Well, I have 10 lbs of Blue Dot in two new 5lb containers. and 3000 new shiny Hornady 55 gr SP Bulk bullets.. and 5000 new small primers...
of course this is on top of the 1500 rounds of 223 and 600 rounds of 22./250 ammo that didn't get shot last year...
plus about 5000 rounds of 22 LR...

This year the 17 HMRs go bye-bye...

on the other end, here is a few pics of Seafire Jr on his first varmint outing back in 2006... hard to believe the same kid is now 13 and 5 ft 7 inches tall...

ya can't buy memories like this...

his first 10/22 kill...

his first 223 kill

...both taken at about 85 yds with his 10/22..

close up of his first 223 kill... about 150 yds...

Video games give him good hand to eye coordination I guess.. kids a darn good shot..better than dad was at his age..

a little more winter to endure.. and we will be ready to go..

Way too cool..........

I'll bet he is chomping at the bit to get back out there!!

Bob

1500 rounds - you'd better get busy loading looks like you gotta load for 2

Actually, it is more fun to be out there with Seafire Jr and spotting for him, and watching his results, than it is to be out there exploding them myself..

having a son, may make me a semi retired varmint hunter for a few years...

he doesn't get as excited as many of his other friends get who don't get to do this type of stuff...

my son's problem is he has all these opportunities that many other kids don't get because their dad's won't take them out to do stuff like this, or camping etc... so my son just takes it for granted...

but once you get him out there, then it kicks in..

he is the bookworm type.. but I shouldn't complain with his 3.8 to 4.0 constant grade point average...

and he has been bugging me to actually let him take a few on line college courses!! if you can believe that.. the kid is only 13!

Man your doing alot better than me, me and a buddy have been loading for the past two nights until about 2 and we still only have 400 rounds each, and i havent even touched my .223 yet

Well when you consider that I can go thru 500 rounds of 223 in a day out there on sage rats...that really isn't too much to have on hand...

and this is shot thru bolt guns, not ARs...

seafire2 you still have areas where you can shoot those kinds of #'s on sage rats????? You are one lucky man!!! We used to have areas with those kinds of #'s but my dad and I couldn't keep up with them fast enough so alot of the farmers started poisining them. Now a good all day outing is 10-20.

Yo Seafire Congratulations on hunting with your son. I did that for small game/ whitetail with my son and his buddies for years it sure is enjoyable. What would your starting load would be for 223 in a bolt rem vs sf in 1-12" twist? I picked it up the other day and I am ready to try my hand at prairie doggin. Thanks

Chain,

I am a volume shooter.. so economy, barrel heat and barrel life are a prime concern, even out of a 223...

The last 223 I traded off had 15,000 rounds down the barrel...

Those that know me on the net here are well familiar with my varmint loads.. because they are not run of the mill traditional...

My primary powder is Blue Dot...

my loads vary depending on the rifle I am shooting...

but the primary ones are..

14.5 grains of B/Dot, and a 40 grain bullet: 3375 fps

14 grains of B/Dot and a 50 grain TNT, for an MV of 3250 fps or so..

and the volume one because bullets are getting so dam spendy...
13.5 grains of B/Dot and a Hornady 55 grain SP bullet, that I buy in bulk... $140.00 for 2,000.. that load gives an MV of about 2950 fps in a 26 inch barre...

accuracy is stellar, barrel heat is pretty low and takes a long time to heat it up,

recoil is so low you don't loose site picture in the scope....

since you are burning so little powder, barrel life is easily doubled...

The rifle I traded off, I got to see its abilities at the range on day, after the new owner had put another 2,000 round thru it, and it would still hold a group less than the size of a dime at 100 yds...

So that is why I use an odd powder for most 223 shooters...

You are lucky that your son still wants to go out with you. Enjoy it while you can. My daughter, now 16, has been shooting Cowboy action with me since she was nine. When we were out with my buddies shooting, it was like she was just one of the guys. It was more like she had 4 extra dads watching out for her and that was a nice feeling too. She's kinda lost interest in the Cowboy action thing right now but not in shooting entirely. We went to the range with a friend of hers in tow and shot the ARs, Glocks and combat shotguns. I also took an accurate 22 bolt gun for her friend to learn on. Well, while I was showing her friend how to shoot a pistol, Christina grabbed up the 22 and stsrted making tiny little groups at 50 yards. Then, I heard her cheer as ilooked over to see the target at 50 fall to the ground. She hadshot the four pushpins that were holding it to the target backer. When sping gets here I am hoping thaty she will take an interest in shooting the bolt guns with me. We had been shooting Cowboy action so long I almost forgot that I had trained her to shoot from a bench when she was 5. Anyway, she REALLY surprised me the other day when she heard me talking about a prairie dog trip on the phone. She WANTSto go with me. Now I am no where close to be able to do this right now but the fact that she wants to go is enough for me. I would post a if I knew how.

Seafire Thanks I think I will go that route. That is why I went with the 223 cheap and long barrel life.

Seafire, Im going to order some bulk powder for my new rig, going to go with 40gr vmax bullets, how much of the explosiveness factor do you loose when you go from say 3800fps with a traditional powder to 3400pfs with blue dot? Is it very noticeable? Im not so worried about trajectory because that can be easily compensated for, but I would hate to loose the "pink mist" factor. What are your thoughts on this?

Derek,

you won't loose any of your explosive factor whatsoever... those little bullets will blow them up easily...

I wouldn't let go of the explosive factor myself.. that is why the 17 HMR just hasn't done it for me...

I'm sitting in a motel room for six weeks. Working on .223 brass nearly every night. I pull the drawer out of the desk and C clamp my Rockchucker on it. I'm almost done prepping 1,200 rounds new Win brass. Next week I'm resizing 1,100 twice fired then priming all 2,300. I'll load with 8 lbs of Reloader 10X and 40 grain NBTs on the progressive when I get home.

quote:

Originally posted by seafire2:
Actually, it is more fun to be out there with Seafire Jr and spotting for him, and watching his results, than it is to be out there exploding them myself..

having a son, may make me a semi retired varmint hunter for a few years...blessed!

he doesn't get as excited as many of his other friends get who don't get to do this type of stuff...

my son's problem is he has all these opportunities that many other kids don't get because their dad's won't take them out to do stuff like this, or camping etc... so my son just takes it for granted...

but once you get him out there, then it kicks in..

he is the bookworm type.. but I shouldn't complain with his 3.8 to 4.0 constant grade point average...

and he has been bugging me to actually let him take a few on line college courses!! if you can believe that.. the kid is only 13!

Seafire,
Consider yourself blessed. And thanks for all of your work on the Blue Dot data.

Stepchild

quote:

Seafire,
Consider yourself blessed. And thanks for all of your work on the Blue Dot data.

Thank you for the kudos...

Seafire,

Right on for you keeping the outdoor sportsman alive in this world. I wish I could see your pics but they are red X's for now.

My boy is 6 and will turn 7 this May. I just bought him his first 22 last fall and he has been shooting and loving it. This spring I am going to take him about 10 hours south to shoot some of our gophers (richardson ground squirrels) and see how he does. I am going to work him into the 17 mach II I made out of a 10/22 for him. I really can't wait to see how he does.

I am going to get some blue dot for my tikka tactical and try it out with nosler bt's.

Greg