Monthly Archives: February 2024

New 7mm PRC and 7mm Rem Mag: Both Are Great!

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Now is the time to buy a 7mm PRC Rifle if you desire one. Getting excited about a new cartridge and rifle is certainly fun. There are now several manufacturers making the 7mm PRC rifle.

In addition, for reloaders, there are dies, brass and powders ready to reload. Missing still, are large rifle magnum primers, but, if you load for other magnums, then you have some magnum primers in your gun safe.

The upsides of the PRC are long range 1000yd Plus accuracy, reloadability, bullet stability at 1:8 twist and target bullets in 190 to 195g such as the Hornady A-Tip Match.

The PRC with rifles of 1:8 twist are capable of delivering off-the-shelf 175g ammo for big game hunting at muzzle velocities of 3000 fps.

The 7mm Rem Magnum 175g off-the-shelf loads in rifles with 1:10 twist are just a bit slower with muzzle velocities of 2850 fps and where cartridge cases are belted for head spacing.

Both cartridges are very accurate for hunting purposes at ranges out to 600 plus yards. But the PRC begins to dominate thereafter with 190g target bullets. 

If you hand load for either target or hunting you can customize loads for your rifle with both the 7mm PRC and 7mm Rem Mag.

Some believe the 7mm bench mark for big game hunting such as moose and elk is 3000fps at the muzzle with the 175g bullet.

With some experimentation, my hand loaded 7mm Rem Mag does the 175g 3000 fps trick in my 1:10 twist Browning Speed and is super accurate with the right powder.  

Trust me, your big game animal won’t know the difference.

The largest advantage of the PRC is for long range target with 190g bullets where the headspace is off the shoulder of the cartridge and tolerances are much tighter. 

So be happy, both the 7mm PRC and 7mm Rem Mag are great cartridges and can coexist for hunting decades to come.

Shooting a wide variety of bullet weights though, the 7mm Rem Mag is said to be more versatile for accuracy due to the slower twist rate. An example, would be shooting 120g to 175g bullets for a variety of game, will on average shoot more accurately. 

Happy 7mm Hunting!

 

 

 

Red Dot sight Too Low On Your AR Platform? Update New Sight too.

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UPDATE

My old Red Dot  Adjustments no longer work. Replaced with a Feyachi Reflex $42 dollars. 

Below is the original article

I took my AR-15 out to the range and swapped out my leupold rifle scope for my red dot scope for hunting coyotes near dusk. I always had to tuck my head and cheek low to see the red dot.

It’s an older model red dot, but it works fine. I found a picatinny riser rail that raises the scope ideally.  Below is my $12 dollar, Feyachi Picatinny Riser Mount, 0.75″/0.83″/0.95″ High, 5 Slots Riser Mount for Red Dot Sight.

I am not into paying big bucks for a new scope right now. Cost of the riser was $12 on line. My kind of fix! Yes, you can spend hundreds.on a new optic. 

Good Hunting!

 

Best in Class -Hunting Rifle Fixes for Recoil and Triggers

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I learned years ago, to fix problems I encountered with my hunting rifles for my African Safari. 

My first fix was to get rid of the hard recoil pads. Enough of beating up my shoulder. Two of the best state-of-the-art pads to reduce felt recoil are SIms SVL® Recoil pads below

and Pachmayr Decelerator® Pads.

You can also purchase these pads as temporary slip-on’s Below.

Both reduce felt recoil up to 50% by absorbing the instant hard kick and giving you a softened kick over milliseconds of time in soft calibrated rubber.  In addition, these pads often add recoil structure to the rubber to reduce barrel rise. Smart hunter’s get it! And there are more brands you can check out online. 

Triggers

If you are experiencing trigger creep or a heavy trigger, your accuracy will suffer. There are often better triggers you can purchase.

I am a Timney Trigger fan.

And many triggers are drop-in types that take little effort to install. Timneys are adjustable and crisp. Below is a Timney for a Remington 700.

https://timneytriggers.com/hunting-triggers/

Impact Remington 700 Trigger

Fixing recoil and triggers will increase your accuracy so much that you will essentially have a customized and super accurate rifle. Really!

