KirkD
12-18-2012, 08:35 PM
Well, I’m taking a couple weeks of vacation and basically planning to do not much other than a few things on my wife’s ‘To Do’ list so she doesn’t begin to think I’m a derelict. I sleep in every day until 8:30 am and stay up late at night until 11:00 or so. I felt like going to the range today to do some shooting so I figured I’d blow the dust out of my original Winchester Model 53 32 W.C.F. (32-20) made in 1929 according to the barrel date. The Model 53 is essentially an extra light version of the Model 1892 that Winchester produced from 1924 until 1930 or shortly after, judging from the latest barrel date I’ve ever been able to find, although the catalogues list it for a few years after that.
The Model 53 is a joy to hold and use, light, fast, and the Model 1892/92/53 double locking lug action is slick. They were chambered in three calibers: 25-20, 32 W.C.F. (32-20) and 44 W.C.F. (44-40). Total production was around 15,000 and special order Model 53’s are very rare. I’ve owned four Model 53's, in all three calibers, but right now I only have one, a special order, solid frame version with fancy wood. Here’s a photo ….
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/3855Win/53-side_zps16f8f271.jpg
… and here’s a better one of the tang sight …
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/3855Win/53-close_zps35c1d2f8.jpg
My current pet load consists of 9.5 grains of 5744 under a 115 grain Magma plain base cast bullet sized to .312 for a velocity of 1,260 fps. My little Model 53 has a slugged groove diameter of .3115. I have been using a mix of Winchester and Remington brass, but the Winchester brass is shorter than the Remington by about 1/32” which is frustrating because I have to readjust the seating/crimping die between the different types, making consistency hard to achieve. I decided that enough was enough and I ordered in 100 spanking new Starline cases which are awaiting their debut load. I figured that today was the day to shoot off all the remaining cartridges using the old Winchester and Remington brass, so I loaded up and headed off to the range. After a bit of shooting to get the tang sight adjusted for 100 yards, I shot all the Winchester brass cartridges into one target and the Remington brass cartridges into another.
I had eight remaining Winchester brass cartridges to fire at this first target. Range was 100 yards. Here is the result ….
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/3855Win/Win-Brass_zpsacdd447b.jpg
I had fourteen Remington brass cartridges remaining, and fired all of them into this second target. Range was 100 yards. Here’s the target ….
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/3855Win/Rem-Brass_zpsf350c89b.jpg
One can see that the longer Remington brass seemed to give a tighter group than the shorter Winchester brass. I haven’t checked the Starline brass to see how long it is, but I’m hoping it is the same length as the Remington brass. Having all Starline brass will enable me to have all my brass the same length, a constant die seating and crimping, and hopefully better accuracy than what you see here.
The Model 53 is a joy to hold and use, light, fast, and the Model 1892/92/53 double locking lug action is slick. They were chambered in three calibers: 25-20, 32 W.C.F. (32-20) and 44 W.C.F. (44-40). Total production was around 15,000 and special order Model 53’s are very rare. I’ve owned four Model 53's, in all three calibers, but right now I only have one, a special order, solid frame version with fancy wood. Here’s a photo ….
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/3855Win/53-side_zps16f8f271.jpg
… and here’s a better one of the tang sight …
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/3855Win/53-close_zps35c1d2f8.jpg
My current pet load consists of 9.5 grains of 5744 under a 115 grain Magma plain base cast bullet sized to .312 for a velocity of 1,260 fps. My little Model 53 has a slugged groove diameter of .3115. I have been using a mix of Winchester and Remington brass, but the Winchester brass is shorter than the Remington by about 1/32” which is frustrating because I have to readjust the seating/crimping die between the different types, making consistency hard to achieve. I decided that enough was enough and I ordered in 100 spanking new Starline cases which are awaiting their debut load. I figured that today was the day to shoot off all the remaining cartridges using the old Winchester and Remington brass, so I loaded up and headed off to the range. After a bit of shooting to get the tang sight adjusted for 100 yards, I shot all the Winchester brass cartridges into one target and the Remington brass cartridges into another.
I had eight remaining Winchester brass cartridges to fire at this first target. Range was 100 yards. Here is the result ….
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/3855Win/Win-Brass_zpsacdd447b.jpg
I had fourteen Remington brass cartridges remaining, and fired all of them into this second target. Range was 100 yards. Here’s the target ….
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/3855Win/Rem-Brass_zpsf350c89b.jpg
One can see that the longer Remington brass seemed to give a tighter group than the shorter Winchester brass. I haven’t checked the Starline brass to see how long it is, but I’m hoping it is the same length as the Remington brass. Having all Starline brass will enable me to have all my brass the same length, a constant die seating and crimping, and hopefully better accuracy than what you see here.