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What about a gun that shoots rockets?

No silencers in California because they are known in the state of California to cause the celebrities to go nuts from stealth shooting.
 
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Then get one!

We have about five. But now my favorite production rimfire is the new Ruger American Rimfire. It's a great little bolt action that takes 10/22 magazines, an ingenious feature they should have come up with 30 years ago.

I would, but ammo is nigh impossible to find right now for them, and I've got a Browning Camper that is my plinker.
 
I went to the Idaho Fish & Game site to check on license fees and discovered the first decent benefit for being disabled, a 3 year combined hunting/fishing license is $11.50 :) I wanted to be covered incase I decide to off some ground squirrels this spring.
 
California will be implementing a new tax of $25 on all purchasers of firearms starting Jan 1, 2015. The program is called the Firearms Safety Certificate. To purchase any firearm it will be necessary to possess said certificate which is good for five years. This is an expansion of the existing Handgun Safety Certificate which will remain in effect but is limited to handguns. Therefore if I want to purchase a long gun, I need to pay another $25 for yet another Safety Certificate and pass the examination which includes a demonstration of firearm handling skills.

I don't think they thought this through...suprise surprise. How does one demonstrate firearm handling skill for a stripped lower receiver?

"Protect from those who would protect us from ourselves."
 
I don't think they thought this through...suprise surprise. How does one demonstrate firearm handling skill for a stripped lower receiver?
Good question. Lucky for me I won't have to find out because I am already up to my neck in stripped lowers:



By the time I need any more, I will be living in northern Nevada.
 
Who here reloads?

What calibers? What kind of equipment?

I reload using a striped-down RCBS (original) Reloader Special. I do everything by hand. I use an old Lee Auto Prime, and (I forget the name) tool chucked in a cordless drill to remove primer crimps/deburr/chamfer cases.. Since I mostly shoot single shot weapons, quality is more important than quality.
 
I reload 9mm 10mm 40cal 45cal 45longcolt in hand guns for rifle 223/303british/3006/762+39 and 45/70. I use a Dillon press for handguns and rcbs rock crusher for rifle.
 
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All RCBS stuff, press, scales, measures, trimmers, the works. Lee 10# lead pot, the one with the casting hole on the bottom and only 1 die for it, .357 gas check 155 grain wad cutter. Never used a gas check, that little copper cup costs .05 each. I used up a 25 pound ingot of pure Bunker Hill lead as well as pounds of spent bullets recovered from places used by many to target shoot. Jacketed, un-jacketed, whatever didn't wash out went into the lead pot to be recovered. You get a lot of slag that way but so what, I didn't pay for it :) To cut down on the lead'ing of the barrel we added 1 pound of wheel weights to 9 pounds of purer lead for an alloy that would withstand Magnum loads of 20 grains of 2400 powder. I fired thousands of rounds through my Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum, 6" barrel. Not a single one of them was a factory round.
 
Who here reloads?

What calibers? What kind of equipment?

I reload using a striped-down RCBS (original) Reloader Special. I do everything by hand. I use an old Lee Auto Prime, and (I forget the name) tool chucked in a cordless drill to remove primer crimps/deburr/chamfer cases.. Since I mostly shoot single shot weapons, quality is more important than quality.

I reload: 38 Special; 8mm Mauser; .308; 30-06 & 223

I use all Lee products, and I am still utilizing many of the components from the bare basics starter kit.
 
I use a Dillon 550 for my handgun loads and a Lyman single stage for a couple of rifle calibers. 9x18, 9x19, 45 ACP & LC, 38/357, 223 & 6.5x55. I think thats all? For handgun loads, I want quantity, rifle I want quality!
 
I also use a Dillon 550 press and use RCBS dies and other misc. stuff. The Dillon can crank out lots of loads fast that shoot plenty accurate. RCBS also makes great stuff and both companies have unbelievably great customer service!!

L-R 30-378 Weatherby, 300 Weatherby, 270, 375-JDJ, 6mm-Bullberry, 22-250, 223

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I also use a Dillon 550 press and use RCBS dies and other misc. stuff. The Dillon can crank out lots of loads fast that shoot plenty accurate. RCBS also makes great stuff and both companies have unbelievably great customer service!!

