Smoking Barrels - LTT's Unnofficial Gun Club!

[vf1000ride]

49 minutes ago, fpo said:

I forgot about the springfield. 

 

Do they make .30_06 bullets in decent numbers anymore? 

Is the price also decent or is the price stupid? My baseline for ammo is wolf 7.62x39. $250~ 1,000 rds. 

556/223 pre 2020 was like 300/1000. 

 

Edit:

I don't want a gun that's a bajillion dollars to buy and then basically can't get ammo for it in 20 years and then the ammo that is available is stupid expensive. 

 

I know I can buy another gun in 20 years, but why bother buying a gun I can't use anyway? Y'know. 

.30-06 is still extremely popular and virtually every manufacturer will make something in that caliber.  It's still a very prevalent hunting round in the USA so it's popular in more than just vintage rifles.  As to if it's available with all the shortages we have currently, I don't know, haven't been in a gun store in 6 months.  Prices will vary greatly depending as well.  If you stuck with pre-2020 prices you were looking at a range of $50-150 per 100 rounds so basically double what 7.62x39 costs at the low end and going up from there.  Some of the specialty ammo was over $2 per shot and I have paid $4 per shot for some very rare vintage collectible ammo.

 

When I got into collecting and shooting vintage stuff I also learned how to and started hand loading almost all of my own ammo to try and save some cash.  If you were ever curious to see what 1000 rounds of .30-06 looks like on Garand enbloc clips.  This was the pile of reloads I got done with the other year and took a photo of.

[Real_PhillBert]

4 minutes ago, vf1000ride said:

.30-06 is still extremely popular and virtually every manufacturer will make something in that caliber.  It's still a very prevalent hunting round in the USA so it's popular in more than just vintage rifles.  As to if it's available with all the shortages we have currently, I don't know, haven't been in a gun store in 6 months.  Prices will vary greatly depending as well.  If you stuck with pre-2020 prices you were looking at a range of $50-150 per 100 rounds so basically double what 7.62x39 costs at the low end and going up from there.  Some of the specialty ammo was over $2 per shot and I have paid $4 per shot for some very rare vintage collectible ammo.

 

When I got into collecting and shooting vintage stuff I also learned how to and started hand loading almost all of my own ammo to try and save some cash.  If you were ever curious to see what 1000 rounds of .30-06 looks like on Garand enbloc clips.  This was the pile of reloads I got done with the other year and took a photo of.

*SNIP*

Those black tips! *Drools*

[vf1000ride]

14 minutes ago, Real_PhillBert said:

Those black tips! *Drools*

Those are some of the ones that cost me between $2 and 2.50 each to buy in surplus so you can image the value just in that picture, there are many more not shown.  I have a fairly good stockpile in that caliber being I have 5 guns chambered in it.  A 1903, 1917, and 3 Garands.  This was the pile of just .30-06 when I pulled it all out to reorganize the ammo safe.  Just over 4,500 rounds in the picture.  Sad to think I bought a second safe just to lock ammo up in

[Guest]

1 hour ago, vf1000ride said:

.30-06 is still extremely popular and virtually every manufacturer will make something in that caliber.  It's still a very prevalent hunting round in the USA so it's popular in more than just vintage rifles.  As to if it's available with all the shortages we have currently, I don't know, haven't been in a gun store in 6 months.  Prices will vary greatly depending as well.  If you stuck with pre-2020 prices you were looking at a range of $50-150 per 100 rounds so basically double what 7.62x39 costs at the low end and going up from there.  Some of the specialty ammo was over $2 per shot and I have paid $4 per shot for some very rare vintage collectible ammo.

 

When I got into collecting and shooting vintage stuff I also learned how to and started hand loading almost all of my own ammo to try and save some cash.  If you were ever curious to see what 1000 rounds of .30-06 looks like on Garand enbloc clips.  This was the pile of reloads I got done with the other year and took a photo of.

