Range Report

I left work on Friday and headed straight to the range to shoot. I wanted to try out the latest batch of handloads in the P30. So how did it pan out? Well, as usual I clicked off five factory Speer Gold Dots, 124 grain +P, just to get another data point under higher temperatures (81 degrees), and my velocity was 1,191 fps, with an extreme spread of 34 fps. A nine round group of my 124 grain Gold Dot handloads gave me - 1,191 fps and an extreme spread of 24. I can't do any better than that.

The tenth handloaded round went into denim clad water jugs to find out if they do as well as the factory rounds I water tested, and I don't have a picture but the expanded bullet looks identical, and measured almost the exact same -- .55" at the widest point. Denim has a way of slowing the expansion process a bit, but it doesn't seem to be able to stop a Gold Dot.




Also, the handloads shot to point-of-aim at 25 yards and 50 yards, just like the factory rounds, so no sight adjustment is necessary. Something I've never tried before until a few days ago is sealing the primer and case mouth, and I did it because CCI/Speer seals the primer/case mouth on the Gold Dot line. I've read that it doesn't make a bit of difference in real world testing, but I found out from my testing that it certainly does. I submerged three rounds each of non-sealed and sealed handloads for five days; one round of each tip up, tip down, and on its side, and I had two of the non-sealed rounds give me lower velocities than normal (801 and 851 fps), and one of the sealed rounds gave me 1,018 fps. Since the sealed rounds were my very first attempt and my technique sucks, I'm giving it another try against factory Gold Dots to see if I can match or beat their standard.

While I was there my brother and I ran another 250 rounds of Federal 115 grain loads through the P30, and he shot his M&P Pro at the plates. That puts my trouble-free round count at 1,798 rounds, and my brother's somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 rounds he reports. Plastic guns are super reliable these days.

Saturday I was home with just me and my two youngest sons, basically kidless for me, and I took the time to wash approximately 4,000 9mm cases in preparation for some bulk reloading. I've decided to cast 147 grain bullets for this gun, so that's going to be underway here very shortly.



I also got a chance to make a double epi-pen ankle holster, a picture of which I didn't get a chance to upload yet. My wife halfway mocks me on the matter, considering what a huge dork that I am, but I'm not out to win any fashion shows and I remind her that I am now carrying both epi-pens with me at all times. My next move is to make that medical ID bracelet I've been bitching about.

That's what I've got for the moment. Anyone else have a ranger report to share?

I love GoooooooooolllllldddddDots

I was fortunate enough to escape the melee at my house for a quick range session to test the next batch of handloads for the P30, and I have settled on a load. But first, check out the expanded Gold Dot that was shot into water jugs, the second one from left:

The one furthest to the left is a 147 grain HST, and the 124 grain Gold Dot expanded just as much - .708" at the widest point, and I didn't bother to get the average because it was so uniform. The third from the left is the same 124 grain Gold Dot bullet that I fired through denim, and thinking about it now so is the HST. The bullet to the right is a .45 caliber 230 grain Remington Golden Saber that I recovered from a bucket of damp dirt that I was firing into a couple of years ago. I haven't put calipers on it yet, but to my calibrated eye its expanded diameter is the same as two of the 9 millie bullets sitting next to it. Here's the back end where you can see what I'm talking about:

Now you can see why, with modern self defense loads, the 9mm performs in the same league as the .45 ACP. When bullets for the most popular defensive handgun cartridges - 9mm, .40 S&W, .357 Sig, and .45 ACP - are all calibrated to expand while penetrating to the same depth in ballistic gelatin, why not go with the round that has the least recoil and most capacity? It makes sense. If we were all stuck with ball ammo, mind you, I would chose the .45 ACP every time. That's a bit different.

As far as the Gold Dot handload I've settled on, the 6.6 grains of VihtaVuori wins the day again with a 1.692" five-shot group at an average velocity of 1,193 fps and a 17 fps extreme spread. It matches up close with the factory Gold Dots that gave me a 1.565" five-shot group at an average velocity of 1,182 fps and a 27 fps extreme spread. The last time the 6.6 grain VV charge gave me a 1.421" five-shot group, so I know this isn't a fluke. I'm also not going to dicker with the seating depth as I'm quite happy with inch-and-a-half 25 yard groups from a sub-compact length barrel. Also, I have to workat it to get that much powder settled in the case so the bullet can seat down all the way.

My brother also put some rounds through his M&P9C while the chronograph was up and the sun was shining. He thought the 147 grain HST +P rounds in his gun were recoiling a little excessive, and after shooting it I have to agree. You could feel a hitch in the slide when it went back, like it had some overtravel and was going back further than it should. Fortunately, the 124 grain +P Gold Dots did well in his gun, so he's switched to those under the promise of a steady supply of free ammo since I can make them so cheap.

Also of some interest, I broke down and added some duct tape to my home made appendix holster this weekend:

To go the extra mile on my trashiness, I couldn't locate my roll of duct tape and, because I was in such a hurry, as always, I had to use the duct tape from my Glock AIWB holster. This time though I'm using some soft gel and a synthetic shammy cloth to pad the holster, and I'm content with it at this point.

Reloading Range Report

This weekend I started on load development for the P30, and it went great. I started out by researching all the load data that I could find in books and online and then picked a place to start. Considering I'm using VihtaVuori 3N37 powder, I checked out Lapua's loading data for 9mm, and their test barrel is 4", which is close to the P30's 3.85" barrel. Lapua got velocities higher than I did though.

I'm using once fired nickle plated CCI/Speer Gold Dot cases that came from factory Speer Gold Dot ammo, which is my carry load, and which were fired in my gun. I'm also using the exact same bullet -- Speer Gold Dot 124 grain, part number 3998, and I'm touching the powder column off with a CCI small pistol primer, the same one that Speer uses in their factory load. Even my overall length is the same as the factory ammo: 1.129". Exact same case, length, bullet, and primer; the only difference between my handloads and the factory Gold Dots that I have in my gun right now is the powder, for all I know; there's no way of telling what CCI stokes the Gold Dot line with.

Disclaimer: Do not try to duplicate my load data. If you want to do the same thing, you must must MUST start at a low powder charge and work your way up, and my firm advice is to consult with a loading manual first to know where to start. I did, and I measured the water weight capacity for the cases that I used that have been fired in the chamber in my gun and plugged that into Quick Load, which predicted the performance of these handloads and assured me that shooting them would be blissful.

I loaded the cases with VV 3N37 powder from 6 to 6.8 grains in .2 grain increments, five rounds of each charge. I was shooting off sandbags on a heavy bench at a range of 25 yards, and I started out by firing a group of the factory 124 grain Gold Dots through the chronograph so I know what velocities I need to be working with. Here are my targets:



As you can see, the factory Gold Dots hover at just under 2", which is typical of this load in this gun from my past groups. As for the handloads, I'm liking what I see from the 6.4 and 6.6 grain charges; If you take away the one high-left flyer, the 6.4 grain charge yeilded a 1.194" group. If you check out my workup sheet below, you'll notice that the average velocity from the factory loads matches the velocity from those two charges, which I don't think is a coincidence.



