Well, it got up to 34, so I bundled up and braved the elements today. I needed this outing as much for the restorative effect on the soul as to prove out the mechanics and break in the barrel, all of which were successful. I haven't shot in 3 1/2 months. In a phrase,
What a pussycat! With one of Ross' brakes, the slip on limbsaver and my DIY knockoff of Gunnut's Recoil-Less A2 stock, it was like my 6mm Remington bolt action pushing 55gr pills. No lie! That was while sending a 160-165gr bullets downrange at around 2775fps. Since I was loading just to break in the barrel, I wasn't pushing the speed up as far as it could go. To make the task a little less dull, I loaded both the Hornady 160gr FTX for the Marlin Express in half and 165gr Speed BTSP in the other half, ahead of 45gr of H4895. I also broke them up with four different primers. Accuracy was not benchrest grade as I was constantly stopping and cleaning and combined with the cold, it was distracting enough to keep me from finding my groove. Basically shoot 1 clean X8, shoot 2 clean X8 and shoot 3 clean x8. I had given the barrel a good JB Paste treatment before going out, so it was not much of a challenge to break in the stainless steel barrel. The only drawback from loading them a little slow was all 48 rounds short-stroked about 3/4 of an inch. That same load at normal temps should be fine. Also, I suspect there is a stiffening effect from cold on the lubricants and the springs. Me too.
I look forward to working up some effective loads for it this year. I've got numbers to crunch for now...
Hoot
Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 4:10 pm