Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work
Posted: 07 May 2018 07:34
I'm giddy with excitement as I found the issue with the Rio Grande! I was up early Saturday morning and decided to take the rifle completely down as I did at one point during all the load work and recleaned the rifle. I felt the magazine ring band & screw might be the problem as it was in a band was hard to remove. I went ahead and went completely through the rifle again to include JB Bore Paste in the barrel, 200 strokes with a freshly pasted patch every 20 strokes.
On assembly, there was no doubt that that the ring band & screw were applying pressure to the barrel. I relieved the slot in both barrel and magazine tube further with a micro-round file and replaced the screw as it was buggered. Rossi also improved the original screw with a pinpoint on the newer screws, a little bit of shape to the point to get it started on the opposite side of the band.
I had three rounds of ammo left of my #16 load, 35.6-grains of H322, so I went up to the range pondering if the fix would work or if the rifle would be going to the resale rack. Without much fanfare, I ripped off the rounds at a target at 50 yards and walked out to the target. I was really surprised at the group; it measured 1.47 MOA when scored with my target against the screen of my laptop using the TMT software!
I loaded up what I considered max loads of BL-C(2), H322, H335, and H4895; just three rounds each and shot them yesterday. It was a boiler with the temperature at 90°, so to keep the target setups close, I shot at 50 yards.
H322 & H4895 shot inside 1.5 MOA, and H335 could be a sub-MOA load, but for two reasons; it is a hot load (2700 FPS) so it is not following the QuickLoad predictions and the second reason is I only fired two shots. The reason I only shot two loads was that between the second and third rounds, at a two-minute interval, a huge feral hog boar started to walk across the range at 225 yards. I chambered the round and shot him at the last rib as his front half was already in the brush. What is weird was that my mind had seen the 2700 FPS on the Labradar and the two hits overlapping an inch high at two inches right at 50 and made an adjustment that beaned that fellow good at the distance. The brush is very thorny and thick that he went into and decided not to follow as I wanted. Wasn't interested in eating him, just wanted to eliminate his D7 value on my land.
So, the Rio Grande 30-30 AI with the Speer 130-grain FN is back on track. I think that I will go straight to the H322 load for now as I would like to get another hog with the rifle in a hunting setup. I'm also thinking of changing out the Weaver Classic V 1-3x20 for their 2-7x32 as this rifle could be a nice pronghorn hunter.
On assembly, there was no doubt that that the ring band & screw were applying pressure to the barrel. I relieved the slot in both barrel and magazine tube further with a micro-round file and replaced the screw as it was buggered. Rossi also improved the original screw with a pinpoint on the newer screws, a little bit of shape to the point to get it started on the opposite side of the band.
I had three rounds of ammo left of my #16 load, 35.6-grains of H322, so I went up to the range pondering if the fix would work or if the rifle would be going to the resale rack. Without much fanfare, I ripped off the rounds at a target at 50 yards and walked out to the target. I was really surprised at the group; it measured 1.47 MOA when scored with my target against the screen of my laptop using the TMT software!
I loaded up what I considered max loads of BL-C(2), H322, H335, and H4895; just three rounds each and shot them yesterday. It was a boiler with the temperature at 90°, so to keep the target setups close, I shot at 50 yards.
H322 & H4895 shot inside 1.5 MOA, and H335 could be a sub-MOA load, but for two reasons; it is a hot load (2700 FPS) so it is not following the QuickLoad predictions and the second reason is I only fired two shots. The reason I only shot two loads was that between the second and third rounds, at a two-minute interval, a huge feral hog boar started to walk across the range at 225 yards. I chambered the round and shot him at the last rib as his front half was already in the brush. What is weird was that my mind had seen the 2700 FPS on the Labradar and the two hits overlapping an inch high at two inches right at 50 and made an adjustment that beaned that fellow good at the distance. The brush is very thorny and thick that he went into and decided not to follow as I wanted. Wasn't interested in eating him, just wanted to eliminate his D7 value on my land.
So, the Rio Grande 30-30 AI with the Speer 130-grain FN is back on track. I think that I will go straight to the H322 load for now as I would like to get another hog with the rifle in a hunting setup. I'm also thinking of changing out the Weaver Classic V 1-3x20 for their 2-7x32 as this rifle could be a nice pronghorn hunter.