Richard's tinkering also..................

[Richard]

In trying to keep things consistent, I made a modification to my lead sled along with the ML. The sled has been working very well for me along with the base I made to keep it on track and return to the same location after each shot. What bothered me was the fact the the forend had to get settled down into the front bag each time the rifle was removed, reloaded and placed back on the sled. So, in keeping with the benchrest fore mat, I built a three inch wide addition to the stock which allows the rifle to lay flat on the rest. Along with this, I installed a 3" wide benchrest bag on the sled. The oak block was attached to the forend via the sling swivel insert. When I built the rifle I made the insert fairly stout and put a 14x28 thread in it. The wood block was was then bedded to the forend so the single bolt holds it firmly in place and cannot shift. This allows the rifle to be put back in the sled and be level and right on my target. It is about as close to a "return to battery" set up as is possible with a rifle that has to be removed to be loaded.



The next little project involved a "mini" bullet starter for use with sabot less bullets. Here was was problem: to get a good tight fit in the bore of my .45, I would size the .451/.452 bullets down to .448" and then knurl up to .451" While this allowed the rifling to somewhat grab the bullet, it was not as tight as I would like. So, I more heavily knurled the bullets up to .452+". At this size, even with my short starter, getting the bullet to engrave the rifling was a chore. So, I came up the the idea to make a mini starter which would be hammered on to start the bullet into the rifling, then continue with my regular short starter and finally the ram rod. I already had the bore guide.....................the one I shot down to the 100 yard berm last week . So all I did was machine an aluminum piece that fit inside the guide and was hollowed out to fit the nose of my favorite bullet, the 200 gr. FTX. Not wanting to smash this aluminum piece, I needed a non-marring hammer. Just so happens I had a piece of nylon that I was able to cut a rectangle, thread and put a little handle on it. The insert is made so it cannot contact the bore/crown when the bullet seats. Now heavily knurled bullets can be engraved into the rifling with little effort. Gonna try it out tomorrow

[ET]

Richard

I always enjoy following others tinkering and the results they achieve.
Like your approach for a straight start on heavier knurled bullet. Having more bite with a larger diameter bullet knurl should prove interesting.
Look forward to reading your results tomorrow.


Ed

[whelenman]

You're just having too much fun there. Don't feel bad about about shooting the bore guide. It happens to the best of us. I admit it....last year my spire point bullet adapter for the ramrod came off and punched about a foot wide of my bullet at 165 yards. Surprisingly the bullet was only about a couple of inches wide right. I noticed that the sound wasn't right and then noticed I no longer had the adapter. I dug in the berm looking for it but to no avail. I'll always check my ramrod tip after this though.

Along the same lines as the forend adapter you made....here's one I made this past year for a Kimber SVT 22 rifle. I didn't like the fact that it didn't match up with the black and gray laminate so I bought this block of the same laminate. Now I need to machine it to fit the stock. I'd planned on bedding it like you did. I've made two of three of the adapters but didn't bed the others but planned on doing this one for solidity.

[Richard]

Whelenman..........That laminated block looks good. You should see all of Herman and Bill's (Bill is our friend that shoots with us every week) rifles. Not Herman's muzzle loader yet, but all their CF rifles (and they have a bunch) have 3" block on them. I have turned them into benchrest nuts! ;D

Now as to how my mini starter worked??? It worked just as planned! As a matter of fact, I set up my rifle with a bullet sticking out of the bore and the bore guide in place. I gave Herman my normal short (home made spin jag) starter and asked to see if he could start the bullet? Herman got on that thing and grunted a few times, but could not get it to go down the bore. Next, I put the mini seater in place and gave it a few raps with the nylon hammer to seat it; then gave Herman the short starter and he easily started it and then proceeded to ram it fully down the bore with my ram-rod. He said: "Man, that thing goes down and feel snug all the way to the bottom!" So, it does what it is supposed to do! Now, I still have to get all the bullets to the exact same diameter!
In anticipation of solving this dilemma, I ordered a knurling tool like the one Edge has. Hopefully, when this arrives and I get a crank made to turn the wheel, it will solve my problem.
Richard