NF1E

Rainy day so I get to hang out on my re-loading bench. Prepping a few hundred 30-06 cases today. Some LC 62 match and HXP from the 70s. Looks like the LC is on it's last legs. No idea how many times it has been through the process over the years. Never used to keep track of loadings with bolt rifles. A lot of it has gone in the trash today with neck splits. Like saying good bye to an old friend. The HXP has been loaded quite a few times but I have annealed the HXP after every other loading so the necks and shoulders remain in good shape. Whatta Hobby!

Does anyone still use bullet and primer sealer? Up till about 30 years ago I used the stuff religiously to mark loads for different precision bolt rifles using a color scheme. Haven't used much since but while I was waiting from my powder dispenser to warm up today I did some cleanup. I know dangerous huh. Any how, I came across a bunch of different sealers and if someone has a good reason, I just might start using it again. This was the thin liquid that was applied with a toothpick.

Target for today. Getting there. Rifle and ammo are capable of the 10-X designation. Trigger monkey needs some work. Whatta Hobby!

Load has been established. 155 gn Berger hybrid target over 44.5 gn of Varget in MEN berdan cases set off with Tula berdan primers. Now it's time for the trigger monkey to work on his part of the equation. Whatta Hobby!

Nope, just the standard issue M14 USGI SA trigger group from one of the CMP kits years ago. Will eventually be getting a Bula trigger group.

Home built Bula Defense Systems M4 10-X target rifle. Work in progress. Got a new Bula standard receiver in that just had to be turned into a target rifle. Barrel is a Bula heavy 1/10 22" .308. Most parts are Bula. Headspace is set at 1.632 using a PT&G M118 carbide finish reamer. Trigger group is usgi SA with no modifications or tuning. Scope is a Hi-Lux Dominator XR 6-30x56-R mounted on a Bassett low picatinny rail with ARMS 22 quick disconnect rings. Cheek riser is one of my TAC-PRO kydex velcro attach units. Action is bedded in an extra heavy NM walnut stock. Targets were shot off a front rest with rear bunny bag at 100 yds using 155 gn Berger hybrid target bullets , 43.5 gn of Varget in MEN berdan cases set off with Tula berdan primers. Load development, underway, indicates that an increase in powder weight should be helpful in achieving the 10-X goal which is well within the capabilities of this rifle. Just had to show the bolt guys that our M14s can do a relatively decent job at bullseye shooting. Whatta Hobby!

Thanks for the clarification. Just such a good feeling when things work out. Love the Berger bullets. I used their 136 gn 30 cal fb for years until they stopped producing them. Have not managed to get anything quite as good. Did take me half a season to find exactly the load I wanted. Then of course different temps can make a world of difference. Whatta Hobby!

I don't think you will " ever " find me criticizing anyone about anything Sir. Grew out of that decades ago. I might suggest however that I could or would do something a little differently, but I look at all shooters and builders as a team. Learned teamwork in the 60's in the Marine Corps and carry that on today. The fragility of the M1/M14 is way overblown. As long as one keeps under 180 gn bullets he should be good to go. Been doing this for over half a century and haven't bent or broken an op rod yet, even on the 1000 yd loads with 175 Sierra Match Kings. The M14 is no where near as fragile as the M1 , which is where all the wife's tales came from about breaking things. Even an M1 with an adjustable gas plug can be scary accurate with the right loading. Agreed, the M110 type rifles are generally more accurate for paper punching than my old dinosaurs, but what would be the fun if I couldn't prove these things are pretty capable of minute of man shots even at distances with a reliability factor far ahead of the black buggers. Nice to have choices. Photo is an old one of some of the M14 type rifles I had built for my collection at the time. Have since added over a dozen to the gang. Just love putting different variations of the M14 together and my retirement has now allowed me the time to do it without distractions. With a 300 yd range 50' out my door, I have plenty of opportunity to make adjustment. Whatta Hobby!

Update. This time I am doing a before accuracy enhancements and then another after updating the rifle. Right now it is just a plain M14 in a USGI fiberglass stock with regular trigger and non-unitized gas system, no shims either. No stock work at all. This is what one might expect direct from Bula Defense Systems for a standard build. This barrel is NATO headspaced to 1.636. Ammo is hand loaded 135 gn Sierra varminters. Fired 50 rnds of MEN German surplus rapid fire for function test and to warm things up nicely. Then switched to home brew ammo and fired for a 10 rnd 100 yd group. Max spread is right at 1.25 moa. Well within 10 dot challenge accuracy before any additional work. Whatta Hobby!

My comment was, as written, I was suggesting that he meant .3 grain increments and not the .03 as written. A kernal of Varget weighs right around .02. Pretty simple. Never have been all that good on a keyboard. Thanks for letting me know what I thought I had replied didn't come across. When setting up my original ladders, I use .5 grn as rough determination using min and max from loading charts to find my general node for .30 cal loads. Then I work in .1 gn increments for .5 gn either side of the chosen node. Once the load has been found, my actual loading is down to .02gn, or down to the kernal, for my precision loads. Generic loading, that I run, is usually only +- .1 gn because that's close enough for most bullseye shooting. My precision builds for the M14 are getting down to the .5 moa area and bolt rifles under that. It's all good. Photo is of one 10 rnd grp with a 6.5 creedmoor bolt rifle after completion of load development. Whatta Hobby!