Here's the breakdown:

Factory average is 1,169 fps
6 grain 3N37 average is 1,113 fps
6.2 grain 3N37 average is 1,142 fps
6.4 grain 3N37 average is 1,168 fps
6.6 grain 3N37 average is 1,174 fps
6.8 grain 3N37 average is 1,221 fps

Notice from the increasing velocities that the 6.4 and 6.6 grain charges are very close and don't jump as rapidly as the rest. This is an indicator of an accuracy "node", and it matches the factory ammo results. Now I'm going to do another test from 6.4 to 6.7 grains in .1 grain increments, and then follow that up with a seating depth test. Once I settle on a load, I've made up my mind that I'm going to use it as my carry load instead of the factory ammo. I'm also playing with the idea of Optimal Barrel Time, and now that I have some data I'm interested to see if I can predict the smallest groups from the next tests.

Some people frown on using carrying handloads in their defensive arm for fear of an overenthusiastic lawyer playing the "killer ammo" card if they're ever involved in a shooting. Whether that has merit or not is irrelevant to me, as I'm not building ammo with any more punch than the factory stuff. I'm using the exact same components and matching the velocity to the factory stuff, which cops all over the world use in their service weapons, but I'm looking at making my handloads more consistent and with better quality control than factory. If you look at the extreme spreads from these handloads, some of them being only 10 fps, and compare them to the factory extreme spread of 43 fps, you can see that my ammo is more consistent. Add to that that I personally handle each and every component, and personally measure each powder charge to the hundredth of a grain, and you can see why my quality control is much higher than mass produced ammo from the factory. Also keep in mind that modern hollow point bullets are callibrated to perform withing a very specific velocity window, and driving them faster than they're designed will result in poor performance. Read up on the 10mm Auto and .357 Sig cartridges to see how they drove bullets faster than they were designed, and the performance was poor.

After I finished my test, I dragged out the Ruger 10/22 to see how the Wolf Match ammo did. I was impressed. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but I had one group that -- despite one called flyer -- shot the nine others into a hole the size of a pencil eracer at 50 yards. Sick! Here's my brother shooting it yesterday:



I'm going to have to take the 10/22 out again and do some more shooting with it. I'll be posting another P30 range report in the near future, hopefully.

Testing. . . Testing

I finally managed to test some self defense loads through the Kahr PM9 this weekend. I've taken it to the range a half dozen times or so with that intent, but never got around to it. I tested the same four loads as I did for the P30.

Despite the little blaster's 10 yard accuracy, it is not for self defense at ranges of 25 yards or more; my five shot groups (if you can call them that) were tough to keep on a sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper with all of those loads, fired slowly off sandbags. I shot five of each, except the HSTs of which I fired ten. That is the load for that gun, which conveniently is the one for the Glock 26 as well. Perfect.

Here's a rundown on velocities out of the PM9's 3" barrel:

124 grain Speer Gold Dot +P
- 1,145
- 1,115
- 1,135
- 1,149
- 1,122
- Ave 1,133 fps

124 grain Remington Golden Saber Bonded +P
- 1,082
- 1,069
- 1,059
- 1,051
- 1,053
- Ave 1,062 fps

147 grain Winchester Ranger-T
- 942
- 934
- 928
- 916
- 910
- Ave 926 fps

147 grain Federal HST +P
- 1,001
- 969
- 966
- 987
- 968
- 982
- 967
- 971
- 960
- 977
- Ave 974 fps

There were no stoppages. All of these rounds were unpleasant to shoot from such a little gun, with the Ranger-Ts being the less painful. None of them were any more accurate than the other, and none of them hit right to point of aim, so I should have fired them at 15 yards for that. Too bad. One day I'll put night sights on the gun, and then I'll check those loads and hopefully some other ones for accuracy at 15 yards and post my results.

Busy weekend

I have to post this first: this was my view yesterday morning when I woke up:



I'll come back to that in a minute.

Friday I left work and started load development on the 123 grain Nosler Custom Competition bullets in 6.5mm. I used Benchmark powder this time instead of IMR 8208 XBR, partly because I love Benchmark so much, but also to take the .264 LBC in a new direction. I was rewarded for my efforts:



The groups are not tight at all, but in an OCW test that doesn't matter; you're not looking for groups, but whether several different charge weights have the same vertical point of impact, which the bottom three do. Yes, the bottom right load is over half a grain above the maximum load Hornady recommends, and if you do not know what you're doing, then do not try to duplicate my loads. Always start low and work your way up. I know this gun very well already, and I also know how to look for pressure signs.

With that said, I'm going to take the next step and narrow my charges down until I find the sweet spot, and then fiddle with seating depth. To be getting velocities over 2,500 in a 18" barreled gun with these bullets is significant, and in the future I may have to mess around with the Lapua Scenars again as there is still room left in the case with this powder.

Next up, I got invited to check out some land owned by a local hunt club, and if all goes well I'll be filling in a recent empty spot left by a previous hunter. While we were there, I got to shoot the MK12 down a power line at 652 yards, and I got to see what the 'ol girl is capable of. My first group with my handloads went into 6 inches, and as I was clicking off a second group, I was treated to the sight of a good sized black bear running across the power line at over 1,200 yards. Pretty cool. All of my other groups sucked right up until my last one, in which five shots (one of the shots from another shooter is circled) went into 2.8", four of them going into 1.3":



This is what's commonly referred to as a "refrigerator group", being a group that's noticeably tighter than any of the others. This is because either the shooter or the gun cannot produce a group like this on demand; in my case the former symptom being the relevant one. To be fair to myself, I was shooting off of a wobbly folding table, and would have done better firing prone with a rear sandbag. That wasn't an option due to the grass being so tall.

Going now back to the first picture, My family and I were invited by some wonderful friends to stay at their family's cabin up North in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The cabin was amazing, as was the surrounding terrain:


I had to ask myself why we don't live in a place like this, as living where I do now is not where I want to be. On our way home yesterday, the further the car took us from the cabin, the more I wanted to turn around and go back. When we were only about two miles away, we stopped at an intersection in the middle of "town" to check our directions for about a minute and a half, and there were no other cars to be seen; nobody pulling up behind us and blowing the horn. Of the the half dozen cars we did pass, several of the drivers waved, and not with their middle fingers, either. Pulling into my subdivistion two hours later, I had to swerve to avoid being hit head on by yahoos who were busy watching what was going on in somebody's yard. Oh well.

It was a great weekend, and the kids had a good time. Now I'm thrown back into the work week, but at least it's only four days!

