Not all brass is created equal.....
Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 11:31 am
Five of us met up at CRC yesterday for some practice before heading to the AZ HP state next weekend. Conditions were good for three hours in the morning with temps in the 40's and light winds out of the SW. I brought out two all stock Remington 700 Classics, a 7-08 and a .308 both set up the same with 6.5-20X Leupold EFR's. Trent used the 7-08 and me the .308 Trent's HP skills are improving and I would bet he would have shot 18-20 if we had a match. After getting zeroes that worked for him targets started to fall regularly. He hit three turkeys in a row once he got dialed in.I was hitting well with the .308.
I bought the .308 new in 2005, it was the last chambering offered in the Classic series of 700's. After tuning the trigger to a crisp 3.0 lbs. it was a half minute shooter right out of the box. My first test load and continued load of choice is a charge of 42.0 / RL-15 with either a Sierra 168 MK or an identicle Nosler Match bullet @ 2600 FPS..MV.This is a mild starting load that shoots very tight clear out to rams. Ram kill is 99%. It shoots so well, and with mild recoil I shoot this load at all of the targets. Barrel life should be long,too.
To date this rifle has 2150 rds. thru it. I started out with 100 new WW cases and have only needed to neck size them. They have been fired eleven times each and needed only one trim. Typical performance from Olin brass. Past experiance says these will go another five times, maybe more.Three years ago I decided to add another 200 rounds to have 300 on hand. I dug out a bag of new Federal brass I had bought 25 years ago. Federal no longer sells reloading component brass, if I am not mistaken. These 200 are on their sixth firing and are done. When I got home yesterday I dumped them on my bench to load them up again. Several showed bright stretch rings at the head, a few had partial cracking. Toast at six firings with a medium load. They never got to the point of needing trimming. All 100 showed similar failure signs. Time to tap into the 500 new WW case supply.
The range was busy with regular club members shooting. Three guys showed up in a F-350 dually packed tight with cased rifles, handguns and ammo. They were all younger guys and students at the Colorado School of Trades (gunsmithing ). They were there to test fire and shoot some of the guns they had built or worked on. One of them was very interested in watching Trent and I busting steel targets. After a few minutes he came over and spoke of always wanting to try HP silhouette. The wind was picking up a bit and I turned two minutes of left in . I handed him the .308 and five rounds . He had a big grin on after he hit two pigs. We spent the next half hour passing around the .308 to burn up the rest of the 100 rounds. He started talking about his next school project being a HP silhouette rifle. How can you blame him? Not long after the winds hit 15 to 20 like predicted and I headed home.
I bought the .308 new in 2005, it was the last chambering offered in the Classic series of 700's. After tuning the trigger to a crisp 3.0 lbs. it was a half minute shooter right out of the box. My first test load and continued load of choice is a charge of 42.0 / RL-15 with either a Sierra 168 MK or an identicle Nosler Match bullet @ 2600 FPS..MV.This is a mild starting load that shoots very tight clear out to rams. Ram kill is 99%. It shoots so well, and with mild recoil I shoot this load at all of the targets. Barrel life should be long,too.
To date this rifle has 2150 rds. thru it. I started out with 100 new WW cases and have only needed to neck size them. They have been fired eleven times each and needed only one trim. Typical performance from Olin brass. Past experiance says these will go another five times, maybe more.Three years ago I decided to add another 200 rounds to have 300 on hand. I dug out a bag of new Federal brass I had bought 25 years ago. Federal no longer sells reloading component brass, if I am not mistaken. These 200 are on their sixth firing and are done. When I got home yesterday I dumped them on my bench to load them up again. Several showed bright stretch rings at the head, a few had partial cracking. Toast at six firings with a medium load. They never got to the point of needing trimming. All 100 showed similar failure signs. Time to tap into the 500 new WW case supply.
The range was busy with regular club members shooting. Three guys showed up in a F-350 dually packed tight with cased rifles, handguns and ammo. They were all younger guys and students at the Colorado School of Trades (gunsmithing ). They were there to test fire and shoot some of the guns they had built or worked on. One of them was very interested in watching Trent and I busting steel targets. After a few minutes he came over and spoke of always wanting to try HP silhouette. The wind was picking up a bit and I turned two minutes of left in . I handed him the .308 and five rounds . He had a big grin on after he hit two pigs. We spent the next half hour passing around the .308 to burn up the rest of the 100 rounds. He started talking about his next school project being a HP silhouette rifle. How can you blame him? Not long after the winds hit 15 to 20 like predicted and I headed home.
