210 gr. XTP over the Hogdon charge of 22.5 gr. Lil'Gun when used in the 16¼" Bullberry barrel :

For 5 shots - 1872, 1845, 1871, 1863, 1837, avg 1858, ad 13, sd 16, for 1609 fpe at 7 yards. This is better than what I get from factory Winchester 200 gr. .35 Remington ammo in my 21" factory barrel. It probably doesn't carry as well as the .35 caliber bullet but it is usable without sight adjustment to 150 yards, shooting into just under 2" at that range from sitting position. My Rynite stocked Contender weighs just 5 lbs, scoped. For our area, this is one handy little deer gun!

BTW, these were taken in 50-55 degrees and correspond very closely (as I remember it) with the velocities taken on a 90 degree day.

I also took the .25-35 out with the load of 8 gr. SR4759 under the Remington 86 gr. JFP intended for the .25-20. Avg velocity/energy was 1191/268. Using the lower vertical leg of the duplex reticule as a post it went into a cloverleaf at 25 yards, on POA. This is exactly the use this load was intended for and I'll be making up more of them.

So, now I've got time to discuss recent events.

First, I thought I'd sit down with the 7mm TCU and form some more brass. Let me digress a bit and say that I like to have lots of ammo on hand. I don't know why, but I do. Anyway, I wanted to form some more brass for the 7mm TCU and after I ran the mil surp brass through the sizing die I needed to fireform it. Looking around on the bullet shelf revealed that I had 140 gr. Nosler BTs, 139 gr. Hornady FPs, 120 gr. Hornady VMAX (the replacement for the discontinued SSP) and a cast 140 gr. FPGC from Beartooth Bullets. Due to the shortness of the 7mm TCU neck, I don't think it is suitable for the cast bullet (I don't want the lubed bullet to extend into the body of the case or for the lube grooves to be exposed).

I decided to load up some of the 139 gr. Hornady FPs over 25 gr. of H4895. These bullets were intended and purchased for loading in my 7-30 Waters (also a Contender carbine) but I was not really excited by them in that cartridge and they were going to sit on the shelf if I didn't use them now. I had my Chrony along with me and these clocked an average of about 2000 fps from the 21" 7mm TCU. Now that's not moving very fast but it was accurate, giving 1-1¼ inch groups at 100 yards. Accuracy out to 150 yards was gratifying. So...

I wanted to see if I could speed it up to forecast velocities (the manual showed 2100+ fps in a 14" barrel!), so I loaded it over H335, a slightly slower powder which might do a bit better. Velocities with the H335 did get 2100+ fps but not plus by much! Mine must be a "slow barrel" as it gets only 2400 fps with 29.4 gr. H4895 and 2450 fps with 30.5 gr. H335 under the 120 gr. Hornady OR 130 gr. Sierra SSP bullet. Getting back to this particular load, the H335 charge didn't change accuracy one iota. I think this is a pretty good bullet, but I don't know in what application I'd use it. It gets a full 400 fps less in the TCU than in the Waters cartridge. I don't even know if it matters as I've run out of those bullets, don't plan on buying more and have moved on...

To the .30 Herrett (again). My base, standard, load is the 130 gr. Hornady SSP over 24 gr. of H4227. This exceeds the manual recommendation (but I've seen it elsewhere and in an older manual) so once again I can't accept any responsibility for your use of this data or application of this information. This load gets about 2200 fps from the 14" barrel with the Choate extension (now discontinued). It will give groups of about 1-1.5" at 100 yards. I understand that this bullet has also been discontinued by Hornady. It is hard for me to understand why. Perhaps somebody can explain this decision to me.

I thought that perhaps I might find a "varmint" load which I could substitute for my all purpose load using the SSP bullet when hunting groundhogs and coyotes. To that end I bought some Hornady 110 gr. VMAX. Looking over the various manuals, I came to the conclusion that 23 gr. H110 under this bullet would provide the best ballistic performance. The first test cases I loaded up to this level were primed with the CCI 200 primer.

I must digress again to say that while it is often recommended that one use Magnum primers with the ball powders, I've found that it is not necessary but also not always the best performer. However, the recommendation is not made lightly and it was true in this case!

Velocities ranged from 2490 to 2190 fps and the SD was 121! Clearly unacceptable, I thought to improve things by switching to the CCI 250 (a "magnum" primer) and adjusting my dies to give a stronger or tighter crimp. This did the trick! Not only did the average velocity come up but the SD dropped to the lower double digits. This had to bode well and it did. A 3 shot group at 100 yards (the target fell during the string) was less than 1" and cluster around the "X". I still don't know if Hornady intends for this bullet to replace the SSP, but at least I have a load for it.

