Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote

As with setting traps, snares and calling or hunting, I am seeing that there are some fine details, and steps that need to be taken in the correct order and are learned with time and exposure to others in all that we do, and I don't think it's being OCD but wanting to be proficient at what we do in life, the level to which we decide to be proficient is up to the individual and that might be what is considered OCD formally called being a perfectionist, or paying attention to detail as the devel is in the details. That is where we see the average, or the above average separated in the world of predator pursuit and the rest of our lives. Finding a balance between being too far in any direction is the hard part or the key to our world of the hunt for the predators that we choose to hunt.
 
Dave, don't be afraid to tinker with the new sear spring. You can gently bend it by hand to tune the weight without hurting anything.
Just make sure you have a smooth arc shape with no sharp bends. As you have probably already discovered, it doesn't take much to make a significant change in the pull weight. Also, take a look at the very tips of the spring leaves, checking for burrs on their contact surfaces. Even the best quality ones will sometimes have sharp points which can drag and cause additional friction.
Another thing to look at is the edges of the trigger bow, both inside and outside as well as the shape of the bow. The sides should be parallel with no twist and have no burrs that could cause friction, changing your pull weight and affecting the smoothness of the pull.
While I don't hunt coyotes with my 1911's, they have dispatched more than one. 😁

Ed
 
Thank You Ed; The spring tips did have some rough edges on them but laying them on my ceramic stone and a few strokes took care of the sharp points from where the metal had been sheared in the manufacturing process. The edge that rides on the sear was especially rough where they stamped out the notch. I noticed that on the hammers sides it has a couple of high spots that are hanging up, well dragging so I laid it down flat on my ceramic stone and polished them till they stopped being rough on working the hammer as well. I don't want to have a hammer follow through by making my spring too light or having it let the hammer fall when hit without the grip safety engaged. A little bit goes a long way as they say. In tinkering with the old spring I had it to the point of the hammer following the slide back, but I reset the bow and got that taken care of. I think it's a good learning experience and am enjoying it. shinny spots have a story to tell you if you take the time to look listen and think about what caused them!
 
The first thing that I will mention here at this time is the various stones that I use for smoothing parts are all in good shape with well-defined sharp edges and corners that don't have any chips in them. I consider them to be precision tools the same as I do my micrometers and dial indicators, and my files. If the corners get worn, chipped and rounded they then go to the general use tools area. So then working with my old sear spring first so that I didn't mess up my new one, till I had a few things figured out, I listened to what I was told by Ed and really looked it over in the areas that make contact and smoothed the sharp high places where they were stamped out of sheet spring steel. I smoothed any high spots on the triggers sides that were rubbing and making uneven contact. I didn't make any bends or other changes, put it back together and checked the pull weight, it was just under a consistent 4 pounds so just in that I had lowered it by a few ounces. I then bent the sear spring leaf just a small amount and tried it again, it was now at 3.5 pounds I took it apart and bent it a little more put it back together and it is now a consistent just the width of the indicator needle over three pounds. Thank you for your help and advice Ed. With the new sear, sear spring and disconnector installed the thumb safety didn't work smoothly now so I took it apart looked at the shiny spots, put it together and watched its engagement on the sear finding that it didn't want to ride up on the beefer sear. Okay I then read up and found that is a common problem with installing new sears and disconnectors and to fix the problem just a small amount of material removal was needed in the contact area or that working it would wear it in. About a 64th was all it took to let it move but engage smoothly. I did make some dummy rounds for it they are painted green for go with no powder and spent primers just for checking the function of some aspects of its working. It is the only firearm that I have at this time that I haven't shot a coyote with, but after a trip to the range and getting it sighted in and becoming familiar with how it feels I might take it out with me to do some calling just as a backup not my main firearm. This experience reminded me of in 1973 my first experience with a Lessly governor on a 6-stage steam turbine, that was letting the turbine run into overspeed. small parts were worn in several areas and as Ed said tolerance stacking making it not function correctly. The Chief was there to give me guidance in that instance. Not a one of us is an island and if we are willing to, we will readily listen to others and sort out what will help us along our way.
 
My Grandma told me many times you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear. No but I will buy an inexpensive thing just to learn from it, before I mess up a good thing and the inexpensive things normally have more things that need some work on them.
Which is why it's a good idea for folks just beginning to tinker with the insides of firearms to buy some cheap parts and practice on them first.
Also, it's a good idea to have spare springs for your firearms, particularly recoil springs!

Dave, I'm glad I could be of help with this.
I don't know what kind of loads you are contemplating using, but it might be a good idea to get a set of Wolff "Extra Power" springs. I use the 18.5lb Wolff springs in my 1911's which will allow for a lot of full-power loads without battering my pistol.
If I were to start shooting mild loads, I can drop back to a 16lb recoil spring set.
The Wolff springs come with both the recoil spring and a new firing pin spring to match the intensity of the recoil spring.
You don't want a "slam fire" due to a weak firing pin spring coupled with a sensitive primer!

Ed
 
At this time I have a few hundred rounds of Blazer 115 grain hollow points that I will be using. I got a chance to buy 1000 rounds new for 218.00 so took advantage of it. I will be loading some 115 grain Hornady hollow points with some CCI primers and moderate loads of VIHT N - 350 OF 5.2 grains. Those are the 9mm rounds that I like in my S&W M&P full size carry. I don't believe that it's a bad thing to have some extra parts and springs on hand of a good quality just to make sure. I like to test drive my firearms at moderate speeds to see how they perform after making modifications and I'm a believer that just because I can doesn't mean that I should run hot loads I want to see accuracy and that often means moderate loads work the best for me. But there again that's me. Three rounds in the magazine for a starter than work my way up to a full one after a few firings to see how it settles in. I kind of like the way my body is now, and a full auto isn't my idea of fun.
 
