Mouse Fart Musing for .308W and 30 Govt?

[Krag 1901]

This morning while loading some .38 spcl, I got to thinking about a comment made above about heavy boolets Mouse Pharts.

Since I have a good quantity of Lee 200 gr ready to load, I thought I'd try them with a moderate charges of 700x and maybe 10.0 gr Unique to see how they react to subsonics.

One thing I noticed about the light 120's was that I could feel the gun a lot better w/o roil effecting the act of firing. I could feel the trigger of the Krag as it let off the sear. It was as sensual as when I double action my Colt Police Positive. Smooth and uniform.

I was wondering if I could feel the same with 200 gr boolets?

[Krag 1901]

WHat the Heck?

Last week I was trying to Chrony some loads and got one string recorded, then I switched off the Chrony and back on, got nothing!

So today I went to check it out and , turned it on, worked okay??? I did find one wire that had been pinched in the closing of the case and will fix that but it wasn't broke, was to fix it anyway and wraps some tape around the joint. But thought I'd try to buy and new extension chord. It's just a telephone chord and how much could a new one cost?
I got an error message #1 and wondered what that meant? Lost my Chrony manual years ago and Chrony is out of business now. Wonder if it still will show up on the net?

Good News, the manuals were on line and answered my questions!

[trapper9260]

I shoot 00 buck shot all the way up to regular loads in my 308 win and 30-30 and 30-06 , also use the 32 cal cast also that I load for my BH and SP 101 and Handi rifle all in 327 mag . in the 30 cals. just size it to what you need . i found alot of the information on this site to do it .

[Krag 1901]

Yesterday I tried to fix the cable to the Chrony that had been pinched by the case closing, and couldnot get the 26 ga wire to strip in order to soldier it! I had looked on Amazon for a new RJ-12 cable and could not find a 6 wire cable. Looked at all the usual places on the net and had no luck, except Home Depot that had two 30 footers for $35! I'm too cheap for that!
Then in desperation I tried E-Bay and they had scads of them!? I found one 25 footer for less than $8 with free shipping. Ordered one and have to wait a week or so for delivery.

It is supposed to be 102 degrees tomorrow but cool in the morning so I'll just Shoot the test loads of 700x for accuracy and get home before it gets TOOOO Hot. I can re run the 'good' loads for velocity after I get the cable. I still have over 800 120 gr to shoot up, and a couple of pounds of 700x.

I'm gonna concentrate on "feeling" the trigger let off and refining the zero of the scout scope at 50 yds. I'm hoping that will get me back to shooting better after 5 years of not shooting.

[Krag 1901]

Yesterday at the range the 120 gr loads did not impress me. I got 3-4" groups at 50 yards, but I suspect it was more due to my inability to shoot due to a n eye problem. I couldn't keep my right eye clear enough to see the target precisely and the 2x Simmons pistol scope I'm using as a scout scope just isn't working out. It has however done what I wanted and that is it has proven the the scout scope idea works well. I guess I'll buy the Vortex 2-7x32 which seems to be the best valued scope for this work. I was holding off buying one until I proved to myself that the idea has merit. I raised the necessary funds already by selling off my excess dies and stuff.
** Just ordered the scope and Amazon says it will be delivered Saturday!**

On the positive side of the day though, the 700X loads from 4.0-9.6 gr all showed reasonable accuracy with the 120 gr boolets. I think they can be made to work better though. I need to find some 2400 as I think it will work better than the 700x for real accuracy. Next week, after I get the cable for the Chrony, I'll try some Unique to see if it will work better than the 700x. I also want to see if I can get subsonic velocities with these 120's.

[Krag 1901]

Well I go the cable for the Chrony and the new scope should be here in time to get it mounted and ready to zero by Tuesday, Range day! Selling my excess dies on S&S covered the cost and then some.

[Krag 1901]

The Joy of the right stuff!
Amazon surprised me, by delivering the Vortex scope two days early! Ordered the 16th and they said it would be here on the 3rd. Got it late on the 1st, at my door for less than $8 delivery.
So last night after it cooled off a bit went looking for rings and the first thing I grabbed was a set of Weaver High See THru rings on the shelf. Had a little trouble fitting them tot he Pictinny rail and had to open up the span a bit but they went on and I got the Scope mounted. It was too dark to get it outside to check out all the bells and whistles last night but, it's just after dawn now and I can check it out.

Looked last night like I can use either the aperture sight or the scope by adjusting my cheek weld pretty easily. I have no idea where or when I got these rings but they look brand new and seemed to work well with the Vortex.