My baby is clean

I had forty minutes to spare yesterday evening -- I had hoped for more, but life can be like that sometimes -- so I ran 150 rounds of my 124 grain +P Speer Gold Dots through the P30 to ensure that they function reliably. There are those who say to run 500 or more for that, but I personally feel that anywhere from 100 - 200 rounds is adequate. If you're going to have a problem with a specific load, you'll find out rather quickly.

The sun had been below the treeline for over a half an hour before I fired the last of what I had, so I got to see if there was a flash from this load. There wasn't. I had some old Gold Dots that I think were the short barrel version, and they flashed some, and I had a partial box of 124 grain +P XTPs from Black Hills, and they flashed a lot. I always prefer to test the flash of my carry loads in low light, as with the Nuclear 1911 it was a huge problem. For that reason, I won't carry anything that makes fireballs, as I don't want to be blinded in the rare chance that I would need to shoot to save my life at night.

The Gold Dot bullet breaks into bigger pieces when it hits steel, and I could hear and see bits of it raining down with every shot. Last night was also when I discovered that my weak-hand shooting left much to be desired. I did fine with my strong hand, but had a hard time keeping shots on steel with my left. My draw times were hovering between 1.56 and 1.65 seconds from concealment under a T-shirt. Much quicker than from under a long hoodie. I also put up a cardboard target with a 6" shoot-n-C target to find out where my carry load hits at 30, 40, and 50 yards. I'll take it out all the way to 100 yards one day when I have the time. It's good to know where it hits, just in case.



As you can see, it hits a little to the right, but my grouping was OK considering I was resting my forearms on the back of a cracked lawn chair. I'll have to adjust that to center later.

All in all, I've put 1,112 rounds through this pistol without any problems.



I'm going to start reloading for 9mm in bulk very soon, and I have to place a bunch of orders for powder, primers, and bullets. I have more 9mm cases than I can count, so there's some savings there. I estimate that my cost per 1,000 rounds will run about $110. Time will tell.

A couple of days ago I was loading up some .264 LBC while watching 24 on DVD, and I thought a picture would be appropriate:



Yes, I'm a dork for 24; I have every season including the special 2-hour specials. Something you might not know is that Jack Bauer used a Sig in the first couple of seasons before switching over to a USP. It's old vs new in this pic, and one day I think I'll pickup a USP.

To wrap this up: I decided not to go for the 2,000 round challenge, and cleaned the pistol as it will be some time before I can start cranking out reloads. I'll probably document that when I do it.

New Year's Eve blogger shoot

This past Saturday I met up with Andy and JB Miller and others for some down-on-the-farm range time, and it was just what we all needed. This marked the first occasion where I got to shoot a suppressed weapon: a Ruger MKII with integral suppressor. That thing is ridiculously quiet, to the point where you get to hear the full sound of the .22 round smacking steel without the encumbrance of muzzle report. I want a suppressor so bad I can taste it.

We shot pistols for awhile first thing that morning to let the dew burn off. I'm happy to report that the P30's flawless round count now stands at 922 rounds, most of it being the 115 grain Federal FMJ that I picked up from ammoforsale.com, which I earlier called "POS" which it isn't; all of it has fired well. From reading up on the LEM trigger, I find that I'm doing it wrong, which explains my tendency to sometimes drop shots low. I will now practice the "rolling trigger" technique to see if it helps my accuracy.

I remembered to bring ammo for the MK12 this time, and it was grouping pretty well at 250 yards. When I first dragged it out, I was proned out on my yoga/impostor shooting mat with the bipod legs set on the ground. After the shooters to my left touched off some .308 Winchester rounds and the blasty concussion was felt, I backed up on the mat a ways and the bipod legs were sitting on it, causing some bounce that is evident in the groups. Even with that, we were holding everything within 2" to 3", and Andy had five or six shots in a row touching. I can't wait to stretch the MK12's legs out even further now that I know it can really shoot.

The Miller's AR10B was hammering steel out to the 250 yard target with ease; everyone that shot it commented on how tight the sights were, and how effortless it was to shoot and get hits. That's why the AR platform is so popular, and known for outstanding accuracy. The Mosin Nagant carbine was again a crowd pleaser, but for different reasons I believe. To me, the rifle is like the .22 rimfire of the battle rifle world, like a fire-and-forget weapon. Ammo is stupid cheap, and being steel cased you could care less about where it ejects. It's also designed specifically for that rifle, so there's no worry about groups or vertical stringing or any of the other stuff that comes with precision rifles. The little carbine was fired until it was scalding hot, ringing the 100 yard steel offhand several times out of ten shots. My guesstimate from the shell casings that made it into my range bag put the round count close to 200 rounds. Recoil from the beast is fierce, with the small profile steel buttplate jamming into your shoulder with each shot. Good times.

The grand finale was when Andy set up fruit for us to shoot. Exploding fruit is fun that has to be experienced, and we were all smiling at the end of the day. Thanks for the trip, Andy!

Dies ist meine pistole

My HK P30 has finally arived. Unfortunately, the Bladetech holster that I ordered has not, as in-stock items doesn't apply to relatively new H und K products. Because of that, I couldn't do any draws, so I stuck with testing out some defensive ammo to see what it likes.



A few months ago I ordered 1k rounds of 115 grain Federal ammo from Ammoforsale.com. The price couldn't be beat. I also ordered some 147 grain Federal HST +P, 147 grain Winchester Ranger-T, 124 grain Speer Gold Dot +P, and 124 grain Remington Golden Saber +P Bonded from wherever I could get it in 50 round boxes. I ran these loads through my chronograph, but I'll have to update this post with both the exact velocity information and group measurements as I don't have it at my fingertips at the moment. I shot two 5-shot groups for accuracy at 25 yards, which let me get the aftermarket Meprolight Tru-Dot sights dialed in.

The P30 didn't like the Ranger-Ts all that much; velocity was around 980 fps and the accuracy was consistently at just over 3". That's about what it gives the Glock 17, so I wasn't surprised. The Golden Sabers were stringing vertically, with by groups running over 3", but only because of flyers. The best four for both GS groups ran around 2.5", and I blame my shooting on the fact that I forgot to bring my folding table to shoot off of, and had to resort to using the back of my smiley face chair as support while crouching. Not the greatest setup for accuracy. Velocity for the GSs was near 1,150 fps. The Gold Dots had a couple of flyers too, but I think they can be counted on to shoot ten rounds into 2" or less, and velocity was about 1,178 fps if I recall. These rounds shot exactly to point of aim, while everything else shot a bit high. I'm a big fan of the Gold Dots, and they may become my carry load if I have any issues from the HSTs:



As you can see from the shot holes marked with a sharpie line, the first group was a scootch under 2" for the best four if you discount that one flyer, but the second group measured 1.3" center to center. Velocity averaged 1,047 fps. This load also felt pretty mild, with the 124 grain +Ps giving a noticable amount of snap. For fun, I shot a Gold Dot and an HST through four layers of denim and into water jugs to see if they would expand:



I only had six water jugs, and the Gold Dot penetrated into the 5th jug, destroying the first one. So I did what any good ol' Virginia boy would do in such a situation and duct taped the shot holes. Get a good look at my jugs:



Yes, I'm ghetto, but it worked well enough. The HST went clean through three jugs and stopped up against a fourth:





The Gold Dot went further because it didn't open up as much.





