Recent content by joevh

Ditto. Kinda disappointing that the current trend is to focus on a ballistics computer rather than really good glass in a binocular that also happens to range distances.

I'll have to wait until I get home tomorrow night to look and see, but the 160's were too long for the magazine to be able to crimp in a groove - I had to seat them deeper. The 154 HHT came out after I started this thread, and is what I settled on as I think it's the best of all combinations...

Nice bear! And a beautiful day to be out. That scope alone must add a few pounds to your setup!

Well, that sucks. Just as we're starting to see some Alliant powders back in stock...

I love some R16 in my 300 WSM, but for my 7'08s and 6.5CM, Varget is my go-to powder (I will admit, I've never tried R16 for that cartridge). No guarantee your rifle will like it, but Varget seems to be hard to beat for 7-08. For my sons' Remington Mountain rifles, one shoots the 131 HH...

I just sold my Magnetospeed and my Pro Chrono after getting a Xero. The only bad thing I have to say about the Garmin is that is seems to have destroyed the price of used Magnetospeeds!

Update #2: The bitch's owner flaked on me at the last minute. Don't know why she did that after 4 months of having an agreement, and now I'm not sure which one was the real Bi#@%. Did I just say that? Anyways, now back in the hunt for a female to breed my male to.

Using Varget, I get 3000fps with the 131HH and 3100fps with the 120HH in my 7- 08's. For my 6.5CM (similar capacities) I use Varget for the 85HH and TAC for the 97AH. Being a faster powder, I think TAC would be excellent for the Absolutes in particular. Just know that it does not seem very...

45-70 250 SH AA1680 Marlin 1895 Guide Gun Stainless 18.5" barrel New Starline Brass Fed215 RCBS seating die roll crimp (LFC die had no effect on shortened brass, trimmed to 2.04") 2.54" COAL 57 gr. 2483 58 gr. 2512 59 gr. 2524 57.5gr 3 shot @50 yds .75" group open sights, AVG 2485 fps, ES 6...

Update: I wanted to try some R7 but could only find it in 5# kegs locally, so bought a pound of AA1680. Got it up to roughly the same velocity as with IMR4198, but unlike the 4198, the AA1680 was not compressed and still had more room. I also used Fed magnum primers for this ball powder...

I'm in eastern Washington, soon to move back to my native Montana

Update; We found Diesel a mate from Petmeetly.com in December. Looks like's she's starting a heat cycle right now. Hopefully will have pup pictures to post here for the dog lovers in a couple months or so. Gotta love a good canine companion!

Captain Obvious, the Barnes data clearly states it was done with a 1895 Marlin, not a Ruger #1. Sorry Les, I couldn't resist that; I'm not trying to be rude! I'm quite aware that I will not achieve 24" barrel velocities with my 18 1/2" barrel. Their test was also run with a 250gr Barnes TSX...

Thanks Joe, yours and Les's clarification on not wanting to compress ball powders suddenly makes sense to me - not a lot of compressibility with something that resembles sand! I have an opportunity to buy some 1680, so may pick up a pound of it to see how it does. Would you recommend magnum...

Charlie, I've been looking at the Barnes data for their 250gr TSX and they achieved 2609 fps with AA1680 at 42,000 psi. The loading manuals are finicky for this round, with so many different strength gun actions and different standards. It is indeed confusing to know what should be max as well...