L-R 30-378 Weatherby, 300 Weatherby, 270, 375-JDJ, 6mm-Bullberry, 22-250, 223


That 6mm-Bullberry, is that a resized 30-30 case? It looks like a Thompson Contender type of round. At one point a friend and I were working up the plans for a 6mm-06. The Douglass 6mm bull barrel wasn't too costly but the carbide cutter needed to make the chamber was. Plus we couldn't find an ought6 for a decent price. That set me to wondering if Douglass has barrels to fit the Mosin-Nagant... Wouldn't a 6mm x 54R round set them off at the range ;) I plan on using sabot .223 rounds through the Mosin-Nagant I'm building. I calculate a muzzle velocity of around 3900 FPS with a 67 grain boat tail hollow point. I'm putting that big Leopold 6-24 x 60 scope on it and get rock chuck and other small varmints I can find.
 
That 6mm-Bullberry, is that a resized 30-30 case? It looks like a Thompson Contender type of round. At one point a friend and I were working up the plans for a 6mm-06. The Douglass 6mm bull barrel wasn't too costly but the carbide cutter needed to make the chamber was. Plus we couldn't find an ought6 for a decent price. That set me to wondering if Douglass has barrels to fit the Mosin-Nagant... Wouldn't a 6mm x 54R round set them off at the range ;) I plan on using sabot .223 rounds through the Mosin-Nagant I'm building. I calculate a muzzle velocity of around 3900 FPS with a 67 grain boat tail hollow point. I'm putting that big Leopold 6-24 x 60 scope on it and get rock chuck and other small varmints I can find.

You know Bullberry is a big precision Contender hardware maker?

If you're going to shoot a 69gr .224 bullet, you're going to need a faster than 1:9 twist barrel. Will be really interesting to see how that works with a sabotted round. I carefully loaded up 50 to try in my .223 heavy Contender barrel. Thought they would be real tack-drivers. The bullets were sideways within ten feet of the muzzle. I don't load anything heavier than 50gr now.
 
That 6mm-Bullberry, is that a resized 30-30 case? It looks like a Thompson Contender type of round. At one point a friend and I were working up the plans for a 6mm-06. The Douglass 6mm bull barrel wasn't too costly but the carbide cutter needed to make the chamber was. Plus we couldn't find an ought6 for a decent price. That set me to wondering if Douglass has barrels to fit the Mosin-Nagant... Wouldn't a 6mm x 54R round set them off at the range ;) I plan on using sabot .223 rounds through the Mosin-Nagant I'm building. I calculate a muzzle velocity of around 3900 FPS with a 67 grain boat tail hollow point. I'm putting that big Leopold 6-24 x 60 scope on it and get rock chuck and other small varmints I can find.

First concern I would have is wether the Mosin-Nagant can handle a 30-06 power level, iirc the 7.62x54R factory (military included) loads are more like a .308 Win (can't remember NATO designation atm) and that the MG ammo and Dragunov specific ammos in this caliber are greatly over pressured for the Mosin. Most Mosins were built about 1895 or so up until about WWI or so (once again working from memory) and none were loaded to anywhere near the pressures a Springfield or Mauser can take, also there is far less information available about which recievers had what metallurgy and so forth. IMO leave a Mosin for a cartridge less than or equal to in power to the 7.62x54R.

Bullberry is best know for their Thompson Encore and Contender hardware, but they also do some custom rifle work/re-barrelling as well. All Bullberry named cartridges are based on the 30-30 Winchester case, as are the 30 and 357 Herrett cartridges (of which I have owned and reloaded for the .30 Herrett, neat cartridge, pain to make brass)
 
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First concern I would have is wether the Mosin-Nagant can handle a 30-06 power level, iirc the 7.62x54R factory (military included) loads are more like a .308 Win (can't remember NATO designation atm) and that the MG ammo and Dragunov specific ammos in this caliber are greatly over pressured for the Mosin. Most Mosins were built about 1895 or so up until about WWI or so (once again working from memory) and none were loaded to anywhere near the pressures a Springfield or Mauser can take, also there is far less information available about which recievers had what metallurgy and so forth. IMO leave a Mosin for a cartridge less than or equal to in power to the 7.62x54R.

