You don't have to reload as often,,It helps to keep you from shooting a hole in the hood of your truck,,a couple wraps of ductape on the bottom of the mag so you don't scratch the paint. Had a co-worker riding with me,,saw a chuck about 150 yds away,,I jump out of the truck pulled out the H-bar,,I looked at my rider,,and said to myself,,the windows are rolled up,,he's ok,,laid across the hood and took out the chuck,,put the rifle back in the tool box and got in the truck,,weasel then proclaimed that that was the loudest fu@$#%!! rifle he had ever heard,and he was glad I got it on the first shot Clay

Coworker needs to get out more. I was at the range next to a fellow sighting in a .300 Kong. Not as loud as a 5" naval gun, but still an education in muzzle noise.

Brass,,the dude is 70 y/o,,counting the days to retirement,,literally,,,Clay

Clay, while back when I was groomin' Ravage at the range one of the shooters said it was one of the loudest guns he'd heard. I didn't have a clue how to respond to that. Not a single hint of a clue.

Having been on the line with .300 Weatherbys, .338 Win., and more than a few other Loundenboomers that will damn near shake your guts, I was at a loss. Even my Special talks pretty loud though it is more of a bass note than a sharp crack. One thing I've noted over time is that folks with diminished hearing resulting from a life around loud noise ususally find loud noises not so much loud as painful. Reality is 90% perception, or so I've heard. My reality may be different than that of others, who could judge that?

Dan

POTYHC

www.Acoustic.Relativity

I haven't put them over the chrono yet,,But playing with some 35 grn v-max sitting over pretty much a full .223 case of 4198,They have a pretty good crack when exiting the barrel,,the cases look ok,btw it's the only long stick powder I like,seems to throw light bullets from a .223 like nobodys business.Weasel does'nt wear a hearing aid,,and does'nt yell when talking,,I think the loudest thing he has heard before that encounter is a 12 ga AA 1 1/8 oz handicap round,,He's more into fishing,,nice and quiet Clay

Clay,
You've got a point. My Dad came over one night while I was shooting my M686 and he thought I was Dirty Harry. I think part of it is that he, and a lot of guys his age, just had a .22 rifle and a 20ga. 'cuz that's all they needed. He told me "I can handle everything from rats up to a booger coming in the window with what I've got. What else you need?"

Hows this for a comeback Dan? You look at the dude with your head tipped to one side and more with one eye than the other, and with your voice carrying sympathy,diplomacy condesention and a hint of sarcasm, say softly "you don't get out much , do you?" derf

Hadn't considered that derf, good tip! Truth was I didn't know what to say...was thinkin' "You MOron." I held my tongue.

Dan

POTYHC

www.RifleRange.Diplomat

When I get a comment on the loudness of a shot, I usually respond with "That's nothing compared to the muzzle flash at night".

I've never been told that my gun was loud at the range, but I think I'd try this response:

"There's a nice bow range four miles down the road. So quiet there you can here the robins sing. Around here we detonate gun powder which tends to make noise. The more powder, the more noise. Get it! If we get a clean shot we'll even blow the robin's head off. Now get away from me you candy ass momma's boy."

How's that for diplomacy?

Rich, now you're being mean.



Ned, once a long time ago in a galaxy far away I lived by the "Code of the Muzzle Flash". Now I guess that back in the olden days they had flash cards to teach gunners and pilots what looked like what, not wantin' to shoot down the wrong guy, and hopefully shootin' down the right guy....I guess the 'right' guy would dispute that designation, right?

Anyway, when I got to Phu Bai they gave me some "flash cards". Well, not exactly cards mind you, but some shared first hand advice as to what constituted "friendly" muzzle flashes from "not so friendly". I was all ears. Having said that I recall that Mom used to say that about me, but I digress. Well, the one that made the biggest impression on my impressionable mind was that of the 12.7mm, a rather high ranking POS on our own personal list of things not friendly. Gives an hour glass muzzle flash about 6' end to end(as the pilot, or in some cases a hysterical door gunner sees it), yellowish...if you're in doubt the first time you see it just watch the big orange-red basketballs come whizzin' by shortly thereafter. Speakin' of whizzin', it was always the first thing came to mind when I saw that. WTF? They think I was a slow learner or sumpthin'?

Where I'm goin' with all that is right here. I shot a .50 cal Renegade one evening, 'bout the time dark was winnin' the battle with light. Damn near whizzed right there...sakes alive, those big bore smokepoles do put out a lot of fire! Like to make one foresake that Johnny-come-lately smokeless stuff, all things considered.

