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Post by XTR on Jul 16, 2014 11:25:33 GMT -5
Just a question that occurred to me. I shoot F-Class competition so i spend a lot of time behind my other rifles, (based on my primer usage 3000 rounds or so in the last 12 months ) but I really don't get behind the SML very often, and when I do range sessions are long affairs with three or five shots total due to barrel heatup.
The reason I thought of this was thinking about my IMR4759 inventory and how long it might last. As a Duplex booster two pounds would probably last about forever. (at 10gr per shot that's 700 shots per pound). Other powders, considering my limited shooting, even at 70gr per shot that's still ~100 shots per pound. That's still going to last me a while after I get a load dialed.
So, how much do you shoot your SML?
Me, it's probably limited to about 25 or 30 rounds per yr getting dialed in for hunting season and load work.
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Post by 10ga on Jul 16, 2014 12:06:41 GMT -5
I really don't get behind the SML very often, and when I do range sessions are long affairs with three or five shots total due to barrel heatup. PM rossman and get some cool rods. Makes the shooting go much quicker. I have cool rods from him for 45 and 50 and shoot 2 guns when at the range. It keeps me alert and checking stuff often and helps keep all in order
So, how much do you shoot your SML? Me, it's probably limited to about 25 or 30 rounds per yr getting dialed in for hunting season and load work.
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Post by 03mossy on Jul 16, 2014 13:19:26 GMT -5
Not nearly as much as I'd like to!! As soon as the July heat gets past I am going to try and go to the range every Wednesday over my lunch break to get more load testing done.
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Post by Alabama on Jul 16, 2014 15:56:39 GMT -5
As much as I can. Which ain't much
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Post by XTR on Jul 16, 2014 16:27:55 GMT -5
My best "waiting for the gun to cool" story goes like this: Load testing last yr. Running the clock and waiting 20 min between shots, it was moderately cool outside, probably in the low 40s. I had on a close fitting fleece type hat pulled over my ears to keep them warm. Fired the third shot of the day.. KABOOM!!!! Holy mother of double charges, what did I blow up.... oh,forgot to put on my muffs  |
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Post by curt on Jul 16, 2014 16:48:40 GMT -5
My best "waiting for the gun to cool" story goes like this: Load testing last yr. Running the clock and waiting 20 min between shots, it was moderately cool outside, probably in the low 40s. I had on a close fitting fleece type hat pulled over my ears to keep them warm. Fired the third shot of the day.. KABOOM!!!! Holy mother of double charges, what did I blow up.... oh,forgot to put on my muffs Happen to me but turned out, I forgot to screw the brake back on after loading |
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Post by wilmsmeyer on Jul 16, 2014 17:52:00 GMT -5
6-7 years ago I would say 200-300 a year. Due to facsination, load development and just plain coolness of doing it. That has tapered of dramatically. 2 reasons:
1) I have good go-to loads that are foolproof and time tested
2) 3 years ago, our county went center fire
Now maybe 20-30 shots....2-3 of them being fired precisely into the heart lung region in our 1 weekend of ML season on doe hunts.
Great, great gun/system. Loved all the hard work in the early years of figuring things out and watching others do the same. Sub bases, wads, powders, techniques, head scratching, etc. For a long time, the .45 guys were doing the same thing after we .50 cal guys did it. And now, it seems all you have to do is get a .45 barrel from many different sources, get someone to install it, read this site, and go shoot. It seems all too easy for the newbies to be immediately rewarded and successful. And that's GREAT. What we all did...what RB and SW and Edge all did...and MANY others...was bring us to where we are today. The history and the development is nothing short of amazing.
This sport is totally not mainstream and is 99% unsupported by the major gun makers. It's so after-market and so unconventional in 99% of the shooter world. But it works and it has been relatively perfected by average Joe, Dick and Harry's. Well maybe a little above average.
I miss all the unknowns and the what ifs sometimes. But I treasure my ML and what I can do when it's time. I love the fact that you have guys like Richard still plodding along and putting in the range time week in and week out. Still looking for the diamond in the rough. Guys like Luke, Hillbill, Slufoot and many others that have picked up the baton and ran with it. RB would be very very impressed with what some here have done and are doing
This board could probably take all the credit for where we are today in this arena. There are a whole lot of great players spawned from the all-stars of the past.
Keep shooting!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2014 18:12:55 GMT -5
My guns? not much. other guys guns, quite a bit. I probably shoot mine 100 or so shots a year on average but the builds I do go through several cans of 4198 a year..
honestly they are a lot of fun to shoot but its gets pretty expensive quickly and range sessions are normally limited to less than 20 shots due to the ouch factor..
