I had a good day at the range today.
I often find that a particular rifle won’t group well, or some ammo that I had hopes for won’t hit the barn (from the inside).
Today I took a pair of rifles that had been giving me problems and left the range with both nicely zeroed with ammo that groups well.
The Lee Enfield sporter had been shooting very vertical groups (5-6 inches at 100) and I had made several attempts to improve the bedding, but little changed. I was using a milsurp ball powder similar to BLC2 under 148 FMJ bullets and under 168 and 178 match bullets. The only reason I used this powder was that I had a lot of it and it was appropriate in speed. It also meters very well.
I decided to try some milsurp extruded powder, similar to a fast lot of 4895. Eureka! Groups were round and less than half the height of before. 148 FMJ is 2.3” and the 178 Match is 1.8”
Here is a before and after:
I intend to use the 148s for the 100 standing part of the Sporting Rifle Shoot on Sept 23 at Camp Borden. I will use the Chargemaster to load the powder for the 178 match bullets for the 200 and 300 yard prone shooting.
Last week I was searching through the ammo bunker for ammo for a rifle I sold. I did not find the ammo, but I did find a milk crate of 6.5x55 match ammo left over from a rifle I had in that caliber. (It is now re-barreled to a 260Ackley).
I hate to see ammo unused, so I dug out an old hunting rifle in 6.5x55. This is a sporterized 96 Mauser in a plastic stock and has a bent bolt handle. These were sold by Century International for about $265, back in the day. I gave it to a buddy a few years ago, and he got a moose with it. But he moved out of the country and sent the rifle back to me. I recalled that it shot quite well with 160gr Round nose soft points. The match ammo chambered just fine, so I put on a target scope and took it to the range last week.
It shot high and with the scope bottomed out it was still about 6” high. So I took the scope off and put a piece of 10 thou shim stock on the front base cradle. This is a crude adjustment and cannot recommend it, but it worked.
Today it shot about 3” low, so I had to raise the setting a bit. It is almost bottomed out, but not quite. Good enough for my purposes. I probably have enough UP elevation for 1500 yards.
I made some ammo up with the 156FMJ round nose bullets I bought from Tom Higginson 50 years ago. I used H1000 because I have some and have no other use for it. 45gr grouped under 2”.
I tried 3 different 6.5X55 loads with 140gr Amax. They averaged under 1 inch. These were thrown charges with a chunky powder (H1000). For the range ammo I will use the ChargeMaster and weigh each charge.
So now I have 100 yard standing ammo with the M96 and good 200 and 300 yard prone ammo too.
And my new SMLE sporter project with a 20” 308 match barrel, 303 chamber and red Boyd’s wood now shoots nice round groups.
I often find that a particular rifle won’t group well, or some ammo that I had hopes for won’t hit the barn (from the inside).
Today I took a pair of rifles that had been giving me problems and left the range with both nicely zeroed with ammo that groups well.
The Lee Enfield sporter had been shooting very vertical groups (5-6 inches at 100) and I had made several attempts to improve the bedding, but little changed. I was using a milsurp ball powder similar to BLC2 under 148 FMJ bullets and under 168 and 178 match bullets. The only reason I used this powder was that I had a lot of it and it was appropriate in speed. It also meters very well.
I decided to try some milsurp extruded powder, similar to a fast lot of 4895. Eureka! Groups were round and less than half the height of before. 148 FMJ is 2.3” and the 178 Match is 1.8”
Here is a before and after:
I intend to use the 148s for the 100 standing part of the Sporting Rifle Shoot on Sept 23 at Camp Borden. I will use the Chargemaster to load the powder for the 178 match bullets for the 200 and 300 yard prone shooting.
Last week I was searching through the ammo bunker for ammo for a rifle I sold. I did not find the ammo, but I did find a milk crate of 6.5x55 match ammo left over from a rifle I had in that caliber. (It is now re-barreled to a 260Ackley).
I hate to see ammo unused, so I dug out an old hunting rifle in 6.5x55. This is a sporterized 96 Mauser in a plastic stock and has a bent bolt handle. These were sold by Century International for about $265, back in the day. I gave it to a buddy a few years ago, and he got a moose with it. But he moved out of the country and sent the rifle back to me. I recalled that it shot quite well with 160gr Round nose soft points. The match ammo chambered just fine, so I put on a target scope and took it to the range last week.
It shot high and with the scope bottomed out it was still about 6” high. So I took the scope off and put a piece of 10 thou shim stock on the front base cradle. This is a crude adjustment and cannot recommend it, but it worked.
Today it shot about 3” low, so I had to raise the setting a bit. It is almost bottomed out, but not quite. Good enough for my purposes. I probably have enough UP elevation for 1500 yards.
I made some ammo up with the 156FMJ round nose bullets I bought from Tom Higginson 50 years ago. I used H1000 because I have some and have no other use for it. 45gr grouped under 2”.
I tried 3 different 6.5X55 loads with 140gr Amax. They averaged under 1 inch. These were thrown charges with a chunky powder (H1000). For the range ammo I will use the ChargeMaster and weigh each charge.
So now I have 100 yard standing ammo with the M96 and good 200 and 300 yard prone ammo too.
And my new SMLE sporter project with a 20” 308 match barrel, 303 chamber and red Boyd’s wood now shoots nice round groups.
