Was able to carve out some time this evening to get to the range with some over-due basic gun work. I didn't get on my way 'til nearly 1800 and the range closes at 2000, so I only took three rifles, which for me is 'not many'.

The .358 Steyr was to get it's last chance to work out. I had shortened and rechambered the barrel, and it was 'now or never' for this barrel. If it didn't work, the barrel is gone.

I haven't shot the newly-built Contender with the E. Arthur Brown custom .22 Hornet barrel. That needed doing.

I have owned the "mystery .308 Win" for several years and hadn't yet shot it, so it needed shooting out of principle if nothing else.

Since all the rifles needed sighting in I set the target at 35 yd. I was using the custom "lead sled" that JaDub made for me. (Really like that thing.) And everything else was pretty 'normal'. No chronograph today because I was just interested in "how does it shoot".

I was going to shoot factory Hornady ammo out of the Hornet, but of course the .358 had to have handloads, and I can't imagine NOT reloading for a .308 Win!

There was only one load for the .358:
200 grain Remington Spire Point bullet
64.0 grains of Accurate 4064
CCI 250 Magnum primer,
Hornady .376 Steyr brass
Seat to cannelure.

That is a fairly mild load at an estimated max pressure of only 45,284 PSI. All I cared about was getting a reasonable performance without any 'trouble'.

I didn't get too 'cute' with the .308 loads. I literally reached in my military brass bin and grabbed the first 20 cases without regard to headstamp. I was only going to use two bullets; the Speer 130-grain HP (#2005), a favorite of mine in my other .308s; the other one being a favorite of j0e_bloggs', the Sierra 125-grain FP (#2020). I have killed many caribou with that 130, and narry a one has left tracks after the shot.

130 grain Speer HP #2005
39.0 grains of Reloder-10x (per Nelsdau's recent recommendation),
CCI 200 large rifle primer,
Seat one caliber - .308 - deep
"random" milsurp brass. (10 rounds)

I made up two loads for the 125 bullet:
125 grain Sierra FP/HP #2020
35.5 grains of I4227 (31 year old cannister of powder I opened for the FIRST TIME today.
CCI 200 large rifle primer
Seat to cannelure
"Random" milsurp brass. (5 rounds)
Estimates max pressure = 52,601 PSI

125 grain Sierra FP/HP #2020
32.4 grains of Winchester 296
CCI 200 large rifle primer
Seat to cannelure
"Random" milsurp brass. (5 rounds)
Estimated max pressure = 45,042 PSI

The .308 charges were all chosen to be right on a timing node AND, due to the relatively short barrel of 20.625", to burn ALL of the powder in the barrel WELL before the muzzle.

I fired the .358 first, because I had "low hopes" for it to even function properly. I was pleasantly surprised. Here's the two-shot sighting in target:

Looks good. First shot low. Adjust scope. Second shot high but windage good. Good enough for moving to 100 yd.

I intentionally loaded 10 rounds of the 130s intending to use them to sight the .308 in. Here is its sight in target:


Again, first shot low. Adjust scope. (I LOVE this new 'scope!) Second shot "x-ring", so on to 100 yd.

Got the Contender out, loaded it, cocked it, (couldn't bore sight because it's a breech-break action), took a look through scope and pulled the trigger. Nuthin. I went through that sequence SEVERAL times! Not a dent on the primer, but when I dry fire, I can see the firing pin protruding. I put the Conteder away in disgust.

I moved the target to 100 yards and got the .308 ready. Have a look at this...

Nice, huh?!

I shot the first one and was pleased. I shot the second one and was VERY pleased. Then I shot the third one and was 'deflated'. Then I decided to shoot a 5-shot group instead of a 3-shot group. Four was NICE! Five was even NICER! Given the random brass, I'm thinking this a good-shooting rifle!

Next up was the .358 Steyr while I let the .308 cool.

That flat out sucks! It's 7" high by 8" wide. That's the end for this barrel. Period.

The .308 was cool, so I got it out to shoot the 125s ahead of I4227.


Not great by any means, but there's more to the story. First, we know by now that the gun can shoot, so it's not the gun. We also know I can shoot, so it's not me either. Could be load, but in fact, it's a change in the environment. I shot one and two, and really liked what I saw. Then some people REALLY wanted to go down-range an check their targets. They took a good 15 minutes. In the mean time the wind really whipped up. By the time I shot 3, it was a steady 25 AT LEAST, directly from "east" (left to right). In fact, it was so strong, it blew my target over. Wind doesn't particularly explain the vertical spread, but that could be variations in brass.

By now, it was certainly 'time to go'.

So I am VERY pleased with the mystery .308 ad VERY pleased with the new scope. (In fact, I came home from the range and bought two more!) No surprises with the 130 HP. That bullet shoots has shot very well for me regardless of the rifle shooting it or the charge behind it.

I think the 125s will probably shoot more consistently when I use consistent brass.

The .358 is "done". Barrel off tomorrow. I don't know what I will replace it with. I'm thinking 8mm-08 at the moment.

Oh yeah... Talking with j0e_bl0ggs about the Contender, he pointed out to me that they can be configured for rim fire OR center fire. Mine is currently configured for RF. THAT'S why it wouldn't shoot. :frown :o Oh well. Next time I guess.

