The Firearms MagEzine
A publication of
CenterFire Central
http://www.centerfirecentral.com
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The Firearms MagEzine
is no longer published
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VOL. 1 ISSUE 3 JULY 1998
Circulation 700
IN THIS ISSUE
~~THE EDITOR'S NOTES
All for granted
~~FEATURE ARTICLE - FOCUSING is YOUR OBJECTIVE
Focusing on distant objects
~~PRODUCT REVIEW - HORNADY PROGRESSIVE PRESS
The Lock-n-Load
~~INTERNET RELOADING CLASS
From CenterFire Central
READER INPUT SECTION
~~SUBMITTED ARTICLES - 1/2 MAO RIFLE REPORT
Part 2
~~READERS' REQUESTS
Information Sought By Readers
~~FEEDBACK
OTHER INFORMATION
~~RESOURCES
Other resources for related information
~~SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
~~SUBMIT AN ARTICLE
~~ADVERTISING OPTIONS
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A WORD OF CAUTION
CenterFire Central and contributing writers are not responsible for
mishaps of any kind which may occur from use or misuse of data or
information published, electronically or otherwise by CenterFire
Central. Activities involving firearms, ammunition, components and
equipment require strict safety precautions and training which are not
detailed herein.
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EDITOR'S NOTES
In working on the feature article for this issue, I had the pleasure of
visiting with an individual who lost his site at the age of 20.
It was an inspiring conversation in that so many folks give in to the
challenges that life brings them. This person did not give in. He went
on to serve 3 terms in the House of Representatives and continues to
enjoy many of his hobbies.
I hope to present some of his material here in the future. He talked at
length of his shooting experiences and involvement with firearms, and
was enthusiastic about the challenges with which site-impaired
individuals deal.
My conversation with this gentleman brought to mind how much I take it
all for granted. It reminded me of an experience I had a few years
back.
Long story short, I was caught in the woods under the heavy clouds of a
thunderstorm. I waited it out by laying under a rock
ledge on a
hillside. While there I poked around in the soil under the ledge with a
twig and discovered many little critters there with me. Snails, moths,
ants, all of which I normally trod right over and never see.
The balance of nature is so complex in the elements that it gets
overlooked. The joy I have in spending time outdoors requires an
occasional reminder of just how much it all means to me.
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THIS MONTH'S FEATURE ARTICLE
FOCUSING is YOUR OBJECTIVE
My high school science teacher was confident that years down the road,
humans would no longer have an outer ear. He reasoned that evolution
would eliminate the outer ear as the need for them is slowly but surely
going away.
I guess when you think about it, it is possible. The outer ear serves
as a trap to catch sound and funnel it to the inner ear. With the
distance between you and your neighbor shrinking, it is not hard to
catch the sound, so theoretically, you would not have
to have an outer
ear.
Eye site could do the same I suppose. We certainly do not have to use
our eyes for survival like our ancestors did.
In fact, individuals without the benefit of sight,
have become an
integral part of our society, not without battles, mind you. However,as
recently as a couple hundred years ago, they would have been considered
outcast and maybe even eliminated.
The point is that vision is not mandatory for survival and limited
short distance vision is used more often than not.
As I sit glued in front of this screen, it becomes obvious that I
seldom look at distant objects and therefore have a harder time doing
so.
A buddy of mine told me once that he works at focusing on things at a
distance. His thinking was he could save his eyesight this way. I
laughed it off, he wears glasses now. We can not stop the inevitable,
but his idea I think was a good one. Practicing with our focus on
distant objects can enhance our hunting trips.
I don't think my lifestyle is that much different than most. Sure there
are some who hunt a lot more, maybe live out of town or whatever, but
most of us seldom look very far or have to focus on distant objects on
a daily basis. This presents a challenge for us when we walk into a
hunting area. We have to forget how we go through our daily lives and
play a whole different ball game.
How many times have you sat in the timber and felt confident that you
were being watched, or at least that something was there in the woods
with you? No matter how hard you tried, you could not spot anything. I
catch myself scanning the hunting area, and not really focusing on
anything. Then I have to stop and take the time to really look hard and
focus.
As a coyote hunter, I become the hunted as soon as I blow on a call. I
have no doubt in my mind that the eyes looking for me are much better
than my own. If you think of how detailed for instance, this text
appears in front of you, surely a game animal must see
the woods in a
similar way. They must see more detail in order to survive.
In the late 80's I killed a nice doe, but spotting her about killed me.
I watched her walk into the timber 75 yards away from me and quartering
my direction. She closed the gap to about 60 yards and stopped. That
reads vanished ! Peering through my 3x9 (set on 4x), I could find
nothing. I was certain she was right there, so I kept working at it.
Finally, I spotted her nose and then her chest. She had turned directly
toward me and stopped. My heart was in my throat, my
arms were tired of
holding the rifle as the cross hairs settled on her chest. I squeezed
the trigger and she vanished, again. I froze, watching for her to bolt,
but feeling confident that I had hit her. Dead silence and 20 minutes
waiting, I walked to where she had been standing; there she laid.
When
she fell, she dropped just behind a little rise in the ground and I
simply could not see her from my angle, not even with binoculars.
That deer taught me a valuable lesson or two. First and foremost, if
you feel you are being watched, you probably are. She knew I was there
but I did not move enough for her to spook as I raised my rifle.
