Looking for info

[ryutzy]

Heres my new reloading bench. I built it rock solid and heavy as it will stay on my range. I used all treated lumber with the proper screws for treated lumber. I have a Caldwell gun rest and use a 25pound bag filled with lead shot for weight. Hard to see in th photo but its positioned on my rest on the far side of it. I like to test my new loads with this as it is so steady. Gives me great confidence in testing new loads and seeing how well my gun will shoot.


Heres the material list in case you are interested.
5-2X4
5-1X6
1-4X4
all material was 8' long except the 4X4 was 12'

[fishy]

Thats a nice looking setup you got there Ryutzy. We have been talking about making something to be somewhat portable so we could take it to different spots on our property. Yours looks to be somewhat portable, but pretty heavy. Next time I get out there I will take some pics of a bench we built about 12 years ago built into a side of a dam for shooting pdogs. The top of the table sit level with the top of the dam and the only thing thats is above the dam is your head and you gun . Its a pretty sweet deal.

[ryutzy]

fishy- yeah that bench your talking about being level with the dam sounds like a great setup. My bench is somewhat portable. I lifted it in and outa the bed of my truck by myself, but I dont want to do that much. Its got a lotta weight and it will break my back sooner or later. However, if you've got 2 guys it would be a cinch. I use other methods for portable shooting benches for now, but I would like to sometime get one like RIO has for portability. I'll always want a solid bench like the one pictured tho. I've never had such a rock solid bench. Gives you the "Cant miss" feeling.

[RoadKill]

Speaking of benches, I’m building a heavy shooting bench (treated 4x6 and 6x6) for use with my new mechanical rest and good ole bunny ear rear bag. I will have the bottom edge of the bag and stock even with the edge of the bench while sitting leaned ever so slightly forward from upright with stock to my right shoulder. I want to angle the edge of the bench to match my left shoulder forward to help stabilize my upper body with my chest lightly contacting the bench. I drew the edge angled at 1” further away in a 9” right to left run but that feels like not enough and I need to go with 1” in 7” or as much as 1” in a 5” run. Before I build in another bad habit how do you’ll like to position yourselves at a bench for your best shooting posture? I promise pictures when it’s done.

[ryutzy]

Roadkill..........Yes I definately do want to see your bench when you're done. My shooting position is leaning slightly forward with my lower chest against the table. I like to be as relaxed as possible. As you can see in the pic of my bench I cut the one board at an angle to help avoid having to lean too far forward to comfortably shoot from the rest. My bench has a 5" offset to allow for this. I would have to check but I think I cut the board on a 45 degree angle or at least close to it. The board measures 5.5 in across which would make the finish angled cut around 8.5 inches. I didn't measure that but 8.5 in on the angle cut should be real close. For my next top I will probably use 2X6s to help minimize the cupping of the boards with moisture etc. When you build yours make sure you leave a small gap between your boards to allow for expansion and contraction. It's amazing how much they move with the moisture changes. Another helpful tip is to predrill the first piece of wood that your screw goes through before running the screw through it. This will greatly increase the holding power of the screw and will keep your bench a lot sturdier over time.

[ryutzy]

Roadkill..........Yes I definately do want to see your bench when you're done. My shooting position is leaning slightly forward with my lower chest against the table. I like to be as relaxed as possible. As you can see in the pic of my bench I cut the one board at an angle to help avoid having to lean too far forward to comfortably shoot from the rest. My bench has a 5" offset to allow for this. I would have to check but I think I cut the board on a 45 degree angle or at least close to it. The board measures 5.5 in across which would make the finish angled cut around 8.5 inches. I didn't measure that but 8.5 in on the angle cut should be real close. For my next top I will probably use 2X6s to help minimize the cupping of the boards with moisture etc. When you build yours make sure you leave a small gap between your boards to allow for expansion and contraction. It's amazing how much they move with the moisture changes. Another helpful tip is to predrill the first piece of wood that your screw goes through before running the screw through it. This will greatly increase the holding power of the screw and will keep your bench a lot sturdier over time.

