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August 12th, 2007
Natchez Shooters Supplies has advised its customers to complete purchases of loaded factory ammo prior to September 1, 2007. This is because ATK (CCI and Federal), Remington, and Winchester have all distributed notices of major ammunition price hikes to take effect Sept. 1st.
ATK Price Increase Notice (.pdf)
Remington Price Increase Notice (.pdf)
Winchester Price Increse Notice (.pdf)
If you want to purchase .223 Rem ammo before the price hike, Natchez has placed 55gr FMJ from Federal, Sellier & Bellot, PMC and Remington on sale. The Federal American Eagle 55gr ammo is marked down from $13.97 to $7.49 per 20-round box. We’ve shot a ton of American Eagle .223 through AR15s. It is ultra-reliable and as accurate as any of the bargain-priced ammo with FMJ bullets.
August 11th, 2007
Chemist and entrepreneur Terry Paul, creator of Wipe-Out foam bore cleaner, has come up with a new product, “CARB-Out”. This is specifically designed to remove carbon from rifle bores, including the stubborn carbon ring that can build up with extended firings.
Initial test reports are very promising. CARB-out is out-performing Shooters Choice and Hoppes Elite (aka MPro-7), two of the most popular carbon solvents on the market. Terry Paul claims his new “CARB-Out” will “knock out stubborn carbon rings better than anything out there–you don’t need abrasives anymore.” One of the “superstars” of short-range benchrest, we’ll just call him “Mr. T” for his first name, has been using “CARB-Out” in major matches this year. It has replaced Iosso paste in his cleaning kit.
You can order “CARB-Out” from SharpShoot-R™ Precision Products, Terry’s company, or from MidwayUSA, which expects to receive its first supplies of CARB-Out next week. At MidwayUSA, CARB-Out costs $8.49 for an 8 oz. aerosol bottle (item #312649). For more info, call SharpShoot-R™ at (785) 883-4444. Terry himself might just answer the phone.
August 10th, 2007
Forum member “Preacher” reports amazing consistency from his 6BR load of Alliant Reloader 15 with “White Box” Russian Primers. (These small rifle magnum primers are currently sold under the Wolf label, and can be purchased from Grafs.com.) He tells us: “I finally broke down and checked out the 6BR, shooting 105 Berger VLDs over the chronograph yesterday. I have never seen numbers crunch [this well] in more years than I’ll admit.”
Preacher added: “My green rifle (photo below) shoots those bullets like little lasers at 350 yards. Not bad for a old groundhog shooter that only in the past few years got into this extreme accuracy stuff with a BAT SV action and an 8-twist, 28″ Pac-Nor that shoots into way less than a inch at 350 yards most any time. I have a .110″ freebore on the green rifle and the bullets are jammed .020″+ into the rifling.”
Preacher cautions: “My load of RL-15 is real close to the edge with the 105 Berger VLD but the primer pockets are still tight after 15 firings. I do anneal them with a BC1000 every fourth time out and then clean them in my ultra-sonic. The Russian Small Rifle Mag primers in the White box have done very well in both my 6BRs with Pac-Nors.”
EDITOR’s NOTE: Preacher’s results are amazing to say the least. It would be wrong, however, to expect that changing to Russian primers will guarantee you single-digit ES and SD. You might find your velocity spreads don’t change significantly, or they might even get worse. Still, Preacher’s findings suggest that it is worth trying the Russian primers if you haven’t done so yet.
August 10th, 2007
Quite a few readers have noted that they saw an interesting feature in our Daily Bulletin, but after a few days it was replaced by more current items. Well, don’t despair. ALL our Bulletin entries are archived and available. You can find them many different ways. First, at the bottom of the page, you can click to “Older Posts” page by page. Second, you can look for posts by category, such as “Optics” or “Reloading”. Third, you can do a Keyword Search for any word in any article. Lastly, you can call up all the posts in a given month by clicking on the appropriate month.
