briflemn762

I'm not knocking the merits of the lead sled. It's just that I shoot to a different point of impact off a bipod or over my pack than off the sled. Just my experience with my guns. Not saying it won't work for others. The group shown in my avatar is a three round group of Hornady 265 gr soft points from a Marlin 444P shot prone over a sandbag rest. It's a 3 round group because I know (from testing on a sled) that as the barrel heats up on that gun, the 4th round will print somewhere high and right (roughly 2" out of the group and the 5th would impact somewhere around the upper right bull. Fortunately, I've never needed even one follow-up shot with that gun. The point is, I can shoot decent groups without a sled. That same gun, shot using a sled with the same load, impacts almost 3" lower because the sled controls the recoil better than my shoulder does. When I get ready to hunt, I want to know where my gun impacts from positions I'll use in the field and I know from experience that that's different from the POI I get with sled. That said. I'm not knocking a sled. The sled is a great tool for testing groups - in part because it does soak up recoil much better than my shoulder does. I use one any time I'm working up new loads or checking a scope - anytime I want to take me out of the equation as much as possible.

Yeah. For all the coyotes I've shot, I've never had one attack me. Except for a couple I shot chowing down on neighbors new-born calf, every one I've shot has been called in. I've done a lot of target shooting and am a member of the 'red-mist' bunch LOL (turning prairie dogs into red-mist via high velocity impacts) . One thing I've never tried tho' is precision shots on a charging dog in the dark with a .22 LR. Sounds like a job for a shotgun with a barrel light - but that's just me. <dontknow>

On the only occasion I ever had to apply a butt stroke, my weapon of choice was a Mossberg M500 12 ga pump gun since it was what I had on had at the critical moment. I'm happy to say that I'm still around and, after a few days of touch & go in the hospital nursing a fractured skull, the perp survived to go to jail - which he wouldn't have had I been forced to use the muzzle end to stop him. Thanks to some excellent training using an M-14 'back in the day', that wasn't necessary. The M-500 proved more than adequate at the time although, due to lack of first hand experience with other weapons, I guess I shouldn't say it's the 'best'.

Shot a coyote once with a .22LR Yellowjacket. Hit it in the eye and it came out the back of it's head leaving a quarter sized hole. That was a one shot kill. Thing was, he was standing dead still @ 30 of my paces (just shy of a yard each). Tried it on a different stand a couple of days later but this time the 'yote was about 20 yards away and quartering away as he was leaving the area in a hurry. The shot entered behind the last rib and lodged in the heart. He traveled roughly 130 yards before collapsing and was still breathing when I got to him & finished him with a head shot. No more .22 LR's for me on dogs. I switched to .223 with a 40 gr Hornady AMax and have never had one take more than a few steps - and that only if they're already running. On the other hand, I've done a lot of shooting with a M-1 carbine too. Mostly on jackrabbits and one Cous whitetail waaaay back when. I always used Speer's 110 gr 'Plinker' HP over a modest charge of H-110 or WW 296 and never had to double tap anything Gotta say it - if I were "routinely" being jumped by a pack of wild dogs, I'd probably change my route. But then I'm a chicken when given the opportunity and a big feral dog can ruin your day. If I had to shoot them - something most cities kinda frown on - it'd be with my carry gun - a Para-Ordnance P-12 .45.

Welcome to the forum. It's changed one heck of a lot since the 70's - but then so have I. LOL

Yeah, Coach Fairbanks came in along there some place. Red mud failing from the skies & getting all over my white '66 Mustang. I remember those days well. Never was a beer drinker tho'. We smuggled in grain alcohol to make 'Cowboy Lemonade' when we wanted to party. :ecs: LOL - That's how I found out my room mate was a projectile puker. Sitting out on the quad watching movies shown on a big white screen hanging on the side of the building and he got totally hammered on the CL we had in one of those big red & white picnic jugs. :puke:

A lead sled is great for load development, testing mods to see how they affect accuracy, etc. I just wanted to point out that a lead sled doesn't tell you much about your own capabilities or help you sight in for hunting - unless you're gonna carry the darn thing along. Seems to me that would kinda eliminate the handiness of the short barrel tho'.

