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That will have to do for sight in for deer season.
Cutting it close as usual for the past few years, but I finally have my little .458 sighted in for the upcoming season. I had grand plans of getting things mostly dialed in back in August with a final tweak this month, but ran into a few snags.
Issue #1, my brass had two different case capacities. I was trying to figure out some random flyer and erratic velocity change issues and by chance happened to start weighing my cases. This lead to checking case capacity in water between my two distinct groupings of brass by weight. Apparently I made my brass from two different lots of Sig .300 WM and didnt catch it before. The lite brass is approximately 203gr (65.5gr H2O capacity) while the heavy brass is approximately 217gr (63.1gr H2O capacity). I had to rerun the loads through QL and start over with settling on a load. I decided to switch from a Speer 400gr to a Speer 350gr at this time since I am low on the 400gr, and now getting low on the 350gr.
Issue #2, split the laminate stock. While testing the new load options I was using two different powders with IMR 4227 in the heavy brass and W296 in the lite brass. I just wasnt having a good day at the range and was blaming myself for the crap groups, or so I thought. At that point I threw in a known load and let fly. It didnt hit anywhere near where it should have. That was when I noticed what looked like a split in the laminate on top behind the receiver. I packed up and called my dad on the way home (hands free in the truck) which resulted in a detour to my parents place. Upon removal from the stock we found multiple splits in the laminate including the portion behind the recoil lug being shoved back. Quick and dirty hopefully temp fix was done using a lot of super glue and a brass pin through the stock, followed by a proper bedding job (not the crap job Winchester did).
Issue #3, repair failed. The next weekend I went to the range with my dad and after a handful of rounds it seemed okay. After getting home I picked up the rifle and something just felt like it shifted. I couldnt duplicate it, but I felt it. Pulled the metal and sure enough what we were concerned about happened. Time for a trip back to my parents and drop off for a not as quick or dirty attempt to get it to last through to deer season. The area behind the recoil lug was milled out and replaced with a block of cherry wood. The brass pin was replaced with a cross bolt and another bedding job done.
Issue #4, repair failed. The next time I got it to the range things went okay, until they didnt. Things looked okay, but not ideal with the 4227 loads and I switched to the W296 loads. I noticed a huge POI shift with the first round, but was not completely unexpected due to some of the nature of this cartridges behavior, and the remaining rounds for that group and the two groups after all had the same shift compared to the 4227. At that point I threw the MagnetoSpeed on and started doing velocity checks. Knowing the chrono causes the POI to shift even higher I held really low. No new holes in the paper, or backer. Time to pack up again. After removing the metal again, I found the cherry split and shoved back behind the recoil lug. That was almost the end of my plans for hunting this season.
Solution, new stock. Another trip to my parents and another solution. My dad dug out an old black walnut blank he had laying around and figured he could get something workable before season. Here I am three weeks later with my rifle back home. Last weekend it was finished enough to take out to the range without too much worry about weather and this weekend it had enough oil and a coat or poly on it to protect it through the season. Over the winter he might want to get a better finish on it, but thats his call. Im thrilled with the results so far. Last weekend I took some test loads to find the one to sight in with, and today I got it as dialed in as im going to for this season.
Sig .300 WM brass cut down, CCI 250 primer, Speer 350gr FP, IMR 4227, and should be about 2100 FPS.
Issue #1, my brass had two different case capacities. I was trying to figure out some random flyer and erratic velocity change issues and by chance happened to start weighing my cases. This lead to checking case capacity in water between my two distinct groupings of brass by weight. Apparently I made my brass from two different lots of Sig .300 WM and didnt catch it before. The lite brass is approximately 203gr (65.5gr H2O capacity) while the heavy brass is approximately 217gr (63.1gr H2O capacity). I had to rerun the loads through QL and start over with settling on a load. I decided to switch from a Speer 400gr to a Speer 350gr at this time since I am low on the 400gr, and now getting low on the 350gr.
Issue #2, split the laminate stock. While testing the new load options I was using two different powders with IMR 4227 in the heavy brass and W296 in the lite brass. I just wasnt having a good day at the range and was blaming myself for the crap groups, or so I thought. At that point I threw in a known load and let fly. It didnt hit anywhere near where it should have. That was when I noticed what looked like a split in the laminate on top behind the receiver. I packed up and called my dad on the way home (hands free in the truck) which resulted in a detour to my parents place. Upon removal from the stock we found multiple splits in the laminate including the portion behind the recoil lug being shoved back. Quick and dirty hopefully temp fix was done using a lot of super glue and a brass pin through the stock, followed by a proper bedding job (not the crap job Winchester did).