August 9th, 2007
The new Savage Arms Precision Target F-Class Rifle, chambered in 6.5-284 Norma, is now reaching dealers and distributions. Brian Herrick, Savage Marketing Director, told us on 8/8/2007: “The first units have shipped and we expect full production flow by the end of August.” The F-Class rifle, shown below, has a gray laminated stock with a 3″-wide ventilated forend, and 30″ extra-heavy barrel. The stock is straight from the base of the grip back to the buttplate with a flat on the bottom. It is currently available in Right Bolt, Right Port, but Savage might ship Right Bolt, Left Port versions in the future if there is sufficient demand. MSRP on the 6.5-284 Savage F-Classer is $1,211, with “real world” selling prices just under $1000.00.
The production version of the 6.5-284 rifle features the new triple-pillar Precision Target Action (RB/RP) with a “match” Accutrigger that adjusts from about 6 ounces to 2.5 pounds. The F-Class rifle is currently chambered only in 6.5-284, but Savage may consider other chamberings in the future.
Savage also makes an F-TR rifle chambered in .308 Winchester. Weighing 12.65 lbs. with a 30″ heavy barrel, the Savage F-TR features a more conventional-style stock with a narrower fore-end for use with a bipod, and more drop in the buttstock. The F-TR (MSRP $1142) also ships with two polymer cheek-pieces (high and low), similar to those used on Choate stocks. Herrick commented, “The F-TR has been popular–we’ve shipped over 1000 units already.”
August 9th, 2007
Glen Harrison, originator of the Nesika Bay actions, is starting a new action-building company. His Nesika Bay operation was integrated into Dakota Arms two years ago, but Dakota Arms is now in Chapter 11 re-organization. It looks like Glen is moving back out on his own, separate from Dakota/Nesika, to produce an action with a new name, produced by a new company. Harrison has partnered with industry experts and financial backers to form a brand new company. The actions will be available for custom hunting rifle makers as well as upscale rifle builders. The company is being formed with Harrison’s input. The new company plans to debut its new bolt actions at the 2008 SHOT Show in Las Vegas.
Harrison, an active benchrest competitive shooter, has been building precision bolt actions for over 15 years. His actions are renowned for tight tolerances and outstanding accuracy. Harrison-designed actions have won numerous Benchrest, Palma, Silhouette, 1000-yard Benchrest, and Tactical matches throughout the world.
Below is a beautiful Palma rifle built with a Harrison-designed action and Robertson Composites stock. Be sure to Click Here for large photo.
August 6th, 2007
 The mega-event of the general outdoor sports retail industry, the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market tradeshow convenes this week (August 7-12) in Salt Lake City. Some 21,000 industry professionals and scores of journalists will attend. While you won’t see firearms at the show, you will find every other kind of outdoor gear–backpacks, spotting scopes, boots, binoculars, tents, kayaks, hydration packs, mountain bikes, GPS units, canoes, and complete clothing lines from big-name makers such as 5.11, Merrell, North Face, Patagonia, and Woolrich. If you want a sneak peak at new products that will hit the outdoor retailing shelves for the 2007 holiday season, Salt Lake is the place to be for the next five days.
A two-day Open Air Product Demo will be held August 7-8th at Pineview near Ogden, Utah. The Demo will be held at Cemetery Point, a peninsula reaching into the heart of the large reservoir. This new location provides an enhanced terrain with easy and convenient load-in and load-out capabilities, ample parking, accessible beachfront and nearby trails. The Magellan GPS Treasure Hunt and Teva Trail Run will be going on as planned at the new venue, with the Trail Run accessing the Wheeler Ridge trail via a short shuttle ride.
August 3rd, 2007
Two shooting industry leaders posted impressive financial results recently, demonstrating that the firearms industry is on the upswing after recent lackluster results. Olin Corp. (NYSE:OLN) Winchester ammunition division sales increased 16 percent in the second quarter to $99.8 million, compared with $85.7 million in the same period a year ago. Winchester income grew 70 percent in the quarter to $5.6 million, from $3.3 million the previous year. The company indicated that higher selling prices and higher shipment volumes more than offset the impact of higher material and manufacturing costs.
Likewise, Sturm, Ruger & Co. (NYSE:RGR) earnings more than tripled in the second quarter. The company reported second-quarter net income of $5.1 million, compared to $1.4 million in the same period last year. Total net sales for the quarter increased to $39.6 million, from $29.2 million in the previous year.
