December 2009 Archives

A couple of useful ballistic calculators on the web:

Handloads.com's Calclulator

Hornady.com's Calculator

The bullet drop figures they calculated jived well with what I was seeing at 500 yards. I would guestimate that I was holding over about 4 feet, and they calculate the bullet drop to be 53.7". Close enough for gubmint work ...

I went out to my cousin-in-law's place this past weekend with the hopes of killing some feral hogs. It didn't work out, bummer, but we set up some empty 55 gallon drums and drove out to a ridge on his property and commenced poking holes in them from 500 yards.

The longest I have ever shot prior this was 200 yards at my range, so it was something new to try.

First I used my .30-06 with a cheapo Simmons scope and PMC 150 grain FMJ ammunition. I managed to get 3 out of 4 on the bottom barrel in about a 7" group (one bullet entered sideways). I was aiming at the top barrel, but the drop can be fixed with a few clicks on the scope. I was pleased with that. I never thought my .30-06 was all that accurate, so that was a surprise. I think my best group at the range with it was 2" @ 100 yards.

So, I thought, heck I should try my AR and new Zombie Loads. I really didn't expect much, as I don't have a scope or a magnifier for my Eotech. Long story short, I put 15 out of 30 rounds on the barrels. I think most of the misses were when I was guessing the windage. I put 6-7 rounds off to left and about that many off to the right.

Part of the credit goes to my handloads, I'm sure. I'm using a heavy match bullet that was made for longer range shooting, and loading it fairly hot. At 500 yards the bullets should be going about 1650 fps, and they had no problem going completely through the barrels at that distance. They would have about 465 ft-lbs of energy, which is more than most pistols at the muzzle. I imagine it would ruin your day to get hit with one, even that far away.

I had been thinking I should get a magnifier for my Eotech, but I don't think I will now.

and have a Happy New Year!

Hsoi and I had a good morning with the chronograph. He is working up a hunting load for his AR-15, and needed to chronograph them. Also he had some .38 Special reloads to test.

I have a really cheap chronograph (cheap as in low cost), but damned if it doesn't work better than some of the more expensive ones. I've never bothered with the screens, and I have even shot it with a 9mm, and it still keeps working. It doesn't do printouts or remote displays, or calculate averages and standard deviation, but for the money and ease of use it kicks ass.

Anyway, with that out of the way.

We spent a while on the .223 hunting loads and determined a few things:

New Remington brass sucks. These were by no means hot loads and the primers were starting to back out.

Powder didn't really make all that much difference. If you have a reasonable velocity expectation pretty much all the book loads can do it.

Minimum loads don't have very good consistency. We saw some spreads over 100 fps.

I also chronographed some real Hornady TAP 5.56 and I have to say I am even more pleased with my "zombie" load now.

Here's the result of that:

2664.666667

38.5918817

Only one data point over 2700 fps. I think Hornady is a little generous on their 2665 fps average out of a 14.5" barrel.

So, I'm getting about 70 fps more and have a much more consistent velocity. At the end of our rifle shooting we shot about 30 or so of my zombie load and every shot was over 2700 fps and very consistent. I didn't pay too much attention to the numbers, but I was solidly in that 2700-2750 fps range that I wanted to be in. Brass looks better today after I messed with the extractor. No obvious signs of overpressure. I really like it.

Also got to shoot some Buffalo Bore out of Hsoi's snubbie. That's fun. :)-~

Primer:    .0255
Bullet:     .1385
Powder:  .0537
Brass:    .0333

Total:   $0.2510 per round. I left out shipping, so you can add another cent or two there. It's hard to figure shipping costs exactly because I try to combine as much as possible onto one order. It's probably less than a cent per round in actuality.

Most people don't include brass in their reloading breakdown, but I bought 3000 fired shell cases for $100 a couple of years ago, so I'm going to include it. (Which is a great price in today's market.) I probably have enough of my own fired shell cases that I didn't really have to include it in the cost, but I felt like it anyway.

Compare that to new 5.56 TAP: $1.0975 per round before shipping.

That's a savings of $0.8465 per round. I just loaded up 100 this afternoon, so I saved almost $85. Nice!

I met my velocity requirements with 3 different loadings today: 25.0, 25.2, and 25.3 grains.

25.0:

2711.6

16.47118696

25.2:

2733.4

41.99166584

25.3:

2733.8

13.1415372

I'm somewhat tempted to go with 25.0 grains, as it would be the lowest pressure of the three, but 25.3 had the least variation and was the only loading with every measurement > 2700 fps.

The brass of all three show no signs of overpressure that I can discern, and was much cleaner today.

I think 25.3 is the ticket.

I was shooting these strings at 100 yards with iron sights and one sandbag, with not much effort in trying to shoot for accuracy. I was really trying to get done as fast as possible. To my surprise, when I went to check out the target I was shooting at there was a 4" group in the lower right corner of the target, almost off the page. The grouping had roughly 50 shots in it, which is roughly how many shots I fired today. They are all very accurate loads apparently. I might even take the time to adjust my iron sights now.

Now to start churning these out in number.

Not quite there yet.

Test load:
Powder: 24.5 grains TAC
Bullet:    Hornady 75 gr BTHP
Primer:  Wolf .223
Brass:   Mixed (mostly LC)
COL:     2.260"

Average fps: 2644
Std Dev: 12.19

The primers look good, brass looks good except for chew marks on the rim from a sticky chamber. The last 15 shots or the chamber got really sticky. I hope it's not something in the powder. I wanted to make sure it wasn't something with my loads, so I loaded a mag of factory target ammo (Remington UMC) and it had the same thing. I tried to pull an unfired round of the UMC out of the chamber and could barely do it. I haven't had that happen before with my AR.

