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Osage Orange
Sharpshooters
News January-February
2005
2005 Updated
Schedule -
Online at www.swampworks.com/OsageOrange.html
Upcoming Events
Saturday, Feb 12 9am
Corcoran's back yard: work day for Marshfield Range (target frames).
Saturday Feb 19
8am Fun Shoot, Bois D'Arc
Saturday Feb 26
8am Small Bore Sporter (Youth preferred, Adults second)
Marshfield
Saturday Mar 12
8am Position Clinic, Bois D'Arc
Sunday Mar 13 1pm High Power Match, Billings (Springfield Benchrest
Club)
Saturday Mar 19
8am Small Bore Sporter (Youth preferred, Adults second)
Marshfield
Sunday Mar 20
1pm High Power Match Joplin
Smallbore
Sporter Matches and Work Day
The Osage Orange Sharpshooters will sponsor 4 Smallbore Sporter
matches at the Marshfield range this year. The first one is
coming up Saturday February 26. In order to prepare for this
match we will need to build some new target frames for the range.
My neighbor has donated the lumber, and it is in my back yard.
If you can help, bring your saw and screw gun to my back yard
(804 S. Pickwick) at 9am Saturday February 12. Lunch will be
served. Please email me if you can help on Feb. 12 or on the
26th.
The Sporter matches are listed as "Youth
Preferred," meaning we will run a 60 shot match (plus unlimited
sighters) for youth, and if time permits adults may also shoot.
We will give prizes. If we have enough juniors, we will divide
the prizes by age brackets, since we may have 20 year olds shooting
against 12 year olds. For each 3 shooters in a category we will
give a prize. The age groups will be determined based on turnout.
After the youth match has concluded, we will run a Sporter match
for any adults who wish to shoot (juniors can shoot again if
there is room).
Would anyone volunteer to make up one-page
flyers/announcements to post around town? Email me if you can.
Rifle Raffle
We have purchased a match AR-15 to raffle off. So far we have
only the upper on hand, but the lower will also be included for
the winner of the raffle. The upper is a White Oak Precision
custom upper made by John Holliger. It has quarter-minute gradation
rear sights with Holliger's distinctive pin system. These sights
are the most accurate service rifle sights ever made. Of course,
it has the White Oak float tube system and a Shilen 1:8 twist
barrel that will allow you to shoot the heavier 80 grain .223
bullets for 600 or 1000 yard competition. This is the same upper
that most of us use in shooting full course matches and Camp
Perry. The lower will be a brand new Rock River National Match
lower, with a 2-stage trigger. We will pay to send the trigger
to John Holliger if necessary after it is broken in. He tunes
the triggers better than any other gunsmith. Retail cost would
be around $1300 for this rifle. Our Match Director, Steve Kemm,
is selling tickets for $5 each or 4 for $20. We anticipate that
the drawing will be after our John C. Garand Match in May, assuming
we have sold 200 tickets by then. Only Osage Orange club members
are eligible.
Notes from
the Reloading Clinic
For those that attended and helped out at the meeting Saturday,
January 22, "thank you." Everybody has different
opinions on rifle cleaning, and there are a dozen different considerations
for each step in the reloading process. Our clinic just scratched
the surface. We had the benefit of many experienced reloaders
attending the meeting, and the leading questions (and answers)
were much appreciated. Still, there was much left unsaid, either
through time or forgetfulness. I can think of a few questions
that were not considered:
Where do you buy your components (powder,
bullets, brass) and other reloading equipment?
A number of people pointed out that "Arms and Ammo"
located just north of Ash Grove on Hwy V (417 334-0459 ) has
the best prices around. A number of mail-order places carry
surplus bullets, powder, and brass: Jeff Bartlett (www.gibrass.com)
is a long-time dealer I have used. Hi-Tech Ammunition in St.
Louis (hi-techammo.com) and Pat's Reloading (www.patsreloading.com)
are also similar.
Locally I use Steve's Guns (Campbell and Plainview). For less-expensive,
match-quality bullets I drive to Sedalia and purchase seconds
from Sierra Bullets.
Popular places mentioned by Osage Orange members include Natchez
Shooters supply (www.natchezss.com), and Wideners (www.wideners.com).
Both of these places often have reloading supplies at a better
price than Midway, although Midway is always my fallback supplier.
If you want to buy a new press, dies, scale, or similar item,
it sometimes pays to check with Bass Pro or Steve's Guns first,
since you can save on shipping, and they do stock some of these
items. For specialty or hard-to-find items, Sinclair International
(www.sinclairintl.com) cannot be beat. You want to order something
from them just to have their catalog. To me, it's like the National
Geographic of reloading.
