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.

Add an Adjustable Cheek Rest to Your Rifle

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If you watched American Sniper and I am sure you did, you noticed that all the Sniper Rifles had adjustable cheek rests. The use of a cheek rest is vital if your eye does not align with the scope crosshairs when your cheek is on the comb of the rifle. I think that there are also add-on’s on the rest to store extra rounds and sometimes with a zippered pouch such as the Black Hawk Cheek Rest below.

blackhawk cheek pad

 

There are lots of cheek rests out there that either velcro on or strap on to your rifle stock. I prefer for hunting a simple pad to lift my cheek without all the other add on’s. Some hunters say that they have lost rounds when busting brush with similar products. But if you are in a tree stand or a blind it works just fine to have rounds that you can access if you like. A great inexpensive Cheek Rest according to buyers is the Voodoo Tactical Adjustable Cheek Rest with Ammo Carrier for 16.00.

IF you are into perfection you can purchase the Bradley Cheek Rest  see http://www.bradleycheekrest.com/Bradley-Adjustable_c11.htm  Cost is $110-$120 without shipping. Below is a you tube worth watching using this cheek rest on a 338 Lapua Magnum. Of course the .338 has a large muzzle brake too to lessen the recoil, just be sure to wear good hearing and eye protection as these folks do. Honestly I do not own any of these yet but will soon so I have the option to lift my cheek higher if needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD08eqloyOk

 

 

Long Range Rifle Bullet Energy and Drop Tables

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My son and I often chat about long range considerations and yesterday we talked about Brian Litz new book Applied Ballistics For Long-Range Shooting 2nd Edition (I have read his first book) and the fact that Brian is shaking up the Long Range shooting world with his plain speak on rifle bullets, rifles and twist rates but using physics to demonstrate by numbers the rationale for changes in the shooting world. It may be too much for a novice but hopefully some of you have the desire to shoot long range. It is also the remaining bullet energy and bullet stability at long range that is sufficient to make the shot count. In a hunting environment, many of us are not skilled marksman to make a clean kill on a deer at long ranges beyond 300 yards because we have few places to practice at those ranges and calibrate your scope to a particular bullet and load. But let us say that we do have a place and you have a long range rifle such as a 6mm or 7 mm or a .308 caliber rifle. The key here is what are we doing when the bullet arrives, paper punching or downing a deer or elk? It makes a significant difference in that the deer and elk require lots of energy delivered by the bullet to enter the animals vital area,provide hydro-static shock, mushroom and exit the animal.

As I have said in previous articles that as a guide you need around 1000 ft-lbs striking energy for deer and around 1500 ft-lbs for elk and some include that at these energies the bullet should meet a speed criteria of 2000 fps for a lead bullet to mushroom fully(I think that this speed varies with bullet material and construction but is still a good guide). In order to calculate striking energy at a given distance you must know the bullet diameter, the bullets ballistic coefficient either as a G1 projectile BC which most of today’s bullet manufacturers provide on the box or the G7 BC.

Chronograph your bullet speed: Then we must measure the bullet speed using a chronograph. I use an inexpensive Shooting Chrony F1 Green. (Cost $100) For long ranges beyond 300 yards the bullet must be shaped to reduce drag thus a pointed bullet is needed. Further that the shape of the tip, the o-give or curvature of the head and the body and the tail of the bullet are critical in maximizing the retained downrange energy. Another component is the twist rate of the rifle to shoot some of these bullets at heavier weights. For example the .243 Winchester needs a faster twist rate than say 1:10 to shoot bullets above 90 grains. Above 100 grains the data provided by Brian in his book Applied Ballistics as well as his other books and DVD’s on shooting that the Long Range enthusiast should purchase to develop the technical skills and know how. Ok so you go to the range and shoot your bullets through a chronograph. Lets take for example my .243 Winchester which shoots a 100 grain bullet through my Ruger American 1:10 twist at 2820 fps and is amazingly still stable. It has a G1 ballistic coefficient (BC) of .373.

Calculate your drop table: Using the website http://www.jbmballistics.com/  you can go to the ballistics page and click on trajectory. There you can enter all the specifications of your bullet, BC and speed, zero range, temperature, humidity, wind speed and angle and distances you wish to chart the bullet to and it’s incremental data points. I calculate that my 100 grain bullet when zeroed for 233 yards is going to shoot 2.7 inches high at 100 yards and drop to 3 inches low at around 273 yards which is my max point plank range. This is all based on accuracy of the data. Now you can shoot to verify the data by shooting at 2.7 inches high at 100 yards and then shoot at a range for 200 or 250 yards if possible to see that there is a match for the data in the output of the data table. At 150 yards you will be 2.9 inches high, at 200 yards you will still be high by 1.7 inches and at 250 yards you will be below the zero point by 1.1 inches. I do not have a capability to test shoot further than 200 yards so that data point of 1.7 inches high will be key to see and validate. This data validation will give you great confidence in the field when hunting.

Wind is a factor that can make or break your shot on long distance game. For example I can shoot out to 273 yards as MPBR – Max Point Blank Range but with a 10 mph wind at 90 degrees crosswind the bullet is off target by 7.4 inches. So you must account too for wind speed and direction. If the wind is blowing into your face, or from behind then the wind can often be discounted to a degree for its lateral effect on the placement of scope crosshairs. By experimenting with the ballistic software you can see the effects of wind on the bullet. Good Shooting!

© 2015

 

Global Warming Snow Blizzard #2

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Ok so I’ve done the driveway twice with the snow-blower and it is only 2:30 pm Feb 2nd 2015. This is the second snow storm in less than a week. In total dumping 4 feet of snow or more in that time frame. The outside temp is around 10 deg F and wind blew at around 16 miles per hour providing a wind chill of minus 8 degrees. In 30  minutes my ears and nose and fingers were so cold that I was forced to quit snow-blowing and warm up.

 

Time for hot chocolate and a good hunting or shooting book to read.