I don't have the exact measurements at hand at the moment, but the Gold Dot was in the mid .5"s and the HST was in the upper .6"s in average diameter. At the widest point the HST measured .712", which is pretty amazing for a 9mm bullet. I tried to put enough tape on the remaining water jugs to test a 90 grain Gold Dot from the Kel-Tec P3AT, but the last jug lost enough water that the round went through and was unrecovered. It did make it through the denim and two full jugs, and the exit hole on the last jug looked like the bullet had expanded quite a bit. Velocity was 989 for an average of five shots if I recall.

To finish off the short range trip I clicked off two boxes of the 115 grain Federals. I did get velocity data off of those as well, and I'll post them later. Since I didn't have a holster, I kept the gun low and would do some push-outs to see how the transition from Glock to HK trigger would go. The P30s LEM V2" 5.5ish trigger pull is much longer than the Glock, and the reset is basically all the way forward. There's a bunch of light takeup before it tightens up, and another 1/16th of an inch breaks the shot. It's not bad, and I can definitely get used to it, but I did find myself short stroking the trigger a few times, and I would often pull shots low. I found that when I pressed the gun forward onto the target, it worked best if I took all the slack out of the trigger before coming to full extention, and then breaking the shot right as the sights were lined up.

I'm a big fan of the interchangable grip panels on the P30. It surprised me on which ones I ended up using; I have the small backstrap on, with a large left panel and medium right panel. If I close my eyes and press the unloaded pistol out in front of me, when I open them the sights are perfectly level every time. I did this over and over with the small and medium backstrap until I was certain the small one was the way to go, and I practiced working the trigger in my basement at the Huron target Mike W. and Nancy gave me (no offense to Hurons). There's 8" of reinforced concrete behind it, so that's what I snap in on in the abundant free time that I have:




The differences in size between the P30 and the Glock 17 are mainly in the slide length, with the grip being slightly shorter and less of an angle with the P30:




The P30 is basically right in between the Glock 17 and Glock 19 in grip length (closer to the G19), and the slide is a touch shorter than the Glock 19. Perfect carry size. Once I get the Bladetech in, I'll modify it into an atrocity like my Glock 17 holster and carry it until my Custom Carry Concepts Shaggy holster comes in sometime in the distant future. As promised, here's the abominable G17 holster:



It's ugly as sin but it works great. Don't judge!

I'll have more range reports to follow in the near future, hopefully. I'll have some time off after Christmas, and I plan on shooting as much as possible. I still want to sandbag this gun from a bench to see if I can shrink those groups a bit, but it looks like the HST is going to be my carry load. I also plan on testing out the V4 springs that I have for it to see if I like a heavier trigger pull.

I'm strapped with my Glock on my block. . . .

. . . . .ready to let loose on any Nevco targets that I spot.

This weekend I picked up two 8" round AR500 steel targets with hangers from GreenTop, and set them up and tested them out. I'm a big fan. After shooting Andy's steel at 200 yards with a rifle, I was sold, so when I got the opportunity to buy them sans shipping cost, I jumped on it.

I was fortunate to find the leftover 9mm rounds that were hidden from that range trip with Andy, and my brother, his girlfriend, and I shot up the 150 or so rounds to ring in the new steel. It was a good time. I'm also shooting with the aide of a shot-timer now, so I have no excuse to not get better at shooting.

I'm not using the Zack holster anymore, but have instead resorted back to the Bladetech IWB after a bit more modifications to make it conceal better. It's now an abomination, which is the title I now refer to it as whenever I speak of it. The Abominable Bladetech hides a full sized Glock 17 like it's not even there, and will do it all day long without any problems, even while driving or sitting for hours. It dawned on me how dangerous having screws inside the trigger guard can be if they ever decided to back out, so I epoxied the rubber plug thingy to the outside of the holster, and it's very secure. I also added some padding and stuff, as well as some duct tape, and it's now a sight to behold. Damn, it's comfortable though, and fast, too. I'm averaging around 1.9ish seconds from a concealed draw, which is not too shabby. I'll have to get some fresh pictures out there for folks to laugh at.

Like they say: if you can't be a good example, then be a horrible warning!

Now you tell me

Back in June I posted a range report where the 230 grain Winchester Ranger-T +Ps were way too hot for my 1911, and I had an unpleasant shooting session over 70 rounds where I ended up with a sore hand and lots of jams. Well, it turns out that my bitching was warranted, as I came across this thread today from 2009 detailing stoppages and premature wear from the RA45TP in duty weapons; mostly 1911s. To be fair, the commentors with 1911s report that the 230 grain HST +P ammo is too hot as well, which just reinforces my belief that +P ammo in .45 ACP in a 1911 is not needed. Hmmmff!

Range Report

Unfortunately, the last place in my AO that I have to shoot is infested by outsiders. I passed on a chance to shoot Friday due to shenanigans; on Saturday I got some quality time to shoot, and today a friend and I arrived to fire off some rounds for two hours and found a guy on a combine cutting and bailing hay on the adjacent property in the line of fire -- nobody has done that for over a decade, so I was pissed. Go the fuck back to New Jersey or wherever the hell you came from; this frontier is the last place on the planet that I can conveniently shoot, like I've done since I was a boy. Where do you people keep coming from? There's not enough room! Go away!!

Anyhow, yesterday I couldn't help myself so I had to shoot the 10/22 -- I just finished putting a steel bedding block in it and mounted an 18" Kidd barrel, but hadn't bedded the barrel yet. I did that today and it's curing right now; pictures and range report of the whole process are in the works when it's done. It still shot awesome, and that was with Mini-Mags, not match ammo; shooting off of a yoga mat because I forgot my sandbags; and I didn't even tighten the takedown screw.

Yesterday and today, though, I put about 150 rounds of 147 grain Winchester Ranger-T through the Glock 17 and it performed flawlessly. Shooting exactly to point of aim at 10 yards and 3" high at 31, I got an average speed of 1,023 fps with an extreme spread of 26 fps over ten rounds. I'm now going to buy a case of it to ensure reliability, as well as shoot it in the baby Glock and the Kahr so we have a common load amongst the Europellet guns.



