| Author | Message | ||
     Sifo |
I was going to order a .510 sizing die from Midway..$18.99. $40.00 with shipping! WTF? I sent them an email that I was a little pissed at the shipping for a less than 1 pound package and cancelled my shopping cart contents. That's odd. I just did an order with them January 11th and shipping was quite reasonable, considering it not only included an RCBS die, but also 700 rounds of bullets as well as some lightweight, but bulky stuff. Total "postage, handling and insurance" was $11.01. I guess it will pay to pay attention to everything these days given how fast things are happening. Midway has always been great to me in the past. I'll still going to consider them a first chance for my business, but if I see shipping like that... The canned response to your email isn't surprising, all considered. | ||
| Aesquire |
A buddy of mine took "Imperial" martial arts training. The style taught to Emperors of China as a last ditch defense when assassins had penetrated Imperial security. Close, lethal and nasty. "Tiger" style probably describes it best for martial arts movie fans. The last instructors in this style fled China with the Communist revolution and one ended up in Pennsylvania of all places. We sparred at half speed ( actually harder than full speed to do, but cuts down on killing each other ) and after gouging furrows in skin, half popping joints and generally hurting each other more than we really intended to.... we settled back for a beer and analysis. We determined that I'd be dead, he'd be crippled. ( note that we had both fought each other just minutes before in armor with rattan "swords" at full speed and power, and not nearly as much pain... Both had "killed" the other multiple times ) Real fights don't actually last as long as movie fights. Fights with weapons, especially swords, and experts, usually end with the first swing. There's a reason Samurai movies have the long psych build up before the draw & kill. Guns just increase the range. BTW, anyone here ever try a flintlock? The delay in ignition forces a calmness and stillness when shooting to have any accuracy. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
Midway has always been great to me in the past. I'll still going to consider them a first chance for my business, but if I see shipping like that... Same here. I've ordered many many times from them and even hit on free shipping once in a while. This time there was no option on shipping......UPS or you don't get it unless you pick it up at their store......./ | ||
| Sifo |
The delay in ignition forces a calmness and stillness when shooting to have any accuracy. That and the anticipation of powder flaring up in your eye. I haven't actually shot one, but it's hard to imagine hunting with one. I guess it beats pointy sticks though. | ||
| Aesquire |
Sifo, Really, it's cool. Wear safety glasses, ear plugs, etc. At the end of a long day shooting you may have some powder burns, but nothing horrible. Most folk use a black powder substitute today, since Black powder is hard to come by. ( rules about safe storage are a bit crazy ) Most foul just as fast, some smell better. All make big clouds of smoke & fire. How many shots fired in a day is depending on how often you are willing to clean the gun, and your recoil tolerance. As the barrel fouls, it gets harder, then impossible to load. There's a reason smokeless powder was developed. You can hunt just fine, the difference between a cap & ball rifle using a percussion cap and a flintlock is the uncertainty of ignition. Yes, you only get one shot. That's the challenge. Yes, it might not work right. That's a challenge too. Yes, it's a little silly to use primitive weapons to hunt game. Like Arrows. Or Shotguns. It would be much easier to just use modern weapons like Directional mines, thermal sighted robot miniguns, or drones with laser guided missiles. Kinda ruins the sporting aspect though.  | ||
| Nukeblue |
this just in... .300blk friggin rocks!! my buddy brought his new toy over sat. shot a few through off the deck into the ol dirt pile. a sota arms upper. "At 300 meters, 300 BLK has 16.7% more energy than 7.62x39mm. Max effective range, using M4 military standards for hit probability, is 440 meters for a 9 inch barrel, and 460 meters for a 16 inch barrel. 300 BLK from a 9 inch barrel has the same energy at the muzzle as a 14.5 inch barrel M4, and about 5% more energy at 440 meters - even though the barrel is much shorter" http://300aacblackout.com/ | ||
| Sifo |
Aesquire, I didn't mean to imply it wasn't a cool thing. Far from it. I have bow hunted, and have shot a black powder pistol. Both give appreciation for where things stand today. Taking a deer with a .308 is so much more straight forward. Still far from certain though. It's always been my understanding that a flintlock has a delay before firing. Is this what you mean by "uncertainty of ignition"? Seeing the cloud of smoke billow out toward the target is a pretty cool thing. Multiply that by many and you can imagine the intimidation of an army with these weapons back in the day. I still think when ranking weapons for hunting, a flint lock is only about 1 step better than a pointy stick. A big step perhaps, but what's in between? | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
