Recent content by Kevin Thomas

Depended on the caliber, of course, but the accuracy standard was generally 1.250" for ten rounds at 200 yds. That varied, of course, on the customer's request when it came to OEM orders. Some specified fewer rounds at shorter distances, some more rounds at longer. Lake City, for example was ten...

There's some names I haven't heard in a while! I had a 6.5-06 1,000 yard gun that I bought from Martin when he retired. It was built by Elmer, who did a lot of his guns. Somewhere, I still have at least two Redfield International sights that were worked over by Bill Stratmann. Glad I stopped...

Pardon my joining the party late, but this one deserved an answer; it's a most emphatic YES! Bullet weight plays a significant role in barrel life, with heavier bullets being harder by far on the barrels. Case capacity, velocity, pressures and so on certainly play a part in the equation, but...

Dgarrett, If it makes you feel any better, snipers average something around 1.3-1.7 rounds per kill, depending on where you get your figures from. Our SDMs are probably up there fairly high as well. Some years back, some congressional weenie tried to get an investigation going concerning war...

The whole thing had been teetering on the fence fro so long it was beginning to sound like a punchline; "how do you keep an anxious handloader in suspense?" Glad they got everything hammered out, and the approval from the French authorities for the sale is pending, and should sail through...

mrbofus, No, it won't hurt a thing. May not be the most comfortable place to load, but you'll be okay. Cold ammo will perform a bit differently, but that's simply because the powder is cold when you fire it, not because it was cold when you loaded it. Heat is another matter, when it...

It's official; after being in a state of limbo for some time, the official announcement has been made that Nammo Lapua Oy has purchased VihtaVuori powder from Eurenco of France. VihtaVuori powder will remain in production, and continue to be available through the usual sources. This ends some...

You're already there. Varget is an excellent powder for these bullet weights (150 to 175s, and even beyond), and you'll probably have a harder time working up an inaccurate load than an accurate one. Assemble them straight, with minimal run out and decent neck tension and you should be good to go!

kwh, A few things about terminology here; ARs are, and were built up as military weapons, and 3 MOA is what's required for accuracy from both gun and ammunition. So yes, there's a huge amount of variation out there in ammo and what's considered "acceptable." On the flip side, the AR design...

I'm a bit surprised that no one has mentioned this so far, but in my experience, one of the primary factors that goes into the faster destruction of a barrel is bullet weight. Simply put, heavier bullets are harder than lighter bullets, other factors being equal. The reason for this seems pretty...

Absolutely THE slickest way to trim cases was how Jim Hull (my predecessor and mentor from Sierra) did it; he set up one of our jacket trimmers to do cases. Had a bunch of 222 or 223 cases that he wanted as 221 FB cases, ran them all through the form die to set the new shoulder, and then trimmed...

Trophyhusband, Basic fact of life here; reloading manuals stay the same once they're printed, frozen in time the date they leave the printer. Bullet lines change and evolve constantly, sometimes obviously and others strictly behind the scenes. In this case, it sounds as though Nosler added...

Sidecar, Your post goes right back to the OPs original question, in that you mention the WFT (really hard not to type ***?, isn't it?) keeps lengths to within .003". For the OP, yes, variance like this is fine, and no problem at all. As I said before, it's a safety measure, and you're just...

rooster721, The Wilson is probably the #1 trimmer in terms of precision and uniformity, but there's some other things to consider as well. Trimming is a safety operation, to ensure that you're not "crimping" a bullet in place via a too long case imposing on the throat. Precision isn't really...

Sidecar, shoot me a PM if you need to. Sounds like you got an old box, but I think we've got it taken care of now in the newer ones. KT