It’s all a matter of time, patience and some cash for me to get back outside to my Outdoor Life hunting, fishing, boating and camping. I began my spring with pulling my 2007 Key West boat and trailer out of storage with one of the brake pads frozen.

So much for chasing early striped bass. The fix included ordering pads and then having them installed and bleeding the air out of the trailer lines. It wasn’t cheap. But then it was windy and rainy which makes striper fishing crappy. Rain, rain go away as the saying goes. 

I got the boat home and cranked my brand new 200 hp Yamaha over and it purred in my driveway like a kitten. Nice! I was running a checklist before launch. I grabbed the hydraulic steering wheel and turned it to center the outboard but the helm wheel just spun in circles. Must have air in the hydraulic lines or something. Back to the shop.

A new helm and purged lines later, I was back in business. It is just money, right?

Next, the trailer, a bunk type needed TLC so I decided while in the shop to do repairs on it and will sell the trailer for a new roller type and protect my sizeable investment in the boat. Boat stands for; (Break Out Another Thousand $).

This is my third power boat and true to form, it is costly but you can’t trade its ocean and lake benefits of freedom on the water. Todays fiberglass, well equipped boats of my size can cost more than twice what I invested so I should take heart. 

And soon the sun will shine and the fish will bite once again.

Good Fishing and Boating and Sunshine!

© Copyright 2023

The Browning X-Bolt Speed 7mm Rem Mag 26 inch 9.5 twist barrel I have tested this past three months with a new Timney trigger (set at 3 lbs), simply put a wide smile on my face today. 

Some shooters say 7mm Rem Mag in 9.5 twist is said to rarely achieve 175g spitzers at 3000fps and MOA accuracy. This may be true for some, but not here.

I am here to tell you that I have achieved hand-loaded sub-MOA results with Nosler 175g ABLR and other bullet manufacturers to 3000 fps.

Using Alliant RL 22 or Vihtavuori N560 Smokeless Gun Powder have both pushed Nosler 175 ABLR to 3000 fps while achieving sub-MOA 3 shot 100 yd accuracy. . Standard Deviation hovers around 10 fps. I am using Norma Cases and CCI or Winchester Mag primers.

I have achieved the bench rest group below three times in a row today. It’s no fluke!

I attribute my success with attention to handloading detail, a great Browning rifle, a Leupold scope, a Timney Trigger, Nosler bullets and world class powders. Note: 7mm Rem Mag ammo is on the shelf across the world for hunters.

Good Shooting!

© Copyright 2023

I ran into a friend who shot a doe with spitzer type muzzleloader bullet. The deer ran hundreds of yards before dropping. And he recovered the bullet, which never mushroomed to deliver killing energy.

I advocate for semi-spitzers with rounded nose, round/flat nose or hollow point bullets for muzzleloaders that deliver sufficient energy to open/ mushroom the bullet. 

Do your homework and read up.

Avoid spitzer styles that are difficult to open and mushroom.

Most shots are taken at 40 to 60 yards and do not need sharply pointed bullets. 

You will be glad you changed bullets. I like a 300 grain semi-spitzer/hollow point for my 50 cal.  and at least 100 grains of pyrodex. 

Some examples of better mushrooming bullets.

Now is the time to shop!

I avoid sharp sleek pointed bullets that are not designed to readily expand. 

Good Shooting!

Not finding your favorite powder for sale?  This chart can help find powders closest to yours. I did that with my alternative to Reloader 22 and found Viht N560 and it worked great. Nosler listed it in their manual. 

Reloading safety is of prime importance thus you must begin a new powder at starting loads and work up. The internet should give some start load data sources if you search your caliber and alternative powders.

All reloading manuals list alternative powders but there are some older reloading manuals that are not current in new state-of-the-art powders. 

IMR published a burn rate chart PDF below and includes many brands.

Check it out.

https://imrpowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/burnratecolor.pdf

Removing the two mounting bolts, you can pop out the barrel and action with some finagling and prying. It is a tight fit. 

