Windypants; are you neck turning, reaming or using bushings to get your neck tension? Do you mic. your bullets and check that they are all the same diameter, and weighed for consistent weight? I know that you are using the same brass, how much prep. work have you done to it, flash holes deburred, primer pockets cut to depth, cases cut to length, weighed for consistency. You have nice vertical grouping it looks like in the area of three inches or less. The horizontal isn't bad either right at 6-7 inches. Did you have any breeze between you and the target? I would be completely happy with what you got with your new piece of equipment!
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
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windypants
Well-Known Member
My brass prep is pretty simple. New brass is primer pocket uniformed, flash hole deburred and sized. Fired brass is sized with .284 bushing, primer pocket cleaned, trimmed if over 1.920", tumbled to degrease, inside of neck burnished with tight nylon brush on cordless drill and loaded. No neck turning or annealing. I've never weight sorted brass or bullets.
And yes, a fluctuating breeze would account for some of the horizontal dispersion, so I'm very happy with the consistency of these groups. They were shot over a three day period.
And yes, a fluctuating breeze would account for some of the horizontal dispersion, so I'm very happy with the consistency of these groups. They were shot over a three day period.
From what I see your pressures are pretty consistent and the neck tension is even. So, I would say that your bullets are very consistent in weight and well balanced, so they don't wabble as they spin thus opening up your group. We have gotten better supplies in just the last several years it seems that every component is more and more uniform.
Bucklowery
Well-Known Member
Done see many red fox anymore around here, mostly greys and coyotes. Over the last week in my travels I have noticed a red fox several times in same area during the day. I have concluded see has a de in that little scope of woods between all the fields. All the discussions has helped me pay attention more to these details and put it all together. I appreciate all you gentlemen and the unmeasurable experiences in our forum
Thanks
Buck
Thanks
Buck
Most of us here try to be helpful to others and share what we have observed over the years with others so they too can enjoy their time outdoors more easily and understand what they are seeing or experiencing. In life I have found a few that want to condemn and some that want to tell others they don't know as much as they do but for the most part people intend to be helpful even if what they are saying might not sound that way. I might tell you that I see something and do things this or that way but it's my experiences and you can then take them and make a comparison with what you are seeing and then figure out what it is that is close to what I have described and have an awh-haw moment. There are so many times that I have needed to kill animals because they were killing livestock but there are also a lot of times that I found it best to leave animals that weren't killing livestock because I knew where they were, and they weren't hurting any livestock and if I killed them the ones that came to fill that vacuum might be killing more livestock and making more work for me. The coyote and red fox that didn't kill were my best teachers on handling those that were a problem giving me many hours of enjoyment while learning from them. I hope that all of the fathers had a good day yesterday and will again today. As well as anyone else have a good day.
Yesterday I finally started seeing some antelope fawns. The moms started bringing them out of hiding. In eighty miles of traveling I saw several sets of twins, often they were laying within a few feet of mom as she grazed, some were trying out their new legs running and jumping, but all of them enjoying the sun and nice weather.
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I made a muzzle brake for my low-cost Ruger 6.5 CM rifle and lapped the end of it to get it timed. It closed my groups down to a little under an inch at one hundred yards. Next, I think I will build a barrel tuner for it and put on it, then play with that, as well as seating depth and powder charge, then do a little bit of changing powders it's all for my enjoyment at this time. Windypants; does your new rifle have a tuner on it or just a muzzle brake? What is your shoulder angle a standard angle for the 6 CM? Does it have standard lead angles, or does it have Alex Wheeler modified lead angles? How much jump are you running if any to the lands or lead to your rifling? Yeah, I know a lot of questions that the average person wouldn't even be concerned with, but I have these curiosity attacks and am nearly always trying to figure out how to do things better.
