Author Archives: Ed Hale

About Ed Hale

I am an avid hunter with rifle and Bow and have been hunting for more than 50 years. I have taken big game such as whitetail deer, red deer, elk, Moose and African Plains game such as Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok, Blesbok, and Impala and wrote an ebook entitled African Safari -Rifle and Bow and Arrow on how to prepare for a first safari. Ed is a serious cartridge reloader and ballistics student. He has earned two degrees in science and has written hundreds of outdoor article on hunting with both bow and rifle.

Letter from Senator Ayotte on M855 Green Tip Ammo

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From: Senator Kelly Ayotte [mailto:senator@ayotte.senate.gov]

Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2015 4:09 PM
Subject: Reply from Senator Ayotte

 

April 8, 2015

Dear Mr. Hale:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’  recent publication, titled “ATF Framework for Determining Whether Certain Projectiles are ‘Primarily Intended for Sporting Purposes’ Within the Meaning of 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(17)(c).”  I appreciate hearing from you.

As you know, the ATF recently issued guidance on the sale of M855/SS109 “green tip” ammunition, used in the AR-15 rifle.  The Gun Control Act of 1986 currently prohibits the importation of ammunition with the ability to pierce armor, unless it is used by the government or for testing purposes.  The M855 has a lead core with a steel tip.  It is not listed on ATF’s list of armor piercing classified rounds, and has previously fallen under an exemption because it is “primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes.”  However, the publication that ATF released on February 13, 2015, proposed to narrow the legal definition of sporting preferences to two smaller categories, which would exclude the previously-exempt M855 ammunition.

I share the concerns of many Granite Staters that the ATF’s proposed rule would effectively ban the sale of M855 ammunition and render the AR-15 rifle unusable.  That is why I joined my Senate colleagues to send a letter to ATF Director Todd Jones voicing strong objection to ATF’s framework.  As New Hampshire’s former Attorney General, I worked closely with the state’s law enforcement community, whose safety during their daily jobs is of utmost concern.  Yet, ATF’s proposal would have created arbitrary parameters for determining ammunition that qualifies for the sporting purposes exemption in the 1986 law.

On March 10, 2015, ATF announced its decision not to implement a ban on M855 ammunition due to overwhelming opposition the proposal received from 52 Senators, 238 House Members, and over 80,000 public comments.  A formal decision is expected from the Justice Department, as well, once all comments have been processed.

As a strong supporter of the individual right to keep and bear arms for law-abiding citizens, please be assured that I will continue to support Granite Staters’ Second Amendment rights.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me.  It is important for me to hear from you regarding the current issues affecting New Hampshire and our nation. Please do not hesitate to be in touch again if I may be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

Kelly A. Ayotte
U. S. Senator

 

KAA/ea

 

*****************

Basically she said she signed the letter to ATF voicing strong objection to the M855 ban. Very Good! What she did not say was that this is still a slipery slope and Loretta Lynch could support the ban as new head of the Justice Department. Did you call your Senator? The argument presented by ATF could be filled by most big game ammo, thus leaving you and I to throw rocks and say baaaaaa.

Wind, Rifle Bullets and Max Point Blank Range

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An area that the deer hunter or shooter must be concerned about when shooting a rifle at longer distances is the fact that the bullet is going to rise and drop above and below the intended bullet path and that the wind will also blow the bullet left or right as the distance increases. The kill zone circle for a whitetail deer is approximately 6 inches therefore a skilled hunter can calculate using JBM Software the point where the bullet does not exceed 3 inches above or 3 inches below the bullseye. We call this Max Point Blank Range (MPBR).  As an example my .243 Winchester bullet is a Sierra 100 grain Pro-Hunter spitzer that can be chosen from the first drop down menu on the screen which includes the Ballistic Coefficient already. I have chrono’d the bullet at 2820 fps and enter that as Muzzle Velocity.

