a lot of different variables. 
But the point is that when annealing at different temperatures and for different lengths of time, given no other changes to your loads, the evidence from load testing should show changes in both velocity and ES/SD. As you get towards the optimum state of annealment (is that a word??) your loads should see increase in velocity then a drop off to a consistent plateau. Same for ES/SD. It’ll increase then suddenly start to drop.

Im not stating that by annealing alone you are able to significantly improve your ES/SD.

And if you watch the videos through, I think the evidence he puts forward with his testing provides the evidence you’re asking for 👍

And i for one will run my own tests, similar to him, where i incrementally increase the annealing time and test the loads made up and interrogate the data for where the optimum temperature + time sits for me.

Oh dear, sadly it seems few people here have actually understood the point of this thread or watched the detailed videos.

If you’re heating your brass to 750f, like I used to, you’re doing it wrong. You’re not actually annealing your brass. Using tempilaq paint to tell you you’ve reached 750f then stopping the heat...is NOT correct. Your brass is NOT annealed properly.

The 750f temperature often talked about is only applicable if heating your brass at 750f...for 1hr!!!
But heating your brass for 1hr will ruin the brass.

To correctly anneal your brass, you need to be heating to around 950-1000f as quickly as possible, often just a second or two with an induction machine.

But to truly determine if you’ve annealed properly, you need to test them. 
Only when you see a lowering of your ES/SD and see your velocity increase, then decrease and plateau, confirms the annealing temperature + time is correct.

2 hours ago, terryh said:

PbG in the traditional approach 'yes' due to the original concept of safety over accuracy - something with teeth coming at you and you want the case held against the face of the bolt so the firing pin / primer works.

When reloading for paper targets you can forget the belt and reload as per normal for your rifle i.e. FL size to push the should back 'a bit' and go from there. the only issue can be a bulge near the belt (as the belt creates a stress point) which the IT base sizer die takes care of.

T

Yup, which is why I consider the commonly spoused negative comments about the belt a somewhat moot point.

Magnum primers don’t necessarily mean greater velocity, they just have a slightly thicker cup to deal with the typically higher magnum pressures.

I think Laurie did a whole series of articles in Targetshooter magazine, where he looked at different primers from various manufacturers (incl standard vs magnum in both SP and LP).

Edit: http://www.targetshooter.co.uk/?p=2662

Whilst ive also a .300wm (in an AI AWM) Ive yet to shoot it, I have however read that many shooters prefer the performance of standard LP primers over magnums in the .300wm. Seemingly some people feel the standard primers provide lower ES/SD, but I’m not convinced that’s a universal truth. It’ll be interesting to see what your testing shows. Good luck!

OW is the main stockist. Although they might be out of stock, you can still order. My last S&B was out of stock & had to be ordered from Germany. Despite the estimated 60-90 day lead times and the scope needing to be manufactured, my scope arrived in only around 2.5 weeks. Worth dropping OW a line.

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