I tried the 158 grain XTP bullets yesterday with some Alliant 2400 powder. This was a surprising trip to the range because these hollow point hunting/defensive bullets shot better than my dedicated target loads. At the upper load range either the load or I started to fall apart and the groups opened up a bit. That could have been me because right around the time the groups started opening up,by me2 - Firearms
What ballistic path requirements do you have considering the 200 to 300 yard envelope established above? Have you considered alternative calibers? 6.5 Grendel, 6mm ARC, 350 Legend, and a recent curiosity of mine 458 SOCOM all offer considerable improvement in terminal ballistics. If you’re willing to pay the price you can have an AR 10 in 243, 7mm-08, 308, 6.5 Creedmore, 260 Remington, and aby me2 - Firearms
I have no experience with 22 magnum but it sounds feasible. I’ll say after trying with my Blackhawk and Victory, shooting a handgun past 50 yards requires a lot of practice. If you’d limit realistic ranges to 25 yards I think that’s way more workable.by me2 - Firearms
I’m becoming more convinced I need a 357 rifle. I bought some 158 grain XTP bullets yesterday. I’m planning on trying to push them with Alliant 2400 which is evidently a gold standard for magnum handguns. I also see CFE Pistol offers only slightly less velocity potential so I’ll probably try that as well. Gunblue490 on YouTube has a very good video on developing handgun loads I want to reviewby me2 - Firearms
Good luck trying those. They sound like a good way for me to develop a flinch if I don’t already have one.by me2 - Firearms
Well that certainly encourages me to finish my Amax load development. They shot about .75 in preliminary testing but I want to try a different powder. The first one would require a gas adjustment that would likely prevent the other loads from running. I’m working with service rifle loads just to avoid that sort of thing.by me2 - Firearms
The Speer gold dot projectiles heavier than 55 grains have started showing up again. Those seem like a good option provided the barrels like them. My 16” barrel has a great distaste for Hornady 60-68 grain bullets. 75 shots great, 55 shots great, but that mid range is right out. Both my 223s have 1/7 twists.by me2 - Firearms
I have both my 20” and 16” set up to hit a 6” target out to maximum point blank range of about 270 yards. The 20” is set with iron sights/carry handle style elevation drum sights and the 16” is with a scope. That leaves me with a couple inches of SWAG to keep in an 8” circle. Projectiles start 3” below the line of sight, pass through it somewhere around 45 or 50 yards, peak at 3” above POA @ 1by me2 - Firearms
I have a few questions before I offer any suggestions. What is the smallest target you want to be able to consistently hit out to 300 yards without holdover or windage correction? What is the minimum acceptable accuracy for the rifle? Do you plan to hand load for the cartridge or shoot factory ammo? How critical is ammo availability vs cost vs effectiveness? Now a couple suggestions.by me2 - Firearms
I’m still amazed that a hot 357 load can rival a 300 Blackout or 7.62 x 39. The issue is the rifle rounds are cruising while the 357 is on afterburner. Impressive damage in any case. I’m loading up a batch of target wadcutters and will see which powder I like best. After that I’ll start looking into the heavier loads. Were I into small game hunting, Hornady makes 158 grain swayed lead projecby me2 - Firearms
I’ve had such a good experience with the Acme coated hard cast bullets I figured I’d stick with them. They have a fair variety but I don’t want to push them more than about 1300 fps. For that the 158s makes more sense. I’m not eager to repeat the leading from pushing them too fast, though I think that had a lot to do with the shallower rifling of the Marlin micro groove rifling. I’ll eventualby me2 - Firearms
I made a test batch using 148 grain wadcutters for accuracy testing. With these bullets the accuracy is very good. Fortunately the lowest charge is the most accurate and economical. This load is capable of golf ball sized groups at 25 yards off a rest and just shoots a single ragged hole rested at 10 yards. With this load the gun seems mechanically as accurate or more than my S&W Victoryby me2 - Firearms
I’m probably going to try to regrind the Delica first. I need to see if I have the right belts. I want a 120 grit followed by a 320 grit finish, mostly because that’s what I think I have.by me2 - General
If I had to choose it would be a Delica or Endura. As I understand those are made outside Golden so you may not have as much control once distance gets involved. I’d have to research the Golden made models to see. The rebeveling is done. I stopped at 17 dps so as to use the 20 dps slots in the Sharpmaker. I doubt I will go lower as the thumb studs get in the way. This has a 220/1000/40by me2 - General