but what's in between? Bow & arrow. Ask Dave Stueve. | ||
| Sifo |
I think most people would put a bow above the flint lock when it comes to deer hunting. State laws on hunting that I'm familiar with certainly do. The problem with a flint lock as I understand it is the delay between committing to the shot by pulling the trigger and the actual shot. Few weapons have that sort of delay. Even if the dear never moves, it make accurate shot placement much harder. If the sound and spark from the flint spook the dear... Well, as I said, I've never had the experience of shooting one, so I don't know it the dear might have a chance to avoid the shot or not. | ||
| Sifo |
I'm not sure which thread had the discussion of printing AR magazines, but here's some interesting info on it. It sounds like with current plastics, there is a bit of a heat problem, but they do in fact work. As a disposable piece, they would be no problem at all. Everything gets printed but the spring. The files for this and more are available at defcad.org. He actually encourages you do download and save/spread them. It's a whole new world out there. | ||
| Mnrider |
This whole ammo thing is getting crazy.At the store yesterday the ammo row was full of people looking at empty shelves. Well at least I found a Magpul angled foregrip for my 15-22  | ||
| Macbuell |
The Ammo thing really is crazy. Same thing with Magazines now. There aren't any anywhere. | ||
| Darth_villar |
With the massive quantity of "high capacity" mags now out in the hands of evil law abiding citizens, I fear simply banning them will not be enough. What we really need to make the magazine ban a success is "legal" searches and seizures of every home in the United States. Then, we will be safe. And if we aren't safe, perhaps we can lower "high capacity" to a safer number. On a side note, thanks for that 3D printer download! | ||
| Aesquire |
Darth, all you have to do is require, under penalty of law, that crazy people notify the authorities before going on a rampage. Perhaps all magazines should be restricted to the capacity the Secret Service uses? Sifo, It's the uncertainty of When & If the flintlock fires that makes shooting accurately a challenge. If you have the flint properly dressed, and at the right angle ( use either leather or lead to hold the flint to keep it from cracking ) ignition is almost all the time. The delay ranges from the same as a caplock to over a second. Sometimes longer. A buddy's Thompson Center Hawken .45 cal seems to work nicely with sabot & pistol bullets, ball ( cloth patch ), and Minie bullets. I haven't tried his yet with paper cartridges, but it seems a natural. Target shooting at 50 & 100 yards reveals pretty darn good accuracy. Easily "minute of paper plate" and pretty good at MY preferred accuracy test target, the 12 oz. Coke can. My reasoning is that such a can, empty, is a reactive target, giving good feedback. ( fun, too ) It is the proper size for a deer or coyote heart, small rodent, or "Q zone" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Theodore IMHO the accurate range you should limit your hunting to is the range you can consistently hit a pop can. Not, mind you, every time, but far more often than not, and under real world wind variables and shooting positions. IM not so HO, if you can hit a 5 inch match target at 300 yards from the bench, but only hit a pop can at 75 yards when using a handy rest, like a tree, standing or kneeling, You should limit your hunting to 75 yards, not 300. YMMV. BTW local county/state rules only allow bow, muzzle loaders, pistols and shotguns. In multiple somewhat overlapping seasons ) Not high powered rifles. A few counties south, a .338 Lapua is fine. So locals tend to multi weapon hunt. The irony is that actual testing of .300 magnums vs. deer slugs shows that if fired at a 45 deg angle, the .300 magnum certainly goes much further. ( a rare and usually stupid way to shoot, but we have hilly terrain, and stupid people ) But skipping along the ground, a .30 cal bullet tends to dig in and stop DRT, and the slug can skip along for over 400 yards. | ||
| Sifo |
"minute of paper plate"  I have to agree with your take on hunting range. Bench rest shooting and hunting are far from the same thing. Speaking of sabots, anyone have experience with these...  .223 slugs in a .30 cal sabot to shoot from your choice of .30 cal rifle. They claim over 4,000 FPS! | ||
| Aesquire |
Work great. There is an issue with plastic fouling, but a quick scrub with a brass brush and you're good. In a .308 or larger case, 4000 fps is attainable. ( but you can get that in a hot .22-250 or .220 Swift. Not to mention the .17's of various zip ) For the ultimate in sub caliber toys, they make a .50 BMG rifle that fits into the M1A1 Abrams Tank main gun. Uses the onboard targeting computer. I have heard of some great shots taken in Iraq with this rig. I wonder what THAT sounds like. Yeah, Minute of Paper Plate.  The shoulder/lung shot on deer sized critters requires a 6 inch accuracy. More or less... A good slug gun can do that out 50 yards easy and further, depending. My old Winchester SuperX 2 would drop Remington Buckhammers in a 4 inch circle at 100 yards, but send Brenkes into a 4 foot pattern. My Brother In Law's Browning was the opposite. ( I always assume the gun is more accurate than I am. When I'm wrong, I sell it. ) | ||
