Firearms [Post State when asking questions] [NO GUN SALES]

Only other one I know of:
http://www.webshop.roedale.de/gx2/product_info.php?info=p781_picatinny-rail-tikka-t3-0---20-moa.html

 

On the PWS topic, how much does the midrange ammo cost? I see the Lapua xacts are ~50cents each. But I don't know what brand/product is considered midrange for .22lr.

 

probably stuff like SK Match.

 

Only issue Ive really had with my PWS is the damn trigger adjustment screws working loose after a few weeks of shooting. At the range it would go from perfect to having a retarded amount of sear meaning you'd have to reaaally jam the trigger to get it to fire.

Hopefully have it sorted now with copious amounts of locktite

 

I wouldn't exactly call Lapua X-Act mid range. Lapua Center-X can be had for a little over $100 a brick and works pretty well.

+1 the SK ammo, it is cheapish and shoots well. I couldn't find much difference between Rifle Match and Standard Plus at 50 yards, at 100 Rifle Match is a little better. The bulk tin is just Standard Plus, generally sells for a little more than a brick of Standard Plus, due to the tin.

I'm also playing round with some federal standard velocity 40gr lead solids at the moment. Picked up a heap of bricks a while back for $29 each. Looks promising so far.

Ugh, i had that exact same issue with mine, except mine would loosen after 50~ rounds. Damn screw, pulled my hair out for a while over that. Fixed mine with loctite also, 222 purple. After a few hundred rounds now, so far so good.

Once you put a lighter trigger spring in, adjust the sear, stop the screws backing out, its a pretty nice trigger. I think mine is a bout 80% there now, I really need to send the trigger group off to someone to have the sear filed down a bit.

 

As much as i hate the PWS, the CCI standard velo (1078 ?) performed the best out of everything i tried.

The trigger screw had exactly the same issue in mine, and the adjustment is shit. You can get it spot on for a few shots, then it seems to go harder or trigger creep seems to come in. The biggest issue ive had is over travel. It tightened so much i couldnt even pull the trigger as the screw blocked me.

Happened twice.

Damn POS shit-stick.

 

I don't mean to sounds like a smart arse, but i think you may be asking a little too much from a factory trigger. Have you looked at a quality aftermarket trigger group like a Kidd or Volquartsen?

If you've ever used a stock 10/22 you know how truly god awful a 10/22 trigger can be, especially the older ones.

After i replaced the trigger spring with a lighter one, adjusted the sear then loctited the adjustment screw in place, it has to be one of the better triggers in its price range. Only gun I've handled in that price range with a better trigger is a Tikka with a lighter spring.

 

the PWS trigger is claimed to be an "after market tuned" unit. I have the lighter spring in it. Ive not bothered working it over much.

I may end up working on it this week and finally sort the shit-stick out.

 

http://primaryweapons.com/firearms/t3/action/

Advertised as a match grade trigger. Even if it was advertised as just a shit factory trigger, it could be tuned. But when adjustment screws etc come loose just by using/transporting the rifle, that's no longer a shitty factory trigger, that's a dangerous POS. Not even close to match grade like advertised.

I don't think they're asking too much, even if it wasn't advertised as a match grade trigger they wouldn't be asking too much.

 

At least the trigger pull works its way heavier not lighter

 

I guess that's fortunate.

 

The adjustment screw doesn't come loose when you have the sear adjusted so its locked up correctly. It only comes loose when you have the sear hammer lock up right on the edge of the sear, which my guess is what we are all doing, hence needing loctite. The adjustment screw is more there to make sure you have correct capture.

Its not so much a fault of the PWS trigger as it is that the 10/22 trigger group was never designed to be adjustable with a trigger screw that adjusts sear hammer capture. If you adjusted the trigger pull like you traditionally do on a 10/22 by polishing down the hammer and sear you won't have an issue.

You have obviously never handled or worked on a PWS T3 trigger is you are calling it a dangerous POS. As I wouldn't call a trigger wiggling back into the correct hammer engagement and making it heavier, dangerous.

Out of an $1,100 rifle I still think people are expecting too much. If you truly want to be disappointed by a dangerous POS factory that is advertised to be as good as a custom trigger, all you have to do is spend about double what you would on a PWS T3 and go buy a Remington with an XMP trigger.

 

Well put. Remember that its a ~$450 barrel on it. Its a carbon fibre match barrel, plus a boyd's stock. Yes yes, boyd's aint worth much, BUT its not an injection molded $15 piece of junk.

The PWS trigger is NOT capable of doing semi-auto sear resets, its effectively a remington / tikka clone setup. I like the fact that it fails by locking up, but i hate the fact that it fails and many people notice this. They were restrained (totally guessing here and my opinion), by the trigger group shape and the dowel holes. They have fairly much the same system to some extent. They didnt "re-invent the wheel".
They put a wire cut sear and hammer in, at the cost of removing a disconnector and sear reset because its not a semi auto. So reduce cost in one spot to spend a bit more somewhere else.

I completely agree that a "disassembled trigger, full polish job" would make it break like glass and even lighten it more, if thats your thing.

 

Gather 'round the camp fire boys and girls, Uncle Quan has a story to tell.

I hinted before that i'd come up with a new wildcat. I only had the idea for it about 2 weeks ago and instantly went into the "is its even possible ?" phase.

I had a spare barrel and after some brief testing and theory work, this week I turned it into a reality and today I did my first 4 test firings.

Id like to introduce the...

