Monthly Archives: June 2015

Weatherby Factory Load Data

by Woodsbum

For several years I have been trying to dial in my .300 Wby to get the best accuracy and consistency out of it. For some reason the actual factory loads seem to shoot best, but they are REALLY expensive. To reduce cost and be able to recreate these loads I started do some searching on the factory load data to be able to load my own. There seemed to be absolutely nowhere to find this data online. Of course that was until I ran across someone on a forum that had scanned pages from some older book was given. It actually had all the Weatherby factory load data on 5 pages. All Weatherby calibers seem to be included from the .224 through the .460.

To make it easier for everyone here are those pages so you can also reload to factory ammunition specifications.

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 1

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 1

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 2

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 2

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 3

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 3

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 4

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 4

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 5

Weatherby Factory Load Data page 5

Normally I use either Winchester or CCI primers. I am not sure how much difference this will make overall, but it might necessitate the use of a chronograph to see if the muzzle velocity is any different between factory and what I reload. Oddly enough, I actually find it difficult to find Federal primers in the places I shop. This makes me wonder if it is a regional thing, but I have not really researched the topic of primes to ANY degree. I do like to shoot the 209 primers out of my starter gun though. It makes big bangs and startles people on the firing line……

After having found this data, I might take it upon me to search out the factory data on other brands such as Hornady Leverevolution line. Since they sell their own powder, I would think that data would be available somewhere. Many other companies just use bulk powder rather than canister powder that is sold to the general public. Either way, this data above is VERY nice to have and any other information I get will definitely be passed along as well.

The link I provided actually goes to the NIJ website’s training site. They provide all sorts of online resources and training for various different programs. Although I am not a LEO and don’t really care about a lot of the content on there, the training programs for firearms are actually quite useful to those reloading and wanting to learn more about firearms.

As always, be safe and have fun!!!!

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.50 BMG Ultra Long Range

by Woodsbum

It has been a long time coming, but I finally was able to get my .50 BMG Ultra Long Range rifle completely set up and ready for some range time. What I ended up getting was the following:

My ultimate goal is to get up this bad boy to shoot out past 1000 yards. I also picked up a Remington SPS Tactical in .308 to play around with and get back into long range shooting, but I will cover that rifle later on.

Here is my Noreen in all its awesomeness and glory.

Noreen ULR .50 BMG

Noreen ULR .50 BMG

Here are the statistics on it:

Caliber 50BMG
Operation Single Shot Bolt Action
Barrel Length 34”
Weight 32lbs.
Rifling 1-15
Stock Noreen, Collapsible
Pistol Grip A2
Sights NA
Magazine NA
Trigger Timney Adjustable
Muzzle Brake Noreen Design 1.25-12 Thread

The trigger is absolutely amazing. It is perfectly smooth, crisp and is just a little lighter than the 3.5 lbs trigger on my AR. Now comes the time for me to find some ammunition for it that is not $6-$8 per round. There are some remanufactured rounds for sale over at the local sporting goods store for around $4 a piece, but I am not sure how well those will work in this rifle. Noreen told me that military surplus does work, but I am kind of skeptical of using it. Having been in the military and spent 3 1/2 years with Marine infantry and tanks, I know how bad those rounds look. They are anything but shiny or undamaged.

This is another picture of my new setup.

My .50 BMG

My .50 BMG

What I truly love most about this setup is the scope. Until now, I have only messed around with Nightforce products in the sporting goods store. I took the scope out last weekend for a trip to the range on my Remington 700 SPS Tactical to see how it was to shoot, learn how to adjust the parallax on my scope correctly, and play around with the elevation and windage adjustments a bit. It is truly an amazing scope and if you have any way to save up for one, I highly recommend it. You can use the same scope on several firearms. Just figure out your zero for each one and write it down. Then you can swap between rifles by simply keeping those adjustments written down somewhere and the shoot a couple rounds to fine tune. Doing this will allow you to own $2k in optics for use on all your rifles rather than $600 optics on 5 different rifles. I am now a firm believer in this method.

Nightforce scope and Warne rings

Nightforce scope and Warne rings

Once I get my ammunition figured out and take this guy to the range, I will post some range pictures. It will probably be a month or two considering I am debating on whether to just load my own. This will require the purchase of a 50 BMG reloading kit, which I haven’t really budgeted for as of yet. I will keep you posted.

All said and done, I am really impressed by both the reviews and physically apparent craftsmanship of the equipment I purchased. The rifle is single action and definitely no frills, but it is well made and simple. There is nothing here to really break or wear out.

