Dusty44

Lee makes a lot of small case prep tools that work well, inexpensive.

If you are still looking for a barrel, check Rainier Arms.

I am looking for a Leaf Sight to put on a T/C Hawken. I think a brass leaf with an adjustable eyepiece/peep sight. Black finish might be OK. It needs to appear compatible with the 1820's - 1850's period. So far the only thing I have found is at Dixie Gun Works, an "EPO711 Vernier Tang Sight." A version of this is listed for an 1861 Springfield Rifle. I am not sure if it would be acceptable on the Hawken. I did see a pic of this sight mounted on a Lyman Plains Rifle. The Lyman Plains Rifle is equivalent to the Hawken. But the question remains if it would look OK to most shooters. I want to try a peep or 'ghost ring' sight to see if it helps my eyes. I have no compunctions about a scope on an Inline. (For those who do not know:) The Inline was an attempt in the early 1800's to put the percussion cap where it would be protected from the rain. It did not work well enough to be acceptable to rifle users and was abandoned. Because the concept and a few rifles were made this way in that era, modern lawmakers and shooters accept the design now, to whatever extent. My eyes demand good optics. If the scope on the Knight Inline were not acceptable for a specific use (hunting/some competitions), I have an excellent Ghost Ring sight that looks like it should be on a WW-2 combat rifle. But on the Hawken I am trying to stay with sights that might fit the period. Do you have a suitable leaf sight that you want to sell? Can you refer me to a vendor and catalog item that might be suitable? Do you have an opinion on the Vernier Leaf Sight mentioned above? PM me? If I find something, I will post it here so everyone will know.

I have a Marlin 1894 in 44 Rem Mag. I put a Simmons 3-10 x 44 MM on it. The scope mounts are attached directly to the top of the receiver. It needs a rail that extends out over the barrel so the scope can be set forward more. Clearance for the bell of the scope needed the rear sight be removed and the dovetail slot got a filler installed. This "Microgroove" rifle will not stabilize any bullet under 240 gr. The best ammo I have found is handloaded 300 gr hardcast over maximum powder charges. The result is not sterling even then. Maximum OAL runs into available space for powder and bullet length problems. The 240 gr and under, my handloads or factory, do fine in my Smith. The 300 gr loading is too much for the revolver.

" I'm having issues with my carbine with the load. Every now and then the rifle cycles, but leaves the empty case in the chamber and upon removing the case I find that the rim has been pulled offby the extractor." Pressures are too high when the bolt unlocks and starts to move. Related to the pressure curve inside the barrel/chamber, length of gas tube and gas port location. The cartridge case is still being held tight against the chamber walls when the BCG starts to move. Needs more time for pressures to drop and brass to contract. Your sticking cases may have a bit more powder from the loading system than the others. It may be a very narrow difference. Use of a small-base full-length sizing die might help, too, if you are not already using one. And then there is the possibility that a different primer might fix this for you. Good luck!

For ErikS: Most of these mass produced factory rifles come with a trigger because most folk will not buy them otherwise. The makers, DPMS is high on the list along with all the other companies owned by that holding company, expect you to replace the trigger first thing. Buy an RRA NM trigger. Excellent trigger, one of the less expensive. While you have Brownells on the line, get a CAA grip, too. And if you can afford it, add a B.A.D ambi safety selector. These will make it seem like a new (high-dollar, custom) rifle. You can put these items into the rifle quickly and easily yourself. For tayronachan: Yep! Loosening up. Also, magazine lips are critical. MagPul magazines in molded polymer are going to be right and stay that way. Steel mags are subject to many woes. I have had FTF and FTE in an AR 5.56 but only with very long bullets with plastic spitzer points loaded to maximum OAL. Factory and shorter OAL handloads do fine. It would be interesting to know if OAL or nose design was a factor with your AR-308 feeding troubles? Just something else to look at. And I prefer a dial caliper. No battery to replace. My experience with double feed may be powder charge too hot for my rifle; the powder charge was taken from a magazine article. If the pressures are high and the chamber is still rough, the casing will be expanded to a tight fit for too long. The extractor might pull free leaving the fired case partly in the chamber and a few milliseconds later the bullet nose of the next cartridge is rammed into and partly beside the left-behind case. For my rifle and my problem the cure is to reduce the amount of powder slightly and not press my luck with OAL. Your solution might be to need to polish the chamber slightly. No promises. Get more opinions. Get some Kroil and add a little (~20%) to the Mobil One Full Synthetic. The Kroil will remove any sticky deposits in the chamber. May well be all that is needed.