Bullberry is best know for their Thompson Encore and Contender hardware, but they also do some custom rifle work/re-barrelling as well. All Bullberry named cartridges are based on the 30-30 Winchester case, as are the 30 and 357 Herrett cartridges (of which I have owned and reloaded for the .30 Herrett, neat cartridge, pain to make brass)

I was thinking .308 levels of powder myself but I am curious about sooner's problems with tumbling bullets. Were the 50 grain ones you switched to also boat tail hollow points? Did you have to seriously load them down?

And, nope, don't know Bullberry from a strawberry :) I haven't heard anything about TC for over 30 years. I'm really into wheel guns and if I could find a .44 Colt 1851 Navy kit I'd get it in a heartbeat. Or one of those Walker Colt replicas :)
 


Nope, they never came up in a search for some reason. Dixie Gun Works were the ones that supplied the kits to KMart back when I first started building them. I checked on them through the years since I got the internet but they seemed to not have kits. I even talked to someone there about it, she said they didn't carry them anymore. I really like the one they call a Confederate model, give it a 5 1/2" barrel and it's the Sherriff model I used to build. I'm happy that it's shown in a raw state, that's what I'm looking for. The .44 above it looks like someone finished it and all you get is a finished kit you put together instead of paying some Italian worker $5 to build it then charging you $100.

Yeah, I can live with these prices. I know in a pinch I can sell one for more than what I have into it
 
How do you guys have the time for reloading and model rockets? Now that I am getting back into model rockets, I am getting rid of all my reloading stuff. No time for it. In fact, I am putting my model-making bench into my old reloading corner:

 
Have to prioritize your time! When I reload, I reload in bulk so it's not like I do it all the time. Maybe go shooting once or twice a month, same with flying but flying is more weather dependent and the club only flies once a month. I don't think I could part with either hobby.
 
LesBaer

Here in Germany it is easier to get pictures of naked politicians than a LesBaer in .45 ... and local gunsmiths tell me he has stopped to produce in 9mm Luger?? The local german importer obviously gets only one shipment per year! This sucks.

Appreciate any help on that, I just can't believe it. Does LesBaer produces so few hand guns?? Or does he delivers only USA in first place? Or is the German importer the bottleneck?
Thx
Denis (frustrated)
 
I went to the Idaho Fish & Game site to check on license fees and discovered the first decent benefit for being disabled, a 3 year combined hunting/fishing license is $11.50 :) I wanted to be covered incase I decide to off some ground squirrels this spring.

Chip monks are free to shoot here anytime w/o a license. Known as an invasive species and distructive to property.
A crossman pump bb gun puts em down rather quickly. I lost count, but I'm about 20% kill to shoot ratio w/ more than 20 kills.
Red Squirls are also a problem, but license required for them, season is open year round. Red Squirls 0, 22mag 18. 100% kill ratio.:kill:
 
I was thinking .308 levels of powder myself but I am curious about sooner's problems with tumbling bullets. Were the 50 grain ones you switched to also boat tail hollow points? Did you have to seriously load them down?

And, nope, don't know Bullberry from a strawberry :) I haven't heard anything about TC for over 30 years. I'm really into wheel guns and if I could find a .44 Colt 1851 Navy kit I'd get it in a heartbeat. Or one of those Walker Colt replicas :)

I've loaded a little bit of everything in .223Rem. My two main guns in that caliber are a HandiRifle w/a bull barrel and a Contender w/14" and 21" barrels. 50gr BTHPs shoot fine as the twist rate is appropriate. My "go-to" load is 20gr of H4198, which should deliver around 3000fps w/a 21" barrell. My "fun" load is a cartridge a friend made for me that uses 209 shotgun primers, pushing a .22 cal. pellet. I'm guessing you don't know what "bullberries" are? (hint - what a steer doesn't have)
 