The 95 grain Winchester Ranger-T in .380 ACP did not fare as well. I picked up a box at a funshow a bit ago and decided to see how they did in a Kel-Tec P3AT. Seven rounds averaged 870 fps with an extreme spread of 33 fps, grouping in at 2" for the best five rounds at 13 yards. Add in the other two out of the seven and the group was about 4" -- I didn't measure with a tape. I fired one round through a gallon jug of water and into a two liter bottle set on its side, and it stopped 2" into the two liter. The bullet didn't expand very much:



Water jugs usually make a bullet expand as much as it possibly can; if it won't expand in water, it won't expand in flesh. It also gives up five grains of weight and 161 fps over my standard carry load, the Buffalo Bore 100 grain Hard Cast. I'll stick with Buffalo Bore for now. There were no feeding problems from the Ranger-Ts within the 40 rounds that I fired, but if I'm going to carry a load that I know won't expand, it better have a flat meplat and be going as fast as possible.

I've been doing draws from the Dale Fricke Zack holster for Glock for some time now, and it's still my daily carry holster. When the gun heats up from a few magazines of fire, it can sting a bit when you stuff that hot pistol down the front of your britches, but damn it's fast to draw from. My drawing accuracy with a Glock pistol is also tightening up; enough so already that I dare say rivals my 1911 accuracy. I now have 100% confidence in my Glock 17 at appendix carry, and I also trust the RA9T load enough that that's what is in it right now. AIWB is the way to go for now and forever more, but I really want one of the CCC Shaggy holsters to try out. The Zack is super comfortable and forgiving, and I highly recommend it.

Range day

I got to spend a day (half of one; thanks a lot Mother Nature) at an undisclosed location shooting steel with Andy this weekend. I've never shot steel targets before, not steel that didn't have tracks anyways, but I'm now a firm believer in AR500 targets. You get instant feedback on your hits, which is handy if you don't have a spotting scope. I'm going to have to make an investment in some of those in the near future.

Like Andy, I learned some valuable lessons from the trip: 1) rifles don't shoot all that great when you forget to bring the ammunition that goes with them; 2) iron sights will get you hits when your scope will not; 3) I need to shoot more with Andy.

We had a blast. At the last minute I packed the shorty Mosin Nagant with some corrosive commie ammo, and it turned out to be a hit. Shooting the blasty little rifle at a hanging bucket at 100 yards offhand is fun, and should be done more often. Andy got his AR sighted in at 100 yards and was making hits at 200 on 4 power, while I couldn't hit jack with my AR on 7 power at any range. My shiny new MK12 sat on the bench like a goon because all the ammo I spent loading was left at home on my bench. I got to shoot a Ruger 10/22, which I hadn't got to do in years, and was so impressed that I got it in my head to acquire one as quickly as possible; that turned out to be last night when I got an almost brand new one on a trade.

Our fun came to an end when my nemesis reared her ugly head from out of nowhere and started slaying trees all around us. We still had a lot of fun.

Found it!

The search for a long range load for the Mod 0 is complete.

I was able to slip away and test out the last bit of load development yesterday, gusty winds be damned, and I walked away impressed. I was shooting 5 round groups of the 123 grain Lapua Scenar loads using three different primers: CCI BR4, CCI 450, and Federal Match; all of them went in well under an inch, with the first three shots of the BR4s going into one teeny bughole. The fourth shot was pulled out by a big ass gust of wind -- a remnant of Irene -- and the last round was a flyer. See bottom left group (the 450 and Federal Match primer groups are not pictured):



The top three groups were an OCW type test with 123 grain A-MAX and IMR 8208 XBR powder. The tightest group in the middle is the recommended load for the 6.5 Grendel by pretty much everybody, and I suspect that it's at the far end of the accuracy node. I like it because it's got a little more speed than the 123 grain Scenar load - 2,495 fps on average over the Scenar's 2,476 fps. At less than half the price of the Scenars, I'm staking my claim in the A-MAX.

A pro tip for reloaders: virgin brass will never be as consistent as brass that has been fired in your chamber. This has always been my experience with every gun I've ever owned. I don't consider brass to be "mature" and give the best results and tightest groups until it's been fired two to three times. The Alexander Arms brass that I'm using is made by Lapua, and is the most consistent brass I've ever bought. With that said, it's still slightly undersized so that it can load into any chamber, and that means that there will be flyers here and there in your groups. So far I've used new pieces of brass in every load I've tested, and I'm pretty excited to see how much better this gun is going to shoot with resized brass, as in the past there is a marked difference.

I still want to play around with 107 grain Sierra Match Kings and 130 grain Swift Sciroccos, but not for a little while. First thing is to get this rifle locked in with the A-MAX loads on both the scope and irons.

Also of note, I dragged out the SKS to find out what the zero is for it at 100 yards, and I was rewarded with a 6" five shot group, four of the shots going into about 3". Not bad. My brother's girlfriend was holding fantastic groups with it off-hand at 15 yards, and was a real world indicator why rifles are the ticket for getting hits.

Range Reporting in

Whoa there, I've been busy as I can be, but twice now I've been able to make a strategic naptime range session to test the waters of the Mod 0.

Since the .264 LBC is still a new cartridge, and on top of that I'm using very new powder types, QuickLoad is only marginally helpful. Also, this gun leaves little ejector marks on the cases on every load, which is usually a sign of overpressure, leaving me to doubt and pull the first few bullets as I thought they were too hot.

To start, I shot a small OCW test using three loads in IMR 8208 XBR. The only bullet I'm using for the time being is the 123 grain Lapua Scenar. My starting charge was 27.9 grains and I intended to work up to 29.1 grains but chickened out; I only went to 28.5 grains.



Click on these to make them bigger if you want the details, and also heed my disclaimer that I am an advanced reloader and you should start your loads 10% what your reloading manual states and work from there. Do not try to duplicate my handloads: if you blow yourself or your gun up, do not point the finger at me.

Next up was Hodgdon's LeveRevolution powder. I've heard that it is well suited for the Grendel/.264 LBC cartridge, so I gave it a whirl. I went from 28 to 32 grains, and you can see the breakdown with velocities here if you're so inclined:



The LeveRevolution didn't put out the velocity that I was looking for, and on top of that it's a temperature sensative powder and it was 95 degrees today. The XBR got me right close to 2,500 fps, which should keep me out of transonic out to 1,000 yards. It also dialed in a .332" three shot group which gives me some hope.

Today also gave me the chance to dial in the iron sights on my AR15-from-DPMS. Since I now have a 6.5mm coyote blaster that can lob bullets out to long range, I took the scope off the AR15-from-DPMS and let it be a lightweight carbine equiped only with a flashlight. I had to dial in those Yankee Hill Machine flip up sights with my chosen handloads - 69 grain Sierra Match Kings in Winchester cases over 24.5 grains of Varget - and here is the result:



The top 3 round group circled was the first, at 100 yards, and I dropped it down on the front sight post to the bottom left group. After 7 clicks right, I got the bottom right group which was too far. 3 clicks left put me dead on. Next was a group at 25 yards to see where it would hit at close range:



That's three rounds there at 6 o'clock on the orange dot. Who says you can't shoot groups with irons? That would be a bone-stock pencil barrel from DPMS. I'm impressed.