I've also been messing about with the Leadheads PN30-149G .310" bullet. Using 5 gr. of Unique gave an average velocity of 892 fps and 12 gr. SR4759 gave 1320 fps. If I remember correctly, that's 245 and 575 fpe respectively. We're talking .32-20 power, suitable for small game and that is my intent. However, it is a bit more bullet weight than necessary so I was going to order a 115 gr. bullet from Beartooth Bullets but the on-line system would not work for me today. Oh well...

I need to get out and chronograph the .38-55 and .41 Remington Magnum loads. I hope to post the results and my comments on Tuesday.

Well, we've had two (2) storms since the last. So much for the every 18 years thing!!!! However, water never backed up despite all that Isabel and the next storm 3 days later... Plus, removing everything from the floor certainly helped.

I've been to the range and shot some to check some loads. I'm hoping I'll find time to do more than hit-and-run and provide some details. However, I've been disappointed with use of H322 in the 7mm TCU and the H110/Hornady .308 110 gr. VMAX combo. All I need is more time.

This year I've got several rifles of similar performance from which I must choose one (or two) to take hunting. We'll see.

Currently, early mourning dove, goose and squirrel seasons are in. No geese taken, 6 dove and I've not been squirrel hunting.

After many months of distractions, I finally got around to trying higher velocity loads for the 200 gr. Sierra MK in the .30 Herrett. No go. Still tumbled. Not that I really expected differently, but I had to try....

I've also been rereading past posts. I must say that I saw many typos and for that I apologize. I'm often in a hurry to produce my posts, but that is no excuse for poor performance on my part.

I also discovered that 8 gr. of IMR SR4759 is the ticket for the 86 gr. Remington SP (intended for the .25-20 cartridge) in the .25-35 Winchester. Shoots to POA at 50 yards when sighted for the 117 gr. RN load. Excellent. However, rain has prevented chronographing this load for the moment.

I've also gone back and redone my ammo shelf. The Rubbermaid shelf was not rated for and would not handle the weight I was putting on it. Severe sagging made it difficult to store the amount of ammo and brass I needed to put on the shelf. The replacement shelf is made using 2x4s and a product that simplifies assembly/construction from 2 x 4 Basics. I configured mine for 6 shelves, each of which will hold 4 .50 cal ammo cans + 1 .30 cal ammo can or some combination. Interestingly, the .50 cal cans are 7" wide and 2 .30 cal cans are 7¼". A small, USPS Priority Mail cube box is 7" on the side. This made for neat storage of ammo and "ready to ship" brass. Although you can't see it in the picture (which may not be posted yet), there is room on the back side of the shelf for a second can for any particular cartridge. All the cans are labeled on the latch handle and on the top of the can with the cartridge contained therein. Cans are stored with the largest caliber cartridges on the bottom shelf in caliber order (more or less).

One of the reasons I moved so quickly to do this is that recent torrential rains had caused a flash flood in my basement. This is where ALL my shooting stuff is (other than my library and gun safes). Fortunately, this did force my wife to get rid of a large amount of junk she'd been saving for a yard sale. Some of it had been through several yard sales with no takers. Junk, now wet and now gone. One can actually walk through the whole basement, not sidle through narrow passages...

Fortunately, I had prioritized moving my good stuff up vertically and none of it was touched by the water. This seems to happen about every 18 years, we may not be here for the next occurence.

Cat Sneeze Loads

I’ve been told that I should post here more often and in greater detail. I’d like to, but I do have interests other than shooting. Yes, it is a bit sacrilegious, but true. In any case I do have several shooting projects in the works and am constantly playing about and trying new things.

One of those shooting projects is the so-called cat sneeze or silent loads.

Well, what is a “silent load” or “cat sneeze” load

What are these loads good for? Well, for me, the utility of such loads is as a companion to my deer caliber guns that I can use for small game hunting, or pest removal, when a full-power load would be inappropriate.

What are the parameters of such loads? First, of course, seems to be the necessity of silence or as near to that as is possible. This is often the over-riding concern of those interested in such loads. Often, silence or quietness has preference over terminal performance.