All of us being human, like to mess with things . We buy something or are given something and we want it to be more and better fitted to us and our needs at that time . We buy a new truck and put a bed liner in the bed ( I like the spray in ones ) steps on the trailer hitch running boards and mud flaps or splash guards on them . We spend a lot of time and money doing this and as Reemty said we will not see any return for it when we resell them . Well we being us do the same and spend more on our rifles . We ponder on what caliber we want , what make and model . We may spend a lot of time trying to decide if we want to buy a factory rifle or do we want to build one on a factory action that has been trued and blue printed ( a throw back to our days of building engines for our cars and trucks ) or maybe we think we will save up and buy a custom action . When we do buy a factory in the box rifle most of us will take it out of the box clean it and might even put a scope on it then sight in the scope all the while wondering what we might do to make it better for us . Then being human we start to tinker with it . I will pull it out of the stock and check the fit of it with the stock .If it's not a 22-250 Ruger I will free float the barrel and pillar bed the action ( I have found that most Ruger 22-250's like the front of the barrel to rest on a pad of bedding if they are sporter weight barrels for some reason ).Then comes that rough gravely trigger I can't have that so then comes the decision of what trigger do I want to buy and put on it and what set weight do I want or do I want an adjustable weight trigger that I'll set at 2 1/2 - 3 lbs and leave it there for the life of the rifle hummm . Next comes the stock does it really look like what I want it to is the length of pull the best for me awh heck I'll put it in a different stock and bed it again as time and money allows . Someone I know has a bore scope so we look down the barrel ( and that scares me to no end it looks like a bad wash board road ) I clean it for hours then look at it one more time . It turns out that I'm happy with how clean I got it but it still has all those awful machine marks in , who did that rifling job must have been a new hire . So then I order some of those bullets that a guy that shoots targets out to 1000 yards and beyond builds and sells to fire lap my bore , who cares if it shot good groups I'm going to make it bug hole 5 at a hundred yards with these lapping bullets and the magic they impart to my bore . Now I've put a couple of hundred rounds down the barrel and come to find out the locking lugs only have 60 % contact on one of them what happened here now I have to get it lapped also then recut the chamber as well so that means I'll need the barrel set back a turn also . Will it ever end for this rifle awh shucks I'll just go buy another rifle I've already put too much into this one and it doesn't appear there is any end in sight to what I need to do for this poor thing to be what I wanted it to be . Just my dry sense of humor . I really do modify somethings on all my factory rifles and trucks I just don't get that carried away wit it . I'm not a gun smith nor do I want to be I just need my equipment to function well when needed and I like to tinker with things I am human after all .
That sir is exactly why I built a custom rifle. Cost a pretty penny but should be a shooter. Broke my collarbone January 14th took delivery of the rifle January 18. Now it sits and waits for me.
 
If many of you haven't figured out yet I'm a bit old school for most my age. Many of the things I do are A for the tradition and B out of respect for those that came before me. When I began this journey I consulted my good friend and mentor in shooting and handloading from KS. He is a 3rd generation handloader and his knowledge and help has been priceless to me. I (with limited funds usually) wanted one gun to do it all so to speak. I kinda had my heart set on a 30.06 and I wanted to be able to shoot 1000yrd but after a long search just didn't find exactly what I wanted. We discussed finding a donor and just making one when I came across a barely used M700 long range model in 7mm RM. Didn't know a whole lot about the caliber so called him up for an education. After a lengthy Q and A and it was priced really good I jumped on it. Got the gun in April 19 took till Sept before I got a good scope and the rings and base were my xmas present from my wife. My friend who no longer shoots 7mag only because he went to 338WM for elk sent me about 100 once fired cases and a set of RCBS dies from his late father. He also sent me a page from his dads notes from 1994 to use as a reference. Seen he had best luck out of many with H4831sc. I picked a 168g SMK as a starting bullet. Figured if it can shoot anything it would be those lol. 4th test load through it I bugholed. Tweaked a few things one at a time of course a was good but not that 4th one. Tried it again and almost bugholed but even tighter. Like 2shots were at .116 moa and I shanked the third and knew when I pulled the trigger lol. I knew I had it so loaded 3rnd with H4831sc and 3rnd H4831 just to see if there would be a difference. Nope 6 consecutive shots cold, clean bore no foulers and put them in 1 hole of roughly .3. I told him his dad must have put some kind of pixy dust on those dies and I will NEVER not use them. I knew his dad also and was a great guy whom we had many talks about this stuff long before I ever started reloading. This truly is a unicorn and I smile at every trigger pull. The longest I've took it so far is 425yrd and kept it at .3 moa. Just got the beans cut next to my little range so 1k is the next attempt lol. At some point I will probably pick a good hunting bullet and nosler most likely and work up another load but for now this one sure is fun. I know factory guns just aren't supposed to shoot like this but it's a unicorn.
I started working up a load for a 7mm Remington Mag and got side tracked making up loads for other rifles and it is now time to go back to the 7 RM. what was your recipe for that round?
 
As always with any load, this is what works in MY rifle so take your time working up. This is in a bone stock Rem 700 Long Range model
65g H4831
215GM
168g Sierra Matchking
3.335 COAL which is a .065 jump
2995fps avg with RP brass
3030fps avg with Peterson brass

This load and gun have been a real joy for me. It's my first LR gun, the first time I ever worked up a load for one too. It's an absolute drill. Cold bore, clean bore, hot cold, doesn't matter, POI never changes. It goes exactly where I point it. May not be the right place all the time but it goes where I point it lol.
 
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