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October 17th, 2007
Based on reports from Quantcast, the AccurateShooter Daily Bulletin reaches nearly 36,000 unique readers worldwide every month. Many of our readers have asked how they can help support the site. First, we are always looking for good videos and interesting news items to put in our Bulletin and BLOG. Send your info and video clips to mailbox [@] 6mmBR.com. Keep Video clips under 4 megabytes if possible. Video clips can be edited using the Windows “MovieMaker” software that’s probably already on your computer.
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If you don’t wish to use the PayPal system, we also accept checks sent via the U.S. Mail. Jason Baney handles the mailed-in contributions. Please include a short note with your name and Forum “nickname” (if any). Make the check payable to “Jason Baney” and mail your check to:
Jason Baney
P.O. Box 308
Douglassville, PA 19518
October 16th, 2007
People have already started asking about the U.S. Optics scope on Rob Hunter’s “BriTactical” rifle featured as the current Gun of the Week. This is no ordinary optic. It is a special “supersized” version of U.S. Optics SN3 T-PAL series, custom-built for Robert. The SN3 is offered with 30mm, 34mm, or 35mm main tubes. This is the big boy, 35mm, with matching U.S. Optics anodized rings. The front objective is upsized from the standard 44mm to a whopping 58mm. This provides enhanced low-light and twilight performance. The reticle is U.S. Optics’ own Mil Scale, allowing Robert to range-find targets reliably to 1000 yards and beyond. This is very critical because Robert will be using the scope in a Police/Military competition where he must engage multiple targets at unknown distances–and no laser rangefinders are allowed.
The big knob on top is one of U.S. Optics’ signature features. This is the EREK elevation turret. It allows Robert to run through his entire range of 1/4-MOA clicks in just two turns. If that’s not handy enough, a one-turn EREK knob is also available, but with wider click values. Like most U.S. Optics scopes, this unit is ruggedized and highly weatherproof. It features an illuminated reticle, handy side-focus parallax adjustment, and beefy metal construction. How much does one of these 5-25 power SN3 T-PALs cost? Well if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. Complete, with all the upgrades, the scope costs over $2800.00.
October 16th, 2007
 When neck-turning cases, it’s a good idea to extend the cut slightly below the neck-shoulder junction. This helps keep neck tension more uniform after repeated firings, by preventing a build-up of brass where the neck meets the shoulder. One of our Forum members, Craig from Ireland, a self-declared “neck-turning novice”, was having some problems turning brass for his 20 Tactical cases. He was correctly attempting to continue the cut slightly past the neck-shoulder junction, but he was concerned that brass was being removed too far down the shoulder.
Craig writes: “Everywhere I have read about neck turning, [it says] you need to cut slightly into the neck/shoulder junction to stop doughnutting. I completely understand this but I cant seem to get my neck-turning tool set-up to just touch the neck/shoulder junction. It either just doesn’t touch [the shoulder] or cuts nearly the whole shoulder and that just looks very messy. No matter how I adjust the mandrel to set how far down the neck it cuts, it either doesn’t touch it or it cuts far too much. I think it may relate to the bevel on the cutter in my neck-turing tool…”
Looking at Craig’s pictures, we’d agree that he didn’t need to cut so far down into the shoulder. There is a simple solution for this situation. Craig is using a neck-turning tool with a rather shallow cutter bevel angle. This 20-degree angle is set up as “universal geometry” that will work with any shoulder angle. Unfortunately, as you work the cutter down the neck, a shallow angled-cutter tip such as this will remove brass fairly far down. You only want to extend the cut about 1/32 of an inch past the neck-shoulder junction. This is enough to eliminate brass build-up at the base of the neck that can cause doughnuts to form.
