Dusty44

Does anyone have any loads they like for these rifles? I have tried Varget (43.0gr*) with 175gr Sierra HPBT and it did well for accuracy but the action did not cycle with any confidence. I have some MidwayUSA unknowns in 180gr BT with red plastic ballistic tip. I am ready to buy more powder and would like to know what has done well for you? *Standard Disclaimer: I am old and gray and fat and if I blow myself up it is no big loss. Do not try this load at home unless your Will is current and you have a signed valid liability release exempting all parties of all responsibility.

About three years ago I finally got to where I could buy 'a' gun I wanted. I had a few. A black powder Hawken because it would not hit the side of a barn very often. It was a kit gun, built by an unknown third party, sold back to the dealer. I got it real cheap and then bugged the dealer until he figured out what was really wrong and the fix was dummy simple. Bought a Rem 700 in 7 MM RM cheap at a discount chain in that era because nobody was interested in this new caliber. Now I can afford some of the guns I want. I picked out the 308 Win because it is a good general purpose round and I have no doubt that when the wars begin to taper off or end there will be incredible amounts of ammo from the military. Mil spec, replaced bullets, powder and bullet swapped out, brass, more. I have two bolt guns in 308 Win. One was not doing as well as I thought it should, the other was supposed to be better. In that case, if there is a difference, it was in the specific scopes I put on those rifles. Each has now had a different scope put on it and both are better. Recently I came across an affordable semi-auto, as described in other posts. I think the possibilities of the AR pattern 308 Win/7.62x51 NATO rifles are immense. The civilian police are using them more and more according to commentary on other forums; at the range I see both the 223 and the 308 Win variations a lot. Sometimes it is one guy with two or three of each, do not know. The other forums are saying that the 7.62x51 is making its mark in combat as a longer range and harder hitting weapon to supplement the 223. I can only repeat what others have said. As the world settles back to a higher degree of sanity or maybe as more soldiers return from the current wars there should be an increase of interest in these big semi-autos just like there has been in the weapons that were used in other wars. Factor in new ammo using new powders like the newest Hornady premium offerings and maybe eventually having these newer powders available for handloading, and the AR pattern 308's may well be one of the best guns ever designed?

CheaperThanDirt.com and SportsmansGuide have military first aid kits. The CTD catalogue I got this week has at least three kits or specialty sets for under $10, then kits that run $15 to $50; two serious kits for $100 & $170 and a "STOMP portable hospital" for $450. Most of these come in a military or military style bag. I feel the need for a kit for the car and to have when camping with my grandchildren or hunting. I really need opinions about what is worth buying. It would seem that a decent medical kit could be made up with a shaving kit size bag and a trip through a drug store. A box of bandaids, box of 4x4 gauze pads, tape, tube of general purpose cream topical antibiotic, maybe a couple small bottles of other topical antibiotics and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Depending on the intended use a container of sunscreen and one of bug repellent might be appropriate. Most of this would need to be replaced at least once a year. This list is off the top of my head. A lot might depend on what I saw during the trip through the drug store aisles and on budget. Suggestions from others would be helpful here, too. Something most of us forget, including me, is to have a fire extinguisher in each vehicle adequate to put out an engine fire before it gets out of hand. In some states commercial vehicles are required to carry an axe sufficient to clear fallen timber or at least big branches from a road, a shovel, and in Florida, tire chains year-round to get out of sand. I just keep some rope (3/8" is easier on the hands than 1/4") and a tow cable; jumper cables, small tool kit and a "space blanket" in summer, add a sleeping bag encased in a plastic trash bag in winter. If I know I am going very far outside the city or on a serious trip I add food like Pop Tarts that will serve as emergency rations and keep well for a very long time and a 12 pak of those bottles of iced tea. Tastes better than water. I used to carry emergency flares but they got old and useless and were disposed of. Need to get more.

Within the articles and projects at RealGuns.com is a really impressive gun bench and reloading bench. Something to drool over; some very interesting and innovative features.