Second, bullet weight could be lighter than normal for the cartridge to heavier than normal for the cartridge. Using the .30-30 Winchester (aka .30 Winchester Center Fire or WCF) as an example, 100 grain bullets on the light side and 180 grain bullets on the heavy side. Both extremes are acceptable but serve different purposes. That is the lighter bullets being used for small game and the heaviest possible bullets being used to maximize terminal performance at the low velocities attained in these loads.

That brings us to the third primary characteristic of these “silent loads” (also called cat sneeze loads) and that is small charges of relatively fast powders for velocities in the 500-1000 fps range. I’d like to point out that the smaller the charge, the lower the gas volume resulting in lower sound levels (and velocity) at the shot.

So now, the question no doubt is, “What guns have you developed loads for?” and, “Hobie, what are your loads?”

Let me try to answer that. I am currently primarily interested in such loads for my Contender carbine barrels. It is here that they will have the greatest possible use. Those cartridges include: .25-35 Winchester, 7mm TCU, 7-30 Waters, .30 Herrett, .30-30 Winchester, .357 Maximum, .35 Remington, .41 Remington Magnum, .44 Remington Magnum, and .45-70. These are the cartridges for which I have chambered barrels at this time. Yes, I do carry these deer hunting and yes, I do want to be able to take squirrel, turkey, rabbit, and certain feral animals if the opportunity presents itself.

As you might have noticed, hunting season of one kind or another has arrived. Doves, geese, and who knows what else (my mom's neighbor is running dogs on coons already during the "practice" season). Life is good. We've got plenty of rain and prospects of a good season all around. Please, be safe, watch where you're pointing that gun and check your backstop.

You might have noticed that sometimes you can get the pics and sometimes you can't. All I can say is that is the way it is. I've no explanation for it and I'm not happy about it. Some pics will sometimes show when others from the same directory/folder won't. Other times none show and usually, all will show. Don't know whats up with what on that.

This year I bought a TC Custom Shop 21" .25-35 Winchester barrel for my Contender. With the factory 117 gr. RN load (2150 fps)or the European version 6.5x52R (S&B, 2000 fps) it is a mild recoiling fun cartridge. Handloading can get "improved" performance if improved performance means higher velocity but I don't see it as necessary. I am loading the Hornady 117 gr. RN to 2250 fps and this load suits me fine.

Remington's 86 gr. ".25-20" bullet comes with 2 cannelures, the one closer to the base being correct for the .25-35 and giving the correct LOA. My goal is upper end .25-20 velocity or a bit more. I've tried 14, 13, 12 and 11 gr. of SR4759 but while accurate at 50 yards it is a bit "smokey". However, as I've said before, maybe that isn't important if I bother to clean the barrel! Today, I took out the loads with Rem. 86 gr. jacketed FP for the .25-20 and 10 gr. of IMR SR4759. Shazzam! Right on at 50 yards with the same sight setting as the 117 gr. for 100. Hooorah. I keep wanting to use this powder because of the high loading density.

Then... I had to try out some more of the 75 gr. VMAX burners. What do you know, I finally found out how to hold the duplex reticule for that load. As best as I can describe, I use the bottom of the top thick leg of the reticule, sort of like an inverted post reticule. Right on at 150, a little high at 100. Heck, these might even be usable!

BIG difference in recoil and muzzle blast between the two loads (not as though there is a lot of recoil in this cartridge).

I've been doing a lot of work with this cartridge. Funny, I never expected to. It is just a fun cartridge to work with and I really like it. Now, I've got a good small game load, a good big game load and a usable coyote load! I'm chuffed.

This is a test post after the recent changes.

I've been asked a lot of questions in my life. Everything from "How's it hanging?" to "Does this safety work?" (that was on a loaded M202 Flash!). Life can be pretty interesting. I thought I'd better record some of my answers to some of the questions I've answered on the net, so here goes...

What do you tell people when they find out you hunt?
I'm now married for the second time. My first wife did not like that I hunted, not so much because I was hunting but because I wasn't doing whatever she might have "needed" me to do. My second wife comes from a hunting and farming family. HOWEVER, the women (with one exception) don't hunt or even shoot. At least she's tried shooting and doesn't give me too much grief over the time spent. She will not knowingly eat anything but venison ("deer meat" where she comes from).

In between wives and before the first I did date and had some interesting experiences. Also, I used to get the same sort of response to revealing that I was a career infantryman as I did when I revealed I was a hunter. Sort of a "war for oil" type of response. In every situation I now respond with a BIG smile, the facts and just a hint of "try arguing with me, I know the answers" in my tone. Always keep the smile going!

