Bad case of GAS - Gun Acquisition Syndrome

[26Charlie]

It was setting there in the rack - a Remington pump, M760, .270 Win. caliber. I don't need another 760 - have one in .300 Savage, which shoots cast bullets very well. Two months later- still in the rack. A little pricey, but it does have a 4X Redfield scope on it. I'm a sucker for a nice old hunting gun, and I do load cast bullets for a .270 M721 - nah, carry wear on the bluing and stock finish has lots of dings. Two months later - still in the rack - say, the bore is great and the scope has the post/crosshair reticle I like - AND, my daughter gave me a gift certificate to the gun store for fifty bucks! Have I got a great daughter, or what? Two months later - the blue & stock finish are not so bad, what would you expect of a hunting rifle - would he knock $25 off the price? Well, yes - so on Veteran's Day I carried home the .270 pump gun.
I was going to see how the CB's work in it today, so got out my ammo can full of various .270 loads, but guess what - it has a tighter chamber than the M721, and all the CB loads are neck-sized, and they won't chamber in the M760. Quickly I grabbed some jacketed bullets, and put together a 130 grain load and another load with 150 grain round-noses, so I could shoot the gun today. The 130's were too hot - I had some stuck cases in both .270's - but the 150 gr. Hornady with 54 gr. of H-4831 and the Federal 215 primer gave me a group of 1.4 inches for 5 shots at 100 yards, of which three shots were cutting each other. This gun promises to be a tack-driver.
Not to waste an outing to the range, I also took the M760 .300 Savage which has a peep receiver sight and a bead front sight, and shot a cast -bullet group of 4 inches for five shots, of which four were into 1.9 inches with the fifth shot opening it out to the 4-inch size. The load for the .300 Savage is 311291 175 gr. RNGC, and 22.0 gr. Scot 4197.

Just can't keep away from those nice old hunting guns. Both serial numbers are in the 126,000 - 128,000 range, which puts them about 1956 or so I think.

[onceabull]

26Charlie: Came looking for the "right" spot to shout&pound about the wk'ends mould trophys and found your post.. Congrats,but you need to know that NOBODY shoots those old ,inaccurate,things when company's around.. and,my goodness, a 300 sav.with cast and the boolit down in the powder space..!!! my haul consists of a saeco 4 holer,in the .270 140 gr tcgc style, and a 2 holer in the lyman 280468, 114 nominal Loverin Style..What are you shooting in that cal. ?? I'm continuing to look for the right buy on a 270 ,been at the task for about 42 years...won't pass a 760 done right,current favorites there are 257 Roberts and 35 whelen.. Enjoy the new toy.....Onceabull

[Buckshot]

............Took you a whole 4-5 months to convince yourself you needed it, huh? :D I mean 4-5 months of self justification. What I used to do was to just thoughtlessly buy it, then spend the 4-5 months feeling guilty. However, the best part of THAT deal was I HAD it and I could feel all guilty while I was working up loads and shooting it.

Ya see, you have it backwards. Try my way a couple times. Works for me!

..............Buckshot

[9.3X62AL]

I don't consider Buckshot's method "thoughtless" at all--rather, it's a pretty thoughtful acceptance of the reality of used gun (and some new gun) acquisitioning. If the piece in question is in good condition, even moderately desireable, and fairly priced--it will NOT last long--it will sell. So, when I see such critters, I usually grab them. If buyer's regret sets in, I can sell them pretty easily without loss.

[26Charlie]

Onceabull - Those Saeco TC bullets ought to be great - I have the TC versions in 6mm and .257 caliber, and they are highly accurate. The Lyman 280468 comes in short and long, you having the long 114 gr. version. I have a single cavity mould of each - the 114 gr. and a band shorter at 105 gr. and have tried just one load with them. Oddly, the short version gave reasonably good accuracy of 2 1/2" or so, and the long version with the same powder charge was at least twice that group size. I also have the 280473, which is not too bad with 14 gr. of 4227, and the 280412 which I haven't really tried out but which seems to have too small a nose diameter. The really good bullets are the two RCBS moulds - 27-150-SP 150 gr., and 27-130-FP 130 gr. - and the Lyman 280642 150 gr. Schmitt design; I have all three in 2-cavity blocks so these are the ones I shoot a lot of. The loads are medium speed powders like 4227 and 4198, ranging from 14 to 22 gr. giving about 1400 to 1650 fps I would suppose, since I haven't chronographed any of them.

[26Charlie]

Buckshot & Deputy Al - Have had a condition where the rifle sticks to my fingers & can't set it back in the rack, had no choice but to take it along without cogitation - A little nickel plated H&R Handy Rifle single shot in .357 Magnum as marked, but actually .357 Maximum as chambered did this to me. Happened at Kittery Trading Post in Maine.

You guys are out there where I graduated HS in 1958, Redlands, & there was no range back then. We just went out in the wash or over into the canyon to shoot informally. No one thought anything of a couple of teenagers with rifles banging away at targets back in the boonies. I saw the Inland Empire range about seven years ago when I went for the fortieth HS reunion - wish we had had one like it in those days.

[26Charlie]

Shot the .270 w/150 gr. hornady round nose load above in a turkey-shoot match last sunday. kept the group in the big orange square (those targets with a little square inside a big square - 6"?) at 100 yd. offhand. Good enough to win a turkey, which we cooked up nicely Thursday for Thanksgiving. I only have to win 20 more turkey-shoots to have the rifle pay for itself. Its a good start.

Now to break out the .270 moulds and get some CB loads going in it.

[RayinNH]

26Charlie, I went to the Kittery Trading Post Wednesday evening. I live about 25 minutes away and so get there about every week or so. Anyway, I had to walk out with a nice 1898 Krag sporter. It was a reblue with a ramp front sight and white bead , Redfield rear sight, original butt plate and the nicest piece of wood used on a military stock I've ever seen. It will be a nice compliment to my unaltered 1898 rifle...Ray

[26Charlie]

Rayin NH - That's one I would have picked up too. The Krags I see have pretty much been beat to hell. And the bores are poor from corrosive ammo & lack of cleaning.
I was in there last week as I had to travel past on the way to Mass. & came away with two moulds - a RCBS 45-300-GC 2-cavity, and a NEI 300-454 1-cavity. $25 each. Neither one appears to have been used - the NEI casts a 300 gr. .45 Colt bullet which is almost a round nose, very bluff, with a small flat on it, interesting to experiment with. Plus whatt I went in there for, musket caps.

[26Charlie]

Well, got to the range to shoot some CB's in this .270 with good results. Basically what was good in the M721 Remington .270 was also good in the M760 Remington .270 also - the small problem is that the chambers are just enough apart that full-length sizing is required so the ammo will fit both rifles.
Range results are -
280468(S) 105 gr. GC/ 10.0 gr. 700-X : 5 into 3" and 2.75" (2 groups)
278641 150 gr. GC/ 21.0 gr. Scot 4197: 5 into 2.8" and 3.2" (2 groups)
RCBS 27-150-SP GC/18.0 gr 4198: 5 into 2.35"

What was poor in the 721 was poor in the 760 -
280468(L) 125 gr. GC/ 17.0 gr. 4227: 4 into 5.8" (all I had left of that load)

All groups at 100 yards "wrist rest".