 

You hand loaded 1,000 rounds of 30-06?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, vf1000ride said:

Those are some of the ones that cost me between $2 and 2.50 each to buy in surplus so you can image the value just in that picture, there are many more not shown.  I have a fairly good stockpile in that caliber being I have 5 guns chambered in it.  A 1903, 1917, and 3 Garands.  This was the pile of just .30-06 when I pulled it all out to reorganize the ammo safe.  Just over 4,500 rounds in the picture.  Sad to think I bought a second safe just to lock ammo up in

 

hahaha.

How much ammo do you have in your house right now? If you had to guess, or if you know. Between all calibres, or by calibre.

[vf1000ride]

Just now, fpo said:

hahaha.

How much ammo do you have in your house right now? If you had to guess, or if you know. Between all calibres, or by calibre.

Alot, Lol.  Here was the second picture from the same day as well as a nice blury photo of the business end of the loading bench.  This was all the other calibers.  In total I normally keep around 15-16K rounds of ammo on hand.  Depends on how much I shoot vs reload vs what fits in the safe.  I currently reload for 9mm, .40S&W, 45acp, 30 carbine, .222, .223, .308, .303 brit, .30-06, 7.65x53 Argentine.  I am working on setting up for 8x50R Hungarian at the moment.  I have reloaded for .357 mag, .357sig, 44 magnum, .25-06 in the past but haven't done any of them in the past few years.

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, vf1000ride said:

Alot, Lol.  Here was the second picture from the same day as well as a nice blury photo of the business end of the loading bench.  This was all the other calibers.  In total I normally keep around 15-16K rounds of ammo on hand.  Depends on how much I shoot vs reload vs what fits in the safe.  I currently reload for 9mm, .40S&W, 45acp, 30 carbine, .222, .223, .308, .303 brit, .30-06, 7.65x53 Argentine.  I am working on setting up for 8x50R Hungarian at the moment.  I have reloaded for .357 mag, .357sig, 44 magnum, .25-06 in the past but haven't done any of them in the past few years.

 

 

How many times can you re-use a case/bullet shell?

[vf1000ride]

9 minutes ago, fpo said:

How many times can you re-use a case/bullet shell?

Depends on the caliber but the low level explanation is.  Straight wall pistol brass cases you should be able to reuse 10+ times.  The primer pocket and the rim will normally start to wear out first.  Rifle ammo with a bottle neck shape is about half of that or maybe less and depends more on the condition of the chamber in the gun.  The brass case stretches each time you fire them in a rifle so you need to trim the brass as part of the reloading process.  It starts to create thin spots with multiple reloads and you have to watch they don't get too thin.  Some of my older rifles in .303 brit, I only get 2-3 reloads before the brass is done.  The chambers in those guns are very old and loose tolerances so they damage the brass pretty bad each time you fire them.  It's still worth the effort as even at pre-2020 prices I reload for usually half of retail, these days it would be an even more incredible margin as I have enough components to hopefully last me through till things are cheap again so even now I am still reloading at half of pre-2020 retail ammo prices. 

[atxcyclist]

2 hours ago, vf1000ride said:

Alot, Lol.  Here was the second picture from the same day as well as a nice blury photo of the business end of the loading bench.  This was all the other calibers.  In total I normally keep around 15-16K rounds of ammo on hand.  Depends on how much I shoot vs reload vs what fits in the safe.  I currently reload for 9mm, .40S&W, 45acp, 30 carbine, .222, .223, .308, .303 brit, .30-06, 7.65x53 Argentine.  I am working on setting up for 8x50R Hungarian at the moment.  I have reloaded for .357 mag, .357sig, 44 magnum, .25-06 in the past but haven't done any of them in the past few years.

I load 7.65 Argentine for an old 1891 Loewe sporter I bought for cheap years back. The 8x50R intrigues me. Which model rifle do you have? I could kick myself for passing on a fine condition antique M95 years ago, now they're about impossible to find.

 

Reloading is a great way to spend some time on the hobby, very meticulous but rewarding. With covid I haven't been out to my friend's land or a range in almost a year, but I've loaded a few boxes worth of ammo. 50 rounds of .41 Mag, 20 rounds of 7.65 Argentine, and 20 rounds of .45-70 low-brinell cast rounds for my Springfield M1884 Trapdoor. I picked up a .300 Win Mag and got set up to load for it, but I haven't even sighted it in yet. 

