Vintage Military Rifle Matches
Across the country, vintage military rifle matches are growing in popularity. It’s easy to understand why — the matches are fun, the rifles are affordable, and the rules discourage the use of expensive aftermarket sights and fancy triggers. It comes down to good marksmanship… and good ammo.
To help competitors in the Vintage military rifle game, Hornady has devleoped a line of Vintage Match ammunition. Currently available in four cartridge types, Vintage Match ammunition replicates the original military performance specifications of older military rifles. To function safely and reliably in older guns, this Vintage Match ammo is loaded to pressures well below CIP max.
Hornady Vintage Match ammunition was developed for shooters involved in the increasingly popular CMP Vintage Rifle and Vintage Sniper Matches. This “Vintage Match” product offers an off-the-shelf, match-grade alternative to surplus or hand-loaded ammunition. The four varieties of Vintage Match ammo are: 6.5×55 Swede, .303 British (Enfield), 7.62x54R (Moisin Nagant), and 8×57 IS/JS (Mauser)*.
Hornady offers a handy power case prep tool driver (item 050160) with three power stations. Hornady basically took its previous single-drive Power Case Prep Assistant (item 050155) and added gearing to run three different heads. It took some clever engineering to accomplish this while maintaining the small footprint of the original one-head machine. MSRP for the new Case Prep Trio (item 050160) is $129.39. If you can live with a single power take-off, the older one-head Case Prep Assistant is still offered on “close-out” at some vendors. If you look around you may find one for as little as $79.99.
Hornady calls its updated machine, with 3-tool capacity, the Lock-N-Load® Case Prep Trio. With three active stations, you can chamfer, deburr and clean primer pockets without having to change tools. The Case Prep Trio ships with inside chamfer, outside chamfer, and deburr tools. You can also use the machine with other optional 8/32 threaded accessories such as primer pocket reamers and case neck brushes. Conveniently, the Case Prep Trio has on-board storage for your tool-heads.
Story tip by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
While the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge was devised primarily for High Power and Across the Course shooters, it has also found favor with tactical shooters looking for a highly accurate round that feeds well from a magazine, but offers significantly less recoil than a .308 Winchester. In fact, the 6.5 Creedmoor has become so popular that some vendors we checked were sold out of both brass and loaded ammo. (Don’t worry though — Creedmoor Sports has both 6.5 Creedmoor brass and loaded ammo in stock.)
6.5 Creedmoor vs. 6.5×47 Lapua — Cost Factor
The 6.5×47 Lapua and 6.5 Creedmoor offer very similar ballistics with 120gr and 140gr bullets. However, 6.5 Creedmoor brass AND loaded ammo are cheaper. That’s a big plus in the tactical game. At tactical competitions, there are “move and shoot” stages where you need to shoot quickly and then move to another position. It’s very difficult to recover all your brass. Losing a piece of 6.5×47 brass (at $1 dollar a pop) is painful. The Hornady brass is $34.49 per 50 (69 cents each) at Sinclair Int’l or $34.95 per 50 (70 cents each) at Creedmoor Sports.
Hornady’s 6.5 Creedmoor loaded ammunition is also much less expensive than the loaded 6.5×47 Lapua rounds. For shooters that don’t have the time (or skills) to reload, the 6.5 Creedmoor (at $25.95 per 20-rd box) makes more financial sense. Grafs.com currently sells loaded 123gr 6.5×47 Lapua ammo for $52.79 per 20 rounds.
On the other hand, the Lapua brass is tougher. Forum member Mudcat observes: “[As to] the Hornady brass, while it’s good, it ain’t no Lapua, so don’t try to run hot loads cause all you are going to do is blow out the primer pockets. Keep your loads reasonable and you will get over 20 loads out of em. I have some I have loaded well over 20 times during testing…they grow like a mother though, as they are a lot softer than Win or Lapua, which is why the pockets will go. However the necks haven’t been splitting.”