I'm going to give the chamber some attention tonight and load up some more rounds for tomorrow. If I can't get there with 25 grains or less, I'm thinking I might just cap it at 25 grains and call it done.

One of the top self-defense loads for the AR-15 these days is Hornady TAP 5.56x45 75 grain T2.

I have a pretty good relationship with my neighbors, and recently one expressed an interest in getting a pistol to me, so I offered to take him to the range and let him try my assortment of handguns.

He kind of reminds me of myself a few years ago. I had a number of long arms that I used only for hunting, and hardly ever hunted. I didn't really know anything about handguns back then.

He had a number of ideas about what makes a good handgun. One of my guns that he was really interested in was my Ruger LCP, because a friend of his had turned him onto the Kel-Tec P3AT (which is nearly the same gun).

I don't try to make up people's mind for them, but the LCP is a lousy first gun, so I let him shoot that first. He didn't hit paper from 7 yards with it, and I think he learned a lot from that. The LCP is a fine backup gun, or ultra concealment gun, but it's hard to shoot well, and pretty much impossible for a novice to shoot well.

From there I let him shoot my RIA Tactical in .45 ACP. He liked that more. I don't blame him. He said it had less recoil than the LCP, and it has a much better trigger and sights.

I also let him try my Springfield EMP and my Browning Hi-Power.

Of all my guns he liked the Hi-Power the best. He said it felt the best in his hands and when he concentrated on the front sights he got good hits. Everyone who shoots it loves it, so I wasn't surprised. It's a full sized 9mm so the recoil is pretty tame and it has the famous Browning ergonomics. (If only he could have worked the 1911 trigger into it.)

In the end, I recommended a Springfield XD9 Service or Glock 19 for him because he wants a larger capacity gun and no manual safety.

I imagine we'll be up the range some more in the coming months.

2000 rounds of 9mm over the last two weeks. I know some people can crank that out in a day, but I can only do about 100 rounds before I get bored and have to take a break. Still, I think at my peak I was doing about 250-300 rounds per hour.

I ran out of 50 round boxes so I had to dump the remaining 500 or so in here



This should last me about 6 months, give or take. I'm not sure how much I saved because I bought all the components a little at a time, but 2000 rounds of factory 9mm target ammo is about $500 these days.

My next foray to the reloading bench is going to be 1000 rounds of .223, for zombies and such.

It's pretty rare when the missus (aka, far.c) and I get to go to the range together, but today was one of those days.

My usual spot was closed this morning so we ended up at Red's North. I actually like their range a lot, when it's not full of newbies, and idiots.

Anyway, I set up far.c on her lane with my Browning Hi-Power, a box of ammo, and an empty mag. I also left my carry mag full of +P Gold Dots on the counter, and went over to my lane.

My goal for the day was to test my RIA Tactical that I got back from Armscorp earlier this week. I am so pleased with the gun now. I put 200 rounds through it today and it was absolutely flawless. It had no problems feeding the WWB my Wilson Combat CQB hates, and it was very accurate too. Must be that new barrel. :)-~

Far.c really likes my Browning Hi-Power after today. She had never shot it before, and after shooting it she told me that I am not allowed to ever sell/trade it. She's never told me that before about a gun. In fact, she's been kinda "whatever" about any of the other guns I have had.

When it was time to go, I discovered that not only did she shoot up 3 boxes of practice ammo, but she shot up my mag full of carry ammo. Doh! It's good that she got to try it though, so no big deal. Thankfully the ammo situation is not like it was 6 months ago, and I was able to pick up a new box at Red's on my way out. I was forced to carry my own reloads out to the car though. Luckily, I didn't have to shoot anyone. ;)-~

Some pics from today ...

7 yards with my RIA Tactical


Far.c is proud of these, she was going to town on the headshots from 5 yards. (For someone who hasn't shot in over a year, not bad at all.)

"I have no doubt that slavery will return as the world's energy resources get increasingly scarce."

I sent my Rock Island Armory Tactical back to Armscorp for some warranty work. The hiccups I mentioned in my original entry never went away.

Hiccups:

• Occasionally will feed without the extractor hooked on the shell case.
• The first round would jam on the feed ramp if the magazine was loaded to 8 rounds.

I messed around with different recoil springs, and magazines with various results. Nothing totally cured it, so I called up Armscorp and they said to send it back.

I got it back today, and needed blog fodder, so here's some pics.

Last night was the first time since I began carrying that I thought I might have to use my gun.

We were coming out of a sporting goods store at about 8:45 pm, and started making our way to the car.

I see a person walking parallel to the front of the store on an intercept course for us. It's about 50 degrees, and this person has the hoodie up, zipped, and both hands shoved in pockets. I didn't think it was really that cold, and if you had just gotten out of your car you probably wouldn't bother with all that when the front door is not that far away.

About that time I decided if this person just got out of their car they are taking a very circuitous course to get into the store, and I hadn't seen a car pull in from that area when we got outside the store.

We get a little farther and this person is still going east-west and not north-south to use a football analogy.

Then things just clicked.

I remember thinking, I might have to shoot this guy, and that I really didn't want to.

I took a very aggressive posture, turned and looked him in the eye. Just like that, he went north-south and started making a course for the store's front door. I got bar.c into the car, all the while scanning the area, and shut him in the car. I circled around so I could get a better look at the wife (who shall now be known on the blog as far.c) and baz.c, scanning all the while.

We got in the car and far.c says "it's like having my own personal bodyguard."

She hadn't seen the guy in the hoodie and thought I was being a dork or something.

I will say it's entirely possible that I misread the situation, and I might be a little touchy since being through all those scenarios last weekend, but it's interesting that it wasn't until I got aggressive that things changed.

I'm happy with my response. The only thing I would have done differently was bring a flashlight. 100 lumens in the eyes would have been a great non-lethal next step.