At the bottom of the software screen are boxes that you can check such as Zero at MPBR so it is calculated automatically for you.  The MPBR calculated is 272 yards but the wind at 10 mph at 90º and will blow the bullet off course by 7.5 inches. What do you do then? Your bullet will exceed the 3 inch radius and make a poor shot. Knowing the wind direction and practicing at knowing wind speed can help make this shot possible. If the wind is blowing from left to right you will hold to the left by an estimated 7 inches (an educated guess) at the 9 o’clock position thus the bullet will strike the center of the kill zone. Practice, Practice and Practice. If you have the opportunity to wait for the  wind to momentarily subside then wait. Trees and leaves can tell you lots about the wind speed.  Those who study wind say that if smoke or steam rises vertically wind is 0 to 1 mph; wind shows slight smoke or steam is 2-3 mph but not enough to move leaves; wind that is felt on your face and leaves rustle is 4 to 7 mph; leaves and twigs in constant motion and extends a light flag is 8 to 12 mph. If small branches are moving on trees then you are above 12 mph.

What is critical here is the angle of the wind as it relates to your shot. If the wind is blowing toward you or toward your target then the shot will likely be less affected by wind.  It will be helpful to create a chart for your rifle that shows drop tables and wind deflection that you can tape to your rifle or carry with you in the field. Below is the resulting chart for the .243 Winchester demonstrating the wind effect at 275 yards is 7.5 inches otherwise the wind will push your MPBR to an adjusted 175 yard max shot based on a 10 mph wind where wind deflection is 2.9 inches.

Yes wind can really throw you off target so remember to practice. Other factors include bullet speed and energy below. For deer we need around 1000 ft-lbs and 2000 fps making the max shot here at 272 yards as well. Hope this helps! © 2015

mpbr

 

Nikon Scope Initial Repair Experience

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Shooting friends, I was in the deer woods last year with my Muzzle Loader and discovered my favorite Nikon ProStaff 2-7 x 32mm rifle scope was fogging up inside the lens when the temperature change from house to cold deer woods. It surely restricted my shooting to around 30 yards or less. I shot rifles with this scope all the previous summer in warm weather where water could not condense so it was not an issue.

Ok so today I went on line and found a Nikon web site and phone number and had to listen to the menu. I pushed option 5 for repair and was given instruction  to send back but nothing about warranties and no human being so I hung up and redialed the same number and hit option 4 all other products and got a man who had a western US accent, and was familiar with my Scope. Said my issue was likely an o-ring and lost nitrogen. It was covered under lifetime warranty after owning since 2009 or so but took all my info and the serial # of the scope and updated his file as I was not registered with the scope, I was registered with a camera however. A very pleasant experience…thus far.

I was given instructions via email to pack it up in a larger box than original with bubble wrap and send it for repair which I have not done yet. Turn around is 7 to 10 days.

Stay Tuned…

Lesson learned: I was lucky I was near home!  If you are going to hunt far away in cold weather, put your scope in the freezer for a few hours to simulate a cold day to see if water vapor has entered the scope and fogs up.  That might help prevent a bad hunting experience. Can you imagine seeing the buck of a lifetime and having a fogged up scope? A bad dream for sure… I might just do that yearly with all my scopes that get exposed to cold and rain but do it near the time to hunt with that scope….© 2105

 

Ruger M77 Hawkeye Predator 6.5 Creedmoor Rifle Coming Soon

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At my request, Ruger is sending me the Ruger® M77® Hawkeye® Predator® rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor for New Hampshire Rifleman to test.

ruger 6.5 creedmoor

Paperwork is underway at Ruger here in New Hampshire to provide one for testing. I am truly excited as this cartridge is a very hot seller this year and with good reason. It has been seen as highly accurate, and a great target and big game round with moderate recoil – we shall see. Reloading dies for it are very hard to find but I did order them, a bit expensive $76 shipped to me. Keep an eye out for more on this Rifle.

Taking the Rifles for a Walk at the Range.