I've loaded a little bit of everything in .223Rem. My two main guns in that caliber are a HandiRifle w/a bull barrel and a Contender w/14" and 21" barrels. 50gr BTHPs shoot fine as the twist rate is appropriate. My "go-to" load is 20gr of H4198, which should deliver around 3000fps w/a 21" barrell. My "fun" load is a cartridge a friend made for me that uses 209 shotgun primers, pushing a .22 cal. pellet. I'm guessing you don't know what "bullberries" are? (hint - what a steer doesn't have)


....you don't know about a local town's yearly Rocky Mountain Oyster Days in Eagle, Idaho? You know the old saying, "grab the bull by the horns?" It ain't the horns they are "grabbing"....

Hey, Woody, I bookmarked your page. The Confederate model is what I'm looking for, I like the brass frames. The .44 Navy they show is finished, I think. I don't know if it was done for the photo but I prefer to do my own finish work. I prefer a brown finish to a blue one. It just looks better on a black powder pistol. I'll probably end up with one here in the next 2 months after the house sale closes.
 
I was thinking .308 levels of powder myself but I am curious about sooner's problems with tumbling bullets. Were the 50 grain ones you switched to also boat tail hollow points? Did you have to seriously load them down?

And, nope, don't know Bullberry from a strawberry :) I haven't heard anything about TC for over 30 years. I'm really into wheel guns and if I could find a .44 Colt 1851 Navy kit I'd get it in a heartbeat. Or one of those Walker Colt replicas :)

Sooners problems with with tumbling bullets was caused by too long a bullet with not enough spin stabilization, the tighter the rifling twist 1:7, 1:8, 1:9 vs a standard 1:12 the better long bullets are stabilized. Longer bullets require more spin to stabilize, an 80 grain bullet requires a 1:7 possibly a 1:8 (can vary a bit gun to gun), my custom 26 inch barrelled AR-15 has a 1:7.7 twist and shoots 80 grain bullets into little tiny groups at 100 yards, the same gun with 55 grain bullets shoots larger groups (still under 1 MOA) but not as good, since the 55s aren't properly stabilized. In reloading lots of things come into play, a simple change of primer can affect how much pressure a load produces, 1/10 of a grain more or less powder in certain guns can do the same (thats 1/70000th of a pound), changing brass, bullets, a lot of a particular powder, usually necessitates reworking the load up from the beginning. The higher the twist of rifling, the shorter the life of the barrel, which is due in part to the heavier bullets, and longer time they stay in the barrel (hence more heat). High intensity cartridges like the 6mm-06 and 6.5-284 can eat barrels relatively quickly when subjected to high rates of fire, poor cleaning habits, hot loads (which has lots of other dangers). Gunsmithing is a money making hobby for me (mainly repairs, I don't have machine tools for barrel/action work yet) and reloading allows me to shoot a lot more (not cheaper, just more shots per the same dollar)
 
Sooners problems with with tumbling bullets was caused by too long a bullet with not enough spin stabilization, the tighter the rifling twist 1:7, 1:8, 1:9 vs a standard 1:12 the better long bullets are stabilized. Longer bullets require more spin to stabilize, an 80 grain bullet requires a 1:7 possibly a 1:8 (can vary a bit gun to gun), my custom 26 inch barrelled AR-15 has a 1:7.7 twist and shoots 80 grain bullets into little tiny groups at 100 yards, the same gun with 55 grain bullets shoots larger groups (still under 1 MOA) but not as good, since the 55s aren't properly stabilized. In reloading lots of things come into play, a simple change of primer can affect how much pressure a load produces, 1/10 of a grain more or less powder in certain guns can do the same (thats 1/70000th of a pound), changing brass, bullets, a lot of a particular powder, usually necessitates reworking the load up from the beginning. The higher the twist of rifling, the shorter the life of the barrel, which is due in part to the heavier bullets, and longer time they stay in the barrel (hence more heat). High intensity cartridges like the 6mm-06 and 6.5-284 can eat barrels relatively quickly when subjected to high rates of fire, poor cleaning habits, hot loads (which has lots of other dangers). Gunsmithing is a money making hobby for me (mainly repairs, I don't have machine tools for barrel/action work yet) and reloading allows me to shoot a lot more (not cheaper, just more shots per the same dollar)