[Real_PhillBert]

My Rugged suppressor mount came in today, now if the can would just get approved I'd be all set.

[Velcade]

@Real_PhillBertwhen does the engagement gun come in? 

[Rybo]

On 1/7/2021 at 6:44 PM, vf1000ride said:

<<discussing reloading over 10,000 rounds in a manual press>>

HOLY CARP.  I have a progressive press and I can barely imagine spending enough time reloading to get to tens of thousands of rounds!  

Incidentally, for you and anybody else who reloads, what's your experience on primers?  Are they susceptible being killed by poor handling and the like?  I got a bunch of Winchester small pistol primers and I swear they have a 10% failure rate.  I'm wondering if I've been storing them improperly or if putting my greasy monkey fingers on them is rendering them inert.  They are definitely seated fine, and I'm getting good strikes.  

[Real_PhillBert]

3 hours ago, Velcade said:

@Real_PhillBertwhen does the engagement gun come in? 

I wont lie, I'm dropping hints for a Staccato P Duo for an engagement gift from here haha.

[atxcyclist]

3 hours ago, Rybo said:

HOLY CARP.  I have a progressive press and I can barely imagine spending enough time reloading to get to tens of thousands of rounds!  

Incidentally, for you and anybody else who reloads, what's your experience on primers?  Are they susceptible being killed by poor handling and the like?  I got a bunch of Winchester small pistol primers and I swear they have a 10% failure rate.  I'm wondering if I've been storing them improperly or if putting my greasy monkey fingers on them is rendering them inert.  They are definitely seated fine, and I'm getting good strikes.  

What are your storage conditions? They become less "sensitive" over time if they're stored in a humid environment. If they're really old or have been stored in a humid garage or utility room, they may have some degradation. I keep mine inside an ammo can with desiccant, and that ammo can is stored inside my house.

[Rybo]

47 minutes ago, atxcyclist said:

What are your storage conditions? They become less "sensitive" over time if they're stored in a humid environment. If they're really old or have been stored in a humid garage or utility room, they may have some degradation. I keep mine inside an ammo can with desiccant, and that ammo can is stored inside my house.

I live in Florida, which is humid, but I keep the stuff inside my air conditioned house, so I would have considered storage conditions ideal.  I do, however, have horrendous luck in handling them: I would estimate I've easily manually handled 10% of them (by dropping some or clearing a jam in the press or other such nonsense).  I wouldn't think that would cause any problems, but empirical evidence suggests something is up.  Any manufacturer who delivered primers with a 10% failure rate wouldn't remain a manufacturer for long.  I just need to isolate what I'm doing to them to have made them go bad and....well, stop doing it.  

The desiccant is a good idea; I hadn't thought of it.  
 

[Velcade]

2 hours ago, Real_PhillBert said:

I wont lie, I'm dropping hints for a Staccato P Duo for an engagement gift from here haha.

I was surprised with a SR1911 after I proposed.  So it can happen.  ha ha.

[Velcade]

double post error. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Velcade said:

I was surprised with a SR1911 after I proposed.  So it can happen.  ha ha.

I'd marry any girl that gave me a 1911 hahaha. 

[vf1000ride]

On 1/7/2021 at 9:50 PM, atxcyclist said:

I load 7.65 Argentine for an old 1891 Loewe sporter I bought for cheap years back. The 8x50R intrigues me. Which model rifle do you have? I could kick myself for passing on a fine condition antique M95 years ago, now they're about impossible to find.

 

Reloading is a great way to spend some time on the hobby, very meticulous but rewarding. With covid I haven't been out to my friend's land or a range in almost a year, but I've loaded a few boxes worth of ammo. 50 rounds of .41 Mag, 20 rounds of 7.65 Argentine, and 20 rounds of .45-70 low-brinell cast rounds for my Springfield M1884 Trapdoor. I picked up a .300 Win Mag and got set up to load for it, but I haven't even sighted it in yet. 

I have the Steyr M95 straight pull for the 8x50R ammo, have had it for a few years and haven't shot it yet.   