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Its early spring, March 25, 2015, the weather is sunny at 40 º F and the wind is 5 to 10 mph, a great day either walk your dog or take your rifles to the range. Today I am taking two rifles out for a walk as it were. These rifles sat in silence for a few months while old-man-winter dumped a record amount of snow on us here in southern New Hampshire.

First Rifle out, is my Ruger American in .243 Winchester.

ruger american bench rested

The Ruger American is a highly cost effective solution for deer and bear hunters. At last look it was under $400 bucks. It has a Leupold 2-7 power VX-3 on it. I really like these scopes as a long term investment!  Also, I like my Ruger American in .243 Winchester too as recoil is very light and delivers lots of accuracy and energy for the investment. Over the last fall I have worked up hand loads shooting Sierra 100 grain spitzers that are just tack driving accurate at top speeds for deer hunting out to about 300 yards (for a southern bean-field deer hunt)  keeping the long range 300 yard energy near to 1000 ft-lbs for adequate penetration and velocity in the 2000 ft-sec for mushrooming of the bullet on impact. This I know because I used JBM Ballistic Software on the web at http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi

So I shot a three shot group at 150 yards at bench rest and kept the groups at 1 inch. Wow! Very Impressive! Two of the shots were clustered at 1/4 inch. These are near max loads and were shot at a temperature of 40 degrees F. As summer comes on and temperature rises I need to pay closer attention to case inspection for signs of slight over pressure, though I think the loads will be fine, it is best to be a good observer.  In the fall when temperatures drop back to 40 or below this load will bring meat to the table and with some luck, something with antlers too. Little wind and the kind of steady rest are critical for shots beyond say 150 yards. My trigger breaks at just under 3 pounds on the Ruger American so I can more easily predict near the break of the trigger.

 

Next Rifle out is my M77 Ruger African in .375 Ruger with a Leupold VX-3 in 3×9 with a Pachmayr Decelerator® slip on recoil pad. http://www.pachmayr.com/home/deceleraton-slip.php . With this Pad, the rifle shoots like a 30:06 instead. Very nice indeed.

375 Ruger and Leupold VX-III side view

I knew that it was shooting the 235 grain Speer Hot Core well at just over 2400 fps as I chronographed them this past fall.

I took a shot and made a slight adjustment and then two more shots nearly overlapping placing them at 5/8 inch apart at 150 yards a half inch above the bullseye, looking like a pair of eyes and smiley face with the bullseye looking more like a mouth just below the eyes.

 

This is a deer, bear or moose load, a light load for this cartridges capability.

This rifle is sub-moa accurate for many of my pet hand loads.

Ok, nuff of a walk and very happy. © 2105

Full Circle – The .308 Winchester

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I have been stewing on this for some time so here goes. Many of us have purchased the AR-15 or similar rifle. Unless you have lots of money to spend on ammo, it sits in the gun safe after the first 500 rounds and is a great varmint rifle but as a big game rifle it is a waste. If you are just concerned with home protection,a second amendment rifle, good for competitive shooting,  it is a great choice, don’t get me wrong.

If you hunt too, the better solution for some is perhaps the M1A in .308 Winchester perhaps if you want a semi-auto and want to hunt too.

Fact is, the more I study the .308 Cartridge the more respect I have for it for home and hunting. I have hunted Africa for plains game and believe the .308 Winchester is just fine out to 200 to 300 yards for almost all except giant eland. (no big five). Why? It is about shot placement not just power. The recoil of the .308 is considered mild to moderate and with a state of the art recoil pad it is easy for a young or newer shooter to shoot accurately.

Alas, we have been brain washed a bit, me included, to shoot bigger more powerful cartridges. I took a .338 Winchester Magnum to Africa, still a medium bore cartridge,  however it takes practice to master it’s heavier recoil. I do love the bigger bore rifles however, they deliver punch, in spades like my .375 Ruger that I hand-load. The ubiquitous and classic 30:06 is a great middle ground and it can be shot in an M1A semi-auto too.