The answer here is simply to use a cutter tip with a wider angle — 30 to 40 degrees. The cutter for the K&M neck-turning tool (above) has a shorter bevel that better matches a 30° shoulder. There is also a 40° tip available. WalkerTexasRanger reports: “I went to a 40-degree cutter head just to address this same issue, and I have been much happier with the results. The 40-degree heads are available from Sinclair Int’l for $13 or so.” Forum Member CBonner concurs: “I had the same problem with my 7WSM… The 40-degree cutter was the answer.” Below is Sinclair’s 40° cutter for its NT1000 neck-turning tool. Item NT3140, it sells for $12.95. There is also a slightly more expensive 40° cutter for the NT3000 tool, item NT3340.
October 15th, 2007
On October 13th, California Gov. Swarzenegger signed a bill requiring that all semi-automatic pistols sold in California have internal parts that “micro-stamp” shell casings with identifying codes. Under the terms of the new law, semi-auto pistols sold after 1/1/2010 would have to stamp shell casings in at least two places. Typically, this means the firing pin and the ejector will be embossed with characters that are transferred to the primer and case rim on firing.
The micro-stamping law is a very bad piece of legislation for a variety of reasons. Hopefully this misguided concept will not spread to other states. Key problems with the micro-stamping technology include:
1. The raised markers on the end of the firing pin and ejector can easily be removed or altered with a simple file, or even sandpaper.
 2. Independent tests show that current micro-stamping technology does NOT produce reliable results: “George G. Krivosta, of the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory in New York, did some research on the firearm microstamping technology offered by NanoTag [the sole approved micro-stamping system in California]. In his research, using tagged firing pins in a .22 Long Rifle rifle and a .45 ACP pistol, he found that very few firing pin strikes actually resulted in legible marks, as it was very common for the firing pin to bounce on impact and strike the case more than once, with successive strikes landing slightly off of the original position and obscuring the original strike impression. Out of the first 100 rounds fired using an 8-character alphanumeric code, 54 provided satisfactory markings, while the remaining 46 had at least one illegible character. Smaller print, encoding the make, model, and serial number for a total of 45 characters, resulted in far less clear markings which were difficult to decipher even under ideal circumstances.” Source: Wikipedia, summarizing AFTE Journal Article.
NOTE: This article contains numerous photos illustrating “failed” micro-stamp primer markings. The article also shows how the firing pin embossing wears out quickly. You should download the article and view for yourself.
3. Would-be law-breakers can collect spent brass from shooting ranges, and “throw down” micro-stamped brass at crime scenes, creating the possibility that innocent gun-owners will be implicated in crimes. Worse yet, the presence of micro-stamped brass belonging to someone else creates “reasonable doubt”, so the real criminal can’t be convicted.
4. The law does not apply to revolvers (so far at least). Word will quickly get out “on the street” on how to defeat the law by using revolvers or altered firing pins.
5. The law may make it difficult, if not impossible (from a practical standpoint), to replace broken or damaged firing pins, ejectors, and extractors. All such components will have to be strictly regulated.
Click the image below for a recent news report on the new California law. As one might expect, the news report did not disclose the technological shortcomings of the micro-stamping process, nor does the report explain how this could backfire, resulting in law-abiding citizens being arrested if their spent brass is found at crime scenes:
October 15th, 2007
The Swarovski 8×30 Laser Guide was the top performer in our Laser RangeFinder Comparison Test. The typical “street price” for these units is a hefty $889.00. SWFA.com obtained a number of “demo model” Swaro Laser Guides. These are “like new” units with full factory warranty. Most are priced at just $749.95. There are still a few left, but they could sell out quickly. You’ll find them in SWFA’s “Sample List”, www.SampleList.com.
October 14th, 2007
Late-breaking news: The stars aligned on Saturday at the Piedmont Range in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. With many of the best shooters in the 600-yard game on the firing line, multiple IBS 600-yard records were set. We still don’t have all the details, but we’re told that at least four IBS records were set, maybe more.
Mark Schronce (below), shooting a 6mm BRX with Berger 105gr VLDs, set a new Light Gun 5-shot group record of 0.749″. We believe this is the smallest group ever shot, in any class, with any gun, in registered 600-yard competition. Great job Mark.