I did a 10/22 a couple of years ago. It is a standard carbine; finished version looks almost like a fresh-out-of-the-box gun. Took the thing completely apart and used Antique Walnut Oil-base Polyurethane Varnish (left from another project, perfect match) on all bare wood and a lot on the fore end. Careful to keep the checkering sharp. Two coats with clear satin-finish oil-base Polyurethane everywhere. I get in a hurry and tend to be a little sloppy; very little sanding but rubbed a lot with paper towel so there are no runs or lumps or bumps or points. The varnish took a couple of weeks to fully cure. I was 'done' in 3 or 4 days. Wal-Mart bubble pak Bushnell 4X big-rifle scope. I use plastic after-market mags for range shooting. Extended mag release, aftermarket bolt hold-back a lot better than the one from the factory, barrel holder block or wedge with rounded corners, poly bolt stop. The poly bolt-stop makes the gun a lot quieter. A lot of the noise I hear when someone else is firing one at the range is the "Clack" of the bolt hitting the steel stop. The poly stop has to help reduce shock to the bolt, bolt components, receiver. The little poly cylinder did not want to slip into place. It would go through the hole on one side but not the other. I used a flat file to chamfer it. Held the poly cylinder at a 45 degree angle and rotated it against the file teeth. The finished chamfer is a gray line in the rim of the flat end that probably measures 0.05 MM. Just a barely visible gray line, but the stop slips into place like a dream. If the stop is turned around so the other end has to fit in the hole, then things are back to square one. There was a lot of internet discussion about the trigger. I took the trigger module apart and there are two buttons on the outside of the inner assembly. The shim kit had two sets in two thicknesses. i put the thicker shim behind the button (B-43) on each side. That was the way they fit but was not what the instructions said. Putting the assembly pin (B-19) back was a trip. It was not at all cooperative in going back into its seat in spite of whatever tricks I used. But finally it did. When the whole thing was put together again, I used the "oversize" pins (B-5) to assemble the complete trigger module to the receiver. "Oversize" is not what I was prepared to deal with. My experience says that "oversize" means a fight to the death with a heavy mallet, a properly sized pin punch and high quality support fixtures. The factory pins would almost fall out and certainly needed being trapped by the stock to stay in place during firing. The "oversize" pins were just snug. Between the oversize pins and the shims the trigger is good as far as I am concerned. I have reason to think that Ruger is building new production with parts more like those favored in aftermarket upgrading. I put a lot of aftermarket parts in the bolt that were supposed to be so much better but that were identical to the OEM parts. Be sure you know if you really need to replace a given item before buying it. I used a kit of stick-on pads to bed the action and barrel. All that did well. Putting the barrel band back on needed the band squeezed on the sides so the screw holes at the bottom would be aligned and straight. This is instead of trying to push the barrel and band 'down.' I used a nonskid butt pad. It was a flat rectangle of plastic with ribbed rubber on top, two screw holes properly spaced to match the original holes in the wood stock. I used a scribe to mark cut lines on the plastic and a file for final shaping. I do not have power tools (other than a drill motor and a Dremel set) and most of this is done very freehand. To fill the space under the pad I used a tiny bit of packing foam to create a block to fill most of the opening and then shreds of fiberglass cloth and black Silicone Seal on top. This Silicone Seal and glass was also used to fill the space on top where the brass pad wraps around. Hmmmn. . . Not good. The Silicone Seal is self adhesive and shrinks when curing. Once cured, nothing will stick to it including more Silicone Seal. If you try it, mask the wood with Saran Wrap. Saran Wrap will peel off when the Silicone material has cured for a couple of days. Other generic films may or may not be removeable. The Silicone Seal is too thin and cannot be squeezed or shaped. It can be cut with a razor, X-acto blade or scissors when it has cured. If necessary, the Silicone Seal can supposedly be removed with mineral spirits; I think there is a risk of that solvent attacking the plastic and/or the rubber. Something different is needed for the filler under the pad. FUNCTIONALLY the pad is fine. The butt of the gun does not move around at all, unlike my experience with the brass OEM plate. I would like to be able to buy a properly shaped and fitted non-slip pad, however. Best group: nominal one inch at 50 yards with "Winchester Super X copper plated Super Speed RN 1300 FPS [all copyrighted nomenclature & brands]." Everything else gives me a nominal 2 to 2 1/4 inch group at that distance. Last week I did this twice, once in the morning with a 5-15 MPH 90 degree cross wind and again last thing in the evening with a light wind directly behind me. There are always two flyers, I would guess the first two warm-up shots? If all goes well and my latest software works, I will post photos of the guns relevant to this site and of the targets. No promises.