Just starting on reloading, some practice and experience is probably more important than trying to pick sterling components. I have been reloading in a desultory manner for a long time. I get about the same result with my own loads as I do with any factory except my own loads are not quite as hot as factory. That means the group sizes are about the same but the POI of mine is an inch or two lower at 100 yds than factory. That's 308 Win when it could be done. My rifle brass is once-fired from new factory ammo; or twice fired (?) from one of the big "remanufacturers." You are likely to find that until you have worked out specific bullets and powders that work well in your rifle and for you that the brass is not a big item. Yeah, I am full of heresy like this. Unless you are shooting a high-dollar competition rifle, reloading is just about having fun doing the actual reloading. Maybe, only maybe, you can save some cash on the cost of ammo, too. When you can tell the difference between the powders and the bullets, then get into weighing cases and doing 'water-weight' measurements and all that. I have been forced to stop shooting 308 Win. I can shoot smaller calibers and have gotten pretty deep into 223 Rem. I compulsively reload and have found that the military casings, Lake City and some others, have primer crimps that are very hard on my tools. Broken decappers, primer pocket crimp swagers getting beaten up, priming tool having troubles even after extensive case prep and primer pocket efforts. Case mouth expander does not expand these cases very well and if it were not that the boat tail bullets will slide (can be forced!!) into place with little prep, there would be big trouble. Do some reloading for a while. Get comfortable with it. Then decide how serious you want to get with it. Reloading is as much art as science & ingredients. Mostly, have fun! :)

Interesting question. The primer does contain an 'anvil', probably steel. A new primer, unfired, has a moisture-resisting foil face over the explosive priming chemicals. Wonder how much of that foil survives the ignition/burn, on average? And what is the nature of the residue of the priming chemicals and how much of it is retained? All I really know is that the 'Military Crimp' holding the primer in the primer pocket is real hard on my decappers. In just a few hundred cases of mixed origin, destroyed one decapper (broke off the pin after depriming a lot of cases) and the (Lyman) primer pocket reaming tool does not always cope well with removing the crimp and reshaping the pocket. That means that in two hundred cases, about three primers would not press into the pocket; a half-dozen more were difficult. (RCBS priming tool.) At least one magazine article discussing reloading brass said that the exact mix of metals used for making cartridge brass can and will vary some. Otherwise, once any aluminum casings have been removed, however that might be done (in reloading they are marked on the original cartridge box and are visually obvious-- usually), steel casings (magnet, visual sort, but many are brass coated and the magnet is essential) removed, the rest should be quality brass. Except as noted that I have no idea what is used for primer cups. All of this is about 'Boxer' priming. Any 'Berdan' primed cases would have slightly different problems. My own exposure is a very vague and very passing awareness of comments along the path of my life by other people. There are companies and dealers who work with materials like this routinely. They have their buyers and sellers and users on speed dial and have the economics and processing problems worked out to the extent of "a gnat's left toenail." Be careful.

Just bought a barrel from Rainier for an M-15 build. Arrived Priority Mail, 3rd day, on a Saturday morning.

I recall stories about residence in Hawaii. An uncle who moved to Hawaii for a couple of years late in life. About 2 or 3 years was all he could take of paradise. Same kind of things I heard from Air Force guys I was stationed with when I was young. Hawaii is very pretty. Hawaii is very expensive. Hawaii shrinks steadily. It really does not take long to get very unhappy with.

There was a movie with Sean Connery, about robbing software from a super-tall tower in -- Malaysia? -- at the turn of the Millennia. An early scene, Connery is 'visiting' the female lead; she was trying to locate an accomplice to do this robbery. Connery is answering her 'ad.' She is seen as going to bed, carefully placing her revolver under the pillow. She wakes up, camera closed in on her face. She yawns, feels for the gun and it is missing. She is alarmed, the camera backs off as she sits up and looks around. Connery is sitting in a chair at the foot of her bed with a smile and the gun in his hands. Everybody puts their gun under the pillow. An intruder would be stupid to not try to check under a pillow before the person wakes up. Or be very aware if the persons hands try to do anything with the pillow and take countering action. My gun sleeps nestled at my waist. It is right by my hands if needed and often under me, difficult for an intruder to remove while I sleep. Also something different. Something that might not be expected? Some of my guns nest comfortably, some are lumpy and do not often sleep with me. Often, there is more than one gun sleeping with me. An intruder might take one before I woke enough to know, might not expect the rest? There was a story, maybe an urban legend, maybe real. The man woke and there was a gunman in the bedroom. The man had a M1911 sleeping with him, raised and fired the .45 under the covers ending the gunman's criminal career before the gunman realized the threat. In my own actual life I hope all this is conversation and unwarranted concern. I have had intruders/house invasion robbery when no one was home. I now do suggested things to discourage criminal interest; hopefully that will be enough. I would like to also note that my house invaders were scared off and ran before taking very much. One of the first things they did, obviously, however, was to pull my bed apart and move the mattress to see what might be hidden under it. LEO's here might be well aware of a lot of things like this. The rest of us just get suckered by 'normal' tendencies? The house invasion was years ago. I still circle my house since then (street and alleyway, a minor change in my driving route) when arriving home to try to be sure it is safe to come home.