Barrel Life Looks Promising
Barrel life appears to be pretty good with the 6.5 Creedmoor. Barrels will last significantly longer than with a typical .243 Win or 6.5-284. Forum Member Mudcat reports: “Based on my throat wear at 600 rounds on my 6.5 Creedmoor barrel, I bet we are looking at 2500 rounds EASY of great accuracy and then probably to at least 3000 where you ain’t going to notice it shooting Cross the Course — you might see something at 600, but nothing worse than a few less Xs. At 600 rounds, I have not had to move my VLD seating depth yet.” Forum member Rob1, who shoots tactical comps with Team Blaster, notes that Hornady puts its load and velocity on every box (see photo below), so it’s easy for reloaders to duplicate the factory ammo. That way you can start with a few boxes of factory fodder, and then load your own.
Hornady has announced new products for 2013. These include a number of new bullets, along with new loaded rifle, pistol, and shotgun ammunition. Perhaps most interesting for precision reloaders is Hornady’s new jumbo Ultrasonic Cleaning machine (MSRP $658.33). Featuring a 9-liter capacity, the new Hornady Hot Tub™ is long enough to accommodate and clean a 16-inch AR-15 upper. Along with its large capacity, the Hot Tub has many advanced features.
New Large-Size Ultra-Sonic Cleaning Machine — the Hot Tub™
For 2013, Hornady will be offering a new, jumbo-sized ultra-sonic cleaning machine that can handle big parts and accessories. In addition to having four (4) transducers, there is also a heating element that enhances cleaning action. Hornady says that “the microjet action of the Hornady® Hot Tub™ removes carbon residue and other debris from cartridge cases, gun parts and other metal equipment.” We know that ultra-sonic cleaning works well on cartridge cases, provided you have a good machine, a suitable solution, and run the machine for an appropriate time.
The new Hot Tub is well-equipped out of the box. One 1.7 quart inner tank comes with the unit and can be used in the main tank for cleaning multiple smaller batches or to use separate solutions at the same time. Additional inner tanks can be purchased separately. Hanging cords have been integrated into the design to allow large objects to take full advantage of the ultrasonic energy. Additionally, the Hot Tub® features integrated drain pans in the lids, a small parts basket, a degas function and five (5) temperature settings from 100-140°F.
Watch Video to See Hornady Hot Tub Ultra-Sonic Cleaning Machine in Action
Here’s a good deal for you vintage military rifle shooters. For a limited time, Creedmoor Sports and Midsouth Shooters Supply are offering Hornady .30-06 Springfield M1 Garand Ammunition at special sale prices. Midsouth has this ammo for $27.38 per 20rd box — that’s 38% off the regular $44.33 MSRP. Creedmoor Sports offers Hornady’s .30-06 M1 Garand Ammo for $32.95 per 20rd box.
This ammo is favored by many CMP Garand match shooters. It is loaded with accurate, poly-tip A-Max bullets. The M1 Garand uses a gas port system to cycle the action, but existing .30-06 ammunition can burn too slow, causing the operating system to be driven harder and faster than intended. This new offering from Hornady is purpose-built to provide accurate, safe and reliable functioning for the M1 Garand. While optimized for M1 Garands, this ammunition also shoots well in 1903 Springfield rifles and other bolt-guns chambered for the .30-06 Springfield cartridge.
This week, the “Sons of Guns” TV show features a grudge match between Brownells and Hornady. On tonight’s episode of the popular Discovery Channel TV series, the sons (and fathers) of two legendary, firearms-industry families square off in a 3-gun match, with “bragging rights” at stake for Brownells and Hornady. The “Corporate Shootout” episode airs Wednesday, October 17, at 9:00 pm (EST).
Long-time friends Pete Brownell of Brownells, and Jason Hornady of Hornady Mfg., both executives at their third-generation family-owned companies, team up with Red Jacket Firearms to do something special for their famous fathers. In the process, they’ll settle a generations-old grudge match over which family shoots better. “I only have to outshoot Pete Brownell,” said Jason. “He’s a long-time friend, but there are no friends when it comes to competitive shooting.”
Pete, pairing up with Frank Brownell, Chairman of Brownells, and Jason, joining Steve Hornady, President of Hornady Mfg., will engage in a friendly Brownell vs. Hornady 3-gun competition using 1911 pistols, AR-15 rifles, and Saiga shotguns built by Red Jacket Firearms.
