SmallCaliberCentral

The California lead ban was instituted just after I received a new rifle build in .257 Ackley from Greg Tannel. The following year I had to use lead free bullets, but there were none suitable for the .257" bore at the time. So I switched to my Remington 40X with a Pac-Nor 1:10" twist barre...

If you want a barrel made to your specifications and are willing to wait then I suggest Hart Rifle Barrels. http://www.hartbarrels.com/ar-15.php I wanted a custom contour 24" .204 Ruger AR-15 barrel in 1:9" twist but without a gas port. I am building uppers that are straight pull bolt acti...

Don't worry about the fast twist with light bullets. My Pac-Nor 1:8.5" twist barrel shoots the Barnes 26 Grain Varmint Grenade into the .2's, at 4,110 fps in a bolt action (using RL-10x). In my Colt M-4 with a 24" Hart 1:9" barrel the 24 grain Hornady NTX shoots reliably below .5"...

27 Grains of LT-32 with a 40 grain bullet is well above maximum. I have been conducting load research with LT-32 and found it very accurate in the .204 Ruger with light weight bullets. Because I live where lead free bullets are mandatory, I concentrate on Barnes Varmint Grenades, Hornady NTX and Nos...

.204 Ruger cartridges I load work perfectly in two separate barrels, a Shilen in a Savage single shot, and a Pac-Nor in another single shot. I recently added a separate custom built upper to a Colt M-4 Carbine using a Hart barrel, and the .201 Ruger cycles through without a hitch at .2.260" OAL...

I understand, because I don't have a range setup beyond 100 yards to work with, that some combinations of rifle, cartride and bullet will shoot smaller groups beyond 100 yards because the bullet requires a gretaer distance to stabilize around its center of gravityor mass, rather than its mechanical ...

I get the primer ring in two Savage Precision Actions, usually with Federal 205M primers, less with others especially the Remington 7-1/2 BR. Both the Shilen and Pac-Nor barrels are set to minimum headspace, because I set it myself and triple check it. The loads used aren't anywhere near maximum, wh...

That's why Savage's Precision Target actions come with a small diameter firing pin (0.062") and correspondingly smaller firing pin hole. It's also why I send my rifles, especially the Remington 700's, out to have the firing pin hole bushed and the pins ground to fit. It's also why I check the f...

When guys have problems with velocity dismantling soft lead core bullets in flight, and want the highest velocity possible, try a box of Barnes .204 dia. 26 grain Varmint Grenades. Their cores are a solid compressed metal powder similar in texture and hardness to that of a stick of chalk - hard chal...

I had a similiar experience a few years ago with Hornady and their dies. After a lot of measuring, with and without the depriming rod, the dies were "swaging" the mouths of my .204 cases way too much and splitting a lot of the cases. I was comparing the measurements with a set of Forster ...

Sounds a bit like the guy that buys a used car out of warranty and then wants the manufacturer to repair it for free. I returned a scope to Leupold that was 30 years old, it had a lifetime warranty on it too. They couldn't fix it because there weren't any parts available, that model had been redesig...

My experience is with the .223 Remington brass. It is very good brass as far as I can tell, about on a par with Winchester and cheaper still. The only difference is that the primer pockets are a bit deeper so they don't clean up with a uniformer tool as well, but then again that means they are sligh...

Measuring to the lands with a Varmint Grenade is okay, nothing wrong with doing it, the problem comes with seating the bullet to the lands. Barnes notes in it's data and my testing confirms that seating to the lands will not produce the best accuracy. In every instance with the 26 grain .204, 36 and...

Thanks Guys, I got the Nosler Bullets ( DogTown?) coming today and Midway order on its way with some electronic headphones and a front rest. This 204 has not been easy on my monthly retirement SS check! I think Midway ought to send me a check once in a while! I am helping to stimulate the economy, ...

I posted this picture before, so please don't hammer me for repetition. These targets show various torque settings for a Savage Precision Target Action (Right bolt, Right Port) Single shot with three stock screws. The pictures run bottom left to right, then up to the top picture. Screw torque settin...