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Rookie Press Operator Prepares to Blow Things Up

Actually...... second focal plane is better for target shooting. Reason being, as you zoom in to the target, your crosshairs become thinner and narrower in relation to the target, giving you a smaller point to focus on. Whereas with first focal, if your crosshairs appear an inch wide on the target at 3 power, when you zoom in, they will still appear an inch wide at 9, 14, or 24 power.

Well after digging around and reading some more I think I've decided that I don't need a first focal plane scope for what I'm doing.

I can do my own ranging, because I'm shooting on a measured range. LOL

This really didn't occur to me that the advantage of that design (1st fp) is most important if you have to go shoot people off the side of a hill somewhere, and you don't know what the ranges are.

Anyhow I've looked at three different scopes at one of our local stores that I really like and they're all in the $1000 to $2,000 price range.

Of course my lovely wife wants to look at this purchase as if the rifle is not worth the expense of that scope.

Then I told her, "look honey I paid over $1,000 this year for eyeglasses. This is not about the rifle it's about my eyes."

Well her vision is not great so she understands. Also I explained to her that that scope I put on her $600 Rifle cost $900 retail.
 
Well today I've been messing around with the loading bench and prepping ammo.
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I was getting ready to weld up a little elevator for my powder hopper, but I discovered I was completely out of acetylene after about 30 seconds.

I built a little extension table for my workbench so I can keep things organized when I am prepping cases.
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Today it is pouring rain. Since I'm not a duck hunter, wet weather always means garage projects for me.
 
Never enough bench space, I need to extend mine, just haven't gotten to it. I'm going to make provisions for a vice, that will be anchored to the floor with a steel stand. Yet will be easily removable when not in use.
 
We'll see how the next round of targets go before I claim that. :rolleyes:

Since I didn't go this weekend, the next time I go I should have a real scope mounted up.

Last time I shot hand loads, I didn't have enough "matched" cases, so my results had some flukes in them.

Some misses were just shots I goofed, but some shells had higher pressures from smaller internal volumes. I need to examine those cases carefully to see whst it tells me about powder volume & compression.

Also, I'm seating the slug 0.003" deeper this time, but with the same 25grn charge & 75grn slug as last time. I'm trying to make the magazine feed more reliably. This change might raise the pressure & velocity a little bit, but I don't think I really need much more than I'm getting now.

I will likely be able to make nice groups at 200 yards with the 25grn charge, when I get a decent scope on my rifle.
 
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While it's fair to acknowledge a botched shot, that in no way is reflective on the handloads or even the loader.

If you speak to anyone who shoots, not just reloaders, I suspect that most of us know and are honest enough to say that they pulled a shot, or flinched, or just plain missed. We're human. We screw up.

Lord knows I do all the time.
 
Thank you for being such a gentleman, John.

I Flinch a lot, and particularly with light guns. My Savage .22 long rifle has the acutrigger and I made it heavy enough that I can shoot it pretty well for what it is. But the .223 Savage makes it seem a toy.

Someday I will buy a Patriot in .308 Caliber, but for now I think this .223 will provide all the challenge I need for a long time.

Not to say that the .22 long rifle wasn't a challenge but it certainly wasn't as much fun.

And, as far as I know, the best you can do with .22 ammo is to cherry-pick factory loads.

I really like the fact that I can load .223, and I'm encouraged enough by the results to start loading for my Mariner .30-30 as well.
 
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My grandkids picked this brass up at the range, and I polished and lubed it all.

I was only looking for .30-30 and .223, and there were only a dozen or so each, plus a few Lapuas and Win Mags, but I have this leftover bucket of mostly perfect .308 Win.

I had sorta given up on the thought of a .308 or a 6.5, but look at that brass!

It's hypnotic...

It's telling me how much fun a Patriot could be.
 
Yep. It's the next caliber on my list to start loading for. ;)
 
I've been shopping for a .308 & 6.5.
Some very nice stuff on Davidson's, but I'm going to look further.

They had a lovely SS Savage 12 in .308 but no appropriate (bench rest) Creedmoors available in Mossberg or Savage.
 
I'm not really interested in short Action Guns. I'm just shooting off of bench rest, and so to me a long action seems an advantage.
 
Maybe if the chamber was cut with a dremel tool. ... all chambers are reamed to SAAMI spec. Plus once a case is fired its formed to that chamber. So long as you only neck size afterward, then the case will fit the chamber like a laytex glove. Some of the most accurate cartridges are short action. .22 benchrest, 6mm benchrest, the comp shooters figured out long ago that more powder doesn't make accuracy. Maximising the performance of a projectile does.
 
Your point is well taken Diesel.

Velocity doesn't guarantee accuracy. More powder doesn't guarantee more of either, and more powder isn't necessarily the most efficient path to more energy.

My thought was that longer chambers just naturally have a better alignment with the barrel because the geometry favors that. Not because the tooling is more accurately made than any other.

Of course if there is 0 slop, then you have perfect alignment no matter the length of the cartridge.

But 0.005" slop on a long cartridge will give you a still a better angular alignment than 0.005" slop on a short one.

Then again maybe the cartridge alignment is not as important as I think.
 
Once the cartridge is fire formed inside the chamber, then action length is irrelevant. To start chasing alignment, you will have to get a concentricity gauge, and measure radial runout at the bulllet. And at that point you're opening a whole new can of worms.
 
I decided I wanted my powder hopper to be easy to move and easy to dump, so I made this swing-away elevator.

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I can swing the hopper out of the way or just pull it out of the base and dump it.
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I didn't like having to unscrew the hopper to dump it.

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It's heavy enough that you can't dislodge it, but lifts up easily.

The base is the blade flange from a 1959 model Briggs lawnmower, and the 7/8" pin & nuts are from a tractor implement lift, shortened slightly.
 
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