KABOOM

Indeed my best use of a Hawkeye was to see copper in a Savage 1899 lever action in .243, the copper remains as I haven't a clue how to tear it apart( not my rifle in any case) the bore was more or less plated with copper. By now the question may exist "does it shoot decently'? I haven't a clue never shot it. The Hawkeye in question was borrowed from a friend.

Quite correct I have a Springfield 1903 with pits that helped me place in Service Rifle 3 years past . Seems the pits didn't matter all that much. Only one bore with "some " rifling left has been a total waste of ammo a 1896 Broomhandle Mauser , you can see what ought to be lands and grooves sadly results on target say its pure mirage keyholes at 10 yards! I worry if groups open sure then I either clean or look for keyholes. Copper gets removed after around 400 shots more or less, throat erosion in my usage bothers me not in the least. JB compound a few strokes to knock the rough off and away I go to another adventure. Best wishes for good shooting.

Thank you I just learned something!

Electric motors and powder cant be good. What I did was place two containers identical in all respects other than front label near my partly full dispenser. Grabbed exactly the wrong one and poured only after seeing two very different granule sizes did I know I screwed up. I never did check the lable that day and relied on memory. My procedure now is only have the powder in use near the dispenser lable to the front at all times. All other powders in storage not to be touched until the stuff in use is put away and dispenser cleaned out.You cant be too careful with powder . I am quite sure good sir your very careful with powder.

After some thought I have to ask if a borescope is a cause of chasing some ideal not validated on target, thoughts?? I don't own one, I have used one for inspection of a few rifles and then began the worry. Only shooting vanquished the worry when results on target were as hoped for. As a tool for inspection prior to purchase I see value in using one on used guns. Even so if the gun in question is either rare or extremely interesting would I purchase it having seem dubious things? Maybe is the reply, so far I haven't purchased any used firearms that failed to give results that were desirable, perhaps im just lucky?

I found the same thing to be true when competing in small bore rifle in my youth other than my barrel was fine when I sold the rifle.

Not having the VGF Paste or felts I maybe out of depth. What I do for stubborn carbon is nylon brush with one of several cleaners on hand, Ballistol, Hoppes no9, or surplus DoD Rifle bore cleaner. I soak then brush. JB Compound should these fail. My Patches are from Southern Bloomer . I haven't plugged a chamber and filled the bore with solvent (yet) seems it would work on really bad carbon fouling if you had a large quantity of cheap solvent like DoD surplus RBC I get this for 1 USD per quart even in 2020.

If that is the worst thing you ever do handloading your doing fine, could have been like I did and failed to keep the powders separate and wound up mixing two types in the dispenser. At least I noticed before blowing something up and working for hours, cost me 40 bucks in powder and my dog was very ashamed of me.

The Redding web site has info on this very issue. SRVET is right on track I should have thought of this.

A few thoughts, have the cases been fired several times? Perhaps anneal and try again. This if a new barrel could be the chamber reamer was at minimum dimension and the die at maximum dimension. Are the case necks jammed into the lead of rifling? I have encountered brass that wont resize in the neck many firings due to spring back, I didn't anneal them as they were not mine and the owner was in doubt about the number of uses. Perhaps send a fired case to Redding along with your current die and see what they can do. I find this most interesting I do hope the problem resolves simply.

Well said! My goal was 1k of .223 this week if im lucky I will do half that! My greatest pleasure in hunting is game taken with a single shot rifle and ammo I load, can it get better? I rather doubt that.

The sign at the state line says like no place else on earth, quite correct too, when you can do come here its the best place I have lived, after having spent years around the world while in the USMC and driving freight in this country all over im home and glad of it.

Quite possible I didn't quite grasp your context regarding c.o.a.l, best regards.

Having spent the day loading .223 enjoying my task,after 200 rounds I think my brain melted. I first began handloading for the economy and versatility not found in factory offerings. The knowledge I have gained along the way is priceless, now with factory ammo more affordable the question arose why do we do this. As for me I think a three reasons, lower cost, accuracy, and yes I enjoy seeing the results of my labor on target. Why do you fellows load your own? Any ladies here I welcome the input as well

A consistent length will contribute to accuracy. Cases that are too long can jam in the lead of rifling resulting in pressure spikes. C.O.A.L has nothing to do with neck length unless your neck is so short you must seat ever deeper just to use the case in question. This is why I try to avoid setting the shoulder back unless its becoming hard to chamber, cases stretch in the resize die. I have noticed less neck growth by not setting the shoulder back. All my brass goes in the trimmer in any event, many times I wont remove any material or a slightly visible cut.

I take case lube off with dry media in another tumbler I also dry lube in the necks.

loose primer pockets! The result of usage and pressure when I find them I discard the lot of brass.

Do you gents bother to clean primer pockets? To date I don't bother, the cleaning I do is done while in the tumbler. I have read some on this topic and the general rule is either yes it matters for best results or don't bother it wastes time and energy.

Just as general information I chose this forum to join partly based on the civility of the members. Far to many other forums I saw the discussions start with some minor point of non agreement and shortly become personal attacks and nonsense.

I would agree, without a direct threat to life there is no reason to shoot anyone.

Panic buying is rather stupid no matter the item, if I lived in some location where crime was high and I was worried the police would fail or decide not to respond (virus protocols) I might buy a gun if I didn't have one. However in area small town in the middle of nothing we have zero issues with mobs or unrest, burglary ect. Many here have concealed carry permits and do carry a side arm. Within the border of my state we can carry a sidearm with no permit, or if we wish openly carry the firearm of choice with some restrictions, govt offices, bar aka pub, post office , schools ect. Poor behavior like criminal activity is predicate of a lack of morals in the wrong doer.

Sinclair International sells shims for use with a full length resize die these go under the die and provide a repeatable means of shoulder bump control. I haven't used them however they make sound mechanical sense. I set my fl dies to not touch the shoulder unless after several loadings its hard to chamber the case then I screw the die farther down experiment and when ease of chambering is achieved I quit. While simplistic it works and I get 10 shots out of my brass.

Im happy to read this! I plan to do some work with the 69TMK and hadn't seen much on results this is encouraging! Atm I use the 55 grn blitzkings with super results, on prarie dogs, would be fine of jackrabbit , fox or coyotes too.

I use CFE 223, with that said I can use whatever I wish, no REACH rules in the USA. I look to load volume and velocity listed in data and begin there my primer choice is CCI. Cases are Starline. First I look in the data for the bullet I may chose , find powder and then purchase what I need.

You mention glass quality and that's a great point, poor glass may darken at higher mag levels ( variable scopes). I never have shot anything over 6x at deer or pronghorn here in the USA. I zero at 6x to 10x depends on the rifle in hand. target size may require more power, mirage exist's seen or not and is a windage factor. Small targets such as sage rats I start at 10x may go higher at long range 500yds or so.