Point made!I'm welding up a receiver hitch for my travel trailer so I can double pull a small atv trailer behind it -- here are a few suggestions for trailer hitches (not like Im looking for though)
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just because someone did it and posted it on the net doesnt make it a smart idea to duplicate it if you have 1/2 a brain
Giving out Load Advice caution!
- Thread starter Randy Tidwell
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antelopedundee
Well-Known Member
OK, I'm not going to read this whole thread, as I've given up reloading but Randy's OP is spot on. One thing to remember is that there is a vast difference in how we old guys approached the world compared with the millennials now entering our sports. For example, if we read a news article, we generally read the whole thing, and the article is generally more or less accurate (OK, not NYT or WaPo but lots of others). The truth though is often buried in the third or fourth paragraph and it has been well shown that the younger folks don't read that far. That's why the headlines are so misleading; they count on many to not read the whole thing. So, many may also blow past the "this only works in my gun so work up slowly" part. All they see are the numbers.
If you REALLY care about measuring pressures, this is the solution. Get a few friends and buy it !
.300 Dakota
Well-Known Member
220 lb mulie went 5 yards in the midst of a fast trot @137 yards with the 120gr BT through the boiler room. 50% weight retention in the hide on the off side. 2.1x expansion. 150 lb whitetail 8pt inverted in his tracks at 90yds on a odd angle quartering shot, and yes, the does really "flip" for them! Many complete pass thru shots. From 2900 f/s through 3300 f/s muzzle velocity, I've had no failures or tracking adventures to date.
.300 Dakota
Well-Known Member
On the other hand, a guide used my 6.5x284 Savage LRH with 140gr Berger HSM loads a few years back to loan an elk client that nailed a 6x7 bull at 467 yards. Granted he put 3 rounds through it, but they were all complete and devastating pass thru shots, and the elk was dead in his tracks after the 1st shot. Never went but 3 steps the whole time. Maybe like with some of the Ballistic Tips, the jackets are thinner on some particular caliber weights than others?? I do know the 6.5 and 7mm 120s are awesome!
CTK
Well-Known Member
I shot several whitetail with the 140 Accubond Out of a 280ai. If memory serves me, likely 3100fps mv. Got a tiny entrance hole and tiny exit hole. The heart/lung area was always wrecked. Deer always ran 50 or so yards but were running dead.
.300 Dakota
Well-Known Member
Yes, the Accubonds were always very accurate and caused the demise of several whitetail for me in both 7mm and 300 SAUMs... but rarely did they exit, and as with your experience, they ALWAYS seemed to run between 20 and 100 yds after lethal hits generally clipping the heart. I found that annoying... My guide once expressed his disdain for the baseball sized wound following a particularly nasty Ballistic Tip exit, but I just grinned and asked if it would have helped his feelings to have tracked through the briers... I explained I didn't mind trading a 1/4 slab of deer ribs for the chance to NOT have to track and drag... lol! I've used Barnes TTSX at extreme speeds with extreme results, but have heard of lack of expansion at long range/low velocities. A good old fashioned Sierra ProHunter will generally suffice quite nicely, even at more extreme speeds, and Partitions give the best of both worlds...sometimes. They expand quickly and penetrate deeply, but WILL separate in extreme cases. In a perfect world, maybe I'd just use A-Frames and run them all at extreme speeds, but at $70 a box now and poor BC and the inability to shoot as accurately as other bullets in many rifles, I have found the perfect substitute when penetration, expansion, and accuracy have been required in unison. Maybe not so much in a x47, though you could (I've used them with devastating results on large boar in a Creedmoor), but any caliber that has a Woodleigh Weldcore made for it will ruin any animals day on the spot and if you seat them to just touch the lands like Bergers, they are every bit as accurate as Bergers or Ballistic Tips/Accubonds. They are also priced about 40% less than A-Frames and many Bergers now (just me or has anyone else noticed a box of Bergers venturing into the $80s to purchase lately??). BC is better than A-Frames in most cases. .509 for the 6.5 160gr off the top of my head. They are generally weight sorted closer to Speers than to Bergers, but if you sort through them and find same weight groups, you won't believe by looking at them that they could be as stupidly accurate as they are. Remember, seat them ON the lands. Exactly right ON the lands... They do wicked things and do them much cheaper than their closest American competitors! I'm a believer! You will be, too, if you give them a chance! You can generally find a load that shoots lights out in most every gun you know to be capable of good accuracy. They are usually very easy to get to group in good rifles.