I hope you like this post and to repeat what I said previous, I will get you some range reports once I get ammunition figured out.

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Bear Spray

by Woodsbum

So many times I hear people talk about carrying bear spray versus a firearm when in a high predator area. Now, I agree with a lot of the research that bear spray is quite effective with regard to bears. It may or may not be the defensive weapon of choice. I do wonder how effective it is across the board with all predators and whether it should be a substitute for a gun or additional carry item.

Here are a few resources:

Shoot or Spray?
Living with Grizzlies
Using Bear Spray to Deter Mountain Lions
The Bear Necessities
WDFW Bear Spray Overview
MT FWP Effective Use of Bear Spray
Attacks by Cougar and Bear in US and Canada

Here are a couple observations that I gleamed from these resources:

  1. You are more likely to be killed by a bear, but attacked by a cougar.
  2. Attacks number higher overall (fatal and nonfatal) due to cougars.
  3. Bear spray works well on bears, but “MAY” help deter cougars.
  4. There is a huge push for bear spray for protection and guns have fallen out of favor.

In the articles, I can see how their scenarios play out better for use of bear spray. All the stories of attacks they use are close range charges where quick reaction and wide area of affect are the deciding factors in the encounter. There really was no mention of stalking or bears investigating your campsite. In those situations I have just fired a warning shot and the bear takes off. The same thing has worked for me with regard to cougars. Cats tend to stalk you and attack you from behind. They are ambush predators. The nice thing about cougars is that you can, a lot of times, smell them before you see them. There is definitely a musky, “death” smell for lack of better adjective when a cougar is around. This can help you out if you are being stalked.

No matter whether it be a bear or cougar that is messing with you, the statistics don’t cover a few things that the selected stories preach to support the author’s point of view. Each of the selected stories will lead you to believe that there is no time to think or react and you will be ambushed without warning. The reality is a bit different. Reality is that paying attention to detail, being extremely careful, and making sure to NOT be prey can give you some warning. It isn’t sure fire, but it is a start. This is a better approach than assuming you will be a victim. All about the situational awareness.

Now that I have ignored the anecdotal bedtime stories that support either spray or guns it is time to apply some common sense:

  • Bear spray works really well on bears.
  • Bear spray “may” help deter cougars.
  • Bears are VERY hard to kill.
  • Cougars are much easier to kill.
  • Bear spray holsters and quick draw options are available.
  • Pistol holsters are available in numerous quick draw options.
  • Guns can be used to signal in times of distress in a louder manner than a whistle. Bear spray can’t signal anything with the “pssssfffttt” sound it makes.
  • Guns can be used to feed myself in times of need. Bear spray just seasons the still alive menu item.
  • Guns are effective against 2 legged threats even when they are on drugs. Bear spray “may” deter a 2 legged threat.
  • Just the open carry of a gun “may” deter 2 legged threats. Bear spray is less likely. Studies on violent crime in cities supports this statement. If you wonder it’s veracity park a Maserati GranTurismo convertible full of gold on the street in South Chicago and see what wards off attacks best, guns or bear spray. I will stop by the hospital/morgue to check the bear spray results.

My personal opinion is that you should evaluate your situation and environment, then take the tools that will protect you in the best manner. No matter whether you choose bear spray, silly string or a S&W 500 each one has its uses and place. What I hope any reads took from this is that it doesn’t matter what you take. Just have great situational awareness, carry something to protect yourself, and don’t be negative because someone else chose something different.

Personally, I take a .44 mag or .357 in a cross draw configuration for quick access and a can of bear spray on a 550 cord “holster” in heavy bear areas. The extra weight I carry may just save my hind quarters……

Lastly, there was an incident in Alaska on Tuesday. It appears that someone stopped a charging bear with a pistol. The bear charged the guy from 20 yards away and was shot 5 times to stop it, then a final shot to finish it off. This is one of many pieces of anecdotal evidence that shows that firearms in the hands of someone trained will work to stop a charging bear. Ultimately, use what you want and are comfortable with as long as you are trained in its use.

Good luck and stay safe!!!

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Body Armor – Part 2

by Woodsbum

This is the second installment of my Body Armor series. Body Armor – Part 1 can be found here.