Had a few minutes this morning so I nailed her together. Found a real nice USGI fiberglass stock on the rack so here she is as a newborn. Whatta Hobby!

Retirement is wonderful. Building, shooting , loading and reasonably good health. Yabba Dabba Doo! Whatta Hobby!

Re: Changing bullet types for the season. Will be using 46 gn of Varget with the 135 Sierra fb for awhile. Shot a few 100 yd 10 rnd grps rapid fire this morning using one of my M14 type rifles off a bipod checking for consistency with barrel heating. We are good to go. Upper left was 9 shots cold clean bore with scope correction for the one hit in the X. Rest were just fun for the moment. The lone shot on the center bull was with another rifle I am working on. Whatta Hobby!

Loaded up 1 range box of 100 yesterday with 46 gn of Varget +- .02 gn which is the weight of 1 kernal. Using the RCBS Matchmaster makes this task almost too simple. Today is dedicated to 22 rf. Got some old 40x buddies coming over to my range. I will be shooting a CZ-457 with 21" Lilja barrel and giving them a run for their money. Last match with a CX-457 with a 16.5" barrel I left them in the dust. Should be even better today. Of course they blamed their lack of quality ammo for their losses. Typical. Blame everything but the trigger monkey. Rifle and a few test groups after re-barreling. I think she is ready. Whatta Hobby!

Now, that's funny. The .5 gn is just to get in the ball park my friend. From there much more refinements gets done over a period of time including bullet jump. If you noticed, this is for an M14 type semi auto and .5 moa average is more than acceptable for most shooters. I am replacing a custom 136 gn fb that has worked well for me for years but is no longer available. The Sierra 135 fb varmint are widely available. Whatta Hobby!

In the process of working up a usable load for Sierra 135 gn fb varminters for one of my rifles. Bula Defense Systems M14 type XM21 version 1 ser #3. Heavy Bula barrel with the rest of the parts from Bula except for Trigger which is Shootingsight EBR with lightened hammer. Chassis is JAE with 1 turn on the barrel tensioner. Scope is a Night Force ATACR 5-25 on TPS med rings. Ammo is hand loaded using MEN berdan cases freshly annealed, TULA KV-7.62 N primers igniting Varget. Starting load on ladder is 45gn up to 47.5gn in 1/2 gn increments. Target one is for sighters with 5 rnds of MEN surplus on the center to warm things up, then 2 sighters from each different load as the morning progressed. Ambient temp is 45 degs with a light breeze. 2nd target is for the 10 rnd groups at 100 yds. Barrel was allowed to cool down to the point my hand could hold onto it forward of the gas system. Dry Otis patches were pulled through barrel between changing loads. Notice the obvious on the 46 gn load. 1 moa max spread with a average of under .5 moa for 10 rnds at 100 yds. Even the poorest group had an average of under 1 moa. Worst spread was 2 moa with the 47 gn load. Whatta Hobby!

Finished priming 400. Ready to load. Looks like I will be using Sierra 135 gn hollow point fb varminters. Now to go through the record cards and find which powder and load worked the best. Whatta Hobby!

Happy as a clam with my M5 upper and lower once the folks here turned the light switch on for me. Whatta Hobby!

As far as I am concerned the German berdan brass in the best darn brass for precision reloading and longevity of the cases. Most difficult part today is finding the proper KV-7.62N berdan primers. Whatta Hobby!

Nice rainy windy day so I am hanging out in the playroom prepping a 500 rnd batch of MEN 7.61 x 51 German surplus berdan brass on it's 3rd loading. 1. Deprimed 2. Annealed 3. Sized 4. Wet tumbled with SS pins. 5. Run through the dryer. Last group of 150 is in the dryer now. In a couple of hours it can come out and get run through the Giraud trimmer. Should be ready for priming and loading in the morning if we have crappy weather again. Open ammo can is for cooling the brass after annealing. Whatta Hobby!

You betcha. Life is too short to spend time looking for anything. Load , shoot, repeat.

What would be cruel would be to post photos of the rest of the stash. This was just to show some of the outdated prices. The majority of my stuff is in 50 cal ammo cans and there are no prices on them. Whatta Hobby!

Taking inventory of some of my primer stash this morning. Thought ya'll might get a kick out of some of the prices. Good thing the buggers don't go bad if stored properly. Been a long time since I bought individual 1K boxes of primers. Whatta Hobby!

Here is another for your viewing pleasure. This is Bula Forge and Machine XM21 , pre Bula Defense Systems. This is the early one with the removable rail. Again mostly Bula parts in a JAE chassis. Ultra Heavy Barrel, Shootingsight EBR trigger with lightened hammer. Atlas type bipod from China. Scope is another Night Force. This one is the ATACR 5-25. Last photo shows BF&M XM21 version and BDS XM21 side by side for comparison. The rifle in the JAE chassis is a consistent sub .75 moa shooter with 136 gn FB bullets over 45 gn of Varget in German surplus berdan primed cases. Whatta Hobby!