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I learned many years ago that when you have coyote, fox or bobcats killing livestock it really doesn't matter who kills the problem animal just so it gets killed. So then if I have the plane or helicopter on standby and get the offender to show itself at a mile or two then I know I can get them on it and get the problem solved, and I know that I did my part. There have been several coyotes that had the aircraft figured out over the years and would just lay down, some in a low place or cow trail and some that would hit some tall grass, I have even had coyotes run into a draws head and lay down in the bare dirt knowing that if they didn't move, they weren't going to be seen. It's always a challenge and that is what keeps me coming back even after I retired from it, I can't seem to entirely walk away from it! There may still be a 1000 yard confirmed kill.
I was working for a ranch doing some predator control work, the rancher called me and asked me if I could meet his brother and do some work for another rancher the next morning, so I agreed to. We met and he told me the plane will be coming instead of the helicopter today. We went to the other ranch and before I did any howls, I spotted 4 coyotes out in some sage brush trotting back from the sheep. I just kept watching them with my binoculars as they crossed the road out over a mile away and made their way up into some sage brush covered hills then laid down. The plane called and we told them we had four located for them. As they came in, we gave them the location and they got on them killing one as the others ran, I watched them hit some tall sand grass and drop. The plane got on them again got another one, but one ran to the sage brush and went to ground but it was too late for it the gunner and pilot saw it and got on it made a pass but couldn't get a shot so came back around and got it. the last one had run towards us and gone to ground but I saw it in the deep grass with just it's head and ears sticking up and got the plane lined out the plane came in on it but couldn't see it, so I told them again to make another pass and gave them a mark on the starboard side as they passed over it. They gave me a got it made another pass and took him out. The plane came in and landed on the road the pilot and gunner came over to thank us then told us that they had been after those coyotes every day for a week but didn't have a ground crew to help them out. I ended up doing a lot of ground crewing for them.
windypants
Well-Known Member
I just have a muzzle brake on my rifle. I've never used a tuner but am curious about them. Im just using standard 6.5 cm brass necked down, and I dont know about the lead angle— what it is or even what the standard lead angle is. I ended up at .016 off the lands with this load. It's interesting that neither one of my long range rifles shoot very good at 100 yards. I guess it takes a bit for these bullets to stabilize. Have you tried yours at longer ranges yet?
windypants
Well-Known Member
It's a tough world out there! It turns out that this picture is the last we've seen of Daughter and her fawns. The next morning the golden eagles were on a dead fawn about 100 yards down the hill. I haven't found any sign of her or the other fawn, but my best guess is that a mountain lion got her and then the eagles got one or both of the fawns. About that time a coyote was doing the alarm barks and howls down in the draw, and I couldn't figure out what it was alarmed about. It could have been a cat, but that's only speculation. So ends Gimpy's legacy.
Thank You windypants, yes, it is a hard world out there! Going into you rifling the lands of the rifling aren't just straight, they are tapered so they don't shear copper from the bullets that's called lead angles. Alex wheeler was playing with different angles to see if it made any difference with speed and accuracy. Yes it takes a distance for my bullets to go to sleep and settle out a bunch of very accurate long-range barrels won't shoot well at closer ranges with the loads that are used to reach out there. So then for a calling rifle I will probably have a different load than for my longer shots. You are pretty close to the lands at .016 but that is good to know at this time I am still at .062 and may need to close it down. My last 6.5 liked .125 jump to the lands running 120 grain Nosler ballistic tips. Putting the brake on mine changed the barrel harmonics just from the added weight and length of travel for the gases. It's just an interesting subject to me. I sat and watched a pair of golden eagles hunting a mule deer fawn one time. They would make mom and it run by swooping down towards them till they got them to run into some willow brush then one of them landed and chased the fawn on the ground in the brush they got the fawn that way. I have also seen the golden eagles kill full grown adult antelope by hitting them on the back and making them run till they were exhausted and bleeding heavily then landing on their back to start pecking through the rib cage till they fell to the ground. Thankfully we here in the United States lead pretty sheltered lives compared to so many other parts of the world.
