Float Pilot
Member
Forgive any typos, and rambling I just had spinal surgery and you guys are the only ones who want to talk rifles right now......
Back around 1971 I was givin my first center fire rifle. A DWM made M/98 Mauser in 7x57mm. A short 1935 style Brazilian cavalry carbine actually.
Around 1973 it became the basis of my first suscessful sporter conversion.
I spent an entire winter carving out a solid block of english walnut that I bought from Herters. The barrel was a Douglas blank tapered to a #5 contour and used a 1 in 10 twist. Again in 7 x57mm Mauser. I put in a Timney trigger, and glass bedded the entire action and barrel after I discovered that I had sanded away too much wood in the barrel channel.
For a scope, I bought a new Weaver 2x 7 power made of steel. I got that through the hardware store where I worked part time.
Back then, Turkey shoots were a big deal around here. No TV and we actually had reloading as a high school class. And this rifle helped me win three or four turkeys per year. Not to mention a bunch of side bets.
I harvested every game animal in North America except Buffalo with this rifle as I went off to college and eventually traveled around much more with Uncle Sam.
After many thousands of rounds, she became much less accurate using the old handloads that had served me so well for these many years.
So , she worked her way to the back of the closet. Being much more heavy than a hunting rifle should be, a little less powerfull than others and now loosing her reputation for pin-point accuarcy. Even her scope was now yellow tinted with age.
Recently I had purchased three or four high dollar rifles that were supposed to be accurate right out of the box. None of them were. Particularly the $1,800 Remington tactial rifle.
As I am mentoring a couple new shooters, I kept mentioning how a real rifle would shoot when properly loaded. Most of these conversations turned back to my old custom Mauser. Lizzy Borden..as in gave her father 40 whacks..
In an effort to prove my point, I started on a two day barrel cleaning using copper solvent and JB compound to see if I could help clear up the bore in that old Mauser.
Then I retorqued all the stock bolts again.
She was still a better rifle than most any out of the box guns, but she would not shoot her old standby handloads as well as she used to do with new rifling.
So I tried some loads from my old hand-loading log book that I had tried 35 years ago. At the time they were were ok but not outstanding.
On a lark, I even assembled some loads using all 1970s vintage components. Including the bottom part of a pound of Dupont IMR 4831. This can was opened and mostly used in the mid 1970s. It has not been stored under ideal conditions.
The 70s vintage Hornady 162 grain National Match bullets were so nasty looking that I had to use steel wool on them.
The primers were old CCI-200s that were wrapped in tape back in the 70s when I was transferred to a new military station.
Even the Winchester brass was old and had been fired about 8 times.
Here are the results, an old dog can learn new tricks! I think the Norma Steel jacket bullets made two little groups because I was getting up to write down the chronograph results. I was very sunny against the snow so the chrony readings made be off. Only a few registered at all.
Back around 1971 I was givin my first center fire rifle. A DWM made M/98 Mauser in 7x57mm. A short 1935 style Brazilian cavalry carbine actually.
Around 1973 it became the basis of my first suscessful sporter conversion.
I spent an entire winter carving out a solid block of english walnut that I bought from Herters. The barrel was a Douglas blank tapered to a #5 contour and used a 1 in 10 twist. Again in 7 x57mm Mauser. I put in a Timney trigger, and glass bedded the entire action and barrel after I discovered that I had sanded away too much wood in the barrel channel.
For a scope, I bought a new Weaver 2x 7 power made of steel. I got that through the hardware store where I worked part time.
Back then, Turkey shoots were a big deal around here. No TV and we actually had reloading as a high school class. And this rifle helped me win three or four turkeys per year. Not to mention a bunch of side bets.
I harvested every game animal in North America except Buffalo with this rifle as I went off to college and eventually traveled around much more with Uncle Sam.
After many thousands of rounds, she became much less accurate using the old handloads that had served me so well for these many years.
So , she worked her way to the back of the closet. Being much more heavy than a hunting rifle should be, a little less powerfull than others and now loosing her reputation for pin-point accuarcy. Even her scope was now yellow tinted with age.
Recently I had purchased three or four high dollar rifles that were supposed to be accurate right out of the box. None of them were. Particularly the $1,800 Remington tactial rifle.
As I am mentoring a couple new shooters, I kept mentioning how a real rifle would shoot when properly loaded. Most of these conversations turned back to my old custom Mauser. Lizzy Borden..as in gave her father 40 whacks..
In an effort to prove my point, I started on a two day barrel cleaning using copper solvent and JB compound to see if I could help clear up the bore in that old Mauser.
Then I retorqued all the stock bolts again.
She was still a better rifle than most any out of the box guns, but she would not shoot her old standby handloads as well as she used to do with new rifling.
So I tried some loads from my old hand-loading log book that I had tried 35 years ago. At the time they were were ok but not outstanding.
On a lark, I even assembled some loads using all 1970s vintage components. Including the bottom part of a pound of Dupont IMR 4831. This can was opened and mostly used in the mid 1970s. It has not been stored under ideal conditions.
The 70s vintage Hornady 162 grain National Match bullets were so nasty looking that I had to use steel wool on them.
The primers were old CCI-200s that were wrapped in tape back in the 70s when I was transferred to a new military station.
Even the Winchester brass was old and had been fired about 8 times.
Here are the results, an old dog can learn new tricks! I think the Norma Steel jacket bullets made two little groups because I was getting up to write down the chronograph results. I was very sunny against the snow so the chrony readings made be off. Only a few registered at all.
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