A A NUMBER74 MARCH-APRIL US. and CANADA, $2.50 FOREIGN, $3.00

Transcription

1 d NUMBER74 MRCH-PRIL 1981 r US. and CND, $2.50 FOREIGN, $3.00

2 . - - I - The Magazine tor Shooters March-pril IN THIS ISSUE Building Benchrest Reloading Dies... Bob Brackney 18 My Preferences... 1 Miller 20 Estimating Rifle Weights - Part Two.... Stuart Otteson 24 Expansion and Penetration of Handgun Bullets... Bob Hagel 28 The New Model Wyatt Keith 32 Machinery for the Home Gunshop.... Ken Howell 36 Rifle Recoil... Philip Mannes 40 Reading the Wind... George Stidworthy 44 DEPRTMENTS ' Spotting Scope...6 Dear Editor....8 Rifle Patents merican Gunmakers iming for nswers...16 Book Review NBRSNews...34a Classic Rifles...35 Trophy Pointers I." L I dopted in ugust 1969 as Official Publication For National Bench Rest Shooters ssociation ON'THE COVER -- The building of fine custom rifles IS an ancient art, antedatinq the bolt-action sporter by centuries. growing number of merican custom gunmakers now specialize in recreating fine rifles of those ages past. This specimen is the handiwork of Monte Mandarino, with engraving by Dan Goodwin. Photograph by Ken Orr Rifle Magazine, copyright 1981, is published bi-monthly by Wolfe Publishing Co., Inc.. (Dave Wolfe, President) P.O. Box 3030, Prescott. rizona Telephone (602) Second Class Postage paid at Prescott. rizona and additional mailing offices. Single copy price of current issues - $2.50. Subscription price: six issues - $13.00, 12 issues. $25.00; 18 issues - $37.00 (Outside U.S. possessions and Canada - $ $31.OO and $46.00.) Recommended foreign single copy price - $3.00. dvertising rates furnished on request. ll rights reserved Publisher of Rifle is not responsible for mishaps of-any nature which might occur from use of published data, or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the editor. Manuscripts from free-lance writers must be accompanied by stamped self-addressed envelope and the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts. Change of address: please give six weeks' notice. Send both old and new address, plus mailing label if possible, to Circulation Oept.. Rifle Magazine, P.O. Box 3030, Prescott. rizona The Staff Dave Wolfe, Publisher Ken Howell, Editor Jana Kosco, dvertising Manager Wyatt Keith, ssistant Editor Dave LeGate, rt Director Mark Harris, Staff rtist Barbara Pickering, Production Supervisor Lynda Ritter, Editorial ssistant Joyce Bueter, Circulation Director Terry Bueter, Circulation Manager Susan Hancock, Circulation ssistant Wanda Hall, ccounting R.T. Wolfe, Ph.D., Consultant Technical Editors John Bivins Bob Brackney Bob Hagel I Miller Stuart Otteson Homer Powley Layne Simpson Ken Waters 4 RIFLE 74

3 P by merican umnakera Keith Stegall F SKED TO name the merican I stockmaker most influential by virtue of his writing on the subject, I d have a hard choice between 1 Linden and Monty Kennedy. If asked to name the merican stockmaker most influential by virtue of his craftsmanship and stock design, I d think immediately of Len Brownell and Dale Goens, but I d have a hard time placing one ahead of the other. Naming the top candidate having a solid reputation by virtue of a long and universally respected career in stockmaking would be even harder, as the choice would have to be made from among all of the above, with perhaps a few other well known stockmakers names thrown in - even if stockmakers of less than thirty years reputation were arbitrarily excluded to help narrow the field. But if asked to name one merican stockmaker to whom all of the above criteria apply, I d have little trouble naming Keith Stegall of Gunnison, Colorado, who has been engaged in the trade since 1944 and in the craft for several years longer. Between pril 1954 and June 1958, Stegall had ten articles on riflemaking published in The merican Rifleman, plus a couple more on other topics. The NR, in compiling a bunch of old articles into The NR Gunsmithing Guide, Ken Howell included all except maybe one or two of these writings of Stegall s. Through the years since these articles first began appearing, they have been helpful to younger stock whittlers, particularly those whose taste tolerates no deviation from classical stock styling and finish. Except for Barreling an ction in September 1955 and Lazy Susan Gun Cabinet in January 1958, all of Stegall s howto-do-it articles relate to the making of fine gunstocks, from Fitting a Barrel and ction to articles on shaping, finishing, and checkering, and beyond - to fitting recoil pads, installing a trap buttplate, even mending a broken stock, to name a few. Stegall, in his early years with stock blanks and woodtools, got a good bit of counsel and guidance from the late lvin Linden, primarily through correspondence: as Stegall says, He would tell me how to do it and then draw pictures to illustrate it. Other than this early schooling, Stegall has had no outside training in stockmaking - no trade school, no military arms training. His philosophy is simple enough to enunciate but demanding to live up to: custom firearm is one made up from scratch with tender, loving care, with beautiful lines and beautiful checkering, made up on a fine bolt action with the finest wood and barrel that can be had. I love working in this trade, to watch things take shape as I go along. I am never a hundred percent pleased with any job I do but keep on hoping to reach near perfection. I try to put forth my best effort in every job I do. I try as hard for the man who has to work from day to day to pay for the job as I do for the multimillionaires. I.have made them for people in every walk of life. lso, time is no element in making up a fine rifle; I do not even count my time on them but try to do them as fine as possible. I think every customer is entitled to this. Stegall works full-time at the trade, though he tries to limit his shop time to about forty hours a week2+to leave time for enjoying other pastimes with his wife of fifty years, Manette, or his three children. Stegall likes hunting, as might logically be expected of a stockmaker living in Gunnison, Colorado; his son hunts big game with Stegall and is the best hunter I know. Stegall works alone, having no apprentice in his shop in the past or the present and not considering taking on an apprentice in the future. He doesn t expect any of his children to follow him in the trade, as they aren t interested in doing so, but says it would be good if they did. For a dollar, he provides a brochure The Stegall stock on this Mauser-action.270 Winchester is a fine piece of French walnut, checkered twenty-four lines per inch in a panel point design. The metalwork on this rifle is Herman Waldron s except for the checkering on the bolt knob, which Stegall did. 12 RIFLE 74