CTK
Well-Known Member
Reminds me of a funny story my friend told me about an exchange with his Kodiak bear guide. Friend asked the guide if his 300 RUM was enough gun. The guide said yes and recommended some bonded Sierra bullet. He said that a 375 H&H would be another option. Said it was likely that he would have to shoot the bear twice. The 375 would knock the bear down thus facilitating a likely easy second shot. With the 300 said they would have to find the bear in the alders and put another one in him there. Believe that this is what my friend was told. Not sure of how often this scenario plays out. I do know that my friend bought a 375 for the hunt after the conversation. Looking for a wounded brown bear in the alders is the stuff of nightmares! I have never hunted a bear but have been in plenty of alder thickets with them.
.300 Dakota
Well-Known Member
Totally unrelated, but I just ordered/paid for a new Wilson prefit in heavy sporter, 26" 1:8 pre-fit for small shank in 6mm Remington. Wilson barrels are air-gaged like Douglas XX. My Dakota wears one of the Douglas barrels and is a 1/4" gun. Building it in a long action Axis. Interested to see how it turns out. I love saving money! If I can get a 1/4" gun in high-performance cartridge for $269 shipped, I'm in!! Will let you know how it turns out. I think he's about 4 - 6 weeks out on lead time.
CTK
Well-Known Member
I had a NULA in 260. It had a Wilson #1 barrel. The guy who bought it from me shot a 10 shot half inch ish group with it. I however could not shoot a 3/4 inch group with it due to my rookie reloading skills and inability to shoot a legit 5lb rifle from a bench. We will call it an expensive lesson learned. Very cool rifle. Just not for me
.300 Dakota
Well-Known Member
Barrett bought the rights from the remnants of NULA and designed the Fieldcraft. They advertised 5lbs 4oz, but my 25-06 (serial number in the 400s- one of first 500 made) weighed in at a hefty 6 lbs 3 ounces on my trigger pull scale. It took concentration even at that, but the Fieldcraft is a legit 1/2 MOA gun out of the box. No break-in recommended. I think maybe the prototypes were as advertised, but they had to add a little to the barrel channels, I think. The barrel is full-length bedded per NULA's design. My first 6.5x47L was custom made on a Mini Mark V (6-lug) varmint action and weighed 5 lbs 4 ounces. Even with a mild cartridge like that, you had to hold onto it when you pulled the trigger. That one had a Lilja barrel and I had to wrap it in 1/2" of tennis raquet grip tape to get 1 MOA out of it with my best load (ala sniper-style! lol.)lol!). (Yes, I've tried about everything... it actually took about 1/8" or so off the groups!) Builder used ancient equipment from an old railroad car in the desert. It hammered a few deer, though, with the 120 grain Ballistic Tips. I think my pet load in that one used a full case of H414. It only mustered 2927 f/s in that 22" barrel, but it was the most accurate load I found. LeverEvolution did well, also.
I have a NULA in 308 that I have now had about 15 years. Melvin is still making them and if I was younger I would buy a couple more before he retired. If I had known what a great rifle he made I could have bought one 40 years ago and never bought another gun. It is my go to hunting rifle for everything under 700 yards. It is a spectacularly accurate rifle and a fether to carry. Scoped with a Swaro Z5 3.5x18x44 BRX, with a full mag and sloing it weights 6 lbs 3 ounces.. It also shoots everything from 130 to 180 grains and multiple loads to very close to the same POI. I have one target that is 12 shots, 2 bullet weights, Barnes 130 and Hornady 150 and 4 loads with two different powders, 4895 and Varget at 2850 to 3150 fps and the whole group is just over an inch and a quarter. Never have I had another gun that would do even close to that.
.300 Dakota
Well-Known Member
Forbes is still making rifles? He sold his shop and equipment in Maine to Barrett in '16 or '17. They transported everything to Tennessee. Has he set up shop again?? I need to look into that! I know he was in a bad partnership up there and his partner(s) cared nothing about quality or customer service and ran Forbes Rifles in the ground. It was well known that if you found a Forbes rifle made in about 2014 or later, leave it be. Heck I wouldn't be surprised, and I think that's great!! Their fb page was dead and hadn't been posted on in a few years last I checked, but that was the old partnership. If you know a Web site or contact info, please share. I'm going to start Googling now!! Thanks!