As a reloader,  the .308 Winchester cartridge design is highly efficient and cost-effective in powder usage for reloaders. These facts when coupled with the accuracy of the .308 cartridge and bullet selection for hunting big game make it a great selection as a deer and black bear rifle at ranges out to nearly 500 yards or so or as a long-range target rifle at 1000 yards. As a simple hunting rifle that can be tack driving accurate, easy on the shoulder, ready to reload inexpensively, can be shot as a semi-auto as in the M1A, I believe the .308 is poised for resurgence.

I shot one the other day at the range out of a Remington 700 with a Leupold scope at 100 yards. Groups were astounding, just like the groups I shot out my son’s Savage .308 at 1/4 inch a few years back. Yesterday I shot consistently less than 1/2 inch groups, in fact, if the trigger was adjustable as I suggested and set at around 3 pounds, the groups would merge into a ragged hole and put a real smile on  my face. ©2015

Get the Rust Out!

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Are you getting Rusty waiting for the snow to disappear. Hey, the weather is sunny and well above freezing so get your rifle, shotgun or pistol out and head to the range. A few days ago I took my Kimber 1911 45 for a walk. Yea the range was cold but the 45 spit out hollow points and barked quite nicely at the range just the same. It made me smile!

I arrived and had to wait 30 minutes as there were two shooters ahead of me. Great minds think alike. I like to shoot the metal drop plates for accuracy and speed. Not bad for 3 months away. The slide moved like silk as it ejected a spent casing and loaded a new round. My readerships is aware that I hand load and have the components for many visits to the range. If you have the cash, stock up if you can before the spring gets in full swing.

procrimsoncarryii

223 Ammo Ban Averted..For Now

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https://www.nraila.org/email/daily

From Website above: Fairfax, Va. – The National Rifle Association (NRA) was instrumental in stalling the Obama Administration’s initial attempt to ban commonly used ammunition for the most popular rifle in America, the AR-15. The announcement that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) will suspend its proposed framework to ban M855 ammunition validates the NRA’s assertion that this effort was nothing more than a political maneuver to bypass Congress and impose gun control on the American people.

 

President’s proposed 5.56 Ball Ammo Ban – Time is short to write ATF

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Shooting and Second Amendment Friends,

The President proposes an ammo ban for 5.56 ball ammo for Sportsmen and gut the second amendment.  There is no overarching reason to ban this ammo except to disarm law abiding Americans and the use of rifles such as the AR-15. A ban will leave criminals with banned ammo and create criminals from law abiding citizens. Below is a draft letter that I receive from Hornady Manufacturing which I emailed to ATF.

We have only till March 16 to input to ATF. The reason for this ban is simple. Disarm America and destroy the 2nd Amendment.

Please borrow and send a copy to ATF and tell all your friends that if this ban goes into effect, there is no ammo that the President cannot ban.

Citizens will be disarmed! We will be sheep!

Ed Hale – Editor/Owner

New Hampshire Rifleman Magazine

 

 

 

On Feb 27, 2015, at 7:06 AM, Edward Hale <erhale@comcast.net> wrote:

 

ATTN send to: APAComments@atf.gov

Dear Sir or Madam:

I oppose an ATF ban on 5.56 M855 ball ammunitions.

It has come to my attention that the ATF is seeking public input on a proposed ban on 5.56 M855 ball ammunitions. I am contacting you today, to tell you I solidly oppose this ban.

Law-abiding American citizens have been using 5.56 ball ammunition for sporting purposes for decades, so this legislation appears to be a case of the government arriving at a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.

Through this proposed ban, ATF disproportionately focuses on how criminals might use sporting ammunition in a handgun. Classifying criminals as a “consumer group” in the ATF’s white paper on this topic is also disturbing, as it further implies that the industry purposely sells firearms and ammunition to this element.

I urge the ATF to permanently drop the proposed ban of 5.56 M855 ball ammunition.

Sincerely,
Your Name and Address.

See the conversations at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/27/obama-to-ban-bullets-by-executive-action-threatens-top-selling-ar-15-rifle/?intcmp=latestnews.