This all leads me to another question or two Ned. Do they ever do re-enactments at night? If so, have you ever seen what kind of effect you get by using a crat for wadding on a 16 pounder or something like that? Wondering if it gives a tracer effect, what with all that hair burning etc. It's a subject I'm not deeply versed in, so anything you have to add would be appreciated. I don't know a lot about cannons and black.

Dan

POTYHC

www.TheRocketsRedGlare.CratsBurstingInAir

Well Dan, I do know that the WW-I Howitzer my alma mater (Texas A&M) uses for a cannon at football games once belched something streaming smoke and crackling sparks. Seems we Aggies have a tradition of appearing at the football stadium at midnight before home games. The cannon is there to remind all the sleepy folk that we are having a game tomorrow and such. Well the smart guys turn it TOWARD the crowd for these festivities...better effect if you get my drift.

I don't know what they used for wadding that compacted and sailed end to end into the cheap seats that night, but it was a good muzzle flash for sure. Definately a BP charge too. I sure hope it was a crat!

Sheeeeet... my last trip to the range... (all 1/8th mile of the trip) I was just settling in and starting to slowly, gently... s q u e e z e the trigger, when unnoticed by me the guy at the bench next to me switched from the 10/22 "space gun"
he had been shooting to the other rifle in his case... a 30-378Wby with a brake on it...

Frankly I was suprised that the lenses stayed in my scope from the concussion, one of the lenses in MY shooting glasses did not... Jeeezus Keeerispies that sucker was LOUD....

AllanD

Well, I know that .300 mag of mine will sure make a "joyful noise unto the Lord."

( http://www.alaweb.com/~crowell/pics/coyote02.jpg )

I've fired that one off 2 or 3 times back to back without any ear-protection and for the rest of the day, and most of the next every human voice I heard sounded like they had a "metallic twang" to the voice, like a robotic voice or something.

The first time I torched off a 300WM was at an indor range. The used a tunnel system there at the time. It was so cool, BOOM, and out went the lights in the tunnel. The concussion got them! derf

It is funny what people think: I remember when i first got my .303 jungle carbine. i had some surplus ammo; you know, the 174 grain FMJ over whatever those Pakistanis were loading it with back then. We went out to the rock quarry that was the unofficial shooting range of the day and there was a fellow with a couple of ladies there shooting some whiz-bang 9mm. I assumed a position safely to the right (well beyond the range of his brass) and mostly even on the "line" when i offered a casual "fire in the hole," took aim at a can, and squeezed the trigger. Now, a jungle carbine will bark a little, but the response of our fellow gun enthusiast was just a little startling:

"what was that, a .50 cal?"

to say the least, it lowered my opinion of the 9mm.

When i was a reenactor, we would do occasional "night firings" for kicks. We had a battery of mountain howitzers and often resorted to augmenting our charges to get respect from some of the field guns. For daytime shooting, we would often top the powder charge with flower of some kind which would not ignite until the moment it left the barrel at which the heat of (as i recall) 4 oz of F black would cause the flower to oxidize rather quickly. Event organizers who would allow parking too close to the battle field didn't like us but you could tell who had car alarms. For the night firing, the flower was changed to fine steel wool, which had its own effect. I happen to have about five pounds of magnesium...might have to look the old fellows up.

Anyway, a rarer treat was when Jimmy would cut the fuse on an arial shell and put it over a half-charge of black. We did a night at the Hoover Met and was asked to fire once every inning and for each Baron home run. We were shooting the arial shells and they were nice. Someone goofed and placed the shell over a full charge, causing said shell to expode leaving the barrel. Now that was an impressive muzzle blast.

Lois, myself and her then husband (hmmmmmmmm, the plot thickens) stopped into the local indoor range in Boise about four years ago. The right side of the range was packed wall to wall with young men showing their girlfriends how to shoot 22's, 9's, 40's and one older fellow practicing bullseye shooting with cast bullets at about 400 fps from his 1940's vintage International Harvester (Remington Rand? Singer Sewing Machine? Mary Kay Cosmetics?) M1911. The only open lane was one of two at the far end with "sound baffles" for rifle shooting. I had spent the day backing up sports at the local pasture based bison shooting emporium. Went out to the truck, grabbed the 416 Rigby and a handful of cartridges. Stepped into the booth and sent three down range as fast as I could work the bolt. No one was bleeding from their ears, eyes or noses, but they thought they were. Dead silence. I then said, "ok Tool Tom, I'll do seven more, then you get ten and Lois gets ten."

A few minutes later and we each had three lanes to ourselves.

Hey LD, don't you just love educating the masses? derf

Pfft, you guys are all a bunch of sissy's. Rifles, even safari guns with brakes on 'em aren't that loud.

You want loud, you go BIG:


24lb Field howitzer, firing an 18lb cast zinc ball using 4 ounces of black powder.

It set off car alarms across the street.


HTRN