The firearm thread

[Smokin]

yeah there spossed to be great for snipering things over long distance. ill have to try get my hands on one for a play at the range but i think i might be sold on theese so far

Honestly, After the first squeeze of the trigger it's bloody near impossible to wipe the smile off.

[far queue]

Had a beautiful Brno .22 bolt action, threaded for a sound moderator, that I'd fitted out with a 4x40 scope but some bastard burgled my house and stole it (but they never found the bolt or magazine). Great weapon - action like oiled glass, very reliable.

Ha, I had the same thing happen 20 years ago - Brno model 2, silencer, 4x40 - I'd been out spot lighting on Saturday night and it rained, so the rifle got wet. Sunday was nice and sunny, so I left the rifle sitting in the sun on the lounge floor with the bolt and magazine out, but lying right next to it. I went out for about an hour and left it there, when I got back I'd been burgled and lost all sorts of shit including the Brno, but the dumb fuck left the bolt and magazine behind. The good news was that the burgler was well known to the plods, and they recognised him shortly later by his car and stopped him for a chat. He had all sorts of shit in the back of his car, including my stereo, TV, and Brno, all of which I had the serials for. They actually caught him before I even knew I'd been burgled. So, I got my rifle back and learnt a lesson - don't leave your guns lying around unattended. I've still got that same Brno, last used about 2 weeks ago.

Certainly if you plan on shooting rabbits over 100m, you'll find your .17 much more suitable than a .22LR. Given the choice, I'd prefer a rifle in a 5mm centerfire varminting round throwing the same bullet weight as a .22LR downrange at an extra 1000fps over the .17, but if you have a chance to buy a good .17HMR rifle second-hand at a sharp price, you probably won't regret it. Cheaper to feed than a centerfire, but at about three times the price of the average .22, they're certainly not cheap to buy new.

One of the guys at Gun City was telling me he has a Brno model 2 that he's had rebarrelled to .17 calibre. He reckons it's a great weapon with superb accuracy.

[far queue]

I missed out on a couple of off-ticket pistols (ammo no longer available so I could legally buy them) including a pin-fire French pepperbox "fist pistol" (the "velo-dog" pistol with the folding trigger for "safe" storage in your trouser pocket...

This mention of the "Velo Dog" cartridge has got me thinking. I used to collect cartridges and have quite a few, including a few oddballs like the Velo Dog. But I moved on to other things, have done nothing with them for years, and have been meaning to do something about moving them on to another collector who would appreciate them. Any cartridge collectors out there ?

[Wolf]

Never tried a .17, I think some time I'll have to take a wander with someone who owns one to give it a test.

I liked the flat trajectory of my old .243. Was a real wrench selling it but I needed the money and the firearm was a luxury.

[pritch]

I missed out on a couple of off-ticket pistols (ammo no longer available so I could legally buy them) including a pin-fire French pepperbox "fist pistol" (the "velo-dog" pistol with the folding trigger for "safe" storage in your trouser pocket, close kin to the infamous "Apache" pistol that had a knuckle-duster grip and a small folding bayonet (more like a pocket knife). Seriously fucked off that I missed out on the fist pistol, that's one excellent collector's piece.

Ummm getting tricky there. The "ammo no longer available" used to apply but hasn't since the MSSA changes. Pinfire and earlier is OK, but anything centre or rim fire must be licenced.

There used to be some (ever so slight) anomalies such as .455 Webleys being off-ticket as "ammunition was no longer available" and at the same time the Webley MkV1 in .455 was an approved pistol for competition in this country.

I guess if you have the equipment, the skills, the patience, and are enough of a masochist, there is no such thing as "ammunition no longer available".

[Dai]

[QUOTE=pritch008;924831.....
I guess if you have the equipment, the skills, the patience, and are enough of a masochist, there is no such thing as "ammunition no longer available".[/QUOTE]

I am a prime example of this. I bought an 1861 Ballard carbine chambered for
.56 rimfire. This hasnt been made for about 90 years. I have just done a chamber cast and slugged the barrel. Got all the critical dimensions I need.

I am going to buy a length of brass rod and turn out 20-30 cases for this caliber.
As it is a rimfire and a single shot rifle I am going to machine the head of the case to take a .22 blank and drill s flash hole though to the powder.

Using Black Powder and a 350 gn head I should have this old beauty working again.

All it has taken is a bit of thinking and a lathe to remake this ammo.

[Wolf]

Ummm getting tricky there. The "ammo no longer available" used to apply but hasn't since the MSSA changes. Pinfire and earlier is OK, but anything centre or rim fire must be licenced.

...

I guess if you have the equipment, the skills, the patience, and are enough of a masochist, there is no such thing as "ammunition no longer available".

This was back in pre-MSSA days. The pistols concerned were both pinfire - one being the "velo-dog", can't recall what the other was.