Mark noted: “this is a great group of guys to shoot with, and most can ‘Clean your Clock’ in any given match. I have shot a lot of small four-shot clusters with one out this year. I finely got one to come together.” Larry Isenhour (who finished 4th for both LG and HG Score on Saturday) reports: “I was shooting beside Mark all day and when he shot that group it wasn’t the best of times to shoot. He shot fast and and we looked at each other and gave a ‘thumbs-up’ and neither of us knew what the target looked like.”
Terry Brady was on fire in Heavy Gun Class, ending up with a 1.5708″ Heavy Gun 20-shot group Aggregate. That is second only to Terry’s own 1.505″ Agg shot earlier this July, also at Piedmont. Both Aggs by Brady have been submitted to the IBS for certification. One way or the other, he’s going to have that record.
Sam Hall had an impressive 1.8053″ Agg. in Heavy Gun class and broke a couple of 2006 records in the process. Larry Isenhour reports: “Samuel Hall ended up being the Piedmont ‘Shooter of the Year’. He had almost twice as many points as Buster Long who finished second. Sam has had a great year of shooting and is very much in the mix for IBS Shooter of the Year. [Sam] has broken several records this year.”
Tommy Willliams and his crew at Piedmont Gun Club did a great job running the match. To indicate the quality of competition at this match, the top five Heavy Gun Aggs were all under 2.6 inches:
1) Terry Brady 1.570
2) Samuel Hall 1.805
3) Rodney Wagner 2.058
4) Jim Morgan 2.533
5) Paul Wagner (R) JR 2.585
October 14th, 2007
 Lock, Stock, and Barrel has a great deal right now on 8-lb jugs of Accurate 2230 and RamShot X-Terminator — you can buy 8 lbs. of either powder for just $99.45. That’s $20-$25 off regular prices. And, get this — if you buy 16 or more pounds of powder, Lock, Stock and Barrel will pay the hazmat charge (typically $20.00).
Acccurate 2230 is a double-base (high-energy), ball powder originally designed for use in the .223 Remington, it performs well with light bullets in a variety of small-caliber cartridges, including the .223 Rem, 22BR and 20 PPC. It it Dan Dowling’s favorite powder for use in the 6BR with 58gr V-Max. A 6BR using 2230 powder can push the littl3 58s close to 3700 fps.
RamShot X-Terminator is also a double-base, spherical (ball) powder. On burn rate charts, it is ranked as slightly slower than Benchmark and very close to H322, Accurate 2230, and Winchester 748 powders. Ramshot says X-Terminator is designed for the high volume, .223 varmint hunter who demands a “clean-burning powder that meters smoothly.”
October 13th, 2007
There are a wide variety of reloading tools designed to cut a slight chamfer in case necks and deburr the edge of the case mouth. You don’t need to spend a lot of money for an effective tool. A basic “rocket-style” 45° chamfering tool, such as the Forster, actually does a pretty good job taking the sharp edge off case mouths, particularly if you use a little scotch-pad to smooth the edge of the cut. The $13.00 Forster is a nicely made product, with sharper cutting blades than you’ll find on most other 45° chamferers.
Many folks feel they can get smoother bullet seating by using a tool that cuts at a steeper angle. We like the 22° cutter sold by Lyman. It has a comfortable handle, and costs under $9.00 at MidwayUSA.com. The Lyman tool is an excellent value, though we’ve seen examples that needed sharpening even when new. Blade-sharpening is easily done, however.
Darrell Holland has offered a nice 28° chamfering tool for quite some time and we think it works very well. Sinclair recently introduced a 28° chamferer similar to the Holland tool, with some additional features. The $26.50 Sinclair Chamfering Tool (14 degrees per side) will chamfer cases from .14 through .45 caliber. The cutter head/shaft segment, with a .250″ diameter shank, can be purchased by itself for $16.95. This can be chucked in a drill or, with an adapter, it can be used with a power screwdriver when prepping large volumes of cases.