Depends on what you plan to use it for. I've done a LOT of long range shooting over the years - at targets. I don't like shooting at game at long range for a variety of reasons. Mostly because I don't think it's ethical to risk wounding a animal to prove how well I can shoot. The question there is not how accurately I can place a shot at whatever distance, but what the animal will do between the time I tell my finger to break the shot and the time the bullet gets to where the animal was at that point. At 500 yards, with a .308, that's slightly over a half a second. That's not much time, but it's enough to allow the animal to move enough to change the POI from the intended heart/lung area into the belly. No thanks. For my purposes a short barrel is accurate enough and retains enough velocity at the ranges I will shoot that any practical differences between it and a longer barrel are negligible. If I were a sniper or doing long range target work, it could be a different story. BTW, I never use a sled for sighting in. I try to sight in from either prone over a backpack or sitting with a bipod because that's what I'll be using in the field. I don't shoot from a stand, but from whatever position I can get into - in the field - to get the shot off. I often use a monopod because I use it as a hiking stick and have it with me when I'm hunting.

Before my time - barely. I was there from 71-74. Switzer-land back then - did sneak up into the Science Tower during a tornado warning and watched twisters coming down out of the clouds up towards Moore. DUMBER than dirt, but it looked pretty cool.

Fuurther east - in the sticks out by White Oak.

That's good advice. Having a lot of brass from the same manufacturer and lot can simplify reloading a lot. Same goes for all components: powder/primers/bullets. Everything is more consistent that way because there are always differences (granted they may be small but they all add up) from lot to lot. Just one more way to eliminate variables. For example, I bought a bunch of Hornady AMax for my .223 varmint gun one time and forgot to check the lot numbers. Ran thru the first box and started on the second. Lo and behold I was suddenly grouping almost two inches higher and 1/2" to the right. I was getting the same group size (.6" @ 200 yds), but my POI changed - way more than minute of prairie dog given the ranges I was shooting. :-[ Reinforced a lesson I should have kept in mind. Oh well.

Most bullet manufacturers only publish data for their bullets. Speer (as far as I know doesn't make a .30 cal 175 grain bullet. I doubt there's a pdf version. The paper book is about 1 1/4" thick.

FYI - The Speer #14 manual (the latest one I have) indicates which powder are suitable for gas operated semi-auto match rifles (for their .30 Cal 168 gr match bullet. Varget gives the highest velocities @ 2740 with 46 grains as the max charge listed. while 45 grains of RL-15 yields 2710 fps - again the max load listed. Under their 180 grain loads (they don't list a 175) they show a max charge of RL-15 of 45.grains (compressed) giving 2613 fps. They're using IMI brass which generally has the same capacity as USGI and a CCI-200 primer.

Yeah. I tend to push it. Don't have the patience i did when I was younger - not as steady freehand either for some darn reason. I also like the better visibility I get on a press. I spent less on my benchtop press than I did my Craftsman heavy duty plunge router too. I got it on the cheap at Harbor Freight but it's worked well for me.

Food scales are rarely very accurate - they don't need to be! I use my powder scale and measure in grains - there are 7000 grains in a pound. I worry more about matching capacity than case weight when building loads. Weigh the case when empty, then again when full of water and get the difference. Small variances (within about 1%) in either seem to have little effect on accuracy or pressure. Since I load for hunting these days rather than the absolute peak in accuracy, I rarely bother with either. I start with once fired brass or new brass from the same lot, trim it all to minimum length, uniform the primer pocket depth, deburr the flash holes. (with new brass this lets me be sure there is a flash hole) and press on. In .308, my brass is usually once fired Federal Match or Lake City Match left over from when I was competing. The LC stuff has slightly less capacity and I get the same velocity and accuracy with Varget using .8gr less in them than the FM.