Second, when we think of hunting, we picture our target game animal.
Unfortunately, we seldom see the entire animal all at once. Since that
experience, I have worked harder at looking for different parts of the
animal and it works.
Scanning your hunting area with the naked eye, you can watch for
horizontal lines, color variations, eyes and noses. A twitch of an ear
or tail may be your only clue that you have company. Just because you
do not see any further movement does not mean your
alone.
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THIS MONTHS PRODUCT REVIEW
Hornaday Lock and Load Progressive
By Ron Roberts
First, let me give you a quick background of who I am.
I've been in the
reloading business for 30 years now. I have seven different presses set
up on my reloading bench to be used for different jobs. I shoot 3
times a week so I load a lot of ammo, mostly 45 acp, but on weekends I
like to shoot my rifles. The reason I reload is apparent at $3.50 a box
to reload as opposed to $10 or more for factory stuff, I can afford to
shoot about 3 times as much for the same money.
I have been using the Hornaday Lock and Load
Progressive about 3 months
now and have become used to it.
The press is well made and strong, the automatic powder measure is
simple yet very accurate. The lock and load feature of the press makes
changing the dies to another caliber fast and easy. The Lock ring or
collar is locked onto the die and extra collars need to be purchased to
enjoy the
speed of changing dies.
I started loading some 38 sp. in it first and it functioned well once I
got the adjustment screws for the case indexing set properly. This is
the only weak point on the press that I can find. Why Hornaday
chose to
use a nylon hex screw to adjust the indexing pin is beyond me
. I had
problems keeping the index set until I put a drop of lock tight on the
screws and have not had any more problems with the machine.
Next I changed dies to load some 223 . The machine
worked perfectly
without any malfunctions. I went through about 400 rounds and made no
adjustment to anything other than resetting the powder measure.
Although I haven't had a Dillon to work with yet, this press is the
best automatic I have had so far. It is far superior to the Lee 1000 in
the way it is built but then this is reflected in the price tag. On a
scale of 1-10 scale with 10 being perfect, I would rate this press an
8.
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READER LETTERS
1/2 MOA Rifle Report Part 2
by J. A. Smith
Well I am back with the continuation of the Remington Varmint rifle
story. Let me tell you this thing, at the least, has been an
interesting experience.
After working up some loads and searching for 6mm Rem.
factory loadings
to try, this hasn't been easy. So I'll start at the beginning with the
fireforming and breaking in the barrel.
I'll save you the brass preparation details and just tell you all was
tended to as to weight, concentricity, etc.
Starting with 100 Remington cases I primed them with Federal Gold Medal
primers and a charge of IMR4831 2grs under published maximum with
Sierra 80gr bullets. All were seated to touch the lands. Then I
proceeded to clean the bore, and it's been my experience that you could
probably fire 250 rounds nonstop and still have an easier time cleaning
the bore to spotless than when new. I don't know what Remington uses in
their barrels, but what fun, right?
After some 100 patches the rifle and I were off to the range. Breaking
in a barrel is somewhat fun, it gives you a chance for some practice
and I need it as much as anyone. I was very surprised with this thing;
the first ten were almost all centered in one hole about .75in except
for three fliers that were maybe a .25in outside. Very pleasant
feelings of the self gratifying type came over me. I finally got a
hummer as far as a factory rifle will hum.
Then we started in the 3 shot groups strings, one of those went .274,
the worst fell .981(hmmm). But the carbon and copper fouling was worse
than I've ever seen. A knowledgeable gunsmith told me Rem's
barrels are
soft and don't need broken in? Same thing with the 5 shot
groups. Worst
of those was 1.083(shooter?) and the best went .411" so much for
shooter consistency.
Back to the factory ammunition, have you ever looked for 6mm Rem at
your local dealers shelves? I was limited to Hornady Light Magnum, the
plain vanilla Remington offerings of 80 and 100gr, and the somewhat new
Premier Varmint from Remington. Hornady isn't going
to be making 6mm
Remington anytime soon.
The Light Mag has been discontinued due to Frontier
not producing brass
and Hornady wont use
Remington brass so far. Don't worry
non-handloading varminter's,
Remington Premier Varmint is as good as
anything you can get. And this is where I will end this with a little
run down of the stuff.
Remington Premiere comes in a 75grVMax bullets that
are green instead
of the usual red. Didn't get the chance to chronograph the stuff but it
blows up small varmints as well as anyone could hope.
Here's the chart
of groups(all 5 shot)
Box 1 Box 2 Box 3
Grp1 .68" .94" .23"
Grp2 .79" .72" .48"
Grp3 .57" .63" .52"
Grp4 .89" 1.13" .52"
One more thing for anybody who hasn't invested in a good one piece
coated cleaning rod like those from Dewey of Parker-Hale and a good
bore-guide you owe it to yourself to do so. I see a lot of guys getting
into the high volume shooting thing at the range and a lot of them
aren't using them. Not doing so will damage the throat on your rifle
and the solvent that seeps back will get into your bedding and turn it
into goo. I have made myself a victim of both and
would rather go
without cleaning then push a two piece aluminum rod you get in those
cheap kits with no bore guide.
Till next time.
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Copyright 1998 by CenterFire Central
All Rights Reserved