Good Hunting!

 

Swapping a Picatinny Rail Mounted Scope To Another Rifle? Update for Test

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Todays rifle scopes can easily cost more than the rifle you put it on. A good rifle today costs less than $1000 dollars, where some rifle scopes can cost upwards of $2000 dollars. 

So I often swap out my favorite best-in-class Leupold VX -6 scope from rifle to rifle. 

 

I am setting up one of of my Ruger rifles with a  picatinny rail to make it easier to borrow a scope from another of my rifles already set up with a picatinny rail.

Below is the Weigand Combat Scope Mount Compatible with Ruger M77 and MKII Long Action 20 MOA – Black

The Weigand aircraft aluminum rail does have some limitations. It is not recommended for super heavy recoiling rifles. The determining calculation from the manufacturer says to multiply bullet weight in grains times the expected muzzle velocity. If the calculation exceeds 700,000 then don’t use it to mount your scope on that rifle.

Example: I will mount the rail on my .375 Ruger shooting Nosler 260g AccuBonds at a muzzle velocity of 2625 fps. Thus 260g x 2625fps = 682,500.  Based on this calculation, I’m good. Next is to test it out at the range. 

My Ruger Hawkeye M77 in .375 Ruger shoots most all my hand loaded bullets extremely well, often sub-moa. Luckily, I do have some 260g AB in my cupboard.

Range Test – Below is the finished Picatinny mount and Leupold  scope after 3 bench rest shots of Nosler 260g AB at 2625 fps.

I checked threaded mounting screws which had thread lock  242 blue applied. Every screw checked for torque. All perfect.

Muzzle energy is 3977 ft-lbs and 3419 ft-lbs at 75 yards to my bear bait site.

Below the 3 shots. First shot at 50 yds after the swap was 2 1/2 inches low and 2 inches right. I adjusted and hit 9 o’clock in the dead center bull. I adjusted a bit much and hit 1 inch right in bullseye. I will shoot again at 75 yards and make final tweaks. 

Accordingly, the swap worked well and I can swap back to my 7mm Rem Mag with very little effort. 

Good Hunting!

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Glock 20 G5 10mm First Shot Impressions – Update to send back.

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Update: My 220g bear loads kick hard. And are hanging up. Many suggest a 24lb recoil spring or trigger spring.  May stay with 180g – 200g hard cast for bear backup. Stay tuned. Gen 4 and Gen 5 recoil springs hard to get. Gun no longer shoots 180g after 1st shot. Bought at KTP who will look at it and send back to Glock if needed. Yes, I’m disappointed. 

I just shot these 10 yard 180g Blaser groups below,  at my local range, for the first time with my new 10mm Glock for bear hunt backup. They will penetrate deeper than my 45ACP. Check your states laws on hunting with a hand gun vs carrying for protection. If hunting for deer in New Hampshire, with a handgun, current rules say no more than 6 shots in your pistol. 

Middle and Low right groups are 10mm 180g Blazers. Low left are 200g bear loads. Upper right is a single 180g shot. The trigger takes getting used to. You have to squeeze the trigger more to make it break. Not as hard though as a double action. It is a smooth firm pull. There is no quote “safety”, just the firm pull of the trigger.  I added new tritium sights for shooting in darkness on my bear hunt.

Recoil was perhaps a tad heavier than my 45ACP. Getting used to the trigger was perhaps the most difference.

I purchased more 200g Blazers and 220g hard cast lead bear loads to practice with this spring and summer. But I will likely need a stronger recoil spring with 220g… they kick and with a standard recoil spring they hung up. 

Getting more than one accurate shot off is key in choosing the 10mm if ever charged by a bear or a big game animal intent on attacking you. In fact, with practice you can perhaps get 3 to 4 accurate head shots in a charge. Then follow up with 11 or 12 more shots at 1200fps with each delivering 700 ft-lbs of penetrating energy to the heavily boned bear skull below. 

 

 

Hunt Safe! Be Prepared!