Putting the new AR-15 upper on hold until everything needed is 'available' and can be ordered at the same time. Did order one Vltor Gunfighter charging handle in hopes it will be easier to use under and around the scope. Also bought a collection of small tools and repair parts for the DPMS AR-15 against possible future need. Some of these parts, pins and springs, are apparently also usable on the LR-308 if needed?

I am retired, past all the 'marker' age points. I was in the work force when it was supposedly easy to find and keep a job. Not in my world. Maybe for some. Military for a few years, then a career with its own problems, then a career that was easier but was in a window of opportunity. When I needed to find a job, changing careers to something quite different and unpredictable was what worked. A (an affordable) trade school to obtain some minimal credentials, off to the races! Twice. To all of you looking for work, Blessings and Good Luck!!

Getting ready to pull the trigger on enough parts to build a M-15 upper. MidwayUSA birthday discount, good savings. Still have a few days to mull it over. On hold in the shopping cart: VLTOR upper receiver with ejection port cover installed & shell deflector, no provision for forward assist. DPMS 12 inch (rifle length) slotted free float tube (includes barrel nut that interfaces with FF tube). A2 flash hider, crush washer. VLTOR BCM gunfighter large charging handle mod 3 for AR-15 (2, one for this new build and one for my existing AR-15, 1 - 9 twist). Some other bits and pieces. Also need: Will pick a MidWest Industries low profile gas block and gas tube to match the barrel. And then: Barrels seem to be difficult to find recently. Everything is out of stock. I wanted a Rainier mid-profile or heavier stainless 1 - 7 twist 18 inch; and Rainier BCG together, headspaced. Both out of stock. Looking at a Daniel Defense 18 inch 1 - 7 twist with "S2W" profile (whatever that is?), black. High-dollar barrels are available, too costly for my blood. BCG's are all out of stock with no backorder. Other relevant information: I do not have the tools or place to put an adequate workbench; I will take the collection of parts to a gunsmith for assembly. That is, installing and torquing the barrel/barrel nut/FF tube, flash hider, gas tube & gas block. I am asking: What is this with barrels and critical parts? Your best guess-- go ahead and order what there is or wait until barrels and BCG's are available again? Or blow off the whole project? I can, of course, use the BCG in my existing rifle for both uppers. The rifle I have has less than 400 rounds through it. Headspace might rear its ugly little head, but the odds are in my favor? I would like to know what you think? In the forum or PM?

"Giving Back" is fine, but your profit margin over a length of time is not that much. If there is a market meltdown on the way for the fall of this year or for after the election/Fiscal Jan 1 Cliff, that needs be taken into account. I see what the other retailers who market online do. Seasonal/short term sales where mention of the place where the buyer saw the ad or other notice of the sale tells you where the advertising is effective. Codes for discounts on shipping or cost of merchandise are common. A lot of feedback information in those codes. I am a Contrarian Investor (another hobby) and often called a negative person, but it helps to keep me out of trouble of many kinds. I would suggest you be very careful about what you do. Don't give away too much or set yourself up so that when you need to circle your wagons you are seen as being mean.

Easy to clean? I wash my new rifles with Mobil One 10W-30 Full Synthetic before I do much of anything else. After that first heavy coat, after a day at the range it is just wipe with a paper towel dampened with the oil (I use 20% to 35% Kroil in my motor oil, not a critical or well-measured mix) and the parts stay clean, reject moisture, are almost permanently lubricated. Be very careful to keep this stuff off your scopes/optics and anything electrical/electronic (except the metal parts and cable wiring of the battery terminals in your car where a few drops of this oil smeared on every surface will stop corrosion for longer than is imaginable).

Also the confusion caused by the different sound of round would help . That is a two edged sword, if your own side hears the enemy's rifle fire they might shoot you. Happened in WW-2. Classic incident. An American Division in France found a warehouse full of German sub-machine guns and issued them to all. The German SMG was a superior weapon. Next battle, the American Division adjacent heard the distinctive sound of all the German SMG's and turned their artillery (mostly heavy mortars) against the sound of what they thought was German units flanking them. Lots of friendly fire casualties before it could be explained and stopped.

Goliath. But Goliath was the bad guy. Need a 'Goliath' that was the hero.

What were some of the war engines of antiquity called? Maybe I am not quite remembering the ram used in one of the big battles in the Lord Of The Rings. The name the Orcs gave to the ram used to down the gates of the Tower? Copyrights could be an issue with all this!

The nordic mythology names are interesting but I think going in that direction would be a big mistake. This name needs stay with mainstream English.

