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Smokecloud

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Everything posted by Smokecloud

  1. It’s been a while since I ran the 69s, but when I did load development for my 18” 1-8, I tried varget, 335, RL15, 8208 Xr, TAC and 748. Surprisingly got my best groups with 748. Even better yet, it was very close to my 55gr fmj zero. Later I went to 77s and 8208 became my go to powder. I was digging in the back of one of my cabinets a couple weeks ago and found about 800 of the 69 SMKs I never loaded. I will have to do more digging to locate the charge data.
  2. There is some Tin in wheel weights, enough that I haven't had to add any for my bullets. When I do my smelt, to make ingots from WW, I try to use a large pot. Its around 4 gallons and made of stainless steel. I use it on a Turkey fryer propane cooker outside. The thought is making as large of a batch as possible, so that the batch of alloy is consistent. If I could smelt a 55 gallon barrel of WW to make all my alloy the same across the entire batch, I would. I can usually get all of a 5 gallon bucket of WW into the pot. With lead being phased out all over for WW, its getting harder and harder to find WW that still have lead in them. Current buckets are yielding about 20-25% trash, ie Zinc, Steel, clips, etc. I keep the temps really low for my smelt. I like 600 deg F and try to not let it get over 650 at the most. Zinc melts over 800, so by keeping temps low, the zinc's will simply float on the top and i scoop them off. If I see them, I will pull them, but its so much easier to just scoop off the crud off the top after its up to temp. After shooting LaserCast bullets for years, I like harder bullets, so I water quench all of my pistol bullets. I put the 5 gallon bucket of water under my table, so there is no chance of water splashing up ending in my melting pot. Place an old rag in the bottom of the bucket for two reasons, one to soften the blow to the bullets when they hit the bottom, and 2nd to make retrieval easier when I'm done. I also put an old pillow case over the top of the bucket and cut a hold in the middle. i dump the hot bullets through the hole, but the pillow case also cuts down on splash. Lastly, I have settled on light to moderately frosty bullets for my liking. i find that my bullet weights are more consistent if I run them hot and the powder for powder coating sticks better to the frosty finish than a smooth shiny finish and I usually only have to PC once for a nice coating.
  3. A friend of mine, who is a competent 1911/2011 smith, prefers them and set up my 2011 with one, years ago (2 1/8 lb). i had a 3 pack of them and tried to replicate the bends he had, but I could never get them just right, I gave up and took them to him to tune the extra two Clark 4 finger springs so I had them as backups, he had them both done in under 10 minutes and now I have 3 that work for that gun. Personally though, I can't tune them right, but I have no problem setting up 3 finger springs correctly.
  4. Don't stop at dryfiring outside, take it to the range. First time I tried a dry fire session at the range, I flinched. it really surprised me, I knew the gun was empty, but there was a sense of realism and expectation from having a gun him my hand at the range where I normally shoot. I started doing more dry firing at the range and then set up 6 magazines with dummy rounds and an occasional live round. I shuffled the mags around and loaded one. At the range, with eyes and ears on, sometimes 3 live bullets in a mag, sometimes 6, sometimes 4. It cured the flinch I had developed. This drill is just backwards of the ones I put my trainees through, where we would have a full mag that someone else loaded and on occasion there would be a dummy round, usually 3 to 5 dummy's in each mag.
  5. Any votes for slowest build? So last summer, I completed the rifle and took it to the range without a scope. 6 rds of Nosler 120gr BT (was on sale and on the shelf) and I tuned the gas system in 3 shots, but rechecked it by increasing and decreasing gas settings. Just locks bolt open where its set. I have read that the Noslers are hot in a semi platform, but I did not have any signs of pressure on the fired cases. I attibute this to the +2 gas system and the HP bolt with small firing pin. I took it home and put in in the safe and sold my 300wm over issues with it and ordered a barreled action from Southern Precision Rifle's to build a new 300wm that should shoot. The 300wm became my obsession and ate up my play money for some time. I finally managed to save up and purchased a Vortex Razor AMG and received it a couple weeks ago. I ordered the Seekins MXM 30mm, 20 MOA mount yesterday and should have it sometime by next week and get the scope mounted. I still don't have dies, but after seeing that Prime ammo is running $21 a box for 130 OTM, or Berger ammo at $27 a box, I cant load them that cheap with Lapua brass, Berger bullets, 210m primers and powder, so I may be purchasing some loaded ammo for the same price that I purchased Lapua brass for last year. I sure hope it shoots well and I am excited to play with the new scope. The reticle is pretty much the same as what I'm running on my 300wm (Razor HD2).