As Wilms said, advancements have come a long way. when I joined the board there had been very few Pacnors installed and everyone I hunt with thought I was crazy to spend 500.00 plus on a barrel, now they all have them on a savage or a custom 700 ML. Guess it kind of speaks for itself when they see you shoot a group at the range and then beg to have one built..LOL
Much of the leg work has been done on the normal .50 or .45 stuff and Wilms is right, its too easy now compared to what it was just a few short years ago. Im kind of jealous of how easy the new guys have it but Im also glad for them. SML life is more simple and safer for these guys...
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Post by Richard on Jul 16, 2014 20:12:34 GMT -5
I still get a "kick" out of shooting the ML...............To the tune of some 2,000 or so shots a year. I have actually backed off some recently as I got an AR with to uppers: 300 Blackout and the standard (18" Wilson SS Bull barrel) .223. So rather than shooting some 30 to 35 shots a week I may only shoot 15 or 20. What I like about the SML is the endless combinations (as Wilms stated: looking for the ultimate load) with so many powders and makes/weight bullets available. And, I don't think you will ever wear out the barrel!.............the breech plug? Yes! These pure tungsten bushings..........almost never. So, you get a lot of "bang for your bucks!".
Richard
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Post by smokelessindian84 on Jul 16, 2014 20:45:05 GMT -5
I still get a "kick" out of shooting the ML...............To the tune of some 2,000 or so shots a year. I have actually backed off some recently as I got an AR with to uppers: 300 Blackout and the standard (18" Wilson SS Bull barrel) .223. So rather than shooting some 30 to 35 shots a week I may only shoot 15 or 20. What I like about the SML is the endless combinations (as Wilms stated: looking for the ultimate load) with so many powders and makes/weight bullets available. And, I don't think you will ever wear out the barrel!.............the breech plug? Yes! These pure tungsten bushings..........almost never. So, you get a lot of "bang for your bucks!". Richard Richard those ARs are evil....... If you leave them in your safe too long unsupervised they will start to multiply. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2014 21:05:55 GMT -5
...not quite as much as Richard...  But Luke might disagree. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2014 21:15:27 GMT -5
that's my problem, I have 6 ARs begging to be shot and one ready to be built and I spend all my time on SMLs.. Guess I could be wasting my time playing golf or something?
Richard
I have 3 .223s plus another upper, then there is 2 6.8s and a barrel/bolt waiting to be built on another. then there is a .308 POF
I forgot about the Grendel upper
the 6.8s are my favorite though..
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Post by jims on Jul 16, 2014 21:51:27 GMT -5
I had enough of the M16
in the Army to really not want to buy a civilian clone of the same. I never did like the cleaning and malfunctions at times. I had a chance to buy a shorty M16 derivative years back for $800, I passed because of the aforementioned and the extra $200 transfer fee. I could have made money on that deal.
Now I have to admit I see some shooting groups with the same that I never thought possible out of the AR platform.
To answer the question asked however, I shoot a lot less than in the beginning with my smokeless MLS. Most are dialed in and I just shoot enough in the Fall to make sure they are still on deer target.
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Post by smokelessindian84 on Jul 16, 2014 22:21:51 GMT -5
Edit
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Post by airborneike on Jul 16, 2014 22:23:16 GMT -5
Bill, we can take up golf ball shooting! How long do think we would last on the course before the black helicopters would get us? :-)
When I was with the army, a lot, to maintain certification. For a time 1000 (7mm wildcat) and 600(6brx) yard benchrest kept the weekends full. Now? Very little. Once in a while when I finish a really nice centerfire rifle the wish to do more than test fire creeps in but just like most on this board, time is limited.
Maybe 30 shots a year with my ml’s just to verify zero, few more if playing with different powders or bullets. Smokeless muzzle loading has come a long ways and every time I install a Krieger or Brux onto a ml action it brings a smile because these “high end” barrels were once reserved for serious competition shooters and now they are pretty common on ml’s. It is a good evolution and speaks volumes about those who want to take this sport as far as they can.
The ar’s in my safe have a layer of dust on them too but a 30 grendel build did spark a round of shooting interest a while back and…it was indeed a shooter.
All the best
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Post by 7mmfreak on Jul 17, 2014 12:01:54 GMT -5
Last year I shot about 50 rounds thru my NULA while I waited on parts for a 700ML build. The few months I have been home this year have been spent behind a practical rifle for competition. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll be up and running making bullets and that should up my range time with the SML quite a lot. I also have to finish up testing the Thor bullets in the NULA so it can be sabotless
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Post by XTR on Jul 17, 2014 12:34:49 GMT -5
I learned something else two yrs ago when I got my 45-70s, and that is that going to the range during the week to shoot heavy recoiling big bores does not help one's 1000 yard F-TR scores on Sat and Sunday.