Over-all a good hour at the range. Made a final decision on the .358. Loved the "new" .308, and the Contender isn't broken like I thought it was.

Paul

So today I decided to do some more 'focused' reloading for what I am now going to call the Howa .308.

I noticed when I shot it yesterday that for most of the cartridges, bolt closure was a little tight. I checked at the time for marks on the bullets to make sure I wasn't jamming the bullets into the lands. No marks. So today when I started case prep, I checked the 'fit' again, and it was tight. I got out a set of go/no go gauges I have and ran them into the chamber. The "go" was a little tight. This means the chamber is a little on the small side of "standard". That's fine by me, but I have to run the cases into the full length resizing die a couple of times to make sure the bolt will close on the case. I ran every case into the chamber and closed the bolt just to make sure there would be no surprises at the range next time. Also, I trimmed each case to length, sorted all the brass to one lot, and measured the capacity on five cases - 53.6 grains.

I measured the length of the bearing surface of the 130 HP (0.450") and the 125 FP/HP (0.426"). I also precisely measured the chamber length - 2.215". Given that the nominal case length is 2.015", that leaves only 0.200" of leade. That's fine for these light-weight bullets. 30 thousandths off the lands is a good starting place and results in seating depths of about .260", 'give or take'. That's about 85% of a caliber, so I'm comfortable with that. (The bullets yesterday were seated a caliber deep.) I reran all the 'numbers' through QuickLOAD given these newly measured real specs. (I'll probably never get the thing to shoot straight again now that I have done this!) I also precisely measured the barrel length, and it is 20.5", not 20.625".

Working things through QL, I think I'll try some CFE223 and try to get my hands on some Ar-Comp to try. But I am certainly going to stick to the RL-10x and try to repeat yesterday's great groups with the 130s.

News at 11.

Paul

Speer's 130gn projectile is certainly the ducks guts and there is no real reason for the load, once sorted, to not shoot well. Put it another way, if I'm testing out .308 loads then I almost immediately discount this projectile as a problem if I have accuracy issues.
 A tighter chamber as you say is no real problem either. I remember when Kombi gave me a couple of hundred once fired .308 brass that he had got from "somewhere". I f/l resized it in my (then) RCBS .308 die. The brass was still too tight for me to be comfortable with. I removed the decapping rod and started to resize again with the die screwed down slightly further. I then neck sized back up to .308. This made all the difference.

Eh? Are you saying the Speer 130 is no good?

That's kind of the way I read it too. From previous conversations I understand "the duck's guts" to be a "good thing". I think he left out a "not" in the next sentence.

Anyway, he can clear it up when he reads this next.

Paul

I just got around to checking out the Contender receiver, and "Houston, we have ignition."

In plain English, the RF/CF conversion is facilitated by depressing a spring-loaded retaining pin and rotating a cylindrical component in the hammer; one half of which is recessed. When the recessed part is "down", the rimfire firing pin is engaged. When rotated 180 degrees, the centerfire firing pin is engaged. One test firing and all works as expected. Yay. It's raining, and is supposed to for a week, so I don't know when I'll get back to the range with this rifle.

Paul

Quote from: gitano;145482That's kind of the way I read it too. From previous conversations I understand "the duck's guts" to be a "good thing". I think he left out a "not" in the next sentence.

Anyway, he can clear it up when he reads this next.

Paul

Correct, but 22h can confirm himself.

I would have thought it obvious that "the duck's guts" means "you can't get any better" :laugh:

Marcus

Of course! It's obvious!



Paul

QuoteI just got around to checking out the Contender receiver, and "Houston, we have ignition."

In plain English, the RF/CF conversion is facilitated by depressing a  spring-loaded retaining pin and rotating a cylindrical component in the  hammer; one half of which is recessed. When the recessed part is "down",  the rimfire firing pin is engaged. When rotated 180 degrees, the  centerfire firing pin is engaged. One test firing and all works as  expected. Yay. It's raining, and is supposed to for a week, so I don't  know when I'll get back to the range with this rifle.

Paul

Early contender hammer...




See here for later type.
...

I lost the retaining screw, spring and detent balls which is the reason my hammer was replaced with later type!





...

Later model is better!

Paul

I was going to ask about the RF\CF on the Contender. The 30-06 short(308) looks like it's shooting pretty good, it's too bad about the 358 though.

I've never been much interested in TC firearms other than the TCR-83 I owned, and didn't recall that they were not only switch barrel, but also switch ignition. J0e_bl0ggs 'twigged' to that immediately. Wish I had known about it at the range.

I'm likin' the .30-06 short - too!

It is too bad about the .358, but it seems to have been snake-bit from the outset. (You recall the caliber snafu, right?) I'm thinking I might put an 8mm barrel on the receiver with cartridge choices of 8mm-08, 8mm-06, 8mmx.284 Win, 8x68, 8x55 Swiss, 8x.338 WM, etc. Could be a .338-06 too. I have .308 Norma Mag reamers, and that's a great cartridge. Have to pick something...

Paul

I really like my 338-'06 and no rail mods necessary. All of them work. Happy picking.

Quote from: gitano;145482That's kind of the way I read it too. From previous conversations I understand "the duck's guts" to be a "good thing". I think he left out a "not" in the next sentence.

Anyway, he can clear it up when he reads this next.

Paul

Yes my mistake.    "The ducks guts" means "good".