K&M makes a depth-adjustable “VLD” chamferer (“case mouth reamer”) which has very sharp blades and can be adjusted for cutting depth. It makes a very “steep” cut into the inside of the case neck. The latest version ($24.00 at PrecisionReloading.com), features a central pin that indexes via the flash hole to keep the cutter centered. However if you are not very careful, it is easy to over-cut, slicing away too much brass and basically ruining your neck. We think that most reloaders will get better results using a more conventional chamfer tool, such as the Forster or Lyman.
One last thing to note–tools like the K&M and the Holland chamferer are often described as VLD chamferers–that is really a misnomer, as bullets with long boat-tails actually seat easily with very minimal chamfering. In reality, these high-angle chamferers may be most valuable when preparing brass for flat-base bullets and bullets with pressure rings. Using a 22° or 28° chamferer can reduce the risk of cutting a jacket when using VLD bullets though–so long as you make a smooth cut.
October 13th, 2007
Sinclair Int’l, a leading vendor for precision shooting products, is now running a “Mix and Match” solvent special. If you order any two 16-ounce solvents from the list below, you receive a free three-pack of plastic solvent bottles (item 01-280). CLICK HERE for details. Choose from the following products:
The products listed are all very effective at removing copper fouling as well as powder and carbon fouling. No one product is necessarily the best at removing both carbon and copper. We’ve had good luck with Montana XTreme, Butch’s Bore Shine, and TM Solution. We have seen some issues concerning Bore Tech Eliminator. If you use Eliminator, make sure to remove ALL residues from your bolt, action and stock, then wipe the bolt and action with a protective oil or rust preventative such as Eezox.
October 12th, 2007
We’ve received inquiries from readers who are looking for a gunsafe that is big and strong but can be broken down and transported more easily that a typical 800 to 1200-lb safe. There IS one product that fits the bill–the Zanotti safe. It arrives in sections, none weighing more than 170 pounds. It is assembled in place, then can be dis-assembled when you need to move. The Zanotti is also well-suited for a gun-owner who lives in an apartment up many flights of stairs.
Zanotti Armor offers safes that are ideal for gun owners who need to move frequently or who live in a location where it is difficult, if not impossible, to position a conventional safe. Zanotti safes arrive in three or four discrete shipping boxes. The safe is assembled by the owner, on site, in six steps. The heaviest component is the door, weighing 110 pounds in the 16-gun ZAI safe, and 175 pounds in the largest 52-gun ZAIII model. Five safe models are offered, ranging from 350 to 925 pounds assembled weight, without interior. Zanotti safes are very popular with police, military personnel, and others whose jobs force them to re-locate often. The safe can be assembled in under 30 minutes with no tools other than a hammer, and all you need is a hand dolly to move any component.
 Guns Magazine reports: “The panels are interlocked by 3/8 inch, nickel-plated steel “L” shaped pins that slip into steel tubing sections welded to the interior surfaces of the panels. The slip fit is held to a tolerance of .003 inch, and the safes are completely assembled and hand fitted at the factory to insure the panels will align properly. The body is made from 1/8 inch and 3/16 inch steel; the door from 3/16 inch steel; the locking bolts are 3/4 inch steel.” This is heavier gauge steel than you’ll find on most conventional gun safes.
Zanotti offers many deluxe interiors including a system of roll-out sliding drawers in the bottom of the safe. We think the sliding drawers are ideal for storing handguns and expensive items such as cameras and binoculars that you want to keep out of plain view. Mark Zanotti, the innovative creator of these modular safes, can also customize any interior to suit the customer’s particular needs.
Editor’s Note: For most applications, a conventional safe is still the best choice. Bolted in place, a conventional safe with welded walls will provide the best security and a conventional safe can provide increased fire protection. Zanotti safes do not employ a separate layer of sheet-rock or ceramic fire lining. The Zanotti is a special product for gun-owners with special needs. The units are well-made and Zanotti offers many nice custom interior features that you won’t find even on much more expensive conventional safes.
To learn more about gunsafe features and fire-proofing, read our Gunsafe Buyers’ Guide.
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