Gaznazdiak wrote: Sun Apr 12, 2020 12:48 am
lurker wrote: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:09 pm
whatcha shoot?
am i correct in assuming that you have the same sort of political divide over guns as we do?
we have our biases, just not the ones you usually hear about.
Hi Lurker,
The rig I've been load developing for is a Frankenstein setup I've put together. Nothing too special, but it will reliably head shoot rabbits out to 350m. As long as it isn't too windy, I am hopeless at judging for wind.
It's a Howa .223 action with a 24" fluted bull barrel, Gunbloke 1.5lb trigger, in an XLR Industries Element chassis with a Hawke 10-50×60 scope.
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After 3 years of trying every combination of pill type and weight, seating depth, powder load and primer, I realized that the one variable I hadn't tinkered with was case weight.
So I weighed all my cases and batched them to .1gn.
The final "sweet" combination was Hornady 55gn soft nose projectiles, marketed here as Roo Max, seated to the top of the cannelure in ADI brass weighing 93.3gn over 25.5gn of ADI 2206H powder and CCI BR4 primer. The results made me laugh out loud.
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I used my last, many patched, reactive target to see my results as it was a boiling hot day and the Hawke was suffering from a wavering heat distortion on high magnification.
The hole above the bull is 5 rounds at 300m, the 2 fliers are 2 factory rounds I had left over as comparison as they use the same brass (weight unknown for obvious reasons) and a 55gn Sierra soft nose projectile. It was totally calm weather, shots were fired 2 minutes apart to try to eliminate barrel temperature variability. The red mark below indicates the target.
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I also have a Winchester Model 04 .22 that my Mum gave me for my 13th birthday, a single shot Sportco 12g I bought new for $40 at Kmart in 1978 and a Savage Bmag in .17 WSM. Awesome round that little WSM.
As to what I shoot
at, rabbits, cats, foxes and pigs.
A lot of "town" people are horrified at the thought of shooting cats, I don't much like it myself, but they are a huge problem here, killing an estimated 1 billion native animals per year.
The political "divide" on guns here?
Unfortunately there is little. It seems of late to be more of a competition to see who can come up with the most Draconian addition to the already restrictive environment.
Our guns were taken by an unpopular conservative government cashing in on the national horror over the Port Arthur massacre, as mass shootings were extremely rare here, even then. The rest of the political spectrum jumped aboard and things have been going downhill ever since.
Unlike America, gun ownership here is not a constitutional right, but there was never a big anti-gun push until Port Arthur.
I have no problem with tight gun laws per se, as long as they are based solely on safety and logic. Strict background checks, licensing, registration, safe storage etc. are fine with me, but things have descended into lunacy.
For example, I am allowed to have my Howa, with which I can get the results above, but if I was found with a totally inert replica of that same rifle I am liable to get from 7 to 14 years imprisonment.
In my state of NSW, not only are Gel Blasters prohibited, but there is an upper limit on the muzzle velocity of
NERF guns
There has been a serious push amongst the ban everything brigade to prohibit any firearm that has a "military" look about it, but even the minutia are ridiculous.
Another case in point, the chassis on my Howa has adjustable length of pull. Luckily in my case, it is fixed with Allen head screws and therefore legal. If it was fixed by a cam lock, however, that is illegal and the firearm could be confiscated.
To make things worse, shooters are vastly outnumbered here now. I can't recall the exact numbers but it's down to less than 5% of population.
What has driven me away from Australian gun forums is the above numbers combined with the radical attitudes of so many on these forums.
We rely for our very existence as shooters on the votes of the other ~95%. These non shooters are not going to go to the range and talk to people competing, they aren't going to come all the way out here and talk to someone like me, in this increasingly online world they are going to get their impressions from what they see online either news or via visiting forums. What they are likely to read on these forums is what worries me the most, insane conspiracy theories, racist xenophobia, hatred against anything progressive. Don't dare mention Agenda 21, sustainability, climate change, foreign aid or any of a plethora of their pet manias.
Sorry about the gun law rant, but you
did ask
What about you Lurker?