Buckshot
10-05-2006, 05:01 AM
.............Two weeks ago for the Burrito Match EL Pistolero decided we should shoot scoped 22 rimfires off the bench for group. I bring this up to get to my main thought, and that is that the 22 rimfire rifle just has to be the most aggravating, and at the same time the most gratifying mechanism man has created. At least until we started sealing magical electronics in black epoxy filled boxes and loading the automobile up with them.
I had mentioned maybe a month ago or so that I had bought a new (no box) Remington model 581 bolt action 22 rifle. I'd already had a Rem M582 which is the same rifle, just a tube fed version. At the time I took it to the range with about 5 different types of 22 RF ammo to start checking it out to see what it might like. I was glad to see that it did well with Win Dyna Points which all my other 22's shoot well too.
However it shot some PMC Scoremaster like it was high dollar Eley ammo. The rifle carries a Bushnell Banner 4X with kind of heavy crosshairs, so it's no target scope but will suffice for ground squirrels and such. In any event it put 10 rounds of the PMC standard velocity ammo into a group you could cover with a dime at 50 yards, and no leakers.
After that range session I apparently made a big boo-boo. I cleaned it! I'm not a big one for scrubbing a rifle barrel if it doesn't lead. I will run an oiled patch through if I think it'll be stored for some time. However in this case I didn't know when it'd been cleaned last, or how long it had set before I got it. I did use a bristle brush and patches. Then oiled it and put it away.
So just a couple weeks later it's decided to shoot scoped benchrest 22 RF. I figured, heck I'll use the new rifle. I ran a dry patch through the bore and went to the range. I ALWAYS have a brick of Dyna Points in my range box, but took a box of the PMC Scoremaster and a box of Wolf Match Extra. I figured I'd use the PMC stuff for the match as it had done so well previously.
Got a target out at 50 and then fired 10 rounds into the berm. My 1st round in practice was a but high just out of the 10 ring. The next was in the X, and I thought okay now we'll get down to it. The next shot was an inch below the X ring so I had 3 rounds in 1.5". Not so very shiney :-( . Suffice to say the other 7 rounds impacted vertically for maybe a 2" group. ZOUNDS! Did someone swap rifles with me?
Another 10 rounds wasn't much better. In desperation I fired 10 of the Wolf into the berm and then fired 10 into the target. It was MUCH better but not as good as the PMC had been several weeks ago, and the Dyna Points would even have done better. Another 10 of the Wolf and it had improved again a bit. So do I shoot 10 more of the PMC away, leaving me with just the 10 for the match, or stick with the Wolf? I decided to stick with the Wolf and the heck with it.
After we ate lunch it was time for the match. One of the other Tuesday regulars (not a Burrtio match guy) decided he'd shoot with us since we were shooting off the bench with scopes, and he had something to compete with. Otherwise he thinks we're nuts shooting offhand over iron sights. So he dropped his dollar in the pot and sat down with a Remington M513T with a 18X Unertl scope.
Glen was shooting a Winchester M75 with a 24X Unertl, and El Pistolero was shooting a Winchester M52 with some kinda scope I don't recall. And here I am with a 581 sporter and a clunky 4X scope. And I won. I thought I'd get creamed but it seemed the other guys all had a spot of bad luck. Both Glen and the new guy dropping one way low and I guess El Pistolero just used something his Winchester didn't care for.
So I learned a lesson here. If your 22 is shooting really good, for Gods sake doen't do something stupid like clean it [smilie=b:
Another 22 oddity is a Ruger MkII 678 pistol which is a good one and nicely accurate. It shoots most ammo well but really likes Win Dyna Points which is good because my other 22's do also. For squirrel hunting I like Remigton Vipers in the 582. I REALLY like CCI Stingers but I won't pay the freight they get for them these days. The Vipers are fast and have that flat nose and the TC nose shape. They seem to do a good job, and while not target grade they'll reliably hit in the head to 50 yards if I can hold it there.
Many moons ago I figured to try the Ruger pistol out with them. It started out rather poor and degenerated rapidly from that point. I gave up after 50 rounds hoping for an improvement. When at home I went to check out the barrel and I could see there was a major leading problem. In fact it was so bad I couldn't use a brush on the rod. I had to literally DRIVE the bare ended cleaning rod through the bore with a brass hammer!