Finally, the most popular suppliers for high power shooters are
Creedmoor (www.creedmoorsports.com) (most popular shooting coats
etc.), Champion's Choice (www.champchoice.com) (everything),
and OK Weber (www.okweber.com) (only place to get JLK bullets).
What do I need to start reloading?
The following stuff is the minimum that you would need to start:
reloading manual, press, dies and shellholder in your caliber,
scale, cleaning materials, lube, powder funnel, calipers, case
trimmer, chamfer and deburr tool. You can purchsase it all separately
for perhaps $250-300. RCBS and Lee have starter kits that have
most of the stuff in it, and these are a good way to get started.
They always seem to lack something, though, and often the stuff
in the kit will be something you will replace within a year or
two because you want better. For example, in my shop, the things
I replaced were the scale (electronic instead of balance), the
trimmer (Gracey instead of Hornady-probably the worst trimmer
made), powder funnel (Sinclair instead of RCBS), chamfer tool
(Lyman instead of anything else), priming system (RCBS hand-held
instead of on-the-press), and powder measure (Lee Perfect instead
of weighing every load). So, here's what I would personally
recommend: Sierra reloading manual, Hornady or RCBS press, Hornady
dies (or the RCBS X-die), 2 RCBS shellholders (one for the press,
one for the priming tool), RCBS priming tool, any calipers, Lee
trimmer, Sinclair powder funnel, any scale (electronic is worth
it but balance beam works fine), Wilson case gage, Lyman chamfer/deburr
tool, Imperial Sizing Die wax, Lee Perfect powder measure and
Iosso or Birchwood-Casey case cleaner. Cost would be approximately
$350-400. You can save money by not buying the priming tool
and using the press to prime, by getting a cheap (Lee) scale,
and by getting a Lee press. Lee also uses its own shellholders.
You don't absolutely need the Wilson case gage, but it is a
safety item, so get it. Then imagine all the money you save
by reloading.
What other tools are there?
Many people use a primer pocket uniformer. I used to, but now
I skip this step, and I have never had a primer pocket that needed
it. Yes, the tool will scrape off some fouling and a bit of
brass, but my personal opinion is that it is not necessary.
Please do check to make sure your primers are seated below the
level of the case head, though, to prevent slam fires.
How about the swager we saw demonstrated?
The Dillon primer pocket swager removes the crimp from .223 or
.30-06 ammunition. Usually military ammunition (M2 Ball, Lake
City, LC brass) has a crimp, and this must be removed before
re-priming. You only need to do this once in the life of a piece
of brass. You may borrow this too. We will lend it around somewhat
like the CMP videos.
Can I save money by reloading?
Like everything else, it depends. In .30-06, if you buy surplus
components (brass, bullets, powder), you can load a round for
about 25 cents each, maybe a nickel less. Re-using your brass
5 times drops the price to about 15-20 cents a round. We sell
GI M2 Ball for 25 cents a round. However, for that same 25 cents
you can load Sierra Matchking bullets, which are much more accurate
that GI 150 FMJ bullets. And if you want to shoot at ranges
longer than 200 yards, you will want a better cartridge than
M2 Ball. Federal Gold Medal Match in .30-06 costs about $1.00
per round; I have some GI .30-06 Match ammunition that I can
sell you for 50 cents a round.
How about the AR-15?
In .223 caliber, we used to say you MUST reload to shoot in full-course
matches. I don't think that's true any more. Match-quality
Black Hills Ammunition is offered through the CMP at a fair price
(but it is not cheap), and Carl Leisinger offers some re-manufactured
ammunition (www.radomski.us/njhp/major.htm) with the Hornady
75 grain bullet at a good price, and this ammo will shoot out
to 600 yards just fine. So if you want to try a full-course
match with your AR-15 you most-assuredly do not have to reload.
Certainly hand-loading will give you access to better long-range
ammunition in the AR-15, but that's not necessary to get started.
For 100-200 yard shooting, it's hard to beat the price on Winchester
white box ammunition or any of the other commercial ammunition
you can buy. Personally, I would stay away from foreign surplus
.223 ammunition. If it shoots fine in your rifle, great. But
too many times you may find that it short-strokes, stovepipes,
or just plain jams up. And you usually have to buy it mail order
and in bulk, so if you buy a bunch and it doesn't work right,
you are really out some money.
Club Ammunition
We bought another 7 cases of M2 Ball from the CMP, so we should
have an adequate supply to sell to club members. Cost is $60
for a can of 240 rounds. We now have Carbine ammunition to sell
(in reasonable amounts, for personal use) at $7.00 per box of
50 (14 cents per round).
Questions or comments????
Contact Bill Corcoran
(417) 862-8618
E-mail <wtc928f@smsu.edu>
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