Swede M38 Range Report

[Patrick Chadwick]

fished them out of the cleaner ... time to retire these Normas although none of the others show any signs it has to be very close.

Those pics are precisely what one would expect if you are repeatedly full-length sizing cases which are fired in a chamber that is a touch longer than as per SAAMI/CIP.

"dutchman" has dealt with this topic in detail, even to providing pics of the real Swedish gauges. Just stick to neck-sizing. Not only will your cases last longer, the rifle will probably perform better!

Patrick

[xa-coupe]

That file is a classic ! utilitarian but 100% on the money. thanks !
Up until recently I just FL resized everything to ensure they fit as the brass seemed to be up to it ( and really didn't worry/think about it at all ! ). I have spent a lot more time researching the finer points of reloading recently and have spent a lot more time trimming brass to correct size, thinking about what proj works best ( think the boat tail disucssions for Enfield ), measuring all sorts of things I never did before and so on. One of the processes I have started is to just neck size stuff ... but... I have a heap of reloaded ammo for a rifle that's gone and it must have had a massive chamber as everything is tight in this rifle.. so a FL resize is on the cards of all that stuff.

[tbonesmith]

I'm with you Xa-coupe, these rifles shoot fine with FLS'd ammo, misfeeds are minimised, cases are interchangable among rifles, unless there is some compelling reason (match target shooting with target rifles), I think on balance that FLSing is the go. Hey 20 reloads is great case life however you look at it.

[xa-coupe]

I think the trick was having decent brass to begin with. The PMC stuff would be lucky to have had 5 reloads and are failing. Lapua or Norma to top up my supplies is the go. I might keep the others for emergency use.

[tbonesmith]

I've had really good results with remington brass. I tried some Yuu brass (highland) and didn't get 2 out of it! In fact I turfed a lot of it before the first use, when I had 2 primers detonating in the press when seating for the first load .

[xa-coupe]

I haven't seen any rem brass for athe 6.5, I have some squirrelled away for the 45/70 whilst I use up the original hornady stuff but that was an impulse buy...

[xa-coupe]

Here's a pic of the 50m target I shot off on the weekend, It is far more centred than before whihc is wierd as when I started the day it was high and to the left just as before.
Later it went to the centre. I did change how I was using my rest so I am wondering if that was the cause of it. It's a cheapo which has a pretty firm surface to rest the forend on. I had my hand underneath it for these.
Something to work on next trip. It would be ironic if there was never an issue with the rifle.


---------- Post added at 11:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 PM ----------

I also got a heap of brass back off a friend which has a good amount of lapua as well as the PMC/Norma stuff. I will give all the lapua TLC and keep the rest for reserve now. I might not have to cough up just yet for new ones for a while.

[Patrick Chadwick]

A thought: in your first post you wrote

Given I can hardly see the target

As someone suffering from presbyopia and astigmatism in the shooting eye, plus the fact that I literally see double in the vertical direction (2nd weak image about 2 MOA above the proper one!) , I am very well qualified to say that if you are shooting with open sights, and expecially with a carbine or short rifle with a correspondingly short sight radius, the the FIRST thing to sort out before worrying about anything else is your vision. If you do not have the right spectacles for shooting (and those are NOT those you use for driving, or reading, but something in between) then you can waste a lot of ammo and worry time.

So, how is your vision when shooting? The sight picture with open sights varies slightly with the light. Incorrect spectacles will exacerbate this effect. Have your vision checked out by an optician who knows what shooters need. They are not too common - the typical optician has a recipe for reading, another for driving, and that's about it. Find a specialist, even if it means a round trip of a couple of hundred miles. Take the rifle with you, so you can check the sight picture with the recommended prescription right on the spot. It will probably be a better investment that a lot of fiddling around with seating depths etc.

BTW, I don't recall seeing any result of the paper card test for binding in the barrel channel - or have I missed something?

Patrick

[xa-coupe]

When I start I can usually see a single target but after about 5 minutes I see two. I usually pick one or the other to shoot at. At 50 I can see one pretty clearly not to mention the rapid fire means I don't strain my eyes concentrating too much.
Seating depths is more fun than the optician I am going to post on a local forum to see if anyone has a optomoetrist who knows their shooting stuff. I have had eye surgery to correct myopia 15 or so years ago and for a long time my iron sight shooting was bad only because I was no good whereas now I have an excuse. As time has gone on I am getting long sighted as most people do so I must get around to doing something about reading / computer glasses I suppose. It's called getting older I expect.
You didn;t miss it, you commented on it in the mauser forum I can get a thin piece of paper under the barrel now whereas I got nothing before. I could open it up a bit more but if it's floating I figure it's floating. There's also not a lot of wood around the lip of the barrel channel and I don't want to make it too thin in case it ends up breaking or something. If the wood swells or something makes me want to remove more, then I will deal with that at the time. Given I need a screwdriver, texta and sandpaper to do it I can do it anywhere I need to.

[Patrick Chadwick]

I can get a thin piece of paper under the barrel now whereas I got nothing before. I could open it up a bit more but if it's floating I figure it's floating.

Sounds OK, and you are right - there's no need to sand off more than that.

You wrote "I have had eye surgery to correct myopia 15 or so years ago" - so how about checking out the eyeballs? Surgery typically results in a certain stiffness of the affected areas.

A university friend (now deceased) who was an eye surgeon, always had "bottle glass" lens in his spectacles. At a college reunion I asked him why he, of all people, did not get his sight fixed. His answer was illuminating: "Patrick, at our age it makes no sense. The increasing lack of accomodation (presbyopia) will still mean that you end up needing reading specs, even if you may, for some years, be able to do without for driving. So in a few year you will still need the glasses, just a different prescription".

It's quite simply increasing age. You can dodge a bit, but you can't beat it.

I made a 500 km round trip to the optician who set ups shooting glasses for the German national team. He has an enormously long cellar set up as a dummy range so that you can try out the prescription there and then. He provides a Swede M96 for open sight testing and an Anschutz for diopter testing. His equipment is far more sophisticated than that of the ordinary downtown optician, and he was able to show me the flaw in the right eye that causes the double vision (think of schoolyard marbles). And he made the lenses on the spot (different ones for open and closed sights). In terms of shooting, the whole experience was an "eye-opener".

If you can find someone like that in Oz, go to him, even if it means an overnight stop.

Patrick