98Z5V

Been holding out on most of you guys... <lmao> Christmas this year was a new rifle for me. Brand new Marlin 1895 GBL, the big loop. I was in a local place looking at handgun sales, and I saw the rifle in the rack - I thought it was the 30/30 lever, so I asked to look at it. As soon as I saw the barrel diameter, I knew it wasn't 30 caliber! This rifle is a 45-70 Govt. I immediately called my resident Marlin lever gun expert, Jon. I told him about the rifle, and he said he'd drive up to Casa Grande and look at it for me, so see if it was a "good Remlin, or Marlington..." <thumbsup> Some bad rifles made it into production after Remington bought Marlin, and Jon didn't want to see me get a bad one. He called back a very short time later, and told me he'd call Sportsman's in Tucson, and see if they had one - they did. He asked me if I wanted him to go over there and check it out, and then he tells me he'll call me back in 10 minutes... <laughs> He did call me back in 10 minutes, and tells me that it's a very good one, it's got my name and number tagged on it, and it's in the back on hold for a week. See Heinz to pick it up.... :eek: So, I drove my a$s down to Tucson and picked it up a week later, on the Saturday night before Christmas week. That Sunday, I took it to the local shooting spot and put some ammo through it. 100 yards out was the steel target, standing (shooting offhand), 3rd round was on steel. Pretty damn good considering it was literally straight out of the box, not lubed at all, just stuffed with 6 rounds of 45-70. I love it! Took it down to the Range Fest last week, and everybody got some through it. I only bought one box of ammo for it initially - Remington Core-Lokt 405gr soft points. A box of 20 of those things was $43! I immediately started buying reloading components, and had to find them before the Range Fest. Picked up a 50rd box of Hornady new unprimed brass, 250ct box of Laser Cast 405gr projectiles (with gas checks), and some IMR 3031 powder. Been loading that to 50.0 grains, and that's what we were shooting at the Range Fest. Good stuff. I didn't clear the pic-taking event with TactiCat first, so he had to inspect the rifle before I could get any pictures... <dontknow> I'll have a different sighting system on the way for it next week - no windage adjustment on that rear sight setup, and it shoots left. That will change.

^^^ Right? That means I finally helped someone here? Neverbeen dun befo... <lmao>

^^^ <lmao>

Here's how you can apply too much or too little pressure, and come up with different measurements. Just an example. The reference piece is a 2" zero gauge for a micrometer. It takes practice to make accurate measurements, it really does. Don't doubt the reloading die just yet. <thumbsup>

Jackpot!

Gotta be on about the last "click" towards fully closed, before that forward assist will grab the shoulder of a .308 AR bolt carrier. Use your thumb to push it forward a bit (indentation for the ejection port cover in the bolt carrier), then click it home with the forward assist. <thumbsup>

Something else I thought about - one of the first lessons in Precision Measurement. SuzukiRay knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about with this one, too. <thumbsup> The very first thing you need to suspect is the measuring equipment - verify it, and know how to use it. When measurements come up different, you don't suspect the part - you verify the equipment, very first. Are you using a digital vernier caliper to measure your COAL? Are you practiced in applying the correct pressure to the thumbwheel each and every time? Easy way to check this is with a verification piece that is a (machined) known length. Say the thing is precision machined to 1.750" - the length of a trimmed 5.56 case. You measure that known piece, and see what you get. If you get different numbers that what that verification piece is, then you're measuring wrong. I'll get pics in here tomorrow of what I'm talking about. You can buy a HF caliper set that has these verification pieces in it, and it's cheap, and you can get your technique down. Don't doubt your die set yet, brother. <thumbsup>

We're here for you, brother. Bounce questions into the threads, and someone will answer. May not be the same person everytime, but it'll be the right info you need. <thumbsup> The 800-meter thing will never go away, but that's why we love you... <lmao> I just wish that I could be the one to help someone on this board sometime. Apparently, I've never, ever done that, not even once... <dontknow>

Close the bolt slowly, and seat it with the forward assist. Close the bolt slowly, and seat it with the forward assist. <lmao> Sorry, man - had to do it...

You met me already - if I make plans to head back and visit family, I'll let you know here. Still some good ranges back there to hit up. <thumbsup>

This line right here is Legendary... <lmao>

We need to get that guy to sign up on the board... <lmao>

I like to keep things simple, for good reasons. The simpler something is, the less chance it has to fail. Standard buffer, heavy or not, and a standard gas block. Less things to fail, and that can't be argued. Don't complicate $hit with complicated $hit...

Something is fucked up with your seating die setup, to have a difference overall of 0.013" in COAL. My observation.

The dedicated tubes appear to be quite badass. I''m just sayin'.

Better yet - load and shoot what you have. This is for practice, anyway. Be consistent with your practices, like I said before. You want these to have the same velocity, basically. Case length affects crimp tightness, measure every powder charge, load up the same bullet depth (COAL measurement, mostly). They'll be consistent. <thumbsup>

Switch to Hornady bullets, brother.

Hey, Jon asked for it... <lmao>

Then you should probably go back and read this thread again. As I said earlier - reading comprehension. Enjoy your stay here - I don't think we'll have much time to chat with you, like this...

New Big AR platforms need to break in, and new mags need to break in. Load your mags 1/2 full. Get 200 rounds through the rifle. Everything will be different after that.

Drew has been off-grid for quite awhile - I think he's hiding from us. Probably moving to a new server, and we have no idea. <thumbsup>

Just got it again...

I'd do the same thing... <lmao> Wouldn't let that fugger get me... :bat:

Yep, got it about 45 minutes ago on my machine. Had to backtrack a few times to get this to come back up. Closing the window completely and reopening the site didn't work, either. Was around 2015 my time.