policing my brass was a long walk

wayupnorth

wayupnorth

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i did some work on my Ruger Mini14 over the weekend, lapped the scope rings and loctite'd everything.
I had a issue last time i was out and i guess i had forgotten to loctite the ruger rings, damn ring came off while i was shooting.
but, good news was i got a scope lapping kit of Christmas so i was able to put it to use.

so to the story at hand.
i was sitting at the gun table putting some rounds down range.
i had 20 rounds of some not bad 223 and a bunch of surplus.
so i sighting the newly mounted scope with the nice brass and got up to go check.
upon my return to the shooting table i thought... i should go police that brass since im just getting into reloading and that stuff sure looked nice!
so i looked around the right side of the shooting table.... nothing.
strange.

i was in a sand pit and it has recently just been used for a load so it was nice and smooth all over so i started to walk around and look for my brass.
i got 10 feet away from the table and was thinking i was going crazy!
15 feet.... 20 feet and i could finally see some brass!
20 bloody feet away from the table!
i looked around and i could see more further out!
so i walked around and picked up my brass then looked over to the shooting table, it was a long way off!
then i looked down range, hell i was almost half the distance to the bloody target but at the 90degree angle.

for giggles i paced off the distance back to the table.
25 feet from the table to the furthest brass.
25 feet!

thats pretty damn impressive!
i knew that mini14 flings the brass good but i never noticed it went that far, good thing i dont shoot at a club with people beside me, id be raining down hot 223 brass down the entire fire line!

(now i kinda want to do that!)
 
mine was doing the same, very annoying!

the inserts are hard to get up here, you can turn your own if you have a lathe, for now I've stuck a roll pin into the gas port to size it down some, brought the brass a bit closer but it can go even lower! They must be way over-gassed at the factory.
 
A rifle that cycles aggressively is good from the viewpoint of reliability, but to my way of thinking, if a gas gun is fired from a fixed position, like prone or a benchrest, and flings brass far and wide, it suggests excessive pressure. Now I don't own a Mini-14, and although I look upon the design favorably, I haven't shot one for some time, so I don't recall the brass dispersion patterns. But your comments just made me think pressure, and its something you might consider if you're shooting surplus 5.56 or hot handloads in your Mini.
 
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I have a SKS that comically lobs casings in a parabolic arc onto the head of whatever poor sap is sitting about 6 shooting positions to the right of me. I love that rifle it gets hilarious or nafarious after a while. I'm thinking of setting up a bucket/box over there because it's nearly as accurate dropping brass/steel cases as it is on target.
 
Wait....so you were shooting with a scope at 50 feet? That's what, 16.6 yards? With a center fire rifle?
Oh right....Mini14...makes sense now.
Lol
 
Boomer said:
A rifle that cycles aggressively is good from the viewpoint of reliability, but to my way of thinking, if a gas gun is fired from a fixed position, like prone or a benchrest, and flings brass far and wide, it suggests excessive pressure. Now I don't own a Mini-14, and although I look upon the design favorably, I haven't shot one for some time, so I don't recall the brass dispersion patterns. But your comments just made me think pressure, and its something you might consider if you're shooting surplus 5.56 or hot handloads in your Mini.
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My .30 carbine flings factory military ball brass far and wide when used in it, my handloads are engineered to just work the action reliably. The military ball crono at just under 2000 fps, my loads crono at just over 1700 and the action ejects every time but the brass only go 6 ft or so. Much easier on the action and much easier to retrieve brass but still gets the job done I want it to do...kill deer.
 
philhut said:
I have a SKS that comically lobs casings in a parabolic arc onto the head of whatever poor sap is sitting about 6 shooting positions to the right of me. I love that rifle it gets hilarious or nafarious after a while. I'm thinking of setting up a bucket/box over there because it's nearly as accurate dropping brass/steel cases as it is on target.
Click to expand...

At least yours is consistent. My sks spits them every direction - including to the left!
 
Hitzy said:
Wait....so you were shooting with a scope at 50 feet? That's what, 16.6 yards? With a center fire rifle?
Oh right....Mini14...makes sense now.
Lol
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i had just put my scope back on it and was making sure i was close enough with the laser site-in that i was at least hitting paper at 30m before i went out to 100m.
too many times ive gone directly out to 100m with a newly mounted scope and spend a box of ammo trying to see where the heck its hitting.

but lets me honest, it is a mini14, so ya, minute of 12" gong @ 100m is all im looking for out of it.
 
SKS I have tosses most of the cases so far into the bush where I shoot I gave up trying to find them. Considering drilling holes in the gas tube to elp with that.

My Benelli MR1 however just tosses them everywhere, in groups. Each mag seems to get it's own pile in a different location. Anywhere from 1 o'clock to 6 o'clock. Drives me nuts trying to find the location each time but its fun to shoot!
 
lineofsight said:
Depending on series, the 62gr green tip PMC may also get you ~1 MOA.
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Surprising, mine would shoot 4/5 of that stuff into about an inch. Always a flyer.
I wonder if that's due to the powder, bullet, case, or the rifle.

I have a pack of gas bushings for mine, I also acquired an adjustable gas block for it.
The smallest gas bushing still throws them 10ft, but it's better than 20ft.
Never tried the adjustable gas block yet, mostly just bought it cause it was priced right.
ASI was shipping to canada last I asked.

I also find the accuracy on par with a colt le6920 ar15.
 
A few years ago (OK maybe more than a few) a friend of mine had a Chinese AK variant in .223 that would launch the brass so hard we found some sticking into the 4x4 posts at the range neck first. That rifle would eject 25 ft easily and nobody wanted to shoot in the position to his right.
 
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