4 but doesn t have set prices op his work. He likes to advise his customers, which is natural for a craftsman with well developed taste and judgment as well as skill in his craft, but he tries to avoid overdoing it: The customer is the one who has to be pleased, and if he has a good idea, it is best to go with it. I will not go for overdoing any part of the job, however. Hints of his taste and judgment are frequent in his comments: in regard to French skip-line checkering, he says simply, Not for me. Glass-bedding compounds? Emphatically, he says, No, absolutely not. With a good source of true French walnut - from France, that is - Stegall refuses to use merican walnut; for him, it s European walnut first, last, and always. I do not use any other wood. He has been getting his blanks from a source in France since 1948, buying a supply large enough to allow him to market blanks to others in the trade. He works from the stick, not agreeing with the notion that true custom arms are being stocked with machined blanks. He likes to select a blank that is dry and running right in the grip and forearm. I also want it to be as dense as the dickens so it will take fine checkering. He claims no specialty but says, If I have one, it might be my point design of panel checkering. lso my finish. He does not work with wood of medium density; he prefers checkering twenty-four lines to the inch. He does no carving and observes that it does not seem to be called for as much as it once was. lso that when done right, it looks nice. He prefers plastic oil filler, followed by G-B Linspeed finish: I think it is becoming to a custom job. It seems to stand the test of time and is not a shiny finish. I prefer the satin finish. He stocks only bolt-action jobs and prefers sporter rifles, but he does make up a few with heavier barrels. He fits his barrels, preferring tkinson and Douglas blanks for hunting rifles and Hart stainless blanks for benchrest rifles. His favorite actions are the pre-1964 Winchester Model 70 and fine Mauser actions, particularly the Peruvian Mauser. He does not finish-polish or blue the barreled actions he stocks, preferring to farm this work out to the Heritage Gun Shop in Ohio for a heavy blue. fter a number of good years at his trade, Stegall looks not backward but forward: I would like to reach for the moon in my profession. I try to learn something on every job.i do. I feel that when one reaches the point of no improvement, he has had it. There is no such thing as perfection, just nearperfection. When not hunting deer, elk, antelope, pheasants, or ducks in Colorado, his native state of Texas, Wyoming, or New Mexico, Stegall works from 8:30 in the morning to 500 in the afternoon in his shop (Box 696; Gunnison, Colorado 81230), unless he has managed to arrange an opportunity to shoot trap: I love to shoot trap: one meets so many good people at these shoots. One suspects that most any time, however, Stegall can be found hard at work, for with a good reputation of long standing and doubtless all the work he cares to undertake, he feels bound to do his best to live up to anything he has promised, and he guarantees his rifles to shoot one-inch three-shot groups at a hundred yards, test-firing his rifles and furnishing test targets to show that his rifles, ninety-nine percent of the time, shoot well within his guaranteed minute of angle. 0 Ken Waters famous -. Ken Waters famous and monumental source of loading $2.70 data, the main volume covers SUPPLEMENTS Prices based on number ofpages. No. 1 - Eleven pages on the 7mm Express Remington, and the Government - over seventy metallic No. 2 - Seventeen pages, all cartridges. It is the most detailed source of loading information to be had, with load tables and articles on each cartridge. It is a sturdy loose-leaf binder, permitting insertion of new or update supplements - which are now, and will continue to be, available for sale every six months. This is the only manual which has this feature! So popular that the first edition has sold out, but a new second printing is waiting for your order. The main volume is still priced at $ updates on the.223 Remington, and.243 Winchester - $3.90 N 0, 3 - Just out, sixteen pages on the 6mm Remington (an update), 7mm-08, and the.35 Whelen - $3.70 rizona residents add 4% sales tax Wolfe Publishing Co., Inc. Box 3030 Prescott, rizona MRCH-PRIL