Also, I shot some of the Federal 147 grain +P HST through my Glock 17, and turned in an average velocity of 1,025 fps and an extreme spread of 26 fps. That's top of the line. I will be switching fully to it once I run a few more boxes of it through each of my Glocks.

My next move is to go back to IMR 8208 XBR and see how tight I can get the Mod 0 to shoot.

I met my first bloggers yesterday!

I'm somewhere around my 4th year of blogging and I had yet to meet a single blogger. Yesterday I met with Nancy from Excels at Nothing, and Michael W. from Doin' the Time Warp for some time at the range shooting handguns. Both of them are genuine good people, and it was a great time having a group therapy session with them.

Michael W. let me shoot a vintage Webley Mk VI and IIRC a Polish P-64. Fun stuff! The Webley is a substantial handgun that takes some getting used to for someone who is not accustomed to revolvers. Michael W. has no problem at all grouping with it; something tells me that he has had a double action sidearm in his holster once or twice. The P-64 is more familiar in my hand, and despite being all steel would make for a fine carry piece. Nancy let me shoot her Springfield XD-9, which is the first time I've ever been able to shoot one with any purpose. As a Glock advocate (not fanboy) I have to say that the ergonomics of the XD pistols are excellent, much more so than a Glock, and it has a better trigger to boot. And while Nancy claims to be a noob, I wouldn't want her shooting at me! She has a wonderful teacher with the kind of experience most shooters pay big money for.

It has been quite awhile since I've put that many rounds downrange from a handgun, and it was very therapeutic. Thank y'all for the experience! Let me know the next time you want to meet up!

Range Report: Johnny Law Edition

I got some trigger time in this weekend, in between nap time and other obligations. A paramount achievement for me though was the creation of a solid shooting bench, so I have no more reason to bitch about not having a good rest:



The range is 102 yards according to my range finder, and you can see that I'm shooting into a big hill in the distance. Twenty five years we've been shooting into that hill, usually through this shed:



. . . and we've never had an issue with anybody. Times are changing though, as the hippies are streaming into my county like crazy, and apparently they are deeply unsettled by the sound of my AR belching 208 grain AMAXs.

I had just clicked off two well aimed rounds, and was prepared to send another, my finger already pressing the trigger against the sear, when I saw motion out of the corner of my eye towards the driveway. I could see a Sheriff's Deputy standing by the edge of the house with his cruiser in the background. I have no intentions of getting shot by an investigating Deputy while enjoying my hobby, so I picked my hands up off the gun and the cop smiled and nodded his head. I walked up to talk to him and he introduced himself by first and last name, and shook my hand. Obvious on his uniform was a pin that identified Officer Friendly as having joined this particular department in 1998, making him a salty veteran that is used to call-outs for hick gunfire. He chitchatted with us for fifteen minutes or so about stuff in general, and was then on his way to answer a call where the local savages were acting in an unsophisticated manner. He did note that the hill that we shoot into is now owned by an organization that would probably love to sue us for one thing or another, and that we should build a solid backstop on our side of the fence.

That's the sort of interaction with law enforcement that people should always expect. Officer Friendly who doesn't overreact to a peaceful situation. He has a sworn duty to respond to calls, and I would hope that someone like him would respond to investigate my household if he got a call about gunfire. I'm glad though that everything turned out well. My shooting on the other hand needs a bit of work. Either me or my gun is not consistent, and I need to find out quick where the problem is.

Home up on the range

Twas a beautiful day on the range yesterday. I got some work done too, some bittersweet. I have poured a lot of time into perfecting handloads using IMR 8208 XBR with 155 grain Nosler J4s, and yesterday I proved that those loads shoot accurately, but sadly were too hot. This was confirmed when the ballistics of these rounds at range did not match the speeds advertised by my CED M2 chronograph a month before, and in fact was waaaaaay off.

The CED M2 did not accompany me home in the same condition it was when we arrived, which is no great loss considering it had only given me one realistic reading in five trips to the range. I'm fighting intent to send the remainder of the device back to Competitive Edge Dynamics with a smart ass letter. It's amazing the devastation that seventeen rounds of 230 grain lead round nose will do to shitty plastic.

On to happier things, I had loaded up some Reloder-17 rounds with 175 grain Nosler J4s for a ladder test, as I only had fourteen of those bullets left and I wanted to put them to the best use. At 570 yards I got a perfect reading on where the two nodes were, which confirmed my suspicions almost exactly.

A disclaimer: work up your own rounds for your own gun, and do not rely on what you see on the internet for a starting load. If you do not know what you are doing, get help from someone who does or you may wind up destroying your gun and your face. Reloading is fun and safe when done right, and can be disastrous when done wrong.

With that said, I have already done a great deal of shooting with this combination, and know where I need to be. I started out with two sighters of 47.6 grain charges: one for 100 yards, and one for longer range, which both of them printed where I wanted. You can see the second sighter in the below picture just above and to the left of the 8" bull. For the charged loads of the test, I dropped down 2 MOA from my sighter, and had marked the bullets with colored sharpies to make the impacts readable. The bottom three shot holes are 47.6, 47.8, and 48 grains of Reloder-17 under the 175 grain bullet, grouping nicely on the same horizontal plane. I anticipated the top of the lower node at 48.1 grains, so this is good data to me. After that, the 48.2 and 48.4 grain loads walked up the target, and then the 48.6, 48.8, and 49 grain charges grouped well. At the 570 yards I was shooting, I had 12 1/2 MOA of elevation dialed in on my scope. The top three charges could stand to come down 1/4 of a MOA, which would put my velocity at 2,710 fps. That's awesome from a 20" barrel, and defies the 2,560 - 2,600 fps readings that I got from that shitty CED M2 chrono.



Here is my 100 yard target which I used to zero the 8208 XBR loads. The bottom right shot hole was my first round which jammed the gun. With the DPMS/SR-25 style bolt, the cam pin can be inserted either way through the bolt carrier, and if you dont pay attention during assembly, you will have your brass cases ejecting into the left side of the receiver instead of out the ejection port. The M16 bolt can only be assembled the correct way, so I guess old habits die hard. After that I had a little zeroing and shooting position adjusting to do, evident by the bottom middle target, with the bottom left being a solid five shot group from my rifle, and what I expect from it accuracy wise. At 400 yards I was printing 3" five shot groups, but I had ejector swipe marks on all the case heads and slightly flattened primers, meaning that these loads were too hot. Also, earlier OCW testing over the shitty CED M2 chrono had given me velocities of 2,783 fps with these loads, but actual testing gave me velocities nearing 3,000 fps!!!! Waaaaay too hot!! I may back down to the other load in the near future, but for now I'm going to do some seating depth testing with the Reloder-17 loads. Also, check out the top left group from my little DPMS AR. Not bad for a 7 power scope!