The 7.65x53 is for an 1891 Mauser engineers carbine, pic below.  Got lucky and found one that still has a really nice Argentine crest on the receiver.

[vf1000ride]

On 1/10/2021 at 9:00 AM, Rybo said:

HOLY CARP.  I have a progressive press and I can barely imagine spending enough time reloading to get to tens of thousands of rounds!  

Incidentally, for you and anybody else who reloads, what's your experience on primers?  Are they susceptible being killed by poor handling and the like?  I got a bunch of Winchester small pistol primers and I swear they have a 10% failure rate.  I'm wondering if I've been storing them improperly or if putting my greasy monkey fingers on them is rendering them inert.  They are definitely seated fine, and I'm getting good strikes.  

For me the limiting factor is really just wearing out the muscles in my arm.  I can normally do 300 per hour for pistol ammo so 4hrs or slightly less depending on breaks to do 1,000 rounds.  That's about as much as I can push my arm in a day and would normally take the following day or two off from the press.  The rifle ammo takes longer as I do all of that on a single stage press.  When I did that 1,000 rounds of .30-06 that took me almost 2 weeks at 2-3 hours a day.  Case cleaning, prep, sizing, trimming all happens first until I get up to the case count I want.  Then I start the priming, powder and bullet process in 50 case batches until I hit the finish line.

 

As for the primer problems your having.  Touching the inside surface is bad.  Oil is what is used if you need to render primers inert.  You also need to make sure that your cases are oil free.  If you are using an ultrasonic cleaner vs a dry tumbler you need to make sure they are absolutely clean and dry before moving on.  You also need to watch if you are using a spray case lube that none of that is in the primer pockets.  What other people mentioned about humidity and temperature are a thing as well.

[Guest]

I probably shouldn't be complaining but ammo is expensive...

556/223 at a store nearby is over $1/round. Literally $1,000 for 1,000rds. 

 

For my 7.62x39, ammo was $250~/1,000 rds. Now most ammo is like $380+/1,000. 

 

I was hoping that it'd be tame to like maybe $300. $330 max. I think my only regret is not buying 223/556 and selling it now hahaha. 

[atxcyclist]

34 minutes ago, vf1000ride said:

I have the Steyr M95 straight pull for the 8x50R ammo, have had it for a few years and haven't shot it yet.   

The 7.65x53 is for an 1891 Mauser engineers carbine, pic below.  Got lucky and found one that still has a really nice Argentine crest on the receiver.

 

I've never fired an M95, but always wished I'd gotten the chance. Maybe some day.

 

That engineer's carbine is nice. I was on gunbroker some years back looking at old Mauser-pattern rifles, then saw a clean but sporterized 1891 with a $225 price tag on it. I did a little research, found out that an old department store called Montgomery Ward sold sporterized military rifles in the 50's. At that price, and also since it was pre-1899 and direct shipment, I couldn't pass it up. The barrel is shortened to about 21", bolt is turned-down, but all numbers match and the shop that sporterized the rifles was reputable. I prefer my milsurps closer to factory, but it's a great rifle and the bore is almost new even at 128 years old. 

[Rybo]

9 hours ago, vf1000ride said:

As for the primer problems your having.  Touching the inside surface is bad.  Oil is what is used if you need to render primers inert....What other people mentioned about humidity and temperature are a thing as well.

Those are probably the main factors right there.  Manually handling them just causes too many problems.  I guess next batch I'll just be super careful not to handle them and see what my success rate looks like. 

And I honestly don't even clean my cases anymore unless I bought them from someone; I use indoor ranges so they're not collecting any dirt or moisture on the ground, so all that's left is some carbon residue.  When I do clean them, though, I use an ultrasonic cleaner and then bake them in the oven on low for a while (I learned the fun way that letting them air dry wasn't going to cut it -- I actually created a squib load in that batch.  *shudder*)

[XGoodGuyFitz]

Twisted tea is a registered weapon guys. Where can i find ammo?

[Velcade]

2 minutes ago, xXFitzXx said:

Where can i find ammo?

Liquor King!  Grab you a 6 pk