Recent content by OF&B

Thank you Bryan, I've been working through the denial phase on a 1:8 twist 223 barrel for the 80 grain Amax. I had the barrel, and found reports on the net that the combination would transition. You can always find someone to tell you want to hear on the internet though. Started...

I'm in the honeymoon phase with my Magnetospeed. These are some pressure/velocity ladders I shot last week. The actual velocities were fit to a line to clean them up. Old 24" DPMS 1:9 barrel. 2.260" OAL, 2.280" to the lands with the 77 smk. Depending on the powder, ~2850 fps seemed to be...

The buffer retaining pin is holding the buffer too far back. It stops on the pin and the bolt carrier runs free the last little bit to battery. Either the hole is too far back or that HK416 part wasn't a great idea.

According to the SAAMI drawings, the 280 Remington headspace is 2.100" min, 2.110" max For the 280 Ackley Improved, SAAMI gives 2.140"" Min, 2.150" max. at the same 0.375" datum diameter. That's Forty thousandth's difference, not fourteen. 14 is within the range of typical maximum allowed...

I have the Frankford tumbler, the Thumblers Model B, and the Rebel 17. The Thumblers has a 15# capacity which includes the drum, water and 5# of pins. That leaves 2# for brass. 3# if you leave out some water. The Rebel 17 effectively doubled the Thumbler capacity from 2# to 4# of brass. The...

Bullets.com has Norma 270 wsm in stock and on sale, bought some a couple weeks ago and it's still there. If you're holding out for Winchester, it might be awhile longer. Backorders can work too. I backordered some 6XC from them and got it 6 weeks later. It never did appear on the web site.

The lower plate on mine is dished so only the outer edge of the case head makes contact, causing the rotation. The size of the holes in the top plate and it's height off the bottom plate also affect how positive the rotation is.

With the powder measure, as discussed above, there are powders that work and those that don't. It's something that needs to be considered when developing your loads. Ball, flake, and finer extruded powders work. By the time you get to Varget, not so much if you want to hold plus or minus a...

The best I can do these days is: Free Brass from the local cops $9/100 Hornady SP w/ cannelure - 9 cents each $35/100 Primers - 3.5 cents each $200/8# 4198, 21 grains/round - 7.5 cents each 20 cents/round for something that generally outperforms the white box stuff and has some terminal performance.

I used to make 300 whisper brass with a RCBS trim die in a Rockchucker mounted on an angle plate on my mill. The quill was locked in position and a 1/2" end mill was kept running above the die. Worked pretty good, but as mentioned above left a lot of brass everywhere. I think Dillon is up...

Stability is more length issue than weight, and 77s are generally shorter than 75s. 223 77s are generally a special class of bullets optimized for AR15 magazine lengths. Their ogives are limited to 0.500" (2.26" OAL - 1.76" case length = 0.500" ogive). 75s as a group are designed with BC in...

I have an old XP100 in 7br and its a great hunting pistol round. Won't throw the heavy for caliber bullets for long range use though. Just got done fire forming 200 6brx cases and was surprised at how accurate they where. If I had the option, I'd have probably stuck with the straight 6br. My...

77 smk transitions great in my experience.

I have a private range with a steel IDPA target that can be shot at from out to ~1200 yards. Our most popular shooting position was at 1060. The target is on a large steep hill that has rock/dirt mix surface that gives good splashes even when it is a little wet. I use a Leica 1600B for range...

When he gets through those, Hornady makes a 55 grain soft point with a cannelure for a similar price. It generally does a little better accuracy wise and has something that resembles terminal performance.