My 22 rifles shoot the Vipers (to varying degrees) without leading at all. The Ruger pistol shoots well with several brands of ammo but the Vipers will have the bore bushed down to 14 caliber in no time. The 581 shoots the 60gr SSS Super Snipers very well ( -1" @ 50 yrds) and the 582 sprays them with wild abandon. Ah the 22 RF. Ya gotta love'em :drinks:
I was doing some cleaning up in the shop as I have 22' of reloading bench and workbench, but couldn't find a clear horizontal surface big enough to set down a coffee cup. Somehow of the other that transitioned into doing some brass tidying up. I like to keep dedicated batches for each rifle so I only have to necksize, and there's less trimming to do, and I'd almost rather wash dishes then trim brass. I hadn't done this in quite some time. I found stuff ready to be primed and primed stuff that needed the casemouths flared. Then some that hadn't been tumbled so the tumbler was going with a full load of assorted brass.
Then I spied the 60 rounds of 577-450 I'd loaded up and shot for Winnemucca '05. They'd been tumbled but nothing else. I kinda hated to mess with them because the CH-4D dies I have want to size the casenecks back to hold a .459" slug and the Martini wants a .472". I'd cut off a Lee 458 Win Mag size die to run half the caseneck up into for sizing, and there were cobbled up means of casemouth flaring and seating. It was just a hatefull PITA overall, but better then nothing:-). I decided NOW was the time to fix that sitch-iashun.
I'd just gotten a set of ER40 spring collets so this would also give me a chance to play with those too! So I got a 1" collet (the CH-4D Martini dies are 1" unlike the Lee 1.25" dies) and set it up in the lathe with the die and a carbide insert boring bar in the toolpost. I found the surface and dialed in for a .005" cut to start and hit the power feed. The boring bar slowly dissappeared into the die and then all of a sudden it went, SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH! And then it stopped as the bar ran past the neak area. I reversed the feed and ran it back out letting it take a spring cut, which it did with a faint hiss. After making a finish cut I took the die out and was happy to see a very nice smooth bore.
I know the die was hardened. I don't know what that screeching was all about but now the die sizes the caseneck to a nice .470" ID. It was so nice I left the setup the way it was and put in the seater die. I made 2 passes on it and it now has .005" clearance all around after seating a .472" slug in the caseneck. I'm all happy now beacuse I can use the 3 die set the way it's supposed ot be used without a bunch of cobbled up odds and ends.
The shop is still kind of a wreak, but I CAN set a coffee cup down in a couple spots!
...................Buckshot
I had mentioned maybe a month ago or so that I had bought a new (no box) Remington model 581 bolt action 22 rifle. I'd already had a Rem M582 which is the same rifle, just a tube fed version. At the time I took it to the range with about 5 different types of 22 RF ammo to start checking it out to see what it might like. I was glad to see that it did well with Win Dyna Points which all my other 22's shoot well too.
However it shot some PMC Scoremaster like it was high dollar Eley ammo. The rifle carries a Bushnell Banner 4X with kind of heavy crosshairs, so it's no target scope but will suffice for ground squirrels and such. In any event it put 10 rounds of the PMC standard velocity ammo into a group you could cover with a dime at 50 yards, and no leakers.
After that range session I apparently made a big boo-boo. I cleaned it! I'm not a big one for scrubbing a rifle barrel if it doesn't lead. I will run an oiled patch through if I think it'll be stored for some time. However in this case I didn't know when it'd been cleaned last, or how long it had set before I got it. I did use a bristle brush and patches. Then oiled it and put it away.
So just a couple weeks later it's decided to shoot scoped benchrest 22 RF. I figured, heck I'll use the new rifle. I ran a dry patch through the bore and went to the range. I ALWAYS have a brick of Dyna Points in my range box, but took a box of the PMC Scoremaster and a box of Wolf Match Extra. I figured I'd use the PMC stuff for the match as it had done so well previously.
Got a target out at 50 and then fired 10 rounds into the berm. My 1st round in practice was a but high just out of the 10 ring. The next was in the X, and I thought okay now we'll get down to it. The next shot was an inch below the X ring so I had 3 rounds in 1.5". Not so very shiney :-( . Suffice to say the other 7 rounds impacted vertically for maybe a 2" group. ZOUNDS! Did someone swap rifles with me?
Another 10 rounds wasn't much better. In desperation I fired 10 of the Wolf into the berm and then fired 10 into the target. It was MUCH better but not as good as the PMC had been several weeks ago, and the Dyna Points would even have done better. Another 10 of the Wolf and it had improved again a bit. So do I shoot 10 more of the PMC away, leaving me with just the 10 for the match, or stick with the Wolf? I decided to stick with the Wolf and the heck with it.