To be frank, the only reason I give a crap what some of these mental midget, butter brained, swimmers of the shallow end of the gene pool think is that some actually get up on election day and go vote. Hence the big smile and ready facts to refute any misconceptions they might have.

Actually, I apply this approach to just about everything.

How did you get started with black powder?
Whoah, that's a question with a loooong answer. My interest in black powder (BP) shooting was initiated by the confluence of several factors. Those were my interest in history, particularly in the period 1700-1890, my interest in shooting, my interest in hunting, my parent's friends who shot BP (when BP wasn't cool) and my lack of interest in being cool. However, the availability of money kept me from participating with my own firearms until after I joined the US Army and had an income which could do a bit more than handle the few women in my life.

Soon after entering service I bought a Lyman .44 caliber Model 1858 Remington New Model Army revolver reproduction. I now know that it is mis-named and not all that accurate but it is well made, shoots accurately and has been a fun piece to have. That Christmas Dad gave me a Thompson Center Seneca, caliber .36. However, assignment to Korea and my subsequent marriage and assignments to California and back to Korea (for 3 years 9 months!) kinda put the lid on that interest. I did hunt and shoot some in California, but not nearly enough. After returning from Korea, transferring to the National Guard (after 8 years active duty) and moving "home" to the Shenandoah valley, eating was more a priority than more guns. Those guns I had were quickly turned to supplementing our protein supply. Shooting, hunting, and anything not directly in support of her interests was abhored by that first wife who quickly found somebody else, left me and the kids and discovered that her new husband (and father of the next 2 children) also hunted, fished and, well she's not married to him either, now!

My children and I moved on as well. We went fishing, I took them squirrel hunting with me and eventually I remarried. Now this lady at least supports me in my interests. So I soon had a .45 barrel for the Seneca so that I could deer hunt with the gun in Virginia. Then, I got a .54 New Englander. The Seneca and New Englander have both been very good to me and brought home a lot of good eats.

When my dad died he left me a bit of money. Before passing he told me that he wanted me to enjoy the money and not just put it in the family account (I will always put my family first). So, I took a portion of it and bought a Dixie Gun Works "Indian Gun" which is really just a Pedersoli 2nd Model (Short Land) Brown Bess Carbine. Sure fire, this gun is a lot of fun and a certain education.

Along the way, I've been tasked by many friends to help them with their BP guns due to my "extensive" knowledge. That has helped me to truly have a knowledge of the various BP (or should we now say "muzzleloading") firearms, how they work and their effectiveness.

After shooting the 75 gr. VMAX load some more yesterday, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in MY performance. Clearly, the load will group (albeit 6" or more too high to be usefull) sometimes shooting tight cloverleafs at 50 yards. However, I didn't seem to be up to the load having some very bad problems with trigger control and having many called flyers. Putting a single shot in the right place is easy enough but running strings of 5 shots inevitably resulted in the groups opening up from .5" for the first 3 to 1" or MORE with the remaining 2 shots. It got so bad that I got up and went brass scrounging for a while to clear my head.

It really seems that I'll have to be happy with the 117 gr. Hornady RN in this chambering. My only other alternative seems to be the 86 gr. Remington FP intended for the .25-20.

Now that bullet is interesting. It comes with 2 cannelures. The cannelure closest the nose is CLEARLY intended for the .25-20 cartridge but there is another cannelure about one-half a caliber from the base of the bullet. This works well for establishing a seating depth in the .25-35. Loading this bullet to about 2300 fps should be a mild recoiling, mild report, WACKER for groundhogs and coyotes.

I've no problems with the barrel itself. It isn't picking up a lot of fouling so it must be fairly well finished. This is a custom shop barrel, 21" long with the standard carbine taper and the high lustre finish. I've got a Swift 1.5-4.5x scope mounted in Weaver mounts on a Weaver base. This arrangement is satisfactory EXCEPT that it doesn't have enough range of adjustment to permit use of the above mentioned 75 gr. VMAX load which goes about 500-700 fps faster than the factory 117 gr. RN loads.

Other than this the only shooting related activities I've been involved in is reloading the .218 Bee (and I'm having problems finding another pound of L'ilGun) and polishing brass and packing that away for this winter's reloading festival.