My electronic caliper had the last battery die. Do not know what that battery size/U.S. Designation is. Went a long time without a working caliper. Was in Cabela's one day and saw a store-brand dial caliper for sale, bought it. Have never looked back. No battery. Less nervewracking to use. I have a Lee beam scale. Love it. EVERY powder charge is weighed. Have another beam scale. Somewhere. Don't even remember the brand. More expensive. Used it some, went back to the Lee. There are a lot of powders. Suggest you start reloading using powders where the proper charge fills most of the available space in the cartridge. A double charge will overflow or at least the bullet cannot be properly seated. I reload with Lee Loaders and standard dies in a Lee Hand Press (I have two). Slow if you need a lot of ammo, should do fine for less than about a couple of hundred rounds at a time. The hard (slow) part is measuring the powder charges. I just cannot make myself trust an automatic measure where I cannot triple-check every cartridge. When I shoot, I normally have several guns and do not shoot many rounds in any given gun/caliber. Every hole that prints on target matters to me. Even the ones that I count as 'plinking.' An automatic powder measure with a repeat rate of 1/10 or larger grain spread terrorizes me. Maybe it is just hype, but my little Lee beam scale is supposed to be giving me powder charges routinely within 1/100 grain. I do know I can see the difference of one or two of those tiny granules of powder. And I check the 'Zero' of the scale before and after the powder charging session. Buy a Redding powder trickler. If you already bought some other brand, buy a Redding. It's cast iron, heavier, will not dance around as much when you need it to stay put. Food for thought.

Yep! The lights go on! Thank you for posting those pictures!

Question above about two holes in the grip for the springs of an AR-10: It is very easy to make a second hole as a seat for the second spring. Measure and center-punch the place for the second spring hole. Drill a 3/32 inch diameter hole 3/32 inches deep. Its not real critical. This big dimple will make assembling the grip to the lower receiver easy. The next (always immediate!) question is about this mod weakening the force on the detent. NO!!!!!! The spring is very long, many close turns of spring wire; the spring and the actual detent rod will never know the difference. You will know the difference when you are not chasing the end of that spring in 20 different directions while you are holding the rifle with one hand and pushing the grip into place with another hand and trying to use a finger of a different hand and a couple of small tools in each of the other remaining hands to make that spring go in the hole in the receiver straight. The little dimple solves all that. Worst case: On mine, I drill free-hand with a drill bit in a drill motor. Of course I drilled too deep, maybe 3/8 inch deep. Big deal. There was a fast-food soda straw in the trash; measure hole depth with a toothpick, cut a short section of the straw about the right length; slit it down the side; roll it up and push it down into the hole. Makes a great red-color stop for the spring in the bottom of the dimple. Looks like it was done on purpose. You could get by with claiming that grip came from the factory like that!

I only shoot target and the only range I have reasonable access to is limited to 100 yards. I load bullets in the 160 to 190+ range. At 100 yards there is no significant difference in group size or aim point. That is, my own talents are not sufficient to see a difference. I have noted that on a good day with comparison shooting of my handloads and factory loadings of similar bullets, 1.e., same weight and same nominal design as in HPBT or Spitzer BT, my conservative handloads tend to print 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches lower on target than factory. Most of the literature within the internet and in magazine articles that I can recall says that the 190+ bullet weight should be considered maximum for the 308 Win. Pressures can easily reach maximums within the action at these bullet weights and wear and tear within the throats and bores are at maximum levels. Thirty caliber bullets at and above 200 grains are appropriate for larger capacity chamberings, 30-06 for the low 200's, the bigger magnums for the heavier bullets. I like heavier bullets but consider that for my own collection of 308 Win rifles, I will limit myself to 160+, up to about 180/185 grain, preferably HPBT and Spitzer (often plastic tips) BT. I have some boxes of square-base spitzers and soft-point, also, but all within the 160 - 170+ range. And one box of 190 grain bullets just for experimenting. All that said, I am on hold with this caliber because of the lawsuit at my shooting range.

I recall training with a M-16 before going to 'Nam. Air Force. Semi-auto, 5 rounds, not half bad. Then, 5 rounds full auto, instruction to pull the trigger lightly and try to shoot one round at a time? Pull, one little 'Bang.' OK, pull again -- --- ------ what's wrong? No 'Bang.' Oh-- --- all 5 in that one little 'Bang.' In 'Nam, familiarity training with an M-60. 12 rounds, rate of fire manageable, that one was tolerable. I think that with a bipod or other support and a decent trigger, the same effect could be easily managed with most of these 308AR's. Some practice to train the hands/trigger finger? Semi-auto rapid fire with trained fingers might help limit the number of rounds used in a single burst, also. Not a lot different from learning to double-click the mouse or to tap the cell phone buttons two or three or four times for specific alphabet letters when doing a text? The public range where I shoot forbids rapid fire so practice is out of the question. But if there was a place to do it, maybe. Except for the price of ammo! ;D