  6. Im about to start a new build, I have been playing with a 300wm for over a year and really like it. I recently let my brother take it home though and I have to start over. I looked at a lot of options and have found myself right back at 300wm again. Reloading costs are low, sometimes less than half of 300 Norma and 338 Lapua. According to Brian Litz, the 300wm with the 230 bergers (about .719bc) will outperform a 338 Lapua to 1500 and are within 5% beyond that. I started playing with the 225 gr Hornady ELD-M's, which have a significantly higher bc at .777, when I run them on the calculator, they show supersonic out to 1800 and that was loaded hot, but not max. If you buy factory ammo, its half the price of the larger calibers. I'm looking at trying to put together a defiance action with a bartlein barrel. I kept my AICS stock, so I will put it on that. The 300 Norma is amazing and I have really wanted to build up one of those, but starting completely over with a new caliber is time and money. I have been able to acquire most of my 300wm brass for about a $1.05 a stick, all Nosler or Norma. The 300 Norma will outrun the Win Mag, but recoil is noticeably more and if it costs too much to shoot, then it just sits most of the time like my BMG.
  7. I started using WSF and WST in 40sw with really good results a few years ago. This was back when powder was non existent and I was trying to get my hands on anything that would work since I had burnt up all my TG. I pretty much settled on WSF for Major PF loads in 40 and WST for the light loaded stuff. I then started using both in 9mm. One thing that I found was that the WSF had a pretty wild ES when loaded light. As long as I pushed it hard, it was fine. WST was more consistent on the light side, but showed pressure signs quicker when I started running it on the higher end. Velocity consistency is a variable that has not been discussed much on this topic. That being said, I have yet to go back to TG because I like the way that the WSF feels in my 40.
  8. I installed a JP Gen 2 Silent Captured spring system, then I finally decided on a handguard. Having already went with JP for a good portion of the build, I decided to go with the JP handguard. I picked the MKIII in the XL length, which is 17.25". My Superlative Gas Block shipped after being backordered for over 3 months, its supposed to be in the mail. Now to start saving for a nice scope for it. I am thinking about putting a Vortex Razor HD 5-20x50 on it, which is the same scope that I installed on my 300 Win Mag. Physically, the scope is a tad large, but might look ok on the rifle. I also considered just saving up the extra coin and looking at a Razor HD 2 in 3-18x50, but haven't decided yet. Do you guys have a preference for the scope mounts? my first thought was looking at Warne, but am open to other options.
  9. Wow, where has the year went? To resurrect an old thread, I decided to start focusing on parts again for the .260 Rem. I confirmed my decision and ordered the Hiperfire Eclipse trigger. I installed it with the JP adjustable ambi selector yesterday. I set it up with the heaviest springs it came with, which yields the lightest pull. Wow, what a trigger. Short reset, short pull, what little movement there is in the trigger feels super smooth. The trigger was easily the lightest that I have ever had on an AR of any flavor. I grabbed my trigger gage and smiled a bit as it registered 1 3/4 lb. All of that and it is supposed to have 30% more trigger energy than a standard trigger system. Cant wait to get it out and run it a bit. I am going forward on the Superlative Gas block. My Proof barrel has a single dimple at 6 o'clock, is there any benefits to choosing between the solid block vs the clamp on style of the Superlative? I have not seen any bad press on either style of the Superlative. mine is .875 at the port, which seems to be harder to find than other sizes, but they are available. I'm leaning on staying with the solid style and utilizing the dimple to make alignment easier, unless someone here has a good argument against it.
  10. I went through this same delimma. I have a 50bmg and a 308. I wanted something that would shoot supersonic out to 1800 if possible and still have real energy if I decided to hunt with it. I went with a Rem 5R-Milspec w 24" threaded barrel in 300 Win Mag. Berger 230 gr8 bullets at 2850 are supposed to outperform the 338 Lapua out to 1500 yards according to Brian Litz. I was looking at the 300 RUM seriously as well as the 338 Lapua. Good brass for the WM is half the cost of the RUM and about 4x cheaper than the Lapua. I'm not a huge fan of the belted case but so far I like the 300WM. I put it in a AICS 2.0 chassis. Currently I started playing with the Hornady 225gr ELD-M. It has a listed .777 BC. I run a Rugged Suppresor Surge on it which makes it kick about like my 308 win. I wanted to get some trigger time behind this caliber and setup, and if it does everything I want I will consider having a custom built on a Defiance action. Do a search for the Litz article.
