A Day At The Range

By Joe Berk

Yesterday was about a perfect day at the West End Gun Club. I didn’t even have to unlock and open the gate (it was already open because the weed abatement guys were doing some work there).  The skies were overcast, the temperature was comfortable, there was no wind, and there were no bugs. I shot four rifles (which is more usual and I probably overdid it, especially with the big bores). My neuropathy was kicking my ass last night and it still is a little bit today. Ah, to be 72 again…

Ruger No. 3 .45 70

First up was the .45 70 No. 3, a rifle I posted about recently here on ExNotes.. I had 11 rounds left with a hot XBR 8208 load in Hornady short brass originally loaded for a 26-inch barreled Ruger No. 1.  For some reason Hornady’s .45 70 brass is about a tenth of an inch shorter than industry standard.   I suppose it facilitates loading longer bullets in some lever guns.  For me, the shorter brass is not as accurate as the standard-length cases. But one of my buddies has a custom Martini chambered in .45 70, and he needs the shorter brass to be able to load the cartridges in his rifle.  I wanted to use up my shorter case ammo so I could give the brass to my friend.

The hot XBR 8208 load (in regular brass) is incredibly accurate in my 26-inch No. 1, but it proved to be just awful at 100 yards in the No. 3.  It’s a hot load and it kicked like hell, pounding my shoulder and my cheek.  To compound the felony, the bullets were tumbling by the time they reached the target.  In my No. 3, the vertical stringing was terrible.  The average velocity with this load’s 300-grain Hornady jacketed hollowpoint bullets was a smoking 1839 feet per second, but it had a huge velocity spread (which explains the vertical stringing).  Although the load worked well in the longer-barreled No. 1, it is definitely not a No. 3 load.   But I learned a little more, and I had the brass ready to give to my friend.

6.5 Creedmoor Browning X-Bolt

I recently wrote about developing a hunting load for my 6.5 Creedmoor Browning X-Bolt.  I fell in love with the 160-grain Hornady jacketed roundnose bullet and when working up the IMR 4350 load for it, I found that my resizing die’s expander ball was too large (I wrote about that here).  I had a box of ammo I had already loaded before I discovered the expander ball issue and I wanted to use it up.

Even with the oversized expander ball, the 6.5 Creedmoor still shot well. The 160-grain Hornady jacketed roundnose bullet with 39.0 grains of IMR 4350 is accurate. I shot a 0.890-inch 5-shot group and a 0.651-inch 3-shot group.  With my Browning, the average velocity was 2404 feet per second and the velocity standard deviation was a low 6.5 feet per second (coincidentally matching the caliber designation…I guess there’s something magic about “6.5”).  This is a great rifle and a great load.

A lot old timers (guys my age) badmouth the 6.5 Creedmoor as an unnecessary cartridge.  When we get old we get funny, and I suspect a lot of these geezers would complain if you hung them with a new rope.  Not me.  I am a 6.5 Creedmoor believer. It is a superb cartridge.

You might have noticed that the Browning has a muzzle brake.  It’s cool.  A split second after each shot, you feel a breezy puff on your face, almost like the rifle is blowing you a kiss.  One of my friends asked if the muzzle brake affected accuracy or if there were any other disadvantages.  Truth be told, I don’t know about the accuracy issue (I’ve never shot the rifle without the muzzle brake).  The only downside I can think of is that the muzzle blast and report from the rifle feels like it’s a little louder with a muzzle brake.  Another downside is that with big bore, high-powered rifles, guys on the benches to the left and right feel the increased blast.  I remember a guy shooting a .50-caliber Barrett rifle a couple of stations down several years ago and the blast was so severe I moved away to escape it.   One more potential disadvantage is the muzzle brake makes the rifle longer. That might be an inconvenience in the field.  It hasn’t bothered me.

.308 Browning A-Bolt Gold Medallion

I’ve been working on developing loads for this rifle. Baja John got me turned on to these rifles about ten years ago. I loaded several different 150-grain bullets, all with 47.0 grains of BallC2. Groups ranged from mediocre to decent. The best load so far has been the same one I’ve used for the M1A, which is 44.0 grains of BallC2 and a 168-grain Speer match boat tail bullet. That’s not a hunting bullet, though, and for that, the Speer jacketed flatnose bullet grouped best (with 47.0 grains of BallC2).

The silver Mueller scope I put on the rifle is okay, but the optics are not in the same league as a Leupold (and they shouldn’t be, as the Mueller is a $145 scope). Compared to the 6.5 Creedmoor, the Browning .308 kicks big time. It’s tolerable and certainly not anywhere near the .375 Ruger (see below), but the 6.5 Creedmoor is much more pleasant to shoot.  Like I said, I’m a believer in the Creedmoor.  That said, I plan to hunt with the .308 Browning on my next pig hunt, and I’ve been working up different loads for it.  You’ll read about that in an upcoming blog.

.375 Ruger/Howa 1500

I shot 90 rounds in the mighty .375 Ruger yesterday, and I’m feeling it today. I wanted to evaluate 5744 and IMR 3031 in this cartridge using lighter 200-grain and 235-grain jacketed bullets.

The bottom line is this rifle likes everything, and several loads would put 5 shots into a 1.5-inch cluster (which is pretty cool with a 4X scope and an elephant gun). The best load is 38.5 grains of 5744 and the Sierra 200-grain jacketed flatnose bullets one of my friends gave to me (those shot a 1.330-inch 5-shot group at 100 yards). The rifle fed both bullets well from the magazine.  The action on this rifle is super slick.  Howa makes a good rifle. The IMR 3031 loads (at 55.0 and 58.0 grains) shot well, too, but the recoil is more than I care to subject myself to (the loads were below the recommended minimum with the Speer 235-grain bullets; the max loads must be brutal).

While we were there, an old timer named Marcus stopped by with a custom Mauser .25 06, also stocked in English walnut like my .375 Ruger. I enjoyed meeting and chatting with him, and I enjoyed seeing that Mauser.

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