Both were deemed off-ticket but I did encounter one bloke who reckonned it wouldn't be impossible for a competent hand-loader to manufacture a pinfire cartridge using centrefire cartridges.

If you're capable of manufacturing/machining your own tools, anything's possible.

The number of "wildcat" pistol rounds out there (mostly in the US) made from cut-down or renecked rifle cartridges attests to the inventiveness of people when it comes to ammunition (and presumably in making the firearms to take said wildcat rounds.)

[Dai]

Its not just ammo that one can make.

In this country it is perfectly legal for an individual to make their own firearm as long as they have the relevant licence for that style. ie A "B" cat for a pistol.

Once made they need to be stamped with a serial number and registered.

One of the people I shoot with made a .45 long barreled colt with a rifle stock. Just because he could.

All it takes is skill, equipment and materials.

[jrandom]

ive managed to get ahold of the importers factory in albany who recons he will do it for 495 with bag and ammo.... not bad aye

That's an awesome price.

Savage really do make the best bang-for-buck rifles out there. Quality-wise, I don't think there's much between them and Sako. I didn't realise they did a budget .17 as well.

Much cooler than a .22.

Hurry up and buy it so that I can cadge a play with it sometime

[Wolf]

In this country it is perfectly legal for an individual to make their own firearm as long as they have the relevant licence for that style. ie A "B" cat for a pistol.

I didn't know that.

But I think I'll pass - my gunsmithing has been limited to replacing a broken receiver, cutting the bayonet lugs off a couple of ex-military rifles, some reblueing and steaming the dents out of wooden stocks.

All it takes is skill, equipment and materials.

Ya see, fucked on all three counts.

[0arbreaka]

does anyone on here own a .17 just wanted to know the pros and cons of them compared to a .22

I was looking at getting one a while back and did quite a bit of research on it and I came over just a couple of cons.

The cons with the .17hmr cartridge are;
-The projectile is very succeptable to wind when shooting in winds about and over 5kts as it is a very lightweigth projectile.
-The .17hmr is not suitable for anything larger than a possum/hare, Ive heard stories of people trying to shoot a goat with it and having to spend the rest of their day searching for the wounded goat in which they failed to kill.

But other than it is very good, the .17hmr has had vast amounts of positive reviews as well.
Just make sure that you get yourself a decent scope for it, so you can use it to its full potential, a bipod also helps with those longer distance shots(but thats up to you)

[Dai]

I didn't know that.

But I think I'll pass - my gunsmithing has been limited to replacing a broken receiver, cutting the bayonet lugs off a couple of ex-military rifles, some reblueing and steaming the dents out of wooden stocks.


Ya see, fucked on all three counts.

A mate of mine brought in an experimental rifle in .505 Gibbs. Customs officer wanted to see the serial number. It didntr have one as my mate had made the rifle himself.

He took out a magic marker and wrote the numeral 1 on the breech.

Customs officer happy.

Rifle now in NZ and last I heard getting stocked.
.505Gibbs,
8000 ft/lbs of energy,
5 shot magazine.
bolt action that can be canged left to right at a whim.

Looking forward to the day I can have a go at firing this monster

[doc]

hey guys

i was looking today at buying a savage .17 riffle with a target barrell for shooting hares and rabbits at distances like 100-200 meteres.....

does anyone on here own a .17 just wanted to know the pros and cons of them compared to a .22.... so far all i know is there a higher volicity round shoot flatter and more acurate over long distance's but can be quite affected by wind...

any other info that anyone has with there experence with these rifiles would be great to hear about....

cheers

I'm interested in the same. I have a fetish for getting magpies at daybreak nothing better that starting the day with a magpie. My problem is they are getting more cunning, well more difficult with the .22 anyway , is the .17 a better choice over 100m up the top of trees with the wind higher and I don't need more noise so are they much quieter with a suppressor ? ( like I mean no more noisy than Hi vel .22) rural areas are being more populated by people who don't like the noise or smell of .45 hawken trying to hit a magpie at 60 m it's a lot more fun when you do hit one tho. Please only gun freaks reply I couldn't handle anymore red reps from the Green people. Ahh Nothin betta that the smell of blackpowder in the morning.

[Smokin]

They make quite a "crack" compared to a .22LR, I have no experiance with the suppressor but by all accounts they are quiet effective at removing a fair chunk of the initial "crack".

Sure as hell wouldn't want to be a magpie around one of these puppies.

[0arbreaka]

Like I said before, the projectile is very light and is very succeptable to winds, at a cross wind of about 5kts the projectile would be blown about 8 inches laterally. The .17hmr's average muzzle velocity is about 2550fps which as you can imagine is a large margine above the .22 muzzle velocity, this higher muzzle velocity would make it substantially harder to silence/supress, although i have seen one or two .17hmr's with silencers on them i dont know how effective they were.

EDIT: the sound barrier is at about 1100fps, so that puts it in perspective.