Issue #3, repair failed. The next weekend I went to the range with my dad and after a handful of rounds it seemed okay. After getting home I picked up the rifle and something just felt like it shifted. I couldnt duplicate it, but I felt it. Pulled the metal and sure enough what we were concerned about happened. Time for a trip back to my parents and drop off for a not as quick or dirty attempt to get it to last through to deer season. The area behind the recoil lug was milled out and replaced with a block of cherry wood. The brass pin was replaced with a cross bolt and another bedding job done.
Issue #4, repair failed. The next time I got it to the range things went okay, until they didnt. Things looked okay, but not ideal with the 4227 loads and I switched to the W296 loads. I noticed a huge POI shift with the first round, but was not completely unexpected due to some of the nature of this cartridges behavior, and the remaining rounds for that group and the two groups after all had the same shift compared to the 4227. At that point I threw the MagnetoSpeed on and started doing velocity checks. Knowing the chrono causes the POI to shift even higher I held really low. No new holes in the paper, or backer. Time to pack up again. After removing the metal again, I found the cherry split and shoved back behind the recoil lug. That was almost the end of my plans for hunting this season.
Solution, new stock. Another trip to my parents and another solution. My dad dug out an old black walnut blank he had laying around and figured he could get something workable before season. Here I am three weeks later with my rifle back home. Last weekend it was finished enough to take out to the range without too much worry about weather and this weekend it had enough oil and a coat or poly on it to protect it through the season. Over the winter he might want to get a better finish on it, but thats his call. Im thrilled with the results so far. Last weekend I took some test loads to find the one to sight in with, and today I got it as dialed in as im going to for this season.
Sig .300 WM brass cut down, CCI 250 primer, Speer 350gr FP, IMR 4227, and should be about 2100 FPS.
Replies
That's a bunch of problem solving.
Stock looks great.
Good thing you caught all that before taking to the field.
Paul
I know he isnt satisfied with the finish, but it will do for the season. Im guessing that after the season is over he will ask me to bring it back by for some work. I think its great for what it is. It was a rushed job for a hunting rifle that will see rain and snow. The fact that it looks as good as it does in the time available is amazing to me. I wish I had half his skills and knowledge when it comes to rifle building. If time hadnt been an issue we would have made a proper stock that was fitted just right for me, but the factory one worked well enough so he just duplicated it.
I almost thought I was going to have to get my .350L set up for this year when it first broke.
Hopefully Speer starts making the 350gr and 400gr .458 bullets again so I can stock back up.
Just used the bathroom scale and it looks like the rifle also lost 1/2 pound going to a black walnut stock. It comes in at 8 pounds with the scope.
One of his previous professions was as a custom builder. Many years working for a shop since it wasn't legal to do from home in the city I grew up in. He pushed me to find a different career path if I ever planned on having a worthwhile income. I keep hoping for a work turndown so I have plenty of free time to spend working on a project with him to try again to learn some of his skills.
It has a Leupold 2-7x33 on it. I did have to replace the rings and bases since the front ring and base somehow wore out. It took no effort to rotate the ring into the base and had some slop when rotated into position. Now it has a set of Leupold PRW bases and rings on it.
.450bm, factory Black loading
6.5 Grendel, Nosler 142gr ABLR
I previously used it on a couple does with a 325gr FTX to less than stellar performance. Hopefully I get a chance to use the 350gr this season.
Last year I was using a Speer 400gr but topped out at 1800 fps with W296 with poor grouping. With IMR 4227 it would group well at about 1750 fps. I have limited supplies of those left and had more of the Speer 350gr. With a healthy charge of IMR 4227 they should be going right around 2100 fps. I can get them over 2200 FPS with W296, and I may try that combination again after season to see if it will group.
I have no grand vision of the Speer 350gr expanding as it has a minimum impact velocity of 1900 FPS and I will be below that by 100 yards. I am mainly counting on the diameter and flat point, even if its small, to get the job done as long as I do my part. The 400gr should have expanded at the velocities I could drive it based on what Speer claims.
"The Un-Tactical"
Based on the short shank of the Speer 350gr, and the Lee dies I am using I wonder if I am having some slight variation in how straight the bullets are seated in the case. Maybe a Hornady seating die would be a better option?
BUT- that was a sample size of 1. Plus, it was shot at about 65 yards.
Hopefully will have more data tomorrow
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
The Speer 350 gr seems to have tracked straight through. No tracking involved as it dropped on the spot, kicked 90* on the ground and that was it. The chest cavity was nothing but mush and blood.
I'm thrilled that this is my first deer season buck. I doubt I will ever top it on state land.