The firearm thread

[Smokin]

Missing the Easter bunny hunt again this year. Sorry Chaps and chapesses. But next year, I have to be back in NZ in time for it, wife to be says so.

We could have used your skills too mate, The rifle's played a big part in it this year with some long shots needed, The little buggers knew what guns were and didn't stop until out of range, they just didn't know we had 17Hmr's

[ManDownUnder]

Ok - time for a new toy. I have the HMR for the wee small stuff... I have the 270 WSM for the bigger stuff (deers)... and I have budget, the perfect excuse and a hankering, for a big bang behind a small fast pill... Goats would be typical victims although the odd Magpie or bunny might volunteer for impact testing at longer ranges.

Stainless synthetic, want to reload, want barrel wear to be as moderate as reasonably possible (for something throwing out the lead at 4000fps.. ish...).

Thoughts? Experiences? Scope recommendations?

[Monsterbishi]

Ok - time for a new toy. I have the HMR for the wee small stuff... I have the 270 WSM for the bigger stuff (deers)... and I have budget, the perfect excuse and a hankering, for a big bang behind a small fast pill... Goats would be typical victims although the odd Magpie or bunny might volunteer for impact testing at longer ranges.

Stainless synthetic, want to reload, want barrel wear to be as moderate as reasonably possible (for something throwing out the lead at 4000fps.. ish...).

Thoughts? Experiences? Scope recommendations?

22-250 is the popular pick, but the key thing to remember is that there is no such thing as reasonable barrel wear when the pills are leaving the barrel at 4000fps!

[Smokin]

Ok - time for a new toy. I have the HMR for the wee small stuff... I have the 270 WSM for the bigger stuff (deers)... and I have budget, the perfect excuse and a hankering, for a big bang behind a small fast pill... Goats would be typical victims although the odd Magpie or bunny might volunteer for impact testing at longer ranges.

Stainless synthetic, want to reload, want barrel wear to be as moderate as reasonably possible (for something throwing out the lead at 4000fps.. ish...).

Thoughts? Experiences? Scope recommendations?

How about a 222, Goats and wallaby's fall head over heals for them. cheap to run too.

[The Pastor]

go big, you wont regret it unless you want distance and speed :P

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/firearms/bigbore/444.asp

[Mr Merde]

Ok - time for a new toy. I have the HMR for the wee small stuff... I have the 270 WSM for the bigger stuff (deers)... and I have budget, the perfect excuse and a hankering, for a big bang behind a small fast pill... Goats would be typical victims although the odd Magpie or bunny might volunteer for impact testing at longer ranges.

Stainless synthetic, want to reload, want barrel wear to be as moderate as reasonably possible (for something throwing out the lead at 4000fps.. ish...).

Thoughts? Experiences? Scope recommendations?

25-06 good for all. about 3000fps. Accurate and light recoil

[ManDownUnder]

25-06 good for all. about 3000fps. Accurate and light recoil

I have to admit that crossed my mind but I forgot too look up the details... ta!

Edit - I see the projectiles are 85 grain upwards (to 130 I'd guess) making it a bit heavy for what I'm after. I'd love flat fast 50gr so the 204 works, but the 22-250 appeals for the variety of projectiles. That said the .223 falls nicely into that gap anyway and barrel life will be a lot higher. Aaa well - dreaming on. I have a while to think about them yet.

[Mr Merde]

I have to admit that crossed my mind but I forgot too look up the details... ta!

Edit - I see the projectiles are 85 grain upwards (to 130 I'd guess) making it a bit heavy for what I'm after. I'd love flat fast 50gr so the 204 works, but the 22-250 appeals for the variety of projectiles. That said the .223 falls nicely into that gap anyway and barrel life will be a lot higher. Aaa well - dreaming on. I have a while to think about them yet.

.223 would be nice but the 25-06 has a little more reach than that round.

At 85 grains you would be looking at 400-500 metre shots at bunnies.
Read a book on long range rifle shooting, last month, and the author raved about the 25-06 for distances up to 600 metres, and for game from prarie dogs to deer.

A good alrounder.

If you like you can borrow my .223 for a while to see if you like that round. Weatherby rifle with a 3-9 x 40 scope and bipod.


Chris

[ManDownUnder]

Heads up - ammo sale at Sportsways gun shed in Mt Eden... the table has lots of options on it. not sure how the price compares to normal but ringing first wouldn't hurt.

There seems to be a fair bit for sale.

[Delerium]

.223, milsurp ammo is so cheap that you wont need to reload

[geoffm]

Second 223. But you will want to reload - the milsurp stuff isn't so cheap any more and is usually FMJ - and accuracy sucks. My Remington 700 will shoot 0.5MOA no warries with reloads but twice that or worse with chinese FMJ.
Lots of cheap brass and projectiles for 223 as it is the cop ammo - so you can get 500 cases and bulk pack 55gr projectiles for sod all from Reloaders or Seriosu Shooters. I have some spares...

[Monsterbishi]

Second 223. But you will want to reload - the milsurp stuff isn't so cheap any more and is usually FMJ - and accuracy sucks. My Remington 700 will shoot 0.5MOA no worries with reloads but twice that or worse with Chinese FMJ.
Lots of cheap brass and projectiles for 223 as it is the cop ammo - so you can get 500 cases and bulk pack 55gr projectiles for sod all from Reloaders or Serious Shooters.

^^^ What he said

You can't get decent 5.56 milsurp ammo for love 'nor money these days.