Echoing Hornady’s sentiments, Brownell jokingly responded, “Jason’s a great guy, but he’s always known that I’m the better shot. In all seriousness, we had a great time competing with our fathers. I want to thank the Hornadys, as well as the crew at Red Jacket Firearms for an incredible experience. The show settles the bragging rights question once and for all.”
TV Guns Featured on Brownells Website
The AR-15s used by the Brownell, Hornady and Red Jacket teams for the filming of “Sons of Guns,” along with a list of products used for their builds, will be displayed in the Dream Guns section of the Brownells website following the show.
Over the years, we’ve had the pleasure to work with Hornady Custom Shop Tech Lonnie Hummel. Lonnie helped us with custom sizing dies, hydro-forming dies, and other special projects. We could always count on Lonnie to respond to a request in a timely and professional manner. Lonnie showed a genuine interest in his customers and he really took pride in his work. Whenever we worked with Lonnie, we could tell that he loved the shooting sports and had a true passion for the “relentless pursuit of accuracy.” No question about it, Lonnie was one of the good guys, and we were fortunate to have a chance to work with him.
Today Hornady threw a party for Lonnie, who is retiring from the company. We wish we had a chance to be there and give Lonnie an “attaboy” for the excellent service he has rendered over the years. Today, on Hornady’s Facebook page, the company announced: “We are celebrating with [Lonnie] on his retirement this afternoon here at the plant.” Lonnie, we hope you enjoy your retirement and get to spend more time shooting and having fun outdoors….
Hornady just unveiled its “new and improved” online Ballistics Calculator. It’s free, fast, and easy to use. New enhancements include selectable G1 or G7 BCs, drop and windage in MOA and MILS, metric value option, and the ability to enter shooting angle, wind angle, and more. To access all these features (such as G7 BCs), you’ll need to select the “advanced” display from Hornady’s Ballistic Calculator Entry Page. That will open up more entry fields. Default values are entered in the temperature and pressure fields, but you can override these with your actual field data. You can select a zero range from 0 to 2000 yards, with intervals from 25 to 400 yards. Once you’ve entered all the values, simply click “Calculate” and the program provides your drop numbers in a handy chart.
Printable ‘Cheat Sheet’ for your Rifle
One very cool feature of Hornady’s online calculator is the “Cheat Sheet” — a handy, printable come-up table. Once you’ve entered your variables and run the calculator, the results appear in a handy table that you can print-out and affix to your rifle stock. Here’s a sample Cheat Sheet prepared for Berger’s 105gr VLD and a 6mm Dasher*.
Although it can employ G7 BCs now, the Hornady Ballistic Calculator, unlike the JBM online solver, does NOT include a built-in database of G7 values, based on field-testing by Bryan Litz. For that reason, the JBM Ballistics Calculator is still our first choice for an online ballistics solver. We really do like Hornady’s handy “Cheat Sheet” option though. You can, of course, get a Litz-derived G7 value from JBM and then plug that number into the Hornady Calculator to produce a printable drop table.
*NOTE: Note: Even if you have a Dasher and use the Berger 105gr VLDs, you should run your own solution with your specific sight height, elevation, temp, pressure, humidity, and zero distance.
The new Ruger Inside & Out TV program debuts tonight (June 25) at 9:00 pm EST on the Sportsman Channel. The show gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the product development process at Ruger, Hornady, Zeiss and other major manufacturers in the gun/hunting industry. Ken Jorgensen, Ruger’s Media Relations Director, explained the show’s concept: “Ruger Inside & Out tells the story of how products come to be. We talk with designers, engineers, manufacturing staff, and many others that are part of the process that brings products from concept to customer. Viewers will hear these stories and see what goes on in the factory, not only at Ruger, but also with show partners such as Hornady and Zeiss. We’ll also head out on hunts, to training classes, and to other venues where we can put these excellent products to use.”
Here Are Summaries of the First Three Episodes:
Episode 1:
The premiere episode features the .375 Ruger cartridge. The show covers the .375 Ruger’s development and field capabilities, and producers travel to Alaska to see how it fares against grizzly, moose, and bighorn sheep. Plus, Steve Hornady talks about the origins of the Ruger family of cartridges, and get advice from Zeiss about picking the right dangerous game scope.
