Recent content by Texis

I’ve had a Choate tactical on mine for 5 years. A bit bulky, heavy but they are very stiff and indestructible. Polymer over aluminum frame. They are available set up for the bottom bolt release, as mine also has. I took about 3/8” off the forearm width and it feels a bit less bulky. Stock...

I use a caliber diameter mandrel.. ie .284, .308 etc. run it through the brass, the brass will pop back .001-2. Start a bullet in it, put it in the rifle and use the bolt to seat it into jam. Extract it and measure accurately with an ojive bushings. I typically do 3 for each bullet type. Rarely...

Great setup! You can make extremely good rounds with that gear. I would add a mandrel setup and IMHO you’re done. Mine is similar, plus Whidden bushing set for measurements and a mandrel die. I can commonly achieve single digit SDs, and sub .5 MOA. BTW trickle and weight EVERY charge for the...

Works very well in 708, likes magnum primers. Meters great. Building a 280AI and curious to see how it does in that caliber.

Btw on prep, for me… every piece is FL sized, primer pocket prepped, mandrel ID sized, OAL and head space checked.

Develop your loads for each type brass separately, they will be different. NATO stuff has less volume. They will go different fps, POI will shift, they will have different SDs. Work up slowly. I’ve had good luck with a lot of different brass. I like LC, Winchester, Hornady, Federal and PPU...

These prices are the new normal, I’ll pay lol! And I’ll take higher prices over empty shelves any day 👍

Sorry if I wasn’t clear. I’ll attempt to address the effects of twist rate and bullet weight in 7mm relating to terminal performance at longer distances. 708-280-7RM-7PRC-280Nosler are all effected in a similar manner to specific twist rates with specific bullet weights. Light bullets need...

For my application the 180+ will be great for long range steel playing

I ordered the 1:8 on my current, in progress build because I wanted options, and the general consensus was it won’t hurt you on lighter bullets 🤷🏻‍♂️ As most of my shooting will be 160-168gr, and also want to try some lighter stuff, hope the consensus was right! 🤞I’ll know if I screwed up soon...

Thanks… You are correct, it is a ball powder, not a flake, but it looks more like little fat pancakes that is does a round ball 😂 meters great. My best load used CCI #34 NATO primers.

6.5 StaBAL is not unlike BLC-2, (flake) which is a common military powder spec. The 7.62x51 (308) M80 and M118 loads use a magnum primer to insure complete, reliable ignition of the flake.

Agree. I’ve owned 2 and the Shilen button rifles barrels will out shoot 95% of the people that own them and the factory loads they stick in them. For non F class competition rifles. I.e. hunting rifles… put your money elsewhere.

I looked up my loads, for what it’s worth… 47gr 6.5 with a magnum primer in PPU brass and 140s put me in the low 2900s. Same load with Alpha brass was high 2800s. BTW 6.5 StaBAL likes magnum primers.

I put 720 rounds down my last 708 26” barrel… hand loaded every round, you’re pretty warm, I touched 3000 fps on a few loads. The rifle shot the best between 2875-2925 with 140VLDs .010-.012 off jam. I found 6.5 StaBAL to work the best, Varget was really slow in my 708.. perfect in my 308. I...