The Mosin Nagant carbine that I picked up awhile ago loves PRVI ammo in the 150 grain loads, but produces some fierce recoil! It certainly beats the corrosive Russian ammo I had been shooting. Here is a three shot group at 100 yards off sandbags:



Here is a three shot 10" group at 400 yards off sandbags, shooting between the visible 3" orange dot on the right and another just outside of the picture on the left. With open sights and a short barrel, I'll take that group any day.



Other than that, I did a little shooting with the old 1911 at 100 yards for fun with my wheel weight handloads. Good stuff. Now I've got some more loading to do to reach my goal of having perfect handloads. Do you think I'll ever get there?

Going the distance

Yesterday was a watershed moment for me in that I maxed out my little AR15 at distance. We were shooting out at 710 yards, and my 69 grain Varget handloads were punching outstanding groups as they were de-stabilizing. My AR only has a 16" barrel like many on the market today, so my average velocity is 2,582 fps which JBM Ballistics tells me my loads will run out of gas at 700 yards. I was not zeroed for any of the loads that I shot, as I was just testing groups. The group above the bull marked "223":



I'm tickled pink with that for several reasons: for one, I know exactly what the limits are for my gun; and two, despite the 69 grain bullets starting to keyhole as they hit the target, I'm still getting 4" or less vertical dispersion, which is awesome; and three, I now know that there's no point in going for another .223 chambering for the MK11 Mod 0 build that I was planning as I would only pick up another hundred yards capability. Looks like I'll be checking out 6.5 Grendel again!

This little AR with its 2-7 Burris FFII Tactical scope and lite barrel shoots circles around my custom built, Krieger barreled 308 with 3-12X50mm scope. Weird.



The little group was fired at the black dot, and I hadn't adjusted my dope from my first group. The large group was also fired with the same dope, but into a 8mph wind while chasing the yellow balloon around. It was getting dark, and everyone was packing up, so I figured what the hell. Almost all of the shot holes are slightly elongated from the rounds not hitting square. It's really cool though because they were not hitting completely sideways yet, so they were in the process of going transonic. Some of them hit straight on too, which have to be the ones that left the barrel with a little more speed.

I brought my reloading press and all associated gear to find a Varget load for my 308, and it ended badly. I again, for reasons I can't recall, I decided to shoot off of the Harris bi-pods for an OCW test, and again found out the hard lesson that bi-pods bounce like shit on any surface, at least for me. I do think that it's shooter induced error, but I've tried every trick in the book and it still happens: putting a towel under the bi-pod feet; digging a little trench in the dirt for the feet to push into; loading the bi-pod with various tention; watched the Sniper's Hide video on how to shoot off bi-pods without bounce; none of this helped. I then did myself the greatest favor by removing those pieces of shit and slinging them down as far into the woods as I possibly could. I will never ruin another load development effort because of bi-pods again.

For fun, I brought along a box of 175 grain Federal Gold Medal Match to see how it shoots from my gun at distance. The wind was slightly breezy, between 2-5 mph, and I didn't use a wind call:



The vertical dispersion is about 2 1/2", which makes me happy. The horizontal spread I blame on the wind. Mirage was also really bad when we first started shooting. My plans at this point are to stop wasting valuable long range time by testing loads, so I'm going to have to get sorted out close to home and decide on a load. My Reloder-17 OCW test a few days ago went alright, but I didn't find a load that I wanted to use; and without any data for the powder, I'm scared to go any higher. I also didn't get the velocity I was hoping for with 175 grain bullets until I was at almost 49 grains of the stuff, which is a lot of powder.

Either way, I'm glad to have success with the AR knowing that it's minute-of-groundhog at over 700 yards. You can't ask for more of a 16" factory barrel.

The Long Ranger

This is my first range report where I break the 500 yard barrier. Good times.

I got an invite to go out to a field in the middle of Virginia and shoot rifles, so I thought I aught to do an OCW test to find some rounds appropriate for closer to a grand in my 308, just in case I ever get to shoot that far. My test didn't go as well as planned; or so I thought.

I settled on some of Alliant's sweet Reloader 15 powder as it's manufactured by beautiful angels in a temple made of goodness. It's also been around for like forever -- Adam and Eve used to use it when they shot F-class -- so the accuracy nodes are very well known. That saves me a lot of time. 43.1 grains of it seem to be a popular load; my only concern is that I'm not using Lake City brass, which is what that charge is used in.

I loaded three rounds each in 42.5; 42.8; 43.1; and 43.4 grains using brand new Winchester brass, CCI BR2 primers, and 175 grain Nolser Custom Competition bullets, seated at 2.227" to the ogive. I also loaded a bunch of other stuff to try out that I never got to shoot. I finally got to set up to shoot this test the evening before range day, which is not ideal.

I got all set up with my table at 104 yards, chrono up, Practical Riflery Forums official test target up, and settled in on shooting from lowest charged rounds to highest in round robin style. The first three rounds went well enough, and then the chronograph failed to catch the velocity from the first 43.4 charge, which prompted me to raise the tripod a bit so that the rounds fly a little closer to the timing lights. It was getting dark, which makes chronos give errors. Back around from the 42.5 charge and all is looking good, and then at the 2nd 43.1 and 43.4 charge the chrono didn't get the velocity. Up goes the tripod again, and then nothing. I raised it a little more and finished my shoot, firing the last charges one right after another, and noticed the very last round, the last 43.4 charge, hit about six inches low and almost sideways. This would be why:


Cutting it a bit close. It seems these things need sunlight or some shit to function properly.

I absolutely lost it.

My brother was walking up and asked me what was wrong, and unfortunately got to hear a ten minute, profanity laced, hundred-and-ten decible diatribe about how I would pay a billion dollars for one hour of perfection, absent people or distractions, so that I may actually get to participate in my silly hobby.

So now I have a target where my groups are tightening up nicely at 43.1, and at the next charge my round is keyholed because of a stupid chain of events, so it's a big assed guess as to what my decided charge should be.



Top left is 42.5; top middle 42.8; top right 43.1; and bottom left is 43.4. The shots from the test are circled with blue pen (43.4 charge only has two shots); the rest of the shots were the contents of a 20 round magazine that was promptly fired at that target in an un-scientific manner (There was a lot more target than you can see here, for those of you counting shot holes!).

Velocities were:
42.5 - 2,398, 2,402, error
42.8 - 2,455, 2,433, error
43.1 - 2,478, error, error
43.4 - error, error, OWWW!! WTF!!!

After some careful thought I gambled on 43.3 grains. The 43.1 and 43.4 were hitting tight from what I could see, and more importantly to the exact same point-of-aim, point-of-impact. Theoretically if all three 43.4 charges hit tight in the same manner as the 43.1, than my accuracy node may fall in between the there. I loaded fifty of them, as well as five each of 43.1 and 43.2, just to see what they would do, and headed off to shoot.