  11. Make sure it's not too long for your setup. Some dedicated pistol buffers are longer than standard carbine buffers and you will run into fit issues. I run an 8 oz heavy carbine buffer in my 10" but it's suppressed. I tune the gas system from there to make it perfect. Without the suppressor it runs best with a H3. Buffer weight is much more important with a non adjustable gas system.
  12. I think you will get a lot of different opinions on the receiver question. It can become a Ford vs. Chevy Debate. Obviously there are some Mercedes out there where you expect to get a lot when you pay a lot. I have been using Aero Precision's stuff since they started. Cheaper priced than most, but they were an aviation parts manufacturer with some high dollar equipment that simply got into the gun making business. They used to have a lot more quality control methods that the standard receiver makers. I have probably built in the neighborhood of 40-50 rifles on Aero's receivers and have never had a bad one yet, the machining is top notch. They are a little more plain than some like. These days there are a lot of very high end manufacturers that produce an outstanding product that anyone would be proud to have, but just expect to pay more, sometimes double the amount or more. JP and Seekins Precision are a couple of those top tier manufacturers, I also really like Mega. They also have a lot more cool features on the receivers. for my AR10 build, I decided that I trusted the machining from Aero enough to build a quality rifle on their receivers, but I also wanted to cut costs somewhere, so that I could splurge in other areas like the JP BCG and the Proof Barrel. I am doubting that I would see an accuracy advantage on the receivers as long as everything was in spec. I think I had $270 into the set of Aero Large Frame Receivers. I really wanted a set of Mega's for a long time, but at $600, I decided that the extra $330 went a long ways towards purchasing a high end barrel that I felt would make a greater improvement. I recently helped one of my brothers build an AR10 on Aero receivers with a Criterion barrel in 308 and a JP BCG. He is ecstatic over the build and it has worked very well for him.
  13. I have had a NF NXS 5.5-22x56 for over a decade. Love it. I also picked up a previously owned, but never mounted 3.5-15x50 NXS for a grand last year at a gun show. Love it. I am in the same boat and looking for new glass for a 300 Win Mag that I'm playing with, but I just cant seem to stomach the ever increasing prices for the Nightforce scopes (was looking at NXS 5.5-22x50). I think my next purchase is to try a Vortex Razor HD Gen 1 5-20x50. I am eligible for one of their discounts and Vortex offers a lot better discount than NF does for the same MSRP scope.
  14. I didn't buy a factory rifle, but I will offer that whatever you decide, your decision should really take into consideration that the rifle have the XL gas system. The +2" (longer than standard rifle length) gas port seems to be magic on either the 6.5 CM or the 260 Rem. I know that JP has been selling theirs in that platform for quite a while, you will have to research the others as I am not that familiar with them. I recently received my barrel and gas tube from Proof Research, well, I ordered it from Stocky's Stock, one of their dealers. The Barrel looks great, now I just have to decide on a handguard. I got stalled on my build because I gave into weakness and allowed another rifle to follow me home from a gun show and have been funneling funds into completing it, so my 260 got sidelined for a bit. I'm still hopeful that I will have it complete with glass by the end of the year, but I want to build it right, so I'm not in a hurry.
  15. 25.0 gr of H335 gave me some early pressure signs in one rifle. I settled on 24.5 for a general all purpose plinker and it works fine in all guns. 748 I used to run around 26.0gr for the same velocity and it seemed to run slightly cooler temps.
  16. With any suppressed load, always test the load on paper at some sort of extended distance to verify there is no key holing before you run it through your suppressor. Especially when you start playing with subsonic loads. Baffle strikes are easy to avoid if you just play it safe.
  17. Years ago, I tried Botach, got a killer deal on some good name brand cr123 batteries, ordered 60 of them and receive them just fine. I thought the company was good to go, I ordered a Colt rifle about 6 months later, was charged and after 6 months of battles, never received the rifle. Thank goodness for the power of established credit card companies. I will never order from them again.