Episode 2:
This week’s episode covers Ruger’s SR22™ semi-auto .22 LR pistol: how it’s made, and how it shoots. This episode also features “Straight Talk” on how to pick the right size, weight, and caliber handgun for personal and home defense, plus a look at the developmental history of Hornady’s brand-new .17 Hornet cartridge.
Episode 3:
Behind-the-scenes information on how the new Ruger American Rifle™ was designed and manufactured, and how it fares in the field. You’ll get more “Straight Talk” for the armed citizen from veteran law enforcement officers Dave Spaulding & Jason Teague, and take a look at Zeiss’ new Rapid-Z® reticle for Hornady® Superformance® ammo.
As conceived, the show will provide “how to” information to viewers: “Whether it is choosing the right optics for an upcoming hunt or the best ammunition for your personal protection firearms, show hosts and guests will discuss the products that will work best for you and why.” Ruger Inside & Out premieres June 25th at 9:00 PM EST during the Sportsman Channel’s Monday Night “Lock & Load” primetime block.
Our Comment: This show contains some interesting technical info, and the hunting footage shot on location is impressive. However, the “product placement” is heavy-handed and at times the show becomes little more than an “infomercial” for Ruger and Hornady.
Hornady Mfg., with help from the Nebraska Army National Guard, is hosting Pandemic 2012, a zombie-themed fun shoot on June 29 through July 1, 2012. The “Zombies in the Heartland / Pandemic 2012″ three-gun event will be held at the Heartland Public Shooting Park in Grand Island, Nebraska. This event will feature $160,000 worth of prizes — the largest prize table in Nebraska shooting sports history.
Complete information on the match is available at ZombiesintheHeartland.com. The match, limited to 375 participants, includes combined pistol, rifle, and shotgun stages. Two entry levels are offered. A $175.00 fee buys entry into the eight (8) main Pandemic 2012 stages. For another $100.00 ($275.00 total), shooters can compete in the six (6) Sidematch Stages. Targets will be mostly reactive, with “Hordes of steel Zombie targets [that] will either, fall over, move or blow apart.” The maximum target distance (for rifles) will be 45 yards, so this is very much an close-in speed shooting event.
“Zombies in the Heartland / Pandemic 2012 has been extremely well received by our friends in the industry who have generously donated over $160,000 in prizes,” said Neil Davies, Hornady Marketing Director. “Thanks to all the sponsors, everyone who participates in the match will have the opportunity to claim a prize.” The prize table will include pistols, rifles, shotguns, scopes, AR uppers, gun parts, and gear of all kinds. A complete list of sponsors and merchandise values can be found on the Pandemic 2012 Prize Table Webpage.
Pandemic 2012 should provide a fun and entertaining shooting event unlike anything competitors have experienced before. The Sportsman Channel and the Outdoor Channel will cover the event. In addition to the main stages, an optional Charity CQB Shoot House will feature a maze of walls, smoke, lights and sound, and reactive zombie targets. Competitors will be armed with a green-laser-equipped airsoft M-4 with over 100 rounds of airsoft ammunition. A run through the CQB Shoot House costs $5.00 extra, with all proceeds donated to the Honored American Veterans Afield (HAVA) charity.
Hornady offers a handy power case prep tool driver (item 050160) with three power stations. Hornady basically took its previous single-drive 
6.5 Creedmoor vs. 6.5×47 Lapua — Cost Factor
Hornady’s 6.5 Creedmoor loaded ammunition is also much less expensive than the loaded 6.5×47 Lapua rounds. For shooters that don’t have the time (or skills) to reload, the 6.5 Creedmoor (at 
Long-time friends Pete Brownell of Brownells, and Jason Hornady of Hornady Mfg., both executives at their third-generation family-owned companies, team up with Red Jacket Firearms to do something special for their famous fathers. In the process, they’ll settle a generations-old grudge match over which family shoots better. “I only have to outshoot Pete Brownell,” said Jason. “He’s a long-time friend, but there are no friends when it comes to competitive shooting.”
