My only problem with the expanders you made me is that the die body isn't long enough to let me use the full throw of the press to adjust expanding amont. This makes it a bit harder to control the flair. I'm gonna see how my M die does.
I see lots of fiddling in my near future to get a handle on what works best for me.
You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.
Its a prototype matched to my rifle. If you need one made for your next build, ill hook you up.
In fact I have a set of five dies for the XCB cartridge. Each was made or modified to a specific purpose.
Might not matter for cast, but with jacketed it sure lets me stick 'em in the right spot.
You see, I cheat. LOL!
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
Originally Posted by btroj
Strange, mine work perfectly.
If you would like, send me the die and I will solve the problems with it. You absolutely must bottom out the ram, and the M die is not going to work as well. I wish you had told me about the issues your were having.
I'm trying to remember, and I think all I had was a description of your die to go on. If you send it to me, I'll make sure it works properly.
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
What I need is a die body with longer threads. I can't get it high enough in the press to bottom put the ram. It could easily be modified by pushing the shoulder the expander rests against in the die up farther into the body.
this is gonna be a learning experience. Lots of fiddling to be done to find what works best. I am almost done with 49 more cases. It was 50 but one got cut too short.
You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.
I really like your rifle, Brad. I thought I had the Fat Lady, but your rifle is much fatter than mine.
Wait till you see the next one coming up. It's phatter than phat.
Named "Bertha"
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
I'm looking forward to your results with the Accurate 31-165A bullet in your rifle. I'm using a slightly modified version of the same bullet, the 31-180R will good results in 10" twist rifles. The throats/freebore section in a few of my rifles is on the long side, and I lengthened the 165A bullet to accommodate this. I'm thinking the increased length of the full diameter body of the bullet results in more bearing surface, so a long throat isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm going to soon try some new gas-check seating "tricks" I learned from a friend here and expect to get better results than before.http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=31-160G-D.png
tim is this the one we talked about today??
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=31-165A-D.png
this is what i'll be working with to start [it has the things I pointed out] versus yours.
plus I already got itand have pushed it to 2400 in the 308 without issue.
Good luck with your rifle,
Rick
OK, here is the rifle lovingly referred to as "Bertha".
Not much was needed to get this one walking the line. It used to be 30-338 caliber.
Whoever built this the first time really had their head screwed on straight. This is a blind FN Mauser bedded to a walnut stump of a stock with a Unertl 10X scope. If you're going to drop $3500 on a custom rifle build, this is certainly one of the best ways to do it.
Judging by the care that was taken in the construction of this fine rifle and the obvious affinity the original owner had for pulling the trigger (The throat was gone) I expected this to be a real tack driver, and I was not disappointed.
Now all I did was set the barrel back 3" to a cool 27, and bush the boltface, and work in an extractor that will jump the rims (still in process), and recrown the barrel. Other than that, what you see is the way it came here.
Attachment 113135
Attachment 113136
Attachment 113137
Yes, that is a blind FN Mauser friends. First one to come through the shop, and I hope not the last. What a peach!
Attachment 113138
Like I said: Phatter than Phat!
Attachment 113139
100 yards Hornady Amax 168's, 1/2MOA.
Thank you! I'll be here all week!
I'm starting to wonder if I'm actually learning to shoot. Truth is, I'm not that good of a shot. However, this was the first rattle out of the box at 100 yards after walking the scope in at 30 yards. 9 shots total. 4 at thirty, and these five at 100.
Put a fork in it, it's done!
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
Well, Sir, these aren't your off the shelf "Guaranteed MOA for 3 shots if the moon aligns and you're using the right ammo!!" Rifles.
That is awesome! I feel like a young father again watching my kids grow up!
Larry Gibson
In case any of you wonder what Larry means by his statement above, this whole project was in his minds eye before I ever started smithing. When I was drawing up the chamber reamer and figuring out all the angles, Larry sent me some dummy cartridges to go on. He already had them made up.
There were many hands that came together to get this off the ground, and I am honored to be one of them, but as I understand it, the original concept came from Larry Gibson.
Last edited by MBTcustom; 08-11-2014 at 09:21 AM.
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
Goodsteel, Never seen a scope setup like the one on your latest conversion. Can you (or the owner) elaborate please so I can learn. Thanks.
Certainly.
