It's been a blast!



All the details are in this thread: http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/364599_Okay___I_now_have_a_pile_of_reloading_supplies_on_my_floor____UPDATE__SUCCESS_.html

Long story short, I wanted a change from all light cartridges and such, so I sold my Beretta CX4, purchased for $550, for $745. Then I put that money into a new Marlin 1895 and some handloading equipment. I'd never handloaded before, so this was a good excuse, and a way to stretch a good rifle's legs.

Notice the great shot grouping at 50 yards! #4 was just an elevation test, but 5 through 8 were fired for effect, using irons. I have no intention of changing the sights or adding a scope. Only change I'd make is to replace them with tritium sights, but I don't think any are available.





My 525-grain Pile Driver bullets arrive next week!

You left out the part about how much we hate OP now.

I'm right there with ya.

That is one fine looking gun you have there, they do get addicting!

I looked at that stuff, but it doesn't seem to do anything at short-medium range that lead doesn't, and these lead rounds are well under $.50 each if I reuse each casing 4 times.

Lot of good pics in this thread!

You can make Leverevolution ammunition if you reload. They've released the powder (Hodgdon Leverevolution Powder (from what I've read from others, 35 grains is about the best under the 160 grain FTX)) that they use in them and you can buy the bullets (Flex tip Hornadays). Just mentioning it if you want them for shorter money.

Rear sight's drifted. I taped down an index card just behind it and made a pencil mark at the tiny offset my calipers told me was the right distance. 14" sight radius, 2" off at 50 yards, 2" off at 1800", (14*2)/1800 = 0.0155 inches. Then I held pliers against the left side of the dovetail thing and whacked them with a hammer until it was far enough. Seems rather bubba, but we'll see.

The rear sight is now quite a ways right of the scope-screw-holes-to-front-sight line. Curious to see how this works out, maybe the front sight's messed up, or maybe my sight picture was bad, or who knows.

Also, I loaded more rounds the other night. Now I've got a 50-count box with 32 rounds of the original 350-grain laser cast/13.5-grain trail boss light loads, plus 13 test rounds of 525-grain pile drivers/41-grain H-322 powder. Can't wait to try them out!

The only other concern I have is that, when rounds are loaded in the magazine, the last round hops back into the receiver, and its rim is behind the front of the loading gate. This prevents me from easily swinging the loading gate in, but the rim is visible through the little hole between the loading gate front and the receiver, so I can push the rim forward using the rim of another round. That seems wrong, though. Am I loading incorrectly, or is this behavior by design, or is there a possible problem in the magazine?

I tried out the 525-grain loads.



I got two rounds off before I called it a day, lol. The main problem is that I tested the first round with a deliberately bad stance; I didn't want my head anywhere near or behind the bolt, just in case there was a serious pressure problem. As a result, and as I expected, it slapped me hard. I tried a second round but my shoulder was pretty rough after the first, so I went back to the light-load 350's and then over to the pistol range, which I was really there for anyway.

I'll get back to the range with additional padding one of these days, and the comfort of knowing I can take a proper stance. You guys were right, haha, mild to wild.

I definitely have confidence that those 525's will stand me in good stead in the event of either a zoo outbreak, a dinosaur time warp, or an alien invasion. And that's pretty much exactly what I was hoping for.

Incidentally, I did feel much more comfortable loading the magazine this time. I'd somehow realized that it works better if I feed each round in halfway, then push it the rest of the way with the next round. So the gate only ever closes on the last round.

I'll throw a little gas on the fire
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sexy

Just to put you over the edge.

1895CBII