[farmbif]

This morning while loading some .38 spcl, I got to thinking about a comment made above about heavy boolets Mouse Pharts.

Since I have a good quantity of Lee 200 gr ready to load, I thought I'd try them with a moderate charges of 700x and maybe 10.0 gr Unique to see how they react to subsonics.

One thing I noticed about the light 120's was that I could feel the gun a lot better w/o roil effecting the act of firing. I could feel the trigger of the Krag as it let off the sear. It was as sensual as when I double action my Colt Police Positive. Smooth and uniform.

I was wondering if I could feel the same with 200 gr boolets?

10gr unique in 38 special?

[Krag 1901]

10gr unique in 38 special?

No in .30-40 Krag. I'm trying 5.0 gr in .38 spl with 125 gr HP Jwords.

Did some COL tests today and found that my chambering problem last week was due to loading them too long. The first band on the 120 .32-20 boolets is 0.308 in dia and so I'm backing off about 0.0150" to get the chambering easier. I may back off some more to see if a little freebore will improve the accuracy.
I got a new cable for my Chrony and will be able to do some velocity checks Plus it looks like the Vortex scope will be a lot better that the Simmons pistol scope was. Much clearer and of course greater power with the 2-7x Vortex.

I tumbled the brass I'm using for the 700x tests and will load up tonight after it cools down.

[Krag 1901]

Got up at midnight and prepped the 50 rnd lot of brass then got up about 06:00 and loaded a test series 4.0-8.0 gr & 120 gr boolets, 10 rnds each.
Finally confirmed that I can use the aperture sight with the see thru mounts. I'll use the apertures to "bore sight" the new scope before I shoot a group. That should save some ammo.
New Scope works well from just viewing it. although the 7x setting has a critical eye box.

[Krag 1901]

The good news, the new cable for the Chrony worked and I got all the loads tested. More good news, the Vortex scout scope optics are excellent. The eye relief is just right and the image is clear and the ocular lens is HUGE!

The bad news is that the Weaver Rings are sub-optimal. With the scope adjustments centered, it was 8" low and 4" right of the Aperture sights zero at 25 yds. There was not enough adjustment available to make it shoot with the Aperture sights. I had to swap the rings fore and aft to get it to maybe get close enough to use the Chrony. Now I didn't try at 50 yds, But I persevered and got all the various (6) loads tested for velocity.

My Reference load of 312-160-2R Lees with 25.0 gr IMR-4198 avgd 1925 fps. Which explains why the recoil was noticeable.

I loaded some 5 ea 170 gr .30-30 pb with 7.0 and 8.0 gr of 700x and got 1179 and 1257 fps. I did these to see how 700x worked with heavier boolets and to see if the 170's would be sub sonic. Looks like 6.5 gr might be the threshold. The 8.0 gr load had a nice group. I don't know where I got these commercial cast boolets but they seemed to work okay.

Now for the real purpose of today's shooting, other than the scope trial, the 120 gr .32-20 powder coated boolets and 700x trials.

4.0 gr =957 fps. so subsonic, but only two rnds registered on the Chrony, I think I was shooting too high above the sky screens. and one round failed to chamber???
5.0 gr =1120 fps and shot the best looking group.
6.0 gr =1220 fps.
7.0 gr =1352 fps
8.0 gr =1474 fps
I haven't checked for leading but do not expect any.
What did I learn from this? First the Vortex 2-7x scope is just right for the Krag on the Kraghuse rail, but the rings may need some major adjustments. I've got some other rings but like the see thru so I may do some fiddling with them before I change to non see throughs. Pulling the scope off is easy with just a quarter to work the screws.

Second 700x is a very efficient powder for low to medium velocity loads. I did not concentrate on my group shooting today, I was distracted a good deal.

Third I had several fails to extract after firing so I really need to adjust the extractor fitting. This has been a nagging problem ever since I changed bolts. I also need to anneal and full length resize and tumble the brass. I've just been neck sizing for the last few loadings.

While all that is being looked after I've got .223, .308, 38 spcl, and 44 spcl loads to test so the next few weeks I'll have whole new challenges. Oh and I've got the new Lyman 314299 mold to cast with!

[Krag 1901]

Well it looks like I've beat this horse to death so, That All Folks.

Just wanted to add, that I think the reason the Vortex didn't zero is that the rail may be mounted backwards. The Kraghuse rail is machined to fit the Original Krag barrel taper and my 'smith may have mounted it backwards when he put it on? Hopefully the hole spacing is symmetrical and I can switch it to see.