If I end up reloading I have a heap of winchester brass here for it, when that's flogged out I'll replace with Norma
Printable View
If I end up reloading I have a heap of winchester brass here for it, when that's flogged out I'll replace with Norma
Always wanted one, had a 243 Forrester and 222 Vixen in the Forest Service days. It looks a little rough but for that sort of price you can't go to wrong. It should shoot ok, as I have seen some shocking barrels that have shot well. A good scrub out with a copper killer and give it a run before considering a re crown. Hope it shoots for you a good bit of rifle history right there.
Well after multiple deep copper cleans it's finally good, no more copper on the rifling.
Hopefully put some rounds down it soon.
This pic might not show much but best I could do, rifling looks crisp and no obvious damage to me, can't wait to see how it shoots.
Attachment 104114
You may have to put a fowler shot down there before trying for a group size.
Poor old barrel is probably feeling quite naked after the scrubbing you just gave it:XD:
Looks pretty good, after a few rounds she should shoot ok.
Did you remove the carbon or is the solvent good for that too?
So I thought I had a box of whitetails but they were already shot ooops :yaeh am not durnk:
So I spoke to the owner and he was happy enough for me to load up some eldx and try them.
The results are better than expected, but I must point out I really struggled with the heavy as trigger, I will need to sort that out sooner rather than later.
So I did a ladder starting at 57.5 and made 9 of those to include fouler (not fowler) shots and sighting shots, went up in .3grain increments to 58.4
No pressure signs at all the rifle is a pussycat to shoot.
I have settled on 58.1 for now as I'm off hunting on Tuesday, but there is room to develop as I have no pressure signs even at 58.4 which is above book max.
At 58.4 it looked like it was starting to tighten the grouping again so when I have time I'll try another ladder starting at 58.4 going up .2grain to 58.8g to see if it tightens up again or shows pressure signs.
All projectiles were seated 10 thou off the lands and easily mag fed and ejected even at a ogave length of 72.21mm
Attachment 104244
Shot at 50 yards cause I forgot to move back once I had it fouled (not fowled) and sighted
Attachment 104245
Dunno what happened here but probably not as bad as it looks, first group I shot at 100 yds and still very much coming to grips with the heavy ass trigger
Attachment 104247
This is the load I am going to use for now grouping is good but will improve once the trigger is lightened. The shot 1" to the left was last of three and definitely pulled
Attachment 104248
Looks to me like it's coming up to the next accuracy node, the shot on the right was last of three and again definitely pulled, man I hate heavy triggers :oh noes:
2 lowest charges
Attachment 104249
2 highest charges
Attachment 104250
Definately minute of deer in the bush, looks like a keeper :thumbsup:
I'm sure I can close those groups up considerably with the trigger lightened, will probably bed it and free float as it jys touches the stock on the barrel channel on one side, also do some research on what if any improvement can be had by getting it crowned.
But yes a keeper and worth putting some effort in to make it better :thumbsup:
Right trigger is sorted, easy trigger to adjust it's now much closer to 2lbs and nearer to what like, must've been around the 6lb+ territory, why anyone would set a trigger that heavy I'll never understand :slow:
Still breaks like glass, no creep just like a sako trigger should be :thumbsup:
Back at the range today all sorted, bloody impressive for a 50 year old rifle.
3 shots at 100yds and I definitely pulled one, but only just.
Attachment 104363
These ELDX just work in the 270
Is it just me or are they shiny Marks on the cases in your hotter load
Thiink about this Danny. The 270 was a cartridge of its day, flat shooting and fairly powerful. Its' forte was from 200 to 300 yd in the days when we didn't have range finders. You've got to respect it for what it was. If you consign it to being a "bush gun" you may as well chop the barrel to 18" and put on a suppressor....
No, you need to be testing this with slooow 5 shot groups at 300m before you decide if its a keeper.
The other key qualities are stability of zero (no shame in a new bedding job probably with pillars with 50 year old wood) which can almost certainly be brought up to scratch.
and feed and action performance. Any misfeeds of slam fires in a hurry ? Safety working OK ?
Then give some thought to a classic but superb scope. Sako-Leupold is traditional in NZ but a european brand would also match. 3-9x40 should see you right to 300m but you might like more. The S&B 3-12x42 would be pretty good or even the fixed 6x42 if you want to be eccentric.
This rifle needs to be a great performer for open county hunting or it will stay in your safe for another generation. If you have another 300m rifle then you need to get rid of that. Perhaps this sako could be a spare / "loaner" but don't keep it unless its one of your best working rifles.