I saw on the knife section of the gun forums that Darrel Ralph has passed from a stroke. Very shocking to hear.by me2 - General
I think 22 dps to 12 was too big a jump. I’m going to stop at 17 dps for now. I’ll move it down to 12 next time I sharpen it maybe. It may work fine at 17 but we’ll see.by me2 - General
I have an old Harbor Freight 1x30. That’s what I used to regrind and thin my Delica. I need to do it again though. I thinned it the rebeveled it from 17 dps to 12 so the bevel grew again. Ideally it would be at or less than 0.01” thick at the top of the 12 degree bevel. A lot of my projects will be done in my shop. I don’t use the grinder a lot in there due to dust issues. The weather hereby me2 - General
Yes that is the procedure now. For a long time I just hogged off the material and a few times it required a LOT of metal to be removed and took a long time. The knives are still useable at 22 dps or so, and when I decide to lower them it isn’t as wasteful. I had a Kudu from Cold Steel that gave me fits with a section that was evidently 25 degrees or more. When I lowered it to 15 I was never aby me2 - General
I started working out with my son so that has taken 2 of the last 3 days and I haven’t worked on any the last couple days. I think one more long session with the Kershaw will finish it. Putting the 22 degree bevel on and evening things out near the factory bevel was very helpful. Now I’m not dropping the edge and trying to straighten the edge out at the same time. I will probably do it this wby me2 - General
Over the years I’ve amassed quite the list of knife projects and most have never been finished. In an effort to empty this list, I plan to post them one at a time until I get them done or decide they’re not worth it and wrote them off. First is a recent one for a new knife. I have a Kershaw Random Leek I got for Father’s Day. It came with a 22 dps or so edge that I matched when sharpeningby me2 - General
Particularly if you reload, it’s hard to beat a revolver for shooting fun. For my purposes a 44 Mag is a bit much but a Ruger Super Blackhawk was what started me thinking about a single action. Designers try to make autos flat for concealment but some ergonomic features just don’t go with that shape.by me2 - Firearms
Try it some time. It’s refreshing to try some reactive targets and if you miss you don’t feel too bad. That’s what was supposed to happen. I want to try some sidewalk chalk bits to see what happens but I don’t think the range I go to will allow them. They’d be a load of fun though. I loaded up and tested an array of charge weights with the 357 Blackhawk and some Hornady 148 grain hollowby me2 - Firearms
Tool life, edge holding, and gas mileage are mostly functions of operator skill and control.by me2 - General
I did a little trick shooting session yesterday with my Victory and Shield. I blew a shot and cut the top of the ranges target stand in half with the Blackhawk so I had to redeem myself. I don’t want to jinx myself but I might be getting the hang of the Shield finally. I was shooting at Q-tips and trying to cut business cards edge wise at 5 yards. I hit the edge of the cards 2 for 2 with theby me2 - Firearms
For grinding I never had any issues with M2 other than it took a long time with a HF 1x30 sander. For sharpening on the same sander I feel like damage was still likely at the edge.by me2 - General
First, check edge performance. The brass rod is too subjective to give reliable feedback without correlating it to performance in the first place. Second, if you’re doing post heat treat grinding I doubt you have to worry about the edge until it gets almost sharp. If you are power sharpening then you need to worry about overheating the edge and it’s difficult to avoid completely without coby me2 - General
I am of the opinion this if one carries a pistol or keeps one for use at home, then one needs to be able to hit with it as far as they can. Civilians in a defensive posture, as they are legally bound to be, rarely get to choose the engagement distance. The whole reason for the Blackhawk is to shoot it beyond 50 yards and preferably beyond 100. A standard silhouette is a rather large targetby me2 - Firearms
I’ve been shooting mostly iron sights since the beginning of this year. That’s been the most entertaining for me lately. I’ll try to replicate it tomorrow but I don’t have high hopes. This load was getting 1.5 MOA out to 150 yards so I was pretty pleased with that. I put a new 2 stage trigger in that rifle and either that made the difference (and I sucked with the standard trigger) or I justby me2 - Firearms
I loaded some 55 grain soft points for the 20” barrel. I want a muzzle velocity above 3000 FPS but I don’t have a way to measure it so who knows if I’m even close. The main upside to the Hornady projectile is it’s 30% cheaper. The 75s shoot extremely well out of the 16” barrel. The 77 SMKs shoot well out of both. I need to test the 55 grain soft points in the 16” barrel. Going from the 20”by me2 - Firearms