Handsome Rob

This has been in the works for 2 years now. I bought all the parts & it was put together by a really good friend of mine in Florida, Shane Thomas. It's based (loosely) on a 1740s style French Fusil de Chasse. Usually a smoothbore gun, I had this built as a .62 caliber rifle. The barrel was special ordered from Colerain with a 1:60 twist & round bottom rifling. The maple for the stock was ordered as 'plain' Yeah...you can see how that turned out! I had the barrel mounted with a hooked beach & wedges, rather than the correct pins, because I actually use my guns & I wanted the ease of cleaning that an easily removable barrel allows. I've only shot a couple of light loads (80gn FFg) so far & it shoots as well as it looks! I'm off to the range tomorrow to start working on a load & adjust (file) the sights as required!

I guess I'm the odd one out. I do not get turkey hunting at all. Show me something with 4 legs & I'll fly around the world to get a chance at it, but turkeys? I just can't figure getting up at 5am for 'em!

No! . . . . . Nerds. :D

Did y'all...ummm... Well, er... Did y'all get wedgied a lot in school?

I like this post so much I just blacked out a little.

Low speed, high drag. Right???

Yeah. I just pulled the butt pad off my Choate stocked Savage .308 & crammed in 3 pounds of lead ingots, dampened with dry short-grain rice. It balances nicely now, although it does weight 14 pounds. Am I tacticool yet? :D

Yah, me too :(

Thanks guys!

Selling a shotgun on gunbroker. The guy who won the auction is coming to TN from Florida this afternoon. The handover has to be done through an FFL, correct?

That was brilliant!

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/569...ser-box-of-100

It's on sale at Midway right now for $66 per hundred! Just a heads up!

I'm no expert (I've only met a couple) but once you start reloading you may want to look at lighter bullets. 1:12 is a wee bit slow a twist for the longer 168gn boat tails. Try a handful of 110gn Sierra Varmints pushed to about 3100-3200fps & I think you'll be in for a happy surprise! That said, that's some fine shooting for factory ammo.

Aaaahhh.... Sorry, I forget that people shoot non-traditional muzzleloaders!

I'm utterly desperate for Varget & I wouldn't walk next door to have to buy it at that price.

Ohhh myyy.... Unfortunately, mine we'll be way more utilitarian. Like this...

Oddly (again) Sierra bullets reloading data calls for a max load of 40.6gn of 3031 for the same bullet. This confusion is why I put off reloading for so long! I'm dreading having to start 'proper' reloading once I get my 6.5x55 target gun built! Neck turning, seating depth, jump-to-lands measurements.... It's honestly pretty freaking intimidating!

Definitely the correct powder. I only had 3 different powders on hand (4189, 4895 & 3031) and I only ever take them out of the case one at a time to save mixups on my bench. It was a 'Chrony' type chrono, tripod mounted, roughly 2' from the muzzle (it's not mine & I didn't want to either accidentally shoot it or keep calling for a cold range after every shot!) One of the guys on the line (a serious F-class shooter) also tested the chrono & verified it to be on the money. I know it's an odd thought, but if I'm over pressure (on closer inspection, my primers are slightly flattened, but none are pierced or falling out & my brass isn't extruded into the extractor) could that cause a velocity loss over normal??? I've been researching (Googling) all day & I've learned that badly over pressure could cause that, but I wouldn't imagine less than half a grain would be THAT significant, surely(?) Interestingly, the Lyman 49th book lists 42gn as the maximum (although in a 24" bbl) Would barrel length alter chamber pressure to that extent?

Someone else has mentioned that I may have a contaminated or 'off' pound of powder. Unfortunately I'll never know that now as I used up the last of it with these loads. As soon as midway delivers some more bullets I'll try a different powder & chrono that too. I really wish I'd chrono'd all the others I put together with this powder & didn't crimp. My honest second thought was possibly I'd messed something up reaming out the primer pockets of the Lake City brass, but the primers all seated nicely & none blew out or acted oddly at all.

RCBS, but trickled & individually weighed.

Savage Hog Hunter, bolt action, 18" barrel. Brass looks perfect, no sooting around the neck, primers look good. No obvious signs of over pressure. I don't have any factory ammo to compare to I'm afraid. Recoil felt about right (muzzle break) but I could feel the differences, shot to shot.

Any idea what could cause the extremely low overall velocity?

I've got a question: Can crimping a rifle case cause HUGE velocity differences? I loaded up a bunch of .308 the other day. 165gn Sierra Gamekings over 42gn of 3031. The only thing is, I messed up & ran them all through a Lee FCD by mistake. I ran them all through a chrono yesterday & had the weirdest velocities. I was expecting speeds around the 2400 fps area. What I got was velocities from 1347 to 1986!! The only thing I know I did wrong was the crimp. Every charge was measured & weighed individually to +/- 0.1gn. Every round was measured for length to within 0.001" The only variable I can see is the crimp. I tested the chrono with some factory loads in .223 & they were right on spec. I'm having a hard time figuring this out.

That's not at all unusual. All barrels have tight spots. Tight at the muzzle is good! You don't need to lube your barrel at all. Only grease it for storage. Other than that, your patch lube is all you need. Just out of interest, what's the gun?