Body armor is a very odd thing for most civilians to have. There is even legislation presented to keep civilians from possessing any sort of armor. I find this quite disturbing considering the world that has been created for us to live in. On the weekends, I work as a bouncer at a bar and I am also a hunter’s education instructor. Both these activities present me with the distinct possibility of physical injury either at the hands of a disgruntled drunk (or violent socialist Canadian race baiter like last weekend – long story) or new shooter that just doesn’t have the motor skills to be completely safe. Either way body armor is a great way to ensure I at least am taking precautions against injury or death.

Finding the right body armor to fit your needs is difficult. As I presented in my first installment of the series, you need to find the right armor with the right fit at the right price. Setting up my plate armor was a very expensive process, but I did not want to spend that much on soft armor. Ultimately, my main criteria was as follows:

  • Must be concealable. I already have an outer wear body armor that is big, bulky and not that easy to hide. This armor needed to be lightweight and very easy to be overlooked in a crowd.
  • Was available at a reasonable price. I already have over $750 in my plate armor setup with all the pouches and accessories. This needed to be cheap and complete upon receipt.
  • Was not bulk in any fashion. Because I wanted something so concealable and hard to detect, all but the very expensive sets of Level IIIa armor were off the table. Level II seemed to be my best bet although it doesn’t stop all the pistol calibers. When thinking about it I didn’t think that the lack of coverage was worth the extra bulk and lack of concealment.

What I ended up with after a whole bunch of evaluation and weighing options was a set of police surplus armor from Bulletproofme.com. I did look at other sites and sources such as Body Armor Outlet and Bulletsafe. Their products are great, but I really needed to keep price down as much as possible and needed into a set that was going to fit without a whole lot of overlap. The guys at Bulletproofme did a great job of finding something that fit well, can easily be concealed, and isn’t cost restrictive.

This is the set I ended up with.

First Choice Level II armor

First Choice Level II armor

My only complaints are with the carrier color and the velcro straps that are supposed to hold it in place. These two straps are around 12 inches long or more so the front and back are not fully retained in place. The front seems to move separately from the back and thus end up bunching funny. This makes it quite uncomfortable to wear.

As for color, I prefer black or foliage colors. This can be fixed with money and/or time. The only thing that does need to be fixed sooner than later are the velcro straps that hold at the sides. I do have my mother making me a shorter and wider set of straps that will definitely hold the vest onto my frame much better. Here is a good look at the straps.

Velcro straps

Velcro straps

The meat of this vest are the ballistic inserts. These are definitely used, but luckily don’t have the normal funk smell that seriously used inserts have. I am not sure if they soaked them in Febreze or they just didn’t get that funky, but luckily they don’t smell.

Insert

Insert

The vest came with a trauma pad at the sternum. This is probably a good thing, although I find it interesting that the trauma pad is on the outside of the soft armor. I am not sure why this is the case, but I will go with it since that is how the instructions read.

Trauma pad

Trauma pad

Now many people will wonder why I went with police surplus that was about 10 years old. If you read this abstract some light might be shined upon why I chose surplus. I find it interesting that the only places I can find this article are fairly well buried or the original links are no longer valid. I can see how police departments will get rid of armor once the warranty period is expired, but this older armor seems to be still serviceable for those of us who will not be using it every day.

Now another tidbit of information is that First Choice Armor is no longer around. They ended up getting sued and shut down by a government law suit around 2013. The building is now an adult day care center. This does concern me a bit, but on the other hand this product was never named in the suit with regard to the use of Zylon and it was made after they discontinued the use of that product. What is even more interesting is that most soft armor manufacturers used Zylon in their vests from the 1990’s through 2005. At least I don’t have one of those that was recalled.

The way I am looking at it is as such: I bought a vest that is used and is not on a recall list anywhere. There is research from federal organizations that say that 10 and 11 year old armor functioned just as well as brand new armor. I don’t see why I should worry, especially since I am keeping it in my closet 99.9% of the time.

The next installment of my series of what and why I bought certain items will be completed once my new plates arrive in the mail. I ordered AR500 plates to increase the coverage of protection. My previous plates are only 12×10 where as the new ones are the extra large size (14×11).

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History Channel Series “Alone”

by Woodsbum

The History Channel Series “Alone” started last night. There are two guys from BushcraftUSA that are competing and did fairly well the first episode. I look forward to seeing how things end up for them.

Here is the BCUSA thread where they discuss the show and answer questions. RangerJoe is Joe from the show and dustinf is Dustin from the show. They are both great guys and I hope one of them won the $500k.

http://www.history.com/shows/alone/videos/and-so-it-begins

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