| Gregtonn |
Still have a few Remington .30-06 accelerators some place (4,100+ FPS). They work just fine and will pass entirely through a heavy walled boiler, including the center pipe. The thing with hyper-velocity bullets is that the smallest things can greatly deflect them, even raindrops. Remington also made them in .30-30. The problem was that many .30-30s have tubular magazines and, due to point-to-primer contact, recoil could set them off in the magazine. Ever notice that most .30-30 rounds have flat nosed bullets? G | ||
| Sifo |
I saw they made them for a 30-30. I was pretty shocked. You could shoot one at a time though. Even one in the magazine if you want. I don't think I would load the magazine full of them though. | ||
| Nukeblue |
sifo, if i'm not (and i may be) mistaken didn't they outlaw by some way those sabots? for some reason i'm thinkin they ceased to make those? i mean it's a trace-free round if you know what i'm sayin (Message edited by nuke-blue on January 28, 2013) | ||
| Aesquire |
It turns out that the CSI stuff is a bit over rated. The State of NY spent millions on a firing pin imprint tracking program, ( a good bit more gun specific than rifling ) and gave it up after not one crime was solved. For years. ( a very rare thing, giving up a useless government program. Rare indeed ) The rifling on a pistol bullet, usually 1000+ fps slower can, if you are lucky, tell you what brand of pistol, and sometimes if the bullet comes from one specific gun. But. The use of hammer forged barrels, polygonal rifling, and most important CNC machines, has made the difference between one gun and it's next down the line real hard to tell apart. In rifle bullets, it's even harder. I've spent hundreds of hours looking at metal bits under an optical comparator. At least the same using a proper lab microscope looking at micro cracks with white & UV illumination, and I've even had a chance to look at/through the local crime lab's bullet comparator. The amount of data you can get sometimes is impressive, but it's not a sure bet. Also, the politicians are so ignorant of reality they don't really know what a Sabot is.  | ||
| Just_ziptab |
Too much powder in the pan slows down a flint lock. The flash hole is just that....a flash hole,not a powder train to burn thru. If built properly and loaded properly,the flinters are barely discernible in ignition time from a percussion cap for the average shooter. Get a hold of a good one and you'll say "wow,that was fast"....  | ||
| Just_ziptab |
They make 50 BMG sabot rounds called the SLAP.........neart 5,000 fps! I got one around here that paid maybe $10.00 for it, years ago. Going rate today is $45.00 to $60.00 each!! Here is something more affordable  | ||
| Just_ziptab |
50 BMG... M33 ball on the left. 1985 Winchester SLAP,center 935 grain cast bullet,left  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Isn't lead fouling an issue with an unjacketed round from a high power rifle? | ||
| Sifo |
You typically need to reduce the bullet speed considerably from a jacketed bullet to reduce leading. A lot has to do with the specific alloy your bullets are cast with, but you can only do so much with a lead alloy. Even a jacketed bullet with the back of the bullet open can leave lead deposits in a high power rifle. | ||
| Sifo |
I'm not sure if this has been posted before or not. It's a short video on finishing an 80% lower receiver that will have no serial number. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
the mayhem you can create with old bike cross members in a 12x12 format; with a twelve gauge shot gun shell at the end of the tube. weld them together for best strength. when we were kids I used this set up for bottle rockets and pvc tubing bracing them on the inside of a old tire to keep the form, and absorb and shock - plus it made transportation easier. it was the test of concept for the 12 gauge metalstorm above. with the right gauge, length and firing mechanism (remote if need be) you just delivered up to 144 slugs/buckshot at the target(s) trust me - you are much safer with me with a gun I have a long and unsupervised youth of making things go boom | ||
| Blake |
Just ran across the Ruger SR556. Nice rifle! This gun shopping deal is fun. Sure is appealing to get rid of the dirty exhaust coming back into the receiver. | ||
| Blake |
>>> didn't they outlaw by some way those sabots (Remington Accelerators)? No evidence I can find that they were outlawed. No different from any shotgun round in not having rifling imprinting. Most likely, they just didn't sell or perform very well. Sure would be fun to put together a smoothbore scaled-down version of the 120mm sabot rounds used in the Abrams tanks' main gun. 6,000 FPS anyone? | ||
| Blake |
Just ran across the following: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/220009/remington- express-ammunition-30-06-springfield-accelerator-5 5-grain-pointed-soft-point-box-of-20#ReviewHeader |