After we ate lunch it was time for the match. One of the other Tuesday regulars (not a Burrtio match guy) decided he'd shoot with us since we were shooting off the bench with scopes, and he had something to compete with. Otherwise he thinks we're nuts shooting offhand over iron sights. So he dropped his dollar in the pot and sat down with a Remington M513T with a 18X Unertl scope.
Glen was shooting a Winchester M75 with a 24X Unertl, and El Pistolero was shooting a Winchester M52 with some kinda scope I don't recall. And here I am with a 581 sporter and a clunky 4X scope. And I won. I thought I'd get creamed but it seemed the other guys all had a spot of bad luck. Both Glen and the new guy dropping one way low and I guess El Pistolero just used something his Winchester didn't care for.
So I learned a lesson here. If your 22 is shooting really good, for Gods sake doen't do something stupid like clean it [smilie=b:
Another 22 oddity is a Ruger MkII 678 pistol which is a good one and nicely accurate. It shoots most ammo well but really likes Win Dyna Points which is good because my other 22's do also. For squirrel hunting I like Remigton Vipers in the 582. I REALLY like CCI Stingers but I won't pay the freight they get for them these days. The Vipers are fast and have that flat nose and the TC nose shape. They seem to do a good job, and while not target grade they'll reliably hit in the head to 50 yards if I can hold it there.
Many moons ago I figured to try the Ruger pistol out with them. It started out rather poor and degenerated rapidly from that point. I gave up after 50 rounds hoping for an improvement. When at home I went to check out the barrel and I could see there was a major leading problem. In fact it was so bad I couldn't use a brush on the rod. I had to literally DRIVE the bare ended cleaning rod through the bore with a brass hammer!
My 22 rifles shoot the Vipers (to varying degrees) without leading at all. The Ruger pistol shoots well with several brands of ammo but the Vipers will have the bore bushed down to 14 caliber in no time. The 581 shoots the 60gr SSS Super Snipers very well ( -1" @ 50 yrds) and the 582 sprays them with wild abandon. Ah the 22 RF. Ya gotta love'em :drinks:
I was doing some cleaning up in the shop as I have 22' of reloading bench and workbench, but couldn't find a clear horizontal surface big enough to set down a coffee cup. Somehow of the other that transitioned into doing some brass tidying up. I like to keep dedicated batches for each rifle so I only have to necksize, and there's less trimming to do, and I'd almost rather wash dishes then trim brass. I hadn't done this in quite some time. I found stuff ready to be primed and primed stuff that needed the casemouths flared. Then some that hadn't been tumbled so the tumbler was going with a full load of assorted brass.
Then I spied the 60 rounds of 577-450 I'd loaded up and shot for Winnemucca '05. They'd been tumbled but nothing else. I kinda hated to mess with them because the CH-4D dies I have want to size the casenecks back to hold a .459" slug and the Martini wants a .472". I'd cut off a Lee 458 Win Mag size die to run half the caseneck up into for sizing, and there were cobbled up means of casemouth flaring and seating. It was just a hatefull PITA overall, but better then nothing:-). I decided NOW was the time to fix that sitch-iashun.
I'd just gotten a set of ER40 spring collets so this would also give me a chance to play with those too! So I got a 1" collet (the CH-4D Martini dies are 1" unlike the Lee 1.25" dies) and set it up in the lathe with the die and a carbide insert boring bar in the toolpost. I found the surface and dialed in for a .005" cut to start and hit the power feed. The boring bar slowly dissappeared into the die and then all of a sudden it went, SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH! And then it stopped as the bar ran past the neak area. I reversed the feed and ran it back out letting it take a spring cut, which it did with a faint hiss. After making a finish cut I took the die out and was happy to see a very nice smooth bore.
I know the die was hardened. I don't know what that screeching was all about but now the die sizes the caseneck to a nice .470" ID. It was so nice I left the setup the way it was and put in the seater die. I made 2 passes on it and it now has .005" clearance all around after seating a .472" slug in the caseneck. I'm all happy now beacuse I can use the 3 die set the way it's supposed ot be used without a bunch of cobbled up odds and ends.
The shop is still kind of a wreak, but I CAN set a coffee cup down in a couple spots!
...................Buckshot