I attended several of the Dallas and Mesquite gun shows several years ago with some gun-knowedgeable buddies from work. Prices were generally high back then except for some of the refugees from Czarist Russia. Those ancient Russian rifles and ammo for them were the specialty of my buddy. I am more comfortable buying new from a known dealer unless it is something like ammo I can't find anywhere else. When I need something or have an itch I visit my favorite gunshop just a couple of miles away and then make a trip to Cheaper Than Dirt and Cabella's in Ft. Worth. My little gunshop usually matches anybody's prices for the merchandise they carry and sometimes beats internet prices. Sales tax is less than shipping. Primers and powder cannot be bought on-line because of the shipping charges. The famous stores in Ft. Worth sometimes have a lot of things not available easily anywhere else? MidwayUSA is an initial place to check for prices and availability, a source of last resort sometimes, and often I just call and buy. Brownell's is great! I have bought a lot of parts from them for several guns and have received good assistance picking out appropriate or workable parts, BUT. If I do not have a known Brownell's specific name for a part or, better, part number then I just go elsewhere. I find that I cannot cope with the Brownell's website. When I get desperate I dig up the paper catalogue and get my magnifying glass.

My local preferred range is outdoor and has targets for rifle at 50 yards and 100 yards. The firing line bench design is very good and is covered. The firing line faces due East so by the time the range opens at 10 AM the sun is always at the shooter's back and the bench is shaded. All summer a 5 to 15 MPH gusting to 25 South wind can be counted on; except sometimes the winds are very light. In winter or for a day or two before a storm that wind will sometimes be from the North. Rules are enforced but compliance is not difficult and the range officers are good people. I would like to shoot at a range with longer reach but finding one has been difficult. One range that I hear about has very mixed reports about the attitude of the owners, another is a long way off and is open on an irregular schedule. When I am happy with enough of my guns and with the ammunition I intend to use, I will sort all that out.

Too light a trigger can be a trip. I have a Rem 700 in 7 MM RM with a wonderful single set trigger. The primary is 3 pounds. I think the 'set' is one pound. My gunsmith installed and adjusted it. I have been addicted to set triggers from the first time I fired my Hawken, all those decades ago. . . The primary trigger is delightful and I might use it for hunting where I can maintain proper care and discipline relating to that trigger. The set pull is so light that I do not push the trigger to 'set' until the crosshairs of the scope are firmly 'on target.' At home when dry firing I can put my finger on the face of the trigger and then pull. At the range I have never successfully managed to get my finger completely inside the trigger guard before the rifle makes all that noise and bounces around? The groups are great! I am thinking I need a 4 pound crisp trigger for the DPMS. If there was one that felt just like a good M1911? The factory trigger measures 6 pounds with that long pull that is reasonably smooth. Dry fire is tolerable. Live fire is nerve wracking and uncertain.

IMHO there is no problem. I speak from 15 years of maintaining and repairing industrial production machinery. I put a Brownell's multi-piece configurable pistol grip on my DPMS and am not concerned. One of the two springs has a little well to support it. The other just sits there but is a long spring and with the grip properly placed it will be flush at the bottom with the lower edge of the receiver. This was the configuration of my factory grip. If your new grip has a lot of space and a sloped surface, drilling a hole just big enough and maybe 3/32" inch deep at the shallow side of the plastic grip surface to create a seat should be enough.

I took my LR-308 to the range for the first time a couple of days ago. I started with 175 Sierra HPBT and moderate loads of Varget. These were single loaded by tossing them into the space on top of the mag and releasing the bolt. The rifle did well, groups impressed me for the first rounds fired from the gun. Several casings did not manage to exit the action and others did get out but without any enthusiasm. Then I fired some cheap Russian "Brown Bear" 140 gr soft point mostly to check magazine function, 10 rounds at a time. The punch of the Russian ammo was impressive and there was no problem at all with the bolt function and case ejection. I was glad for the steel casings that I did not have to chase. The Sierra POI was on centerline and a couple of inches high, tight for my hold on the rifle. The "Brown Bear" POI for two successive 10 round clips with a cleaning between was higher, well to the left (without changing the scope settings, in the white of the paper on the upper left). All 20 rounds held the same general POI and nearly 6 inch pattern, 100 yards. I think the result shows a preference in my gun for the slightly heavier bullets and a need to find a powder that works better in this action. Afterward, I tried some "Brown Bear" in both of my bolt 308's and got matching perfect tight patterns on centerline and 2 inches high at 100 yards.

Read a lot of intro's, impressive. This was all an accident for me, just tried one day to get another opinion about the RealGuns.com article about an "AR In A Box...es" and suddenly found myself with one? I started shooting decades ago with a TC Hawken (other than an M1911 and shooting instruction while in the Air Force). All of you know about having time and having enough cash to do fun things. I am retired blue collar and finally have time and even a (very) little money. Having fun buying and shooting all the guns I wanted but could never quite rationalize.