August 2nd, 2007
New Zealand action-maker Barnard Precision has introduced two new “supersized” actions to complement its Model ‘S’ (Rem 700 footprint), Model ‘P’, and Model ‘PL’ line of three-lug actions. While the Model ‘PL’ can fit up to a .338 Lapua Magnum, the new SuperMagnum ‘T’ action features a new front recoil lug, plus a longer receiver with extended tenon section to better support long, heavy barrels. The massive, new Barnard ‘GP’ action is designed from the ground up to withstand the heavy loads of 50-caliber cartridges.
Measuring 12.4″ in length, and weighing 8.14 lbs. (3.7kg), the new Model ‘GP’ 50-Caliber action is an impressive beast. According to Mac Tilton of MTGuns, the “Barnard 50-Cal is a model ‘P’ on steroids–it shares all the important design features of the Model ‘P’, and the trigger.” Mac adds, “The Model ‘GP’ is unique. Most 50-Cal actions are beefy, but built to relatively loose standards. Barnard’s new 50-Cal is built to precision tolerances all the way around. It is truely a ‘match-grade’ action.” The Model GP features a triple-lug 34mm-diameter bolt, Sako-type extractor, 1.670″ long x 1.50″ diameter x 12 t.p.i. barrel shank thread, four 8mm action screws, and six 5mm scope base screw holes.
Shown below is the new Model ‘T’ action, a special-order “Supermagnum” action designed for the long Ultra Magnum cartridges such as 300 Rem Ultra Mag. On top is a True-Flite +17 MOA steel base for F-Class and 600/1000 Benchrest. The Model ‘T’ features a triple-lug 22mm diameter bolt, 1.5″-long 1.062″ x 16 t.p.i. tenon, extended loading port, and 8mm-thick, double-pin recoil lug. The customer can choose either plunger or blade type ejectors.
One Bolt for both Standard and Magnum Cartridges
True-Flite Ltd. offers a great optional feature for Barnard Model ‘PL’ actions. This is a boltface bushing that lets you shoot both .308-sized cases and Magnum-diameter cases. True-Flite’s boltface bushing allows the use of all cartridge head sizes from .472″ (e.g. 6mmBR and .308 Win ) to .587″ ( 338 Lapua Magnum ), simply by inserting or removing the bushing and changing extractors.
 This option makes the model PL extremely versatile for both target work and long-range hunting. That’s smart engineering–why haven’t we seen this before from other action makers?
Kiwi gunsmith Steve Blenkarne of True-Flite Ltd. says the ‘PL’ is his favorite action for long-range target and hunting rifles: “The ‘PL’ has a 24mm diameter bolt, compared to 22mm with the ‘P’. It’s extended in the middle, with a longer port. We’ve used this action with great success for a number of WSMs, and recently, I’ve built a number of 338 Lapuas on the ‘PL’ action.” Steve noted: “another worthwhile True-Flite option is the vee-block bedding system, available for all Barnard actions. Shooters can have one stock and several barreled actions, all of which hold perfect zeros.”
Barnard Precision has a web site at long last. Hopefully it will be updated with more photos and technical information soon. The site address is: www.barnard.co.nz. You’ll also find good info on Barnard actions at the True Flite Rifle Barrels site, and at MTGuns.com, (Barnard’s U.S. Importer).
Photos courtesy True-Flite Ltd., Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand.
August 2nd, 2007
Hornady Mfg. won the 2007 Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence “Ammunition of the Year” Award for developing the new .375 Ruger cartridge. Ruger’s M77® rifles in caliber .375 Ruger likewise won the Shooting Industry “Rifle of the Year” Award for 2007. Each year the Academy, consisting of over 300 manufacturers, writers, distributors, and retailers, vote to honor innovative product designs.
Hornady claims that the .375 Ruger matches the performance of the legendary .375 H&H, with a cartridge size that fits a standard 30-06 length action. According the Hornady, the .375 Ruger is the “smoothest feeding dangerous game cartridge on the market.” We have information from inside sources that Hornady and Ruger will be developing spin-off versions of the .375 Ruger cartridge in smaller calibers. Expect new .30-caliber and 7mm cartridges, based on .375 Ruger brass, to be introduced at Shot Show 2008.
CLICK HERE for complete info on the .375 Ruger cartridge, including technical specs, and a video.
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