Makes perfect sense to me. That's also makes me wonder about the effects of using a sabot and the bullet used in the sabot. Well, the plan is to get 2 of those 440 round tins of Soviet Block ammo, spend the night with an inertia hammer popping the bullets out, discarding powder and primers, and going from there. I'm not too keen on firing their corrosive loads, maybe I can just find used 7.62 x 57R brass but then with my luck I'll get cases well over-used. :p

I've been talking to Woody, told him I was going to tell one of my gun stories :) Not actually mine, it was my grandfather's but he saw this happen. 1910, Laramie, Wyoming. These young Chicago yahoos, 3 of them, thought they'd rob the bank and shoot up the town on their way out. They burst out of the bank firing their guns wildly. The deputy, describe by my grandpa as to looking like a complete wild west painting, droopy hat and handlebar moustache, swayed back and bow legged, drew his .45 Colt Peacemaker, drew down on the three and with 3 bullets ended the criminal careers of 3 ex-Illinois residents. Justice can be very swift...
 
Makes perfect sense to me. That's also makes me wonder about the effects of using a sabot and the bullet used in the sabot. Well, the plan is to get 2 of those 440 round tins of Soviet Block ammo, spend the night with an inertia hammer popping the bullets out, discarding powder and primers, and going from there. I'm not too keen on firing their corrosive loads, maybe I can just find used 7.62 x 57R brass but then with my luck I'll get cases well over-used. :p

I've been talking to Woody, told him I was going to tell one of my gun stories :) Not actually mine, it was my grandfather's but he saw this happen. 1910, Laramie, Wyoming. These young Chicago yahoos, 3 of them, thought they'd rob the bank and shoot up the town on their way out. They burst out of the bank firing their guns wildly. The deputy, describe by my grandpa as to looking like a complete wild west painting, droopy hat and handlebar moustache, swayed back and bow legged, drew his .45 Colt Peacemaker, drew down on the three and with 3 bullets ended the criminal careers of 3 ex-Illinois residents. Justice can be very swift...

Be prepared with sabots for accuracy to be crappy. I have fired a couple of boxes of Remingtons 30-06 Accelerators (commercially loaded sabots) and the accuracy was abysmal through a gun that normally shot extremely well. Sabot allow you to shoot a small bullet at really fast speeds but destroy accuracy. Speed and Accuracy don't usually run together. For example I had a 220 Swift that shot 55 Nosler Ballistic Tips into groups of .17 inches at 100 yards at 22-250 velocities, if I tried to push them to 220 Swift velocities the groups were dinner plate sized. My Remington 700 Varmint Special in 223 on the other hand preferred Sierra 52 grain Blitz Kings at near max velocity and shot just under .25 inches, that rifle now has about 10k rounds through it and badly needs rebarrelling (I hammered way to many prairie pooches over the last 20 years with it).

As for 7.62x54R brass iirc Federal makes new boxer primed brass (not berdan which has two flash holes and a little cone anvil). Its also easier to use a press mounted bullet puller on military ammo since they are crimped very tightly both bullet and primer (it will leave small indentations on the bullet but they are usually still shootable). Make sure to kill primers by putting a light oil (wd40 works) in the case and allowing the cases to sit for 24 hours before de-priming then thoroughly wash the case to remove all oil). Then after you get the primers out you have to remove the crimp from the primer pocket before new ones can be seated. When reloading use brass cases, most military ammo especially Soviet is steel cased with a lacquer coating to prevent rusting and should not be reloaded, due to work hardening/metal fatigue.

Safety first when reloading, most rockets wont USUALLY blow up in your face.