Reloading can be done at a lot of different levels of cost and involvement. I have always been a poor boy with neither money nor time. Things do change. I do not like to get more involved or spend more money than necessary. Call up RealGuns.com. Read articles and projects. There are good articles about reloading; about ammunition; about guns. Free. I started with a Lee Loader set. For the most part, I still prefer using these little cheap kits to more involved and more expensive equipment. The little Loader sets are very precise if used properly. For small amounts of ammo they are great. If you are loading hundreds, maybe even just dozens of rounds of the same stuff you need a lot fancier equipment. I tend to be loading one or two dozen rounds of a given load or caliber at a time and the Lee kit does fine. I actually prefer to set up loading blocks and deprime and prime cases along with whatever other case prep stages I am using. Then add powder to all and then put bullets into the cases. We all tend to think about only our primary shooting; case prep for heavy loads of big rifle ammo can be very different than loading light target pistol ammo. Try mixing several calibers like 308 Win followed by a few 7 MM RM's and then 30 or 40 44 RM loads in two different bullet weights maybe with different powders. Each type and recipe MUST be kept completely isolated from whatever else is going on just for safety. I am not comfortable with automatic powder measures; I use a beam powder measure and a trickler and weigh every load. Then I use a gauge to see if the cases all have the same amount of powder in them. No empty cases and more important no double loads. I would note that I am highly aware of how difficult it can be to get a lot of powders to flow into the cases. I use an electronic caliper to measure every completed round, too. That is more involved than it sounds; there are things to know and special tools to help get proper measurements. These big 308 semi's may all need full-length case resizing every time. A dedicated heavy duty press would be good if you have the space to set up a good bench. Resizing every time the cases are loaded is hard on the brass and will seriously shorten case life. Just as a note, I have two 308 Win bolt guns. The Rem 700 is forgiving and will do well with just neck sizing load after load. The Savage 11 needs new factory every time but sometimes will condescend to being fed full-length-resized loads that were used the first time in it. The Savage will not take brass that was first fired in the Remington. Just my guns and my experience? The components used and the recipes followed need to comply with a qualified source of information and then take into account what guns are being used. It is dangerous to just load up ammo because it is "in the book." That load may be intended for something like a "Super Snortfire Mk VII" handgun, 12 pounds of ultra-high-strength stainless steel; your gun is 12 ounces of compressed tinfoil with a paper-thin liner tube of something in the barrel that might or might not react to a magnet? FWIW, I own one of those. It was made by Colt, does well with light loads of 38 Special, more a collector's item than a serious weapon. I actually load for and shoot a S&W of considerable vintage that has stood up to a lot of 357 Mag loads that were way too hot. BUT never again! It is well known that accuracy and effectiveness come from loads well below maximums. I was amused the other day that some of my reloads for the bolt guns that have done well on the range were barely able to cycle the action of the LR-308. That was more because of the characteristics of the powder used than the total energy imparted to the projectile. I am not an "expert." Everything I do is an experiment that uses all the best information I can find. There is more to learn and more to know than any of us can do alone. Like, misteakes. It is important to pay attention to the errors others made because each of us will not live long enough to make all of them ourselves? Mainly the misteaks I worry about are the ones that can bring a sudden end to

My DPMS LR-308 was an accident. I read the Part 1 at RealGuns.com about building one of these and stopped by my local gunshop to get another opinion. I was shown the thing 'complete' with stainless 24" fluted barrel and all the extras DPMS includes for $1195. It will keep my budget wrecked for most of the rest of the year, but that price was less than half of what I might have expected up to then and finding one of these on the rack was unfathomable. The changes I want are easy. I have already added Brownell's adjustable/customizable pistol grip and a set of backup flip-up iron sights. CheaperThanDirt.com had a shooter's tripod and some Russian "Brown Bear" soft point ammo for, again, a price I could not refuse. I had a Nikon 6-18 x 40 in need of a rifle. That is about as close as I got to a 'build.' A couple of days ago I took it to the range for the first time, fired some handloads and some of that "Brown Bear." Results were good but the trigger that felt 'maybe OK' in dry fire HAS to go! My question of the moment is whether to put a drop-in trigger into it or to send it back to DPMS for them to put their upgraded trigger into it? Mulling that one over.