Yesterday I went to the range to test the .25-35 load using CCI 200, 27 gr. BL-C(2) and the 117 gr. Hornady RN .257 bullet. I also shot some more of the load using CCI 200, 34 gr. BL-C(2) and the 75 gr. Hornady .257 VMAX as well as the factory S&B 6.5x52R for comparison of both trajectory with the sights set for the 117 gr. RN load and group sizes out to 150 yards.

Interestingly, the average velocity of the new load (.25-35/117 RN/27 BLC(2)/200) was 2282 fps for 1353 fpe. This is some 200 fps faster than the S&B 6.5x52R load and the sights had to be adjusted to bring the POI to just 2" high at 50. This put this load right on at 100. What is really interesting is that the S&B load is right on at 50 AND 100 with this sight setting! Must have something to do with the dwell time. The much faster .25-35/75 VMAX/34 BLC(2)/200 load (2832 fps for 1336 fpe) still impacts the target 6" higher at 50 yards and 4" higher at 150 (it didn't even hit the target backing at 100 so I couldn't measure how high it was there). Groups at 100 were 1½" for the 117 RN handload and 2-3" for the S&B factory load. The 117 RN handload fell into even tighter groups at 150 (maybe I was just holding better?) and the 75 gr. VMAX kept right up with it for grouping ability.

There is virtually no "kick" with these loads, generating about 4-4½ ft lbs recoil in this 6 lb rifle.

So much shooting to do and so little time! Sorry, but I've been so busy that shooting has taken a back seat for the time being. I've also got a huge backload in reloading and am now pushing through a lot of brass polishing (and counting into usable lot sizes).

One thing I've come up with a lot of is .30 Carbine brass. Now, how would that do out of a Contender carbine barrel with the Hornady 110 gr. VMAX going about 2000 fps?

I did pick up a Williams FPRS for the "Enfield" M1917 action (aka Remington M30). So in true gun crank style, I'm now looking for an action to build a rifle around the sight...

Well, the rain finally let up and I was able to get out for something other than groundhog control (not that I actually saw any groundhog as stupid as me standing out in the rain!) and got to the range.

Took the 4" S&W M629 to the range along with a bag of the Hornady swaged 240 gr. SWCs over 8 gr. of Unique. A little smokey but accurate at 25 yards. Most shots from the 5 cylinders full were in about a 4" group a little left of but on the same elevation as the X-ring on a 25 meter pistol slow-fire target. I was using a 6 o'clock hold at this range. Tried adjusting the sight but something isn't quite right (maybe it is me!) and the group only moved slightly to the right.

I also took the Makarov in the original 9x18 Soviet chambering and a couple of magazines of the Barnaul 95 gr. HP loading. This load seems to be the most satisfactory of the factory loads and is available from Dan's Ammo for $60 per 500 rounds. Doesn't pay to reload at those prices. On the same target (well, a new 25 meter pistol slow-fire target) all shots from the single magazine fired were in the bull with several in the X-Ring. This was also fired at 25 yards.

I was then going to go to the 50 yard range but Mr. Greene and his buddy as well as Dave Rhodes and a friend had showed up and I really didn't have time to wait my turn to set up a target at 50 and then at 100. So, I came home.

Unfortunately the forecast for the rest of the week is for rain. That's for the next 6 days!

I have quite a collection of brass and need to load the .22 Hornet and .218 Bee brass. I've been putting this off in order to do other things. I also have a bunch of brass to polish and pack away.

Today I took the .30 Herrett barrrel back to the range to try out the load with the 140 gr. Leadheads LFN. In reformed Winchester cases with CCI 200 primers and 12 gr. of IMR SR4759, these loads must have been cooking because they followed the 130 gr. Hornady SSP bullet load all the way out to almost 150 yards. Intended to be a "sub-load", these are in effect a good match to the 130 but in lead. Not what I had in mind at all. Back to the drawing board on this one.

I also still had a box of 20 of the sub-sonic 200 gr. Sierra MK loads. Now this would not stabilize the bullets before but must be just under the required speed because with the ambient air temp 10 degrees warmer a couple actually hit point on! Pushing this bullet as fast as it will go may provide a shootable load. However, I did play with these at 150 yards. While they were all over the place (and I recovered 2 from where the lay on the face of the dirt bank, after obviously striking side on) I did hit my 25 meter pistol target center twice at that range! Another interesting effect is that you can hear them "buzz" as they fly down range end over end!

Got to the fields too early in the afternoon for groundhogs (and it reach 80 today) so didn't see any for tagging with the Hornet. Perhaps we'll have a better day tomorrow.