98Z5V

And a fine present it is - I think you did well, brother. Very well. There might not even be another one like it in North America...

We need to hear about the haul, Eric! @Cunuckgaucho

Accurate 2520 is my go-to powder for 123gr 6.5 Grendel loads. It was the first powder I tried for the 108gr 6 ARC loads, and it stays for that one, too. In a similar fashion, it might be really good for the 22 ARC. CFE 223 is what I worked up the 88gr .224 Valk loads with - I need to revisit that one, and re-do all the work over again. It'll be better than I initially thought. I use StaBALL 6.5 for the 7mm-08. It would be interesting to see what it would do in a 22 ARC loadup. Very Interesting...

Super-curious about this cartridge, so I went on the hunt for any load data on it. Not much available, but lots of reference to ".224 Valkyrie powders are safe," and "Use .22 Grendel data...," and things like that. That set me on the road to finding .22 Grendel data. Hornady has NO reloading data available on it yet, but when that comes out, it'll be on their Erata Data webpage. Eventually, I stumbled upon the Hodgdon reloading data webpage - this one: https://hodgdonreloading.com/rldc/ Strangely enough, they already have 22 ARC in the rifle cartridge dropdown menu. Closest projectile to an 88 that they list is 85.5, so I selected that, and checked out the listed powders. Looks like these 3 are pretty good, and I already use those for other cartridges. Interesting.... Here are the 3... (when you keep clicking them, they get large enough to actually read)

We'll help him out - he doesn't know how many topic areas there are on the board here... This is the pic he sent me that morning...

One more Christmas Wish for you all, before the clock strikes midnight...

I LOVE IT!!! GREAT KIDS!!!

TRUTH!!!

The CH-53 helicopter is a BAD BIITCH... This thing has a 36,000 lb external lift capability - it can pick up 36k pounds, and FLY it. Smaller (slightly) than the CH-47 Chinook. WAY badder, for what it can do. The Chinook can do things the 53 can't, too, but it's like comparing apples to hammers, here. Now, fast-roping this motherfucker. I've only done it on ONE training rotation, roped several times, and I don't care to ever do it again. When this thing is hovering at 60ft AGL, the rotor wash on the ground is 100 mph. Not a typo. If you're on the ground when this thing is hovering 60 feet above you, you're standing in a 100 mph wind. The gantry - the anchoring pillar that you attach the fast rope to - the gantry is another 3 feet further then the edge of the back ramp. Yeah. It's a "leap of faith" to walk off the back of that ramp, and grab that fuckin fast rope. It's a rush. Now, that rotor wash I was talking about - it's SO severe, that it blows the fast rope OUT from the helicopter at a 45* angle. Oh yeah, more shiit to worry about. The pilots have to offset the aircraft, in flight, per the desired fast rope landing location (infil point), because the rope is blown out backwards from the aircraft... So, not only do you have to jump 3 feet off the ramp to grab the rope - you have to grab a rope that's going away from you at a 45* angle. Again - it's a rush. Such a rush, that you don't wanna do that too often in your life, after you experience it once. If it's a training rotation, you HAVE to do it over and over - THEN you're good. For life. Fuk that thing. CH-53 is the cargo-only version. AFSOC runs the MH-53 - that one is a gunship. .50 M2 on the tail, 7.62 miniguns in the forward doors. Worked with those for about 3 weeks in a close air support course in 1995. Wouldn't give that up for anything, ever... Here's some vid of one picking up another crashed helicopter... Look at those poor dudes on the ground, getting blown to shiit by the rotor wash... You'll see what I mean... BAD MOTHERFUCKER... For a size comparison - that thing is picking up a crashed Blackhawk...

I want to kick this one off right. Merry (Early) Christmas to all those out there - you are loved, cherished, and often thought about around this time of year. I'd love to get together with all of you for a Christmas party, our-style, as a family - but YOUR family takes precedence at this time, and that's completely understandable. Know that you are loved,and thought about, at this time of year - and all throughout the year. You Fuckers. So with that, I'll kick this off and make you smile, then, I'll leave you with some JAMMIN' Christmas music to annoy your whole family with - just blast it LOUD!!! Now that youve watched that one, JAM OUT to this one!... Leo Maracchioli. The very best at Heavy Metal song covers. ^^^ That should be a list to a 10-song playlist. LET IT RIP!!!

This is exactly right. Rex nailed it. Softens the felt recoil impulse of a short gas system, and slows down the unlock time of the bolt from the barrel extension.

Sending you a PM - might have located one in FDE.

Awesome! Can you plug Lat/Long coordinates into your phone, and run those for a GPS location? I'll PM you the camp location.

You guys ain't ready for this. Just wait for it...