  18. I received my JP heavy carrier and HP bolt yesterday, its amazing how fast I forgot the price when I had BCG in hand. Such a high quality setup. My barrel should be here sometime either the end of this month or beginning of next. I emailed JP to inquire as to their recommendation for installing the PRS and what they suggested. I got a very timely response basically recommending the A2 buffer tube with their heavy Gen II silent captured setup and just run the provided spacer. I am still kicking that around, but I am still leaning on spending the coin to upgrade to the captured system. I have never tried it before and I think this is the rifle that would benefit from that system. I have read enough reviews on the Superlative that I am now considering it, but I'm not there 100% yet. I think it may come down to my decision on the handguard and how accessible the adjustments are. What die sets have you guys found that works best for the 260 in a semi auto platform. I have been looking at the Redding FL size die with one of their nicer bullet seaters. Its been some time since I purchased rifle dies and I feel like i'm out of the loop with options that are available today.
  19. Just an update. I caved in and bought an MRO, this will now be the 3rd one that I have played with. The blue tint is present in all 3 during any fluorescent lighting, that is really my only complaint. The rest of the unit is first class. Oh, don't freak out when you notice that the front lens is crooked, its supposed to be that way, I had to revisit the other two I have played with AFTER a internet search for the issue. I can not recommend enough to make your purchase through Larue Tactical. I have price shopped for months, and anyone that has really looked at them, will recall that the base price does not come with a mount at all and the cheapest I found was $493 with no mount. If you want a mount, start looking in the $544 range for the basic setup. Add $100 if you want any kind of aftermarket mount. I saw a review on Amazon that simply said he wished he had bought his from Larue. Curious, I looked. Huh, $493 WITH one of their quick detach mounts. The only downside is that all of their mounts are lower 1/3 co-witness and I prefer absolute co-witness because that is simply where I have developed my muscle memory for everything on those types of rifles. Its only about 1/10" of an inch, but is noticeable to me. I got over it pretty quick because its on a fun rifle, not something I use seriously. Their mounts are top notch, but surprisingly, so was their customer service. I got the box and opened it and there was so much stuff packed in the box, I immediately checked the invoice to make sure I hadn't been duped into paying more for something........Nope, price was the same, shipping was very reasonable and a care package that was outstanding. Spoke to a friend that orders from them, and he said they have always treated him that way. Now I have finished building two more rifles for my sons, but money won out on the decision for those. I just mounted two of the Sig Romeo 5 red dots. Lighter and smaller than the MRO, same quality dot, but with electronic buttons to turn it on, off and adjust the brightness. Same 8 day light settings and 2 NV settings. Yes, it has a smaller field of view, but my MRO is at the front edge of my receiver, so I have a reduced field of view anyhow and its not as big of a difference. And indoors, the Sigs are crystal clear, no blue tint. That makes 3 of the Romeo 5's I have purchased for about $100 more than the one MRO. I love the MRO for the rifle its on, but the Sigs have a place in my safe too.
  20. I believe you are correct. I had a chance play with the same MRO again on a night shoot. There was no color change with weapon lights, flashlights, and car headlights, optics were clear and I believe that the color issue may be from fluorescent lighting, which is what I was checking it out on the first go round. I bought a Sig Sauer red dot for that AR already, but I have another rifle I am putting together that the MRO may play well with and I am reconsidering it again. The field of view is much larger, like you said on the MRO than most of the others. Now if any of them besides the Eotech, had a 1 MOA dot, I would be really happy.
  21. Thank you to both replies, there is a wealth of information between the two posts. I have been reading everything I can get on the topic and have found issues regarding LW carriers and figured I was back at the decision for the standard weight, but notice that JP only offers an extra heavy version, so that is probably what I will set my sights on, really that is what I have done with most of my builds. I usually favor the heavy route for several reasons. I looked at the superlative and may consider that for a SBR build sometime, but i'm not crazy about venting gas out of the block since I will more likely than not, have it covered with a handguard, which will soot up stuff at some point. I'm thinking about just sticking with JP for one of their adjustable blocks, any other brands I should consider? I have ran Seekins on a couple of the small builds, they seemed to work fine. I may run a suppressor on the 260 at some point, which always requires a drastic gas change. Looking at the price of new brass, Lapua runs just short of a buck per case, so its not very appealing. Norma would be my 2nd choice, but I haven't checked to see if they even make brass for the 260. I would only consider those for trying to squeeze the most out of the package. It's nice to hear that the 260 is not that finicky, some of those calibers are very hard to nail the perfect load on. I will check out the Prime Ammo, what brass do they use? If I go with the JP contained buffer spring system, should I stick with a standard carbine buffer tube, or opt for the full length version? I see it comes with a spacer that should make it a wash. I'm looking at the Magpul or equivalent stock that is adjustable for cheek weld. I have found several articles and other write up's on the pressure problems of running the heavier bullets with the slower powders, it makes sense with the med burn rate powders, but seems like almost a non-issue with the +2 gas system if I run an adjustable gas block. This will be a slow build, but please keep the tips coming.
