Replacing H-870 in a 6.5-300Wby ??

27 August 2003, 03:59

Hi Brock,
Thanks for the schedule link, I printed it and will look at my home calendar.
Generally speaking, Sat. vs. Sun would not matter and could fit your window. All other things being equal, a Saturday shoot would be more convenient for me, due to the travel time & conditions.

I'll have to look at the rulebook again, weigh my rifle and sand my muzzle diameter down to .9495 - then I might be able to shoot either class. I thought I was barely in "light gun" before.

27 August 2003, 13:36

Hot Core

Ed, "...The only difference between my first round and others shows up on the chronograph, and would likely show up at very long range as well. My first shot is always about 50-60 FPS lower than any subsequent shot over the screens. After that first shot, the rest are OK. Go figure. After cleaning, I had been coating the bore with Kroil/Shooter's Choice, then running one tight, dry patch through to sop up any excess. It stays that way until I shoot it."

He Ed, I see the same thing you do, except I generally notice a Pressure change by watching the Case Head Expansion and Pressure Ring Expansion. On the rare occasions I bother to mess with a chronograph, I've noticed about the same fps variation as you do from a pristine clean barrel to the same one with only one previous shot through it.

Apparently we begin shooting with our barrels in similar conditions - clean and lightly oiled(greased in my case).

Also agree with one or more tight dry patches as a final cleaning step. Which reminds me, I make my patches from "Paper Shop Towels" which will be slightly more abrasive than plain old cotton. Can't remember exactly when I first started doing this, but I've never managed to damage a barrel with Paper Patches either.

As I read through your post, I was going to suggest you back out to 300yds or so and see how well your rifle was doing. Then I saw you and Brock are going to be shooting out at 1000yds, so you are well ahead of me there.

Did you make the rifle for Benchrest, for hunting, or both?

28 August 2003, 04:22

eshell

quote:
Originally posted by Hot Core:
Apparently we begin shooting with our barrels in similar conditions - clean and lightly oiled(greased in my case).

I think so. I hate to leave it "bone-dry", but don't want to iron anything into the bore or throw the first shot.

quote:
Also agree with one or more tight dry patches as a final cleaning step. Which reminds me, I make my patches from "Paper Shop Towels" which will be slightly more abrasive than plain old cotton.

Sounds like an economical approach, you wouldn't believe how many patches I've been going through. I know many papers are quite abrasive, I used to service paper handling equipment in a factory and have seen some incredible wear patterns on hard steel. Might be useful to start off with, though.

quote:
As I read through your post, I was going to suggest you back out to 300yds or so and see how well your rifle was doing. Then I saw you and Brock are going to be shooting out at 1000yds, so you are well ahead of me there.

Just because I shoot at stuff out to 900 or so doesn't necessarily infer anything further. [Wink]

If I shoot with Brock at a real 1,000 yard match, it will be my first one.

quote:
Did you make the rifle for Benchrest, for hunting, or both?

Both, but mainly varmint hunting. By varmints, I mean groundhogs, foxes, crows and nusiance deer. The original intention was to have a big brother for my .22-250. The 6.5-300 picks up where the .22-250 leaves off in power and wind resistance.

I also tried to keep it in the "light gun" class and had planned to shoot some matches. That is, until I visited a couple LR matches, I thought I might try to compete, but was quickly intimidated, by a teenage girl, of all things. I think her ten shot group was about 4-1/2". Shucks, now why would I want to go and get my gun out of the truck? Watching her and the other guys shoot made me realize I wasn't quite ready to jump in.

In reality, 95% of the rifle's work is on groundhogs. I also shoot a few deer with it, but in local deer habitat it's hard to get a responsible shot beyond 300 yards, which I can reach OK with a much lighter rifle.

28 August 2003, 12:48

Hot Core

quote:
Originally posted by eshell:...I thought I might try to compete, but was quickly intimidated, by a teenage girl, of all things. I think her ten shot group was about 4-1/2". Shucks, now why would I want to go and get my gun out of the truck? Watching her and the other guys shoot made me realize I wasn't quite ready to jump in....[/QB]

Saw a guy a couple of days ago that is the brother of my Sweet E. Pie. Haven't seen him in awhile. Maybe 6 months ago we spoke for an hour or so primarily about fishing, but he had mentioned "We need to go shoot some Clays".

Come to find out, during my 37 year absence, one of his "jobs" was representing Remington shooting Trap. Never crossed her mind to mention it to me. Remington even gave him a M3200.

So, I know what you mean.

Home Depot has the Paper Shop Towels in "White" which allows you to actually see the Blue copper streaks as it is removed. I use an undersize Jag and fold the Paper Patch a couple of times so it doesn't tear through easily.

Best of luck with the Ground Hogs.

[ 08-28-2003, 03:50: Message edited by: Hot Core ]

10 September 2003, 09:57

eshell

I'm here to report that I have been back out to the range for pressure tests. [Cool]

My excess pressure signs are gone. [Smile]

I shot loads from my current 82.0 grains up to 85.0 grains. My favored load of 84 was easily attainable, but the 85 grain load produced sticky extraction in three of five.

I shot six or seven times, then gave it a quick cleaning; dry brushed a half-dozen strokes, then soaked in solvent while it cooled, dried it out and shot it.

I was unable to accuracy test this trip, since I have since swapped stocks and caused myself some problems, either with my bedding or my rest setup.

I feel like accuracy will return when I either;
A) figure out what I've screwed up this time, or,
B) return it to the HS precision stock.

The reason I am confident is that while pressure testing with new loads and realizing my groups were really shoddy (1.5" to 1.75" @ 250yds), I shot some of my original loads and they sucked too. Good. [Roll Eyes]

The last time I shot it in the "good stock" since my radical cleaning,100 yard group size with "control loads" was fine.

I'll report back when I have solved the accuracy problem. I just wanted to follow up on the pressure test results and thank you guys again for your suggestions.

All in all, I think the Bon Ami idea was a good one, having straightened out my odd pressure problem without noticeably affecting accuracy.