[RoadKill]

Hi ryutzy. Nice bench you did there. I’d be just as well off doing something like it but with enough money tied up in fancy hand tools to pay for two well fitted Coopers, I’m going hard core on this bench with hand cut mortise-and-tenon joints pegged, wedged, and a little glue but no metal fasteners and using few power tools. The top will be made sorta like a door laid flat on tripod legs with substantial undercarriage. The stiles with right side extending past the shooter, rails, and I reckon ‘panels’ will be 4x6 on face with enuf gap between for drainage and expansion with each single tenoned and pegged breadboard like to the rails. If I can pull it off that is. My skill level and diminished endurance could bring on a bit of cheating. The wood is typical straight from Lowes green to dripping so I’m hoping the joints stay tight enough and I won’t have to break out the plane too many times to keep it flat enough as it dries out. A picture would make more sense.

For ‘posture’ I want the rifle resting on target so when I lean ever so slightly forward my chest squarely touches the edge of the bench and in the same motion the stock is on my shoulder ready for the shot with no more squirming around for position. Touch one pound to Jewell and BANG.

Anyone else too, roughly in inches, how much forward is your off shoulder out of square to the bore of the rifle when you are most comfortable at the bench ready for the shot? That would be the ‘slant’ I want full width on my end of the bench.

[ryutzy]

Roadkill sounds like you are going all out on your bench. I'm sure it will look nice!

[fishy]

As I said earlier I think I am going to give 2 of the loads another try. One being the 32 Nosler BT with 28.9 of W748, and the other being 32 V max with 28.4 of W748. With that being said, should I do a progressive test again starting a tenth of a grain below to a tenth of a grain above those loads? Or should I just test that one load again and see how it turns out? How many rounds of each should I make?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[RoadKill]

I clamped a cutting board to overhang the end of my work bench and with the rifle on the rest aligned with the bench and my chest lightly against the cutting board with rear bag on top I ‘adjusted’ until everything was comfortable. The ‘slant’ for me needs to be left rear edge of the bench forward ~26 degrees so the angle formed between the bore centerline and rear edge is 64 degrees. I also found I had the seat too low and need 17” instead of 18” between the seat top and top of the bench. The fancy joinery and form of my original drawing was appealing to the eye but function in the real world was way off. I sure do miss my AutoCAD. Where’s my eraser?

fishy – The Nosler #6 manual lists their 32gr. BT with W748 powder (Nosler case, Fed 205M, OCL 2.260” from a 26” Pac-Nor 1-12” twist). The min. (and their best with W748) is 27.5 grains. They have max. for W748 at 29.5 grains. Try more of your 28.9 grain load with your best efforts and see how well it repeats.

The Hornady 7th manual lists their 32gr. V-Max with W748 powder (Hornady case, Rem 7 ½, COL 2.245” from a 26” M77 1-12” twist). The min. shown is 26.0 grains. They have max. for W748 at 28.3 grains by their testing in their gun under their conditions at the time. You are already over that by .1 grain but if you have no pressure signs no need to worry. Nosler’s max. was 29.5 grains with their conditions but they also had “best accuracy” at 27.5 grains. Your 27.6 grain group looks to be bout as good as your “too high” 28.4 grain group so you might back off for that reason alone.

As to “how many” I don’t get too excited until I get teased by at least two preferably more five shot groups that repeat very well before I want to make it “the load” powder weight wise to refine by other means. The practice will help you to work with your crappy trigger but you’ll be a lot happier after you “fix” it.

[fishy]

RoadKill I dont remember where I read it, but the listing for min and max load for the 32 Vmax I had wrote down was 26.4 min and 29.5 max. You listed Nosler's max was 29.5 so I am guessing that is probable where I found it. I didn't see any signs of pressure so what I think I might do is do five shot with 28.4 gr of W748 with 32 gr Vmax and then also do another group following your advise with 27.6 and see what I come up with. As far as the trigger goes, I still need to check into it. MAybe tonight I will get the gauge out and see what it is pulling and go from there. It seems to break nice, it is just a real heavy pull.

[fishy]

Well, I finally retested the 2 loads that I said I was going to. The first on being 32 gr nosler bt's pushed by 28.9 grains of W748. With this one I loaded 10 rounds and it shot really well. It took a heck of a lot of concentration on the trigger pull but I ended up with 2 five shot groups at .45 in. I believe it can do better but the trigger is really giving me fits.

With the 32 Vmax's I listened to Roadkill and backed my load off to my 27.6 gr. load of W748. The results weren't as good as the Nosler BT's with both 5 shot groups in the .6 in range. For right now I am satisfied with the results, but I know they can probable get better.