  22. I will look into the Superlative block, thanks for the suggestion. I originally looked at the JP stuff, I have run it from time to time and its always top notch, they have been the measuring stick for a long time and were just about the only game in town for builds like this. With a little pushing from friends and simply wanting to try something different, I decided to go with the Proof barrel. I didn't need a forward assist on the upper receiver, but its there. I keep looking at the Aero Carriers because the cuts work with the forward assist. I recently emailed them and asked if they sell just the carrier, they replied no. I will probably just end up buying a JP carrier, but will have to consider the LW vs the standard weight. I am looking at using a Hyperfire trigger, I believe its the only way to get a good trigger in an AR10 package that will pull under 3lbs. My brother has been running one for 2 years now in one of his builds and its just under 2 3/4 and is amazingly better feeling than any of my other various triggers. What kind of brass has given you best the combination of case life and quality? I'm not sure how destructive this sort of setup will be on brass, so I'm not sure if I want to pony up for Lapua, or get something more reasonably priced because its short lived anyhow. I have an M1a that pretty much wrecks the brass in 4 firings for comparison.
  23. Order a 300blk Jig, just google it and pick one you like. I found one that did everything I needed for about $14. I bought a little miniature chop saw from harbor freight for about $30 on sale. Mount the jig in the chopsaw, it holds the case where it needs to be cut, which is just below the shoulder. You can play with the length to reduce how much trimming you have to do afterwards. Now you have a pile of straight walled cases, lube them and run them through a full length size die, it will form the shoulder the same time it sizes the rest of the case and deprimes. Now you trim to length, the rest is the same as any other rifle case.
  24. I have had a set of Aero Precision AR10 receivers for about 2 years now just sitting on the shelf from a political panic buy. I have a few different builds going on already, but I kept looking at starting that gun. I have been watching the threads here for sometime regarding a couple of 6.5 CM builds. I finally narrowed my decision down to either 6.5 CM or 260 Remington. I have had a couple of long phone calls with friends on the matter and decided that the comparison was a wash. More factory ammo available for the CM, but I will probably never buy more than a box or two of factory ammo, since I reload pretty much everything I shoot for. It was almost down to a coin flip because of the differences and pros vs cons of both. I decided that the 260's case profile looks like it would probably feed better in a semi-auto platform, plus with the buckets of 308 brass laying around, in a pinch, I could probably make my own brass if things dried up again. I decided to swing to the 260 side, but just barely. I'm looking at this build as a long range toy and to use on occasional match stages as a bonus gun, or for whatever. I don't care if its heavy, I'm not building it to run and gun with, most likely as a bench gun or shooting from stationary positions. It would also be nice as a trainer for my boys, as it will be very low on recoil. To make the decision permanent and end 6 months of fretting and 2nd guessing, I ordered a barrel. I opted for a 24" all steel barrel from Proof Research. It came with a 16 week wait, sooo, sometime in maybe February. Those barrels are head spaced off of the JP HP bolt, so I ordered one of those as well. Has anyone here built one of these? I have built over 100 small frame AR's but have only worked on a few of the large frame's and this will be my first ground up build of an AR10. So far, everything I have is DPMS pattern parts. I was glad that I waited to order the barrel, because even though it was not advertised, I'm told that mine will be there newest version where they have moved the gas port an extra 2 inches out (plus 2 version). I have to chose a bolt carrier, but hate to pony up for the JP. The JP/HP bolt was already over $200 and I'm not real excited about having $450 into a complete BCG. Is there a better similar carrier for better price? I will need to find the XL length gas tube and chose a gas block. I want to put an adjustable gas block on this rifle, does anyone have a favorite that they prefer for this type of setup?
  25. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?138216-7-8-ounce-lee-slug-load-suggestions Start here. There are several other threads that are on topic. Those guys helped me a lot when I was sorting out my Lyman slugs.
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