Carolina Marksman's Blog

Jul 11, 2010, The Range and The ICA 2000

The Hornady LNL AP has been working for me like a champ, and finally today I was able to make it out to the range with an abundance of ammunition. I spent today at the pistol range only, the rifle line had a match going on. My gun club is fortunate enough to have 10 seperate pistol ranges, so finding an open one was not a challenge. I opted for the bay that has the plate machine.

The plate machine is a reactive steel target. It consists of 6 steel plates about 6" in diameter, and a mechanism to reset them from about 15 yards back. Mostly I use this target to work on my drawing and rapid fire techniques.

Since I carry a firearm concealed I find it necessary to be able to draw and fire my pistol quickly, and be on target every time. Today I spent my time doing just this. Draw, knock down 1 or 2 plates, and reholster. This is a good practice for anyone that carries a concealed handgun. You will be surprised how difficult it is to draw and fire quickly unless you have practiced the motion. I've done this routine many hundreds of times and am still finding that I stumble on the draw, or that when I shoot it isn't quite on target. Practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to marksmanship skills.

I've also got some news on the ICA 2000. I got in a few more of the parts I'll need. Now that I have the machined aluminum parts I can start acquiring the pieces that connect to them. This week I got a lead screw and some special nuts for it. This lead screw is what will raise the case into the work coil of the induction heater, then lower it again when the time is up.

Shoot straight,

Poe

Jul 6, 2010, The Hornady LNL AP

Over the past couple of weeks I happened to come across a fantastic deal on a very lightly used Hornady Lock-N-Load Auto Progressive reloading press. I snatched it up at a bargain price and now have it fully set up for reloading .40 S&W.

My first thoughts when I opened the press up was that it was very heavy. The over 2" ram adds a good bit of weight, and with it a great amount of strength. It is definitely a press built to last, no part of it looks weak.

The die head holds 5 dies total, each die is threaded into Hornady's unique Lock-N-Load bushing. These bushings allow the die settings to be retained indefinately and they allow lighting quick die changes. 1/16th of a turn and the die lifts right out. Unlike Lee's similay "Breech Lock" idea, these bushings seem to hold die settings solidly.

With the press came Hornady's case activated powder measure. It is a fairly standard design when compared to other brands like RCBS or Redding. Quality is good, and it throws consistent charges. It does appear to have a weak spot though, the powder canister is not held into the measures body with much resistance at all. One decent bump and you could have a half pound of powder on the floor.

Cycling thus far (I've loaded several hundred rounds on it) has been flawless. You do have to make sure that you fully seat the primer or the shell plate will bind up. When the ram lowers there is a spring that holds it off of full bottom, you must compress that spring and seat the primer at the same time. Feeling the primer bottom out is difficult to say the least.

Overall I am very satisfied with the purchase of the Hornady Lock-N-Load AP press. It has significantly improved the production rate of my pistol ammunition (I can easily load 50 rounds in 10-15 minutes). Make sure to fully cycle the ram if you pick one up, that's where you'll run into trouble with it.

Shoot Straight,

Poe

Jul 5, 2010, Back to work on the ICA 2000

I've got great news!!! I've gotten most of the machined aluminum parts I need for the prototype of the ICA 2000 in from the machinist. I can finally get back to work on what is by far my most popular project.

Jun 19, 2010, The NRA in hot water?

A recent hot topic among the news media has been that the NRA has cut a deal with our Democratic majority and gotten special treatment in "The Disclose Act" (HR 5175, a new regulation regarding campaign sponsoring). Although there does seem to be an exemption in the bill for the NRA, it was not to gain the NRA's support. It appears to me that the NRA was exempted to prevent the NRA from opposing the bill. Let me see if I can clear up how this works.

The NRA is sworn to protect our Second Amendment rights as it's sole task. In many circumstances this is best done by protecting our First Amendment rights, however, the NRA is not tasked with protecting the First Amendment. Consequently, so long as the NRA maintains the freedom to speak out for our freedoms it is not allowed (under it's own rules) to become involved in the muddy waters of other bills. The Democrats in power recognized this and therefore exempted the NRA from this bill to block it's opposition.

Jun 18, 2010, Links Page

Here are some links to my most frequented websites, these are the companies I know and trust.

Permalink -- click for full blog post "Links Page"

Jun 10, 2010, It's been a while...

My schedule has been running a little bit out of synch as of lately, so my posting here and working on the website has been slow lately. Things are turning around now though and I should be able to refocus on the site.