We got out there early-kinda in the morning, and it was pretty calm. Then things went to hell-in-a-handbasket, and the wind picked up, stayed up, AFTER we had the 850 and 500 plates set in position. It's almost like God planned this upon us... "Brace yourselves, Boys..." The questions were quick, and short. "Do we tear down and pack it in? THIS SUCKS!" "Hell no - we shoot it anyway. Only one way to figure this mess out..." We stayed, shot, and figured it all out. At the beginning, it looked like it was gonna suck BAD. But what's The Rule on that? "The only thing that would make this ANY better, is if it SUCKED MORE!" We truly learned alot - ALOT - that day...

Tell ya what, brother - how do you feel about New Years Eve? @JBMatt stopped in at my shop today to give me an Emergency Resupply of silicone spray, and we were talking about it. We, right now, intend to head out here, to the SDTF, on late-day Saturday, Dec 30th, and camp out there Saturday night and Sunday night. We'll break camp on Monday morning-ish, January 1st. So, if you're available on Sunday, New Year's Eve, December 31st, maybe you could head down here, hang out, as long as you want, stay the night if you won't get grounded for it, or just do a day trip, or even do the whole weekend. Anything at all is up to you, if you've got any time that weekend.

This.

The MagPul UBR is the modern version of that one, brother. UBR 2, to be exact, because even the original UBR is gone now, last full lot of them were bought by the entire lot by White Oak Armament, in bulk, and they bought everything MagPul still had in stock back then. If you're looking for the lock-up, and the function, that's what the UBR has grown into now. However, if you're looking for the original... That's gonna be tough. I'll start searching, but those beasts haven't been around for about 10-ish years now.

USPS has been horrible about this, and the locations I've noticed it most are from Tucson, and from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Those fuckers don't scan in packages when they're picked up. Shiit doesn't get scanned until it hits a regional distribution center, after that. The Phoenix Regional Distribution Center is about the very worst at scanning things in, too. So, you were triple-fucked...

I can confirm that. I have a very large handful of Aero M5 setups, and all the Aero pins stick out the other side. Confirmed.

Worst case wind scenario I've ever shot in... 14.9mph continuous, full value from left to right, through the Kestrel. Shooting due west, wind from due south. 850 yards, IPSC plate for a target, Mk12 Mod 1 gun, shooting handloads, 75gr Hornady HPBTs rolling 2789.75 fps averaged over 30 shots out of the 18" barrel. Dope on the round is solid. Went for the 850 in that 15mph wind, held straight up, @Matt.Cross was my spotter. 50 yards right was the first impact and call. Eventually adjusted for the wind, ended up holding 5.75 mils for wind, and it was ringing steel every single time, in a 15mph full value wind, at 850 yards. Curved that shiit in there like Angelina Jolie... She used Hollywood and cameras, but I used math and science and wind-reading... I already knew I was fucked, because the Kestrel told me so. But, I also felt that fastass wind, and there was NO mirage, and that meant it was north of 12mph wind. Did a 45* offset wind check, and it was about the same. Did a 60* offset wind check, and came up with 14mph. Kestrel was more accurate, at 14.9. I could have got there doing the offset check, though. I'm not scared of .224 projos and wind, brother. The 88s will do even better than the 75s, at bucking that, if I'm in a situation like that again. That shooting session burned the details of the hold, and the wind speed, and the distance, into my brainpan. I can first-round that shiit again, if I'm in those same conditions, with that cartridge. Now, I wanna get this upper done, get the load right - then go find me a 15mph full value wind and shoot 850...

Winter here, obviously, is when we shoot most, do the most testing, firing, etc. South of Phx. We'll be working up 2,000 yards in the next couple months, as one of the major tasks to accomplish, then we'll proof-test it on others in March. Sometime around the end of Jan or beginning of Feb, there should be some 22 ARC testing going on. At all other times, there's always something going on... ...and with that... If you have a weekend that you can get away, and it's not on a "3rd Saturday of the month," let me know, come on down, and we'll set up a weekend shoot just for you. That 3rd Saturday of the month is always the long distance gas-gun match down here, so we're busy that weekend, just trying real hard to not suck... Now, with the Winter comment - we shoot throughout the summer, but it's always a night shoot - camp that night - shoot early the next morning, and get the hell out of there before it's 110*... We try to do the Summer thing once a month, but last year was hard, with that 110*+ for a month straight. The lows set a record, the "highest low temp ever," at 97*. I think we completely skipped that month. You always have an invite, I'd like to introduce you to the Secret Desert Test Facility - SDTF - and if you have a weekend when you wanna get away - just state it, and we'll set it up.

I literally just did that... so you know it's me...

Got a new shirt. I think we need to morph this into a .308AR.com shirt.

I broke in my brand new, bone-dry .338 Fed gun just with a light coat of his lube. NOT dripping wet, like it's known that you need to do for the Large Frames. Just a light coat of that stuff had that thing lock the bolt back on the very first round out of it, single-loaded in the mag. It really is that good. I put vids up of that stuff in my .338 Fed build thread, the Pig Puncher...