Having said that, the bulk of my ammo is milsurp, being that my brass is FNH from a scrap dealer that I've de-crimped, my projectiles are 62gr SS109. 25gr of AR2206H gets them running at 2875fps, 23.5gr of BM1 spits them out at 2969FPS.

[P38]

Ok - time for a new toy. I have the HMR for the wee small stuff... I have the 270 WSM for the bigger stuff (deers)... and I have budget, the perfect excuse and a hankering, for a big bang behind a small fast pill... Goats would be typical victims although the odd Magpie or bunny might volunteer for impact testing at longer ranges.

Stainless synthetic, want to reload, want barrel wear to be as moderate as reasonably possible (for something throwing out the lead at 4000fps.. ish...).

Thoughts? Experiences? Scope recommendations?

Build a wildcat mate.

I built up a 250-303 a few years ago after reading how they were doing busting goats n bunnies and stuff in the Northern Territory.
It was a very easy conversion using an old SMLE 303 as a donor, replaced the original barrel with a 25 cal and reamed it out to suit the 303 case necked down to 25cal. A few minor mods to the magizine, topped it off with a 3-9x40 scope and we were in business. Nick Harvey provided some reloading data and after fire forming a few cases and adjusting the loads to suit we started to get some respectible 1/2moa groups. Sure gave them goats the hurry up. the benifit of using the 25cal is the enormous range of projectiles availible and combined with the case capacity of the 303 you can work up a wide range of loads for all sorts of situations.
Its fun building up your own rifle especially when you start making those awesome long range head shots.

Also built a bolt action 410 shotgun using a SMLE, worked well too, .... but thats another story

[Mr Merde]

Ballistics for the 25-06

Peruse and enjoy. Heavier bullets on next post.

Bullet Type & Weight Muzzle Velocity / Energy 100 Yard 200 Yards 300 Yards 400 Yards 500 Yards

75 Gr. Hollow Point	3700 / 2279	+0.88 / 3279 / 1790	+0.00 / 2885 / 1386	-5.08 / 2520 / 1057	-15.66 / 2186 / 796	-33.59 / 1885 / 592
87 Gr. Spire Point	3600 / 2503	+0.89 / 3267 / 2061	+0.00 / 2951 / 1682	-4.89 / 2653 / 1360	-14.76 / 2374 / 1089	-30.77 / 2117 / 865
90 Gr. Barnes X	3420 / 2337	+1.05 / 3116 / 1939	+0.00 / 2827 / 1596	-5.41 / 2553 / 1302	-16.18 / 2298 / 1055	-33.52 / 2061 / 849
100 Gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip	3350 / 2491	+1.08 / 3086 / 2115	+0.00 / 2835 / 1784	-5.41 / 2595 / 1495	-16.02 / 2368 / 1245	-32.79 / 2156 / 1032
100 Gr. Nosler Partition	3350 / 2491	+1.10 / 3076 / 2100	+0.00 / 2814 / 1758	-5.49 / 2565 / 1461	-16.30 / 2331 / 1207	-33.46 / 2113 / 991
100 Gr. Barnes X	3300 / 2418	+1.12 / 3055 / 2072	+0.00 / 2821 / 1766	-5.49 / 2596 / 1497	-16.17 / 2384 / 1262	-32.93 / 2184 / 1059
100 Gr. Spire Point	3400 / 2566	+1.06 / 3108 / 2145	+0.00 / 2831 / 1779	-5.40 / 2567 / 1463	-16.11 / 2321 / 1196	-33.25 / 2091 / 971

[Mr Merde]

Heavier bullets

100 Gr. Swift A-Frame	3400 / 2566	+1.10 / 3073 / 2097	+0.00 / 2765 / 1697	-5.67 / 2475 / 1359	-17.02 / 2206 / 1080	-35.56 / 1958 / 852
115 Gr. Nosler Partition	3190 / 2598	+1.28 / 2931 / 2193	+0.00 / 2684 / 1839	-6.13 / 2450 / 1532	-18.03 / 2230 / 1270	-36.94 / 2025 / 1047
115 Gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip	3190 / 2598	+1.25 / 2955 / 2229	+0.00 / 2729 / 1902	-5.92 / 2514 / 1613	-17.36 / 2310 / 1363	-35.28 / 2119 / 1146
115 Gr. Barnes X	3040 / 2359	+1.45 / 2811 / 2017	+0.00 / 2592 / 1715	-6.67 / 2384 / 1451	-19.40 / 2188 / 1222	-39.42 / 2004 / 1025
120 Gr. Speer Grand Slam	3080 / 2527	+1.51 / 2780 / 2059	+0.00 / 2498 / 1662	-7.10 / 2235 / 1331	-21.16 / 1993 / 1058	-44.04 / 1769 / 834
120 Gr. Nosler Partition	3090 / 2544	+1.41 / 2837 / 2144	+0.00 / 2596 / 1795	-6.60 / 2368 / 1494	-19.37 / 2155 / 1237	-39.69 / 1955 / 1018
120 Gr. BTSP	3100 / 2560	+1.38 / 2858 / 2176	+0.00 / 2627 / 1838	-6.45 / 2407 / 1544	-18.87 / 2201 / 1291	-38.48 / 2008 / 1074
120 Gr. Swift A-Frame	3100 / 2560	+1.41 / 2841 / 2150	+0.00 / 2594 / 1792	-6.61 / 2361 / 1485	-19.42 / 2143 / 1224	-39.87 / 1940 / 1003