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Post by Richard on Jul 17, 2014 13:56:21 GMT -5
XTR...............for me, shooting the SML as much as I do is not fatiguing? It is shot from a controlled recoil custom lead sled (total weight of gun, shot bag and sled is 45 lbs.) which causes me no discomfort what so ever. It is just as tame as when I shoot my 6mmBRX 16 1/2 lb. bench gun in competition. I have gotten use to the 1 3/4 lb. trigger pull on the SML and the 1.5 oz. on the bench gun. Then again, I have/make the time once a week to go shoot with two good buddies at a premier facility.
Richard
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Post by superkirby on Jul 17, 2014 20:15:49 GMT -5
Not near enough. So far this summer my Pathfinder was totalled, managed a family vacation and am currently prepping for hopefully a promotion at work. I still have to get started on this winters firewood. All the while my short Encore/MGM is standing in the corner waiting for me to spend some time with it. I'm behind and feel guilty about it.
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Post by XTR on Jul 17, 2014 21:28:58 GMT -5
Richard, I've never gotten a sled. All my shooting is from rear bag and front rest or bipod.
What ruins me for completion shooting is the difference in the way you shoot them. Recoil control on a big torquing big bore is different, and the differences aren't conducive to hitting a 5" X-ring at 1000 yards.
Though I did bruise my shoulder up pretty good one session with my 45-70 pushing 350s fast. An 8 lb with scope rifle bucks pretty good when you launch a 350 at over 2000, but I'm sure the folks here know that.
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Post by cowhunter on Jul 18, 2014 11:42:37 GMT -5
Good posts by Wilms & Hillbill. What is an AR? AR-15? What can you hunt with that besides a coyote? The smokeless guns with bullet dies and endless combinations and amazing accuracy are the most intriguing and fun gun I ever ran into. Still I only shoot about 150 or 250 shots a year. I came onto the Board in 2011 just as some of the greats were leaving us, and just as the major transition to .45s and sabot less were occurring,
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Post by dans on Jul 18, 2014 13:57:30 GMT -5
I take David D's original 45 pacnor barreled Savage out before the deer season and fire a shot at 100 yards to make sure it is still shooting where I am looking. The rest of the season it is fired at a deer or shot out at the end of the day. So lets say 10 shots a year.
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Post by Dave W on Jul 18, 2014 22:53:08 GMT -5
In the past, somewhere between 500-1000 for several years. This year, less than 50.
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Post by hankinsrfls on Jul 18, 2014 22:57:55 GMT -5
I have shot my ML 79 times this year. Last year maybe 50 times total.. I do test fire several others each year maybe totaling another 50 shots or so..
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2014 23:33:25 GMT -5
Come on now Jeff, videos included...  ?? |
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Post by deadeer on Jul 19, 2014 0:13:21 GMT -5
The new-ness of something is what makes it exciting. I shot 8lb of H4198 the first year I got my Savage50. That equals about 8-900 shots at 65-70 gr. Then built a RemPac 45, 3-400 shots for 2 yrs (didn't take much to find that everything works good). Now a 45 PacNor for the original Sav50, so it will be some fast action starting this weekend. I recently got in on the blemished SST's, both 40 and 45cals, tons of sabots, a few K bullets altogether, about 25lbs of powder on hand, several bricks of primers, a smooth sizing die, and a soon to be 4yo son, so I am set for a long long time for us.
Jay
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Post by hankinsrfls on Jul 19, 2014 6:54:41 GMT -5
Come on now Jeff, videos included... ?? I didn't start keeping track of my shots till this year when I started the test for the primer module longevity. The other videos were done last year with a different rifle do I didn't count those either as I sold it as soon as I got it finished. I was only courting shots fired for this year.. I really don't shoot as much as you might think considering the amount of rifles I build in a year. I test fire each and every one for a 100 yard group and to sight in the scope if I install it. This rarely takes more than 6-8 shots as if the rifle shoots 1/2 group with the first three shots the the testing is done. |
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Post by herman on Jul 19, 2014 6:56:04 GMT -5
I remember one year,several years ago that I put 1500 rounds down range out of my 2 savage 50's,not counting other rifles that I set up for others.
One time I counted up how much 4759(this was before the plastic jugs came out)and it totaled up 15 lbs.Just one powder out of many powders I use in the savages.
Out of all the rifles I shoot the savage muzzle loader is my favorite whether shooting off bag or lead sled.
Richard ,Bill and I are at the range one day a week shooting.I usually take 4 0r 5 rifles with me to shoot each week.
I quit keeping account of firings several years ago but do log some new loads that I try if they are good so I can try again later.
Just got a bushing plug from arrowhead and am keeping a total of shots to see how much the hole increases.Have put 115 shots through it and hasn't increased at all.
If I set up one for someone they pay for the bullets,primer and powder.In mine it makes a good dent in the billfold just buying powder,bullets and primers to shoot a year.
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