.458dropbear

I wondered how big a 308win case could go. There is a brand new .45raptor case, which is a 308win necked up to .452 and shortened to 1.800" down from 2.015" (45.7mm from 51.18mm).

I decided to see how hard it was to neck a .308 case up to .458 in one pass. Turns out it IS possible, providing you cut the neck off at the base but leave the shoulder. Once you size it, it turns out to marginally over 1.8", so it gives you enough trim length. You DONT need to anneal the case. I prepared 5 cases like this without one split.

This was the result of a .458 neck up and 1.8" long compared to a 308win parent case:

Click to view full size!

The reason i did .458 instead of the .452 is because i run multiple 458 cal guns already, and happened to have a spare brand new .458 cal blank. I also have heaps of different .458 pills in different weights and shapes.

The next issue i had was how to head space the damn thing. I decided to make a dummy chamber for inspection purposes. Most cases head space on the shoulder and the bolt face, unless its a belted magnum which head spaces on that.

Pardon the machine marks, this was purely for checking purposes:

Click to view full size!

This is part of a real 458 cal 1:14 twist barrel.


Click to view full size!
As you can see, the case does indeed stop on the shoulder in the chamber quite fine. No issues.


Click to view full size!
With a cartridge roughly where i want. This is a 350gr HRBC solid.


Click to view full size!
You can see here the throat or "free bore", theres enough for a 550gr woodleigh in there. So all my bases are covered and i now have some true measurements and sizes.


Click to view full size!
I had the idea of "how big can i go ?". So i tried sizing a case... aaaand split. Twice. OK this isnt going to work. I wonder what happens if i anneal the brass ? The shoulder's fold over.

I decided to just anneal the very end of the neck as that the part which splits. Bingo. I was able to fully expand a case to full size in one pass without splits. The case shrinks from 51mm to 48mm. Weird, but not unexpected.

So now I'd worked out i could do a full size case, and to .458 diameter, and I knew how to headspace it. WINRAR !
I made a head space gauge and set to work.
I had a 28" heavy contour .458 1:14 barrel, cro-mo, and shortened it to 22" and spun the diameter down to lighten it up and made a muzzle brake and put it on the end. Its still raw steel finish and not cerakoted or anything, so ill take some pics of that later.

Here are 4 fired cases next to a standard 308win case:

Click to view full size!

I loaded them up with 42.5gr of 2208 powder which was a 100% fill, and the bullet rested on top. I knew this would be a very light load and not much poke, but i honestly believed it would have filled out the case more to get a more fully formed case.
I fired up quickload and the closest case i could come up with was a 458winmag. So i messed with a few figures such as case OAL and max pressure, and had a look at what sort of velocity and pressure id be running:

Click to view full size!

I ran 4 loads over a chronograph and i got an average of ~1600fps. I DIDNT use neck tension or a crimp, i just rested the bullets on top of the powder and had the projectile sticking out as per the above picture. So QL was right on the money with velocity.

I wanted to see how much i can squeeze out of this case, considering its a 60kpsi rated unit. Turns out it fairly much mimic's a 45-70.

Click to view full size!

Originally i was talking with a few people about this and was throwing around 2600fps and 77grs fill. I screwed up, i forgot to trim back the case capacity. I currently have it set at 63gr H2O, but ive NOT measured it as i dont have a fully formed case. Im going to mess around with a full load in a week or 2.

To finish with, I will say that before anyone asks, yes, the dropbear WILL indeed feed off a standard magazine and chamber. I tried with one round (my last) and it worked perfectly. I also have one dummy round with neck tension on it and it also cycles fine.

In summary, its not a hugely revolutionary cartridge, BUT it gives 45-70 performance on a smaller case with a smaller rim size which will work in a bolt, pump or lever action configuration. After a bit of load development and maybe messing with some 300gr hollow points, ill see how well it goes and what one could expect from it.

I will say that it will most likely be aimed towards the "pig pumpy hunters" who have a remington 7600 in 308win as you get 45-70 thump with a stock magazine and brass.

TL;DR I still have all my fingers and testicles, and they are where they were before i test fired. Which is a good thing. Im looking at getting a reamer made (I have a print already done) and looking for a cheap source for dies.
I ordered a heap of reloading die blanks ages ago and I used 2 to get my form done (one neckup, one FL body taper, ill need a 3rd die for seater).
So reamer, reloading dies, and hopefully ill be a happy man.

All hail dropbear !

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EDIT
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HAT TIP TO STATTS FOR COMING UP WITH THE NAME.

happy you ungrateful bastard ?

 

Yep, thanks


Also, nice work with the development work.

 

Picked up a Sako .222, Lee Enfield and Slazenger .22WMR for $1000 during the week Am keeping the Enfield and should get my $1000 back on the other two. Happy days

 

Nice, Quan

Cheers Statts

 

well im selling one of my guitars which means i will have money to spend on reloading gear!!

I don't want to spend too much so I will go with the Lee reloading breech kit.

Q1) is the lyman book the ideal one to get?

Q2) should i get a tumbler or an ultrasonic cleaner?

 

1: dont get a reloading book, theres heaps of info online. Save your coin.
http://www.adi-powders.com.au/handloaders-guide/

2: ultrasonics are great, but wet tumblers are the best imo. Vibrators like the walnut / corncob media are good, but dusty and take ages. The worst of the 3.

@ AgB Deno
Statts called it first, but those dropbears are dangerous critters, so you want something big and excessive.

 

I was planning to buy this to get into reloading

Lyman T Mag Expert Kit "Deluxe"

+ a tumbler, digital calipers and dies.

Is that a good enough kit and is there anything else I need?