What you are looking at is a 10X Unertl target scope. At one time (and still to this day for some people) it was/is considered to be the ultimate target scope.
The difference between it and a modern scope is that the adjustments are done externally. This makes it very easy to make adjustments using the micrometers on the rear mount.
The front mount is more complex. It allows the scope to float forward on recoil and it is stopped gently by the coil spring located behind that mount. After the shot, the scope is slid back into place (at least that's the way I do it).
The crosshairs are easily twisted into alignment via a knurled ring just in front of the eyepiece. Rather than rotating the entire scope, you simply loosen two opposing screws (very carefully) make the adjustment, and then tighten them back down (again, very carefully).
The front of the scope has parallax adjustment as well.
IMHO, these scopes are truly all that and a bag of chips. Not the sort of thing I would want to throw in a hole and jump in after like a combat situation, but for bench work, they are the Rolls Royce of telescopic sights.
One of the things that I really like is that if something is going wrong with the scope, there is a 99% probability that it's an external issue, which can be repaired, or fixed without having to take it to a clean room in a laboratory environment.
Of course all of this has the compromise of a very long and cumbersome scope that is easily damaged by the weight of the rifle it is attached to. Extreme care must be practiced, but at least you know what the score is and as long as you follow certain rules, it's an absolute joy to use one of these.
Last edited by MBTcustom; 08-11-2014 at 09:59 AM.
Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.
Thank you goodsteel!
When I purchased this rifle from member Zmanwakeforest back in May, I fully intended to keep it in the original caliber (30-338 Win Mag). I even traded Beagle for a set of Redding dies, and prepped about 150 pieces of brass for the rifle. Everything I could find about the caliber said "long range precision". It was for a short period the caliber of choice for the US Army long range rifle team (around 1968). However, the rifle would never shoot better than about 2 inch groups at 100 yards, and a chamber cast confirmed that the throat was badly eroded. At the time Tim was in the middle of building an 8x57 stalking rifle for me, a beauty with a new Yugo barrel (scoped and found worthy), a modified nazi beech stock from Badbobgerman, and mother of pearl stock inlays. We discussed the prospects for the target rifle (now having been named Big Bertha after the WW1 German 419mm Howitzer), and after Tim got it in his hands and found the barrel to meet his standards we decided to re-chamber to 30x57 XCB. The 8mm went back in the safe and Tim has been working on this rifle since he finished btrojs XCB. It has a Can-Jar set trigger that -when set- breaks when you cough. The rifle itself is a massive, steady platform that should be a good addition to the group of XCB rifles that are now coming out of Tim's shop. It has a 1 in 14 twist barrel, and I have good hopes of shooting the new NOE bullet for the XCB at the velocities Larry Gibson describes in his multiple posts on the subject. I have a sneaking suspicion I'll have to PM him for some advice once I get the rifle in my hands.
Bjornb
Be better if Tim just sent the rifle to me and I could wring out any "inconsistencies" in it.......probably take a few years...........
Larry Gibson
How 'bout I just stop over in Arizona on a trip, bring the rifle and you can whip it into shape to your heart's content?
Sounds like a good plan to me!
Larry Gibson
Another thing about scopes with external adjustments like a Unertl or Lyman is the lenses are all on their optical centers giving the best clarity. The down side as Tim mentioned is the adjustments are on the outside and can become dirty or broken, but when you make a adjustment you know it happened because you can feel that the scope is moving in the mounts when you pull it back. The eye piece of a external scope also moves in the direction of the adjustment requiring your cheek piece be able to move up and down when making large elevation adjustments just like iron sights.
With a internal adjustable scope only down and to the left are positive movements because the internal spring is being compressed, movements are not so positive up and to the right especially when it is cold out and the lubes in the scope become stiff.
Brad's rifle came out of the corner swinging and performed exactly like I expected it to. It will be shipped tomorrow if I can get it packaged satisfactorily tonight.-Goodsteel
Did you have to build a crate & pallet for that artillery piece?
Endowment Life Member NRA, Life Member TSRA, Member WACA, NRA Whittington Center, BBHC
Smokeless powder is a passing fad! -Steve Garbe
I hate rude behavior in a man. I won't tolerate it. -Woodrow F. Call, Lonesome Dove
Some of my favorite recipes start out with a handful of depleted counterbalance devices.
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