I mentioned in my last blog post that I was in need of a truck for ease of getting out to my new range. I'd been looking for a certain type of truck for a year prior, but joining the gun club made it clear that the need was eminent. Within a day of my last blog post I had found the exact truck I'd spent a year looking for. I've spent the last week or so inspecting it, buying it, starting to fix up the few minor things it needs, etc. Here's my "new" truck:



Buying a truck also means selling my car, which is a bit more complicated than I had thought. Hopefully within a week or two it will be gone though, and I'll be able to move on with my aspirations.

This truck should help me with more than just getting to the range, it also will allow me to finally begin teaching classes. One of my largest obstacles to setting up a course has been my inability to move the equipment needed all at once. Now that I have that ability I will be able to set up a class. This also means I can start hauling things to gun shows and selling them. All a plus for me personally and for The Carolina Marksman as a business.

May 28, 2010, My first shoot at 200 yards

Today was the first time I have been able to shoot my rifle out past 100 yards. A lot was learned, and it was a blast.

The trip out to The Palmetto Gun Club was fun in and of itself. The range is 2 miles down a dirt road, and it's all soft dirt. We got a little bit of rain on Sunday and the road was still muddy. I can't help but think of how the road crews must have been laughing to see me in my Honda Civic trying to get through the mud. Luckily I didn't get stuck (but I passed a 4X4 Jeep that did!). So, thing learned #1, I need to get a truck of some sort and fast. I've been in need of a truck for a while though, so this is just adding fuel to the fire.

Once I got out to the range I couldn't help but notice again how nice it is. I set my target up down on the 200 yard line and set to work. It was my first time shooting at 200 yards, so my groups are a little rough.

May 23, 2010, Another busy week...

I've spent the past several days doing many things for the Carolina Marksman including working on an article for bedding the action of a rifle. For this I went ahead and bedded the action of my Remington 700 into the new Bell and Carlson stock.

I have also expanded my gun collection a bit by ordering a fully custom barreled action from GA Precision. The 22" Bartlein barrel will be chambered in .260 Remington and paired with a Templar action (a Remington 700 clone). This rifle will allow me to experiment with several new reloading techniques including forming brass from one cartridge to another, and neck turning.

Also this week I had my first experience running a firing line on a range. I was the Range Safety Officer for Belt Training's CWP Class on Saturday. This was a good experience for me, I had no idea how nerve racking it would be. I'm looking forward to my next time as there are several things I would like to do differently.

After running the firing line for Belt Training I tried to go out to The Palmetto Gun Club to do some of my own shooting. It didn't quite work out as I had intended. We got a little bit of rain yesterday, and the road out to the range was completely flooded. I drive in a fairly low ground clearance Civic (I'm looking for a good truck), there was absolutely no way I was going to make the 2 miles down that dirt road. I will try again today, but am not terribly hopeful. There are construction crews doing roadwork on this road, they have been laying ROC for a couple of weeks now. Hopefully this problem will soon be a memory.

That's all for now, I'm going to head back out to the range. Shoot Straight,

Poe

May 19, 2010, The NRA Convention and more...

It's been quite a while since I've posted an update on here, I've been so busy with things.

The biggest thing to have happened recently was the NRA Conference in Charlotte. I was there from Friday thru Sunday and it was awesome. The main exhibit hall was absolutely huge (they said over 6 acres!). It took a full day and a half just to walk around to all of the booths. This show was mostly manufacturers coming together to show off their products, so I got to see a lot of new things. I also got to handle most of the new guns I am looking at as nearly all of the major manufacturers were present. Here's a look at a few pictures taken from the upper level of the convention center.

May 10, 2010, The Lee Factory Crimp Die and a Ladder Test

Lee Precision gets a bad name among competitive shooting circles, it is often undeserved. Some of their products are knock-offs, but they help get people on a budget into reloading. They make some very helpful and unique products too. One of the more controversial products is the Factory Crimp Die for rifles.

Crimp dies from all other brands make either a taper crimp or roll crimp. Lee's factory crimp die uses a collet to squeeze the case mouth directly inwards, into the bullet.

In a taper crimp (what would normally be used on rifle cases if they were crimped) the mouth of the case is angled inward towards the bullet. The bullet must have a cannelure or the taper will simply cut the jacket. Since this style crimp presses downward on the mouth, if it is not perfectly square to the body it may also add to total case runout. Neither of these things are good for accuracy.

The Factory Crimp Die overcomes both of these with the collet (pictured at right). Because the collet squeezes into the bullet, it does not need to angle the brass. Lee claims that their crimp die will form it's own groove, and it will, but I have found the best results from a fairly light crimp. I do not advise using a crimp heavy enough to deform your bullets. Also, because the collet is not activated until the case is fully in position and it does not press downward on the mouth, there is no chance of increasing runout. In my tests with the die the runout was within .0005" of the same before and after crimping.