Here is the Timney Trigger below.

Below there are 2 pins that hold the trigger in the half moon cutouts in the barrel. Use a 1/16 punch to remove the two pins and the trigger will come off. 

The part I did not expect is that the Timney did not just drop in. The forward slot was too narrow to fit in the half moon cutout. I had to grind off a few thousandths from the trigger housing to widen the slot with a Dremel tool. 

Below you can see my Dremel tool that I used to grind the forward pin housing a bit. Took me 20 minutes to grind and fit it. Not overly hard with the right tool. Some triggers drop in to those slots in videos. 

Below is the Timney trigger installed. The whole process took me about an hour or less.

I put my Lyman Trigger test gauge on the Timney and as expected it measured 3 pounds almost. Two pounds fifteen point nine ounces. I tested again at 3 pounds exact. Test the safety slide to be sure it works. Mounting bolts need torque to 35 inch-lbs.

Below is a video that helped me.

Good Shooting.

©Copyright 2023 

Decades ago, I started out by shooting a few boxes of .270 Winchester ammo and kept the brass. This once fired ammo case is a great start to reload. But you need dies to reform brass, add a primer, powder and press the bullet.

For me, reloading is the ultimate satisfaction of doing-it-yourself like DIY.

Like chipping a broadhead from a piece of stone and killing game by your own hand as our ancestors did is the ultimate in satisfaction. 

The component of a cartridge requires a brass case to hold the powder, primer and bullet.

The brass needs to be “resized” in reloading dies, spent primer removed and replaced (left die) and a bullet seating die (right).

 But new brass can be purchased too. See image below.

A reloading press and dies are essential. There are several companies who cater to reloaders.

A basic bottle-neck die set consists of two dies, one to resize the case and another to press the bullet into the case. See Photo above.

Every cartridge caliber needs its own die set. Die set costs to load for hunting typically cost less than $70.00 for a set.

Reloading for long distance hunting and shooting can be more exacting and cost much more. Like this Redding Die Set with micrometer bullet seating.

I had my first Savage .270 Winchester and loaded it with an RCBS Press and dies 40 years ago.  I use it to this day and saved untold dollars and Did-It-Myself…to my great satisfaction. I hunted Africa with my custom loads.

The key to good reloading technique is to read reloading manuals and guides, watch reloading video’s on you-tube. Listen and pay attention to areas of safety. Inspect your brass and spent primers for gas leaks, case damage of older brass. RCBS offers a free downloadable reloading guide.

https://www.rcbs.com/rcbs-downloadable-guide.html

Companies like Nosler, Hornady, Speer, Lyman, and several others sell reloading manuals. My two favorite manuals are Nosler and Hornady. Don’t forget all the videos on the web. 

Check-it-Out

Recently, I hand-loaded some Alliant Reloader Powder I had in my lower cool dry garage cupboard.

It was for my 7mm Rem Mag rifle and discovered the powder lost some of its potency. It was an opened can and had about a half pound left. All of the loaded ammo fired fine but lost a couple hundred feet-per-second from published data. This powder had very little solvent smell and looked fine.

I was looking for a near max load.

I loaded rounds later in steps to see what I could wring out and did so just fine.

I would buy a new pound of Alliant Powder as soon as it is available and consider quickly using the older powder. 

I also loaded some rounds with a new can of IMR powder which had a potent solvent smell. These rounds followed published data very well. 

New powders often have a solvent Acetone like smell and over time the opened can will lose the solvent smell. Over longer periods, it will degrade to an acidic off smell.  When powder has that off smell it is time to dispose of the powder. Below is what Alliant says about storage and handling of modern powder.

https://www.alliantpowder.com/getting_started/safety/storage_handling.aspx

Another article I liked below.

https://www.rifleshootermag.com/editorial/how-to-determine-gunpowder-shelf-life/83922

Good Shooting!