If you don't reload find a very knowledgeable friend who does. The step from 50,000 psi to 64,000 psi can be as little as changing primer brands depending on the case loaded (not all primers are created equal), and 64,000psi might be enough in a Nagant to destroy the rifle, at the very least the rifle will be damaged beyond repair. If you really want a zippy little .22 cal to shoot get a 5.45x39mm ammo was pretty cheap for those, no bullets to pull, and you can get it in an AK style rifle or I believe in can be had in an AR-15 style rifle as well.
 
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Be prepared with sabots for accuracy to be crappy. I have fired a couple of boxes of Remingtons 30-06 Accelerators (commercially loaded sabots) and the accuracy was abysmal through a gun that normally shot extremely well. Sabot allow you to shoot a small bullet at really fast speeds but destroy accuracy. Speed and Accuracy don't usually run together. For example I had a 220 Swift that shot 55 Nosler Ballistic Tips into groups of .17 inches at 100 yards at 22-250 velocities, if I tried to push them to 220 Swift velocities the groups were dinner plate sized. My Remington 700 Varmint Special in 223 on the other hand preferred Sierra 52 grain Blitz Kings at near max velocity and shot just under .25 inches, that rifle now has about 10k rounds through it and badly needs rebarrelling (I hammered way to many prairie pooches over the last 20 years with it).

As for 7.62x54R brass iirc Federal makes new boxer primed brass (not berdan which has two flash holes and a little cone anvil). Its also easier to use a press mounted bullet puller on military ammo since they are crimped very tightly both bullet and primer (it will leave small indentations on the bullet but they are usually still shootable). Make sure to kill primers by putting a light oil (wd40 works) in the case and allowing the cases to sit for 24 hours before de-priming then thoroughly wash the case to remove all oil). Then after you get the primers out you have to remove the crimp from the primer pocket before new ones can be seated. When reloading use brass cases, most military ammo especially Soviet is steel cased with a lacquer coating to prevent rusting and should not be reloaded, due to work hardening/metal fatigue.

Safety first when reloading, most rockets wont USUALLY blow up in your face.

If you don't reload find a very knowledgeable friend who does. The step from 50,000 psi to 64,000 psi can be as little as changing primer brands depending on the case loaded (not all primers are created equal), and 64,000psi might be enough in a Nagant to destroy the rifle, at the very least the rifle will be damaged beyond repair. If you really want a zippy little .22 cal to shoot get a 5.45x39mm ammo was pretty cheap for those, no bullets to pull, and you can get it in an AK style rifle or I believe in can be had in an AR-15 style rifle as well.

Might be worth it to find if there's sabot to fit 6mm rounds. The whole purpose is to get a fairly high velocity round I can trust to bust an antelope with. F&G everywhere isn't too happy when you use a .22 sized round for "big" game but a 6mm with it's .243 size should fill the bill. The first high power rifle I fired was a custom 6mm Remington built from a Springfield 06 receiver and trigger, Douglas 5 Star barrel and a locust stock hand carved to fit with a 4X American scope, the American Scope company is long gone. We, the owner and I, would load 5 boxes of ammo and go out target practice with it. John must have been very used to it, he dropped a mule deer up in the Owyhee Mountains as it leaped between two boulders. The hollow point went through the heart and lungs and it died as it rolled down into the Bruneau River Canyon. He took the rest of the day cleaning and packing out on his back a pretty big mulie, it was delicious :) As to brass for sure I'd better make sure I'm getting brass as I plan to use only reloads and annealing steel is a different proposition than brass. We had to do that with the 6mm cases we used, powder, primers and bullets were pretty cheap really compared to factory loads. And, yeah, I still have my reload stuff, all RCBS. I'm in Idaho, what do you expect? Buy Idaho :) RockChucker press but I only have dies for a .38/.357. We used John's dies for the 6mm. A set for the 7.62 x 57R is on the purchase list. The Mosin-Nagant has a bad reputation for it's kick, could be the tiny misshapen steel buttplate to blame for that, The ArchAngel rifle stock address that problem nicely and I expect the price on them to drop again from it's initial $200 each to just over $100 after Christmas. I've also been kicking around a design for a 2 piece muzzle brake that you bolt together...

So, yeah, a 6mm would be a good compromise...
 
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