A day at the range with Milsurps

[jh45gun]

Well it was 40 degrees out to day and sunny and not too windy. Took my Swede scout out and my Polish 44 Mosin and a old 7x75 I scoped and added one of the Advanced Tech bolts to it.

I just shot at 25 yards as I bore sighted the guns in looking through the barrel and only had  a box each of ammo. I box of 6.5x55 reloads using Remington Brass, 140 grain Hornady bullet, CCI 200 Primers and 32.3 grains of 3031. One 5 shot group measured 0.698 center to center and the other group 5 shot group was one hole that measured from edge to edge 0.410.  :grin: Needless to say I was satisfied with the reload and cannot wait to load more and shoot it at 100. I do need a different scope though on this one as the one I have mounted is a old Phantom pistol scope that as you can see works ok but it blacks out easy unless you stay really centered and it has a real small FOV only about 10 feet at a 100 yards. So it has to go. At least on this gun.  Next was my Mosin Pole 44 using Winchester factory FMJ 180 grain. Best group was 5 shots with 4 shots going 0.918 and a flyer to make it 1.201. Still I figured for a 44 Mosin this was really good considering what the groups were shooting open sights. The scout mount is crap as I was warned soft,  aluminum made the screws that go from side to side in the pin holes of the rear sight mount stripped and loosened up. I think a fix will be get a American bolt that goes all the way through and double nut it to put better tension on the mount and that way it cannot strip either. I do not think the set screws that level the mount will be a problem. So considering the mount was not tight and it still shot this good gives me promise that groups can get better than that with the mount rigid. Last gun was the 7x57 Spanish 93 which is a gun I put together from a barreled action that I had to replace the barrel with a other used one and a bolt was bought. Barrel/bolt Combo headspaced fine. I had did this a few years ago and did not shoot it much before but it showed promise at 25 yards with a peep sight I had installed. I needed a front sight though as teh one one was a temporary one just to see how it shot and instead of sweating on a front sight I figured this year I would drill and tap it and mount a scope. The scope is a old weaver 2.5 with the thick post  good for hunting but not that great for shooting tight groups so a couple of groups using Winchester factory round nose 175 grain bullets shot a 1.295  5 shot group. All in all I was satisfied expecially with the Swede and Looking forward to warmer weather. Got to get some more Swede brass and load up more than 20 at a time. Jim

[RaySendero]

Hi Jim,

I was also out shooting Saturday for the first time this year.

Got some interesting results developing a new load for my 8x57.  Seems the 2 brands of my cases have very different powder capacity!  Same load in one shoots higher than the other!  If you want I'll post the target and data when I can get a pic up loaded.

[kevin.303]

i was out yesterday to test my new .22, but shot some .303 as well. i found a sporting load that shoots real nice in SMLE. i had been buying the winchester loads because they where cheapest, but they never evne touched paper. with the Remington loads i was nailing Coke cans at 100 yards. but those stupid round nose bullets kept jamming when i tried to chamber them. they'd hit the feed ramp. i actually shot more then i ever expected to. coming home at dusk i could see a lot of deer on the side of the roads so i slowed down. a 16 year old girl behind me in an SUV just roared past, yapping on her cell phone and nailed one good. i pulled over to make sure she was all right. she was pretty shaken up and it turned out the deer wasn't dead, but badly messed up. both hind legs where broken and it's back would have been as well. poor critter was dragging it self around by it's front legs and making the most god awful noise i've ever heard.i had 5 rounds of old Imperial ammo i was saving for hunting and used 2 rounds. i missed the first time and the second time i got in the head. i would have walked right up to it but the snow in the ditch was knee deep. she started to cry att the sounds of the shots and asked " couldn't you have called the vet or something??" :roll: i stayed with her until her dad arrived and then i was on my way. that was my first deer. i even still had the tag in my wallet. it's no good anyomre but i can't bring myself to throw it out, it cost me $35.

[jh45gun]

Yea Ray Sounds good as I have a Turk with a excellent barrel and plan on reloading for it. Cast and jacketed. I had a Peep put on it so I can shoot it more accurately as Mauser sights are just too fine for me to shoot well. Got about a 100 rounds of brass so far.
Kevin, I have found with my 93 Spanish Mauser also roundnose seem to hang up easy when trying to feed them in the chamber. The bullets seated on the left side feed well but not the right side.  I do not think I have had that problem with my Turk. Jim

[kombi1976]

I've been there before, Kevin, although I've never had to shoot roadkill.
Had to finish of a roo with a big rock once though.
Wasn't nice, even though it has to be done.
Kinda leaves you with a hollow feeling inside.
I'm sure you know what I mean.  
There's no satisfaction, like when you're culling and plant one with a one shot kill, just finality and the consolation that it isn't suffering anymore.
I hope your next deer is more rewarding.  :wink:

[RaySendero]

Yea Ray Sounds good as I have a Turk with a excellent barrel and plan on reloading for it. Cast and jacketed. I had a Peep put on it so I can shoot it more accurately as Mauser sights are just too fine for me to shoot well. Got about a 100 rounds of brass so far.
 Jim

Ok here goes, but remember my 1939 VZ-24 is a large ring with excellent chamber strength.  As such I reload to just below 06 level pressures!  I don't know anything about how much pressure is safe in your Turk - So work up to these 52-53 grain maxs real slow!

I had some IMR-4350 on hand for loading my 270.  So thought I would try it on the heavier bullets in my 8x57.  Used Steve's pages to get a max load of 53 grains for a 200 grain Speer SP hot-core.   My rifle has a long throat so loaded them out to 3.23" OAL - that's about the longest I can get to work consistently thru magazine.

My normal "work-up loads" are 2 rounds each at 5 or 6 different powder charges that step up to the highest level.  Since I have two case types I would use one of each for the 2round at the same powder charge.  What I noticed while dropping the powder was that the level in these 2 rounds (ie. different cases) wasn't the same!  First time I'd run into this ever and it really through me off.  Dumped the charges and check then double checked my scale.  What I found was that my Winchester cases didn't have near the capacity of the Sellier & Bellot cases.

The win. cases I had bought new but had loaded and fired them twice in my rifle.  The S&B cases I had picked-up at the range and had loaded them once and fire them too.  Anyway, I could not even get the max. charge of 53 grains in the win. case while 53 grains fit in the S&Bs.

Here's the target I shot with them at 50 yards off bench.



The lines are 1" apart.  the 2 shots at the same powder charge have a line drawn between them.  The charge in noted on this line too.

Noticed how the groups "walked up" as the charge was increased.  Also notice how the upper shot at the same charge was always the winchester case.

Here are the measurements of the loads:

Charge, Vertical +- from POA Win. Case, same for S&B case, Difference between the cases

49, -0.5", -1.2", 0.7"
50,  0.6", -0.1", 0.7"
51,  2.1",  0.2", 1.9"
52,  2.2",  1.0", 1.2"
53,   n/a,  2.4",  n/a

They show the Win. cases shot on average 1.1" higher than the S&B with the same powder charge.

PS: This rifle has always walked heavier loads up on the targets.

[jh45gun]

Thanks for Posting Ray. The barrel and bore on my Turk is excellent and it headspaces perfect using a no go guage and has been checked out by the gunsmith I go to who is a Mauser fan. Since it is a 98 large ring with the Turks small ring barrel set up I would say it is strong enough. I never load to max anyway so I would be safe with your starting loads. Jim