We got the targets set up at 100, 200, 250, 450, and 514 yards in this bean field:



I started at 100 yards over the chrono, and we had bluebird skies, so there was no excuse for the chrono this time. Temp was 79, wind was 5-10 for awhile, then still as can be in the afternoon. Couldn't ask for a better day for shooting! You people in the South West have to deal with all that wind, while us East Coasters only have to worry about the humidity.

Final velocitie were:
43.1 - 2,515, 2,501, 2,482, 2,501, 2,510
43.2 - 2,520, 2,534, 2,515, 2,496, 2,525
43.3 - 2,554, 2,534, 2,544, 2,539, 2,534

My sand bag setup left my hundred yard groups all over the place, so I fixed my rest and got down into the gun and fired a decent five shot group at 250 yards:



I was pretty happy with that. I can work with it. The target on the right is the 450 yard target, and I used a 2.8 Mil hold at last light with a scalding hot barrel to put a best four into 4.2". I almost didn't shoot it as my hands were shaking from not eating all day, and as I was pressing the trigger the reticle would wobble back and forth. I would guess it explains the horizontal stringing. The fifth round hit about five inches low, which I can't explain. It happens. I'm sure if I took my time I could tighten that up, but the vertical measure makes me hopeful.

On the 500 yard target, my first five shots with 3 Mils of hold over and .6 Mils right hit the top right target at the bottom. This was my first ever attempt at 500 yards with this rifle. Losing the wind call, and using 3.2 Mils hold later on got me four rounds centered on that middle target, but that was after ten rounds fired quick at balloons I had stapled onto the sides of the ply wood, as well as five rounds at the 450 yard target. The bottom shot was with the 3 Mil hold:


(Click to make bigger)

Not the tightest group, but I'll take it under the circumstances. Now I get to fine tune this round so that it shoots like I want it to. I'm also going to start a 69 grain SMK work up with Varget for my AR15 when I save up that billion dollars to buy some time.

I don't shoot so well when I'm rushed, which is pretty much all the time. This day at the range was very relaxed, which was great. Every day needs to be like this. I'm lucky I didn't destroy my chrono, as I've shot one accidentally before, and I seriously considered seeing what a 175 grain round would do to the LCD of this chrono after the test incident. Really though, you just have to have daylight and you're good. Hopefully I'll get to go back soon, and maybe I'll have my loads dialed in tight like they're supposed to be.

Range Report

Despite the multitude of things that come up on my weekends, I got to do some shooting in preparation for the hunting season that I most certainly will not get to partake in.

Saturday was the best day. I ended up at my sister's house to test fire the 308 to make sure that I had properly re-assembled the gun. I picked up another 4' plastic folding table from Home Despot, as they are actually stable enough to shoot off of. With a Caldwell shooting bag up front, and several Brownells shooting bags under the deadly pistol grip and buttstock, I had the most stable shooting rest that I've had in years. The range was 119 yards from the muzzle.

I achieved what I was looking for, in that I have determined that 168 grain Federal Gold Medal Match are not the bee's knees for my gun, and that my earlier handloads of 165 grain Sierra Game Kings on top of 43.4 grains of Reloader 15 are good shooters, but a little slow for my tastes. All I was asking for was some consistency, and I got that. As usual, time ran out and I had to pack it up.

Time is my mortal enemy; when I die I'm going to track down Father Time and kick his punk ass for leaving me perpetually short all these years. The bastard.

Here's the work that I got done:



The shot in the center of the paper was to see where I was at after taking the gun apart two weeks ago. Two inches low is not bad considering I had removed the scope and barrel entirely, and then put it all back together again. Gotta love ARs! With a quick scope adjustment, the next three rounds went into the top center target, which verifies why you should never take a three shot group as the absolute truth. That little bughole group looks great and all, until you see the two five round groups bracketing it on the left and right at the top. Those are the 168g FGMM. I think I pulled the extreme right shot on the right target; this ammo shoots better than that.

The lower five shot group on the right were my handloads, and I wasn't at all impressed with it, so I decided to shoot a ten shot group, which is on the left. The one shot furthest to the left was my fault, as I was riding the sear and let that shot go before I had paused my breathing. All in all, even taking in the pulled shot, the group measured 1.7" which is a little outside of MOA. Ten shot groups tell a better tale.

Sunday was not a good day at the range. Father Time had me on a shorter string, and the worst of it was that I had not eaten the first thing all day, and during my afternoon session my hands were shaking so bad I doubt I could have fed myself with a fork. My groups reflected this:



Crappy cell phone pick tells the tale; five shot group in lower right target (not the three targets at the bottom that you can only see half of) are FGMM, consistently inconsistent, which is what I wanted to know. All of those random shot holes along the bottom are my wheel-weight cast, handloaded 102 grain LRN .380 acp fired from 15 yards off hand. I have not yet pulled the velocity data off my chronograph from those because of the aforementioned problem with that prick Father Time, but they didn't blow the gun up, and they all hit pointy side first. All is well with those for right now, and I'll have more information on them soon I hope.

What is astounding to me is the five shot group in the center, and the eight shot group at the top left. Those are 150 grain factory Remington Cor-Lokt that I keep buying because they're cheap, and I use them to foul the bore before shooting expensive match ammo or carefully loaded hand loads. They have astonished me before. During the top left group, my hands were shaking terribly, which is why they are strung out horizontally -- and they were fired last, hastily as I was out of time, and while the barrel was already too hot to touch from firing the FGMM . The vertical dispersion is telling, as is that five shot group. I went ahead and dialed the scope in on those; time to buy a few more boxes of em'.

Guns have personalities like people, and it makes sense that this rifle would tell me that it likes something in particular. Those Remingtons are crimped along a cannelure, which I strongly believe is why they are so consistent in this auto-loading rifle. The feeding cycle is way more violent in an AR than with a bolt gun, and in non-crimped ammo like the FGMM, I have found that the bullet jumps forward from the inertia of feeding, which makes it inconsistent. Also, I have gotten more consistent accuracy in the past from flat based bullets like the Cor-Lokt over boat tailed bullets. Too bad the B.C. on flat based bullets suck; I won't be shooting 1,000 yard matches with them for sure, but they should work great for 500 yards and closer.

I'm pretty happy with the results. I have to do more shooting with the Remingtons to make sure that I can live with them, and also to get velocity data for a drop chart. Looking over past targets and data shows them to be really solid performers, which is funny to me because I have always hated Remington ammo of any kind. In my youth, if a rifle or shotgun was going to jam from ammo, or was going to shoot horribly, it was always, always with Remington ammo. I've gotten these rounds for as little as $11 a box, so it's win win for me apparently!

Look out Bambi, here I come!