Danny, in the .270 using 2213 I have gone up to 63 gns behind a 130 in a long throated Remington 700.
You should also try 54 to 55 gns of 2209 or ww760 behind a 230. Sometimes these two quicker powders give better accuracy.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
@Bagheera yup, feeds good and holds zero well, certainly looking at getting it bedded as insurance. I do not have another rifle in this caliber so it's a keeper for sure.
Took my longest shot on an animal today with her, a nice fat fallow doe @275yds, sacked it on the spot
I had mind in the late 70's early 80's when I lived in and around Otira. She got carried up the Taramakau, Taipo, Trent, Haupiri, Deception, Poulter, Wilberforce and others never ever let me down, any misses were my fault, enjoy it she wiil be a keeper.
sounds like you are on the right track and she is a beauty....
if you want to stick some pillars in the stock flick me a PM with your address and I will send you same arrow shaft....got a heap off off cuts here off a nice seller on trademe.
ELD etc might be really great projectiles as it appears to be...but 50 quid to a knob of goat turds if you load up some 150 grn partitions (even if you only decide to use them for spook n shoot)you will not be dissapointed
for what its worth re loads...MY winchester mod 70 with a very long throat that Ive played with loads for years with is quite happy 2-3grns above book max most of the time,whereas my mates rem77 prefers something about 2grns below,each rifle is different,the chamber /barrel specs have a lot to do with how they handle pressure and I believe the length of non rifled barrel in front of your case/throat/leade has even more to do with it..long bullet space walk isnt entirely a bad thing.
Looks like it is a keeper alright, nice to hear you blooded the rifle already, must be a sign of things to come.
Those Finnbears are a bloody good hunting rifle. They have the best positive half-cock of any action I can think of. They are smooth and quiet to load a round like a 98 if you bring your left fingers around the action to follow the case as the bolt travels forward. The little bar on the bolt keeps crap out of the action when pushing through scrub. The fore-stock is the perfect shape to get to a solid level hold very fast, with that flat underside and slightly inward tapered sides. They are the action that set the standard for modern plunger ejector design and machining excellence.
The only thing to watch is rust if camped in a wet area.
I predict that despite the Finnbear being a little heavier, you will get sights on animals faster and shoot more game than your mates with newer rifles dannyb.
Yup fair to say I'm pretty happy with it, it is a little heavier than some of the new lightweight rifles but it's not stupidly heavey I would say similar weight to a howa or weatherby, but it's an absolute pussycat to shoot dunno if it's the extra weight or the shape of the stock but its much lighter on the recoil than my A7 was.
It also seems quieter must be a longer barrel (I haven't measured it ).
No complaints about the action it's very slick and feeds well, and I can see what you mean about the bar keeping the shit out that's an added bonus.
I need to suss a recoil pad out as the one on it is pretty perished and getting passed it, there seems to be only one place in the states that sells replica ones and they ain't cheap @ around NZ$200 and they won't ship to NZ but I think it would be wrong to put an aftermarket limbsaver on it. I have a mate going over for a trip later this year so he is going to pick one up for me.
In the mean time once the roar is done I will concentrate on getting it pillar bedded, crowning the muzzle, sorting the free float out and maybe tidy up the stock asthetically (the jury is out on tidying the stock up I kinda like it's character).
I would love to get the blueing restored though, so that may happen before I ever think about the stock
See how she looks re-blued with the old stock before trying to do up the timber. That stock is as close as you will get to her being able to talk. A deep clean and re-oil may bring out the grain without losing the character. I'm assuming the timber is oiled?
The Sako stock shape/design is vastly superior to the American style stock both in recoil handling and fit. American style stocks are ideally suited to open sights......
Note how much less familiarity you need with the rifle to feel comfortable with it. Benchrest has infested the shooting world with dry mathematical thinking. Worth noting that most of the good shooting carried out with open sights etc is mathematically impossible. If you were to calculate the spacing of human eyes and the angles involved, it can't be done, yet our brain does it. This is why building a superb hunting rifle, rather than just a shooting rifle is a dark art. Our brains are built to throw objects to retrieve dinner. Rifles built by real craftsmen make much more use of this fact than ones that are built around marketing campaigns.
What I am trying to say is that there is more involved in a superb rifle than generally gets discussed. Pity we can't pick the brains of a Sako gunsmith from 50 years ago.