5 ESTIMTING RIFLE WEIGHTS by Stuart Otteson W EIGHTS FOR a number of Heavy Varmint benchrest barrels were given in the last issue. Here, we ll look at the remaining parts of the rifle and how actions Weights of the custom actions covered in this series are each part contributes to the final overall weight. Weights tabulated below. Each was measured exactly as it was are tabulated in ounces, followed by pounds in photographed for its article in Rifle. parentheses. ERRT Errors in the illustrations accompanying the first installment of Stuart s article affect the correct calculation of barrel weights. I made these errors, redrawing Stuart s diagrams for the magazine - his work was meticulously detailed and correct. basic error appeared in the drawings of the three straight-taper barrels (modified maximum heavy varmint, modified Hart heavy varmint, and Remington 40XBR). The reference point for the barrel length was shown incorrectly beginning at the barrel shoulder - it should include the threaded shank also. Yet another error appeared in the barrel illustration in the text on page 32. The dimension inch is shown as the thickness of the barrel at the muzzle. This figure is the difference between the muzzle diameter and the diameter of the cylindrical portion of the breech. The drawings below show these corrections. My sincere apologies to our readers; 1 hope these errors have not caused any problems for anyone attempting to use the formulas. Dave LeGate i Hall Standard (Rifle 66) 31.2 (1.95) Wichita 1375 (Rifle 6R) 40.3 (2.52) 47.0 (2.94) modified maxhum Heavy Varmint taper modified Hart Heavy Varmint taper Remington 40XBR taper 32.6 (2.04) I text illustration on page ~7 IT 7 P Shih BP-S (Rifle 71) 27.8 (1.71) Remington 40XBR (Rifle 72) 33.6 (2.10) 24 RIFLE 74

6 These actions, plus commercial Remington actions with aluminum sleeves epoxied around them, pretty much represent what's being used in benchrest competition today. In the 1980 Super Shoot, for example, they accounted for well over ninety percent of the actions on the line. luminum sleeves for Remington actions have been available for a little over ten years now from people like Hart, Shilen, and Davidson. There are also a lot of home-made sleeves around. Weights of sleeved actions vary considerably, depending not only on the Remington action used but also on the size and style of sleeve. Model 600 fitted with a partial eight-inch sleeve, for example, may weigh as little as thirty-six ounces (2.25 pounds). On the other extreme, a solid-bottomed 40X action with a full twelve-inch-long sleeve can exceed fifty ounces (3.13 pounds). stocks Whereas it was once the exception to see much other than walnut or other wood stocks on Varmint-class rifles, whether of the solid or laminated variety, today the synthetics have pretty much taken over the field (usually at least seventy-five percent at major tournaments). The vast majority of these are fiberglass, although other types are seen also, including aluminum, graphite, and urethane. Weights of fiberglass stocks can vary widely, depending of course on their size and shape, but even more on their density (the degree to which solid fill is used in their construction). Weight of a finished and bedded fiberglass stock generally runs from under two pounds (say twentyeight ounces) to as much as 2'12 pounds and more. erglass stock blank (top) made ree ounces. Six also makes a smaller scopes By the mid-l960s, existing target-scope designs were becoming a real obstacle to the continued development of the competitive Varmint rifle, particularly in the 10%- pound categories. They were too long for receiver mounting, thus requiring either an extension arrangement or a forward base on the barrel. The latter was considered particularly undesirable with the thin barrels then common in the lighter rifles. Scopes also took up a lot of weight, ranging from about twenty-five ounces in the Lyman Super Targetspot to over forty ounces for the big two-inch Unertl. The first real progress toward a solution came in 1969, when Remington brought out a light twenty-power scope to allow their new thick-barreled 40XBR rifle to meet the lo%-pound weight limit. Unertl introduced a similar light scope, the BV-20, about a year later. Remington's scope weighed just over nineteen ounces complete with rings, while the BV-20 went either nineteen or twenty-one ounces, depending on whether a recoil spring was used. While these very nicely solved the weight and length problems, many shooters were anxious to also eliminate recoil-mounting in favor of some kind of solid-mounted hunting-style scope with internal adjustments. Scope movement was not only considered a limit to inherent accuracy but of course represented some potential margin MRCH-PRIL 1981 result, it weighs thirty-seven ounces. for human error when the scope was returned to battery by hand between shots. The Redfield 3200 had already pretty well proved the durability and accuracy potential of a solid-mounted target scope. Unfortunately, that particular scope, while of superb optical quality, was neither short nor particularly light. Thus do-it-yourself articles began appearing showing how to boost currently available ten-power hunting scopes to twenty power. But the real practical breakthrough came in 1971, when Wally Siebert of Issaquah, Washington, began offering such conversions commercially. lso that same year, Lyman brought out their nifty little twentypower ll-merican scope, weighing less than fifteen ounces. ll the pieces finally fit together. Relatively few recoil-mounted scopes are seen in competition now. Most shooters seem to favor either the twenty and twenty-five-power Lymans, the twenty-fourpower Leupold, or a Siebert conversion of one of these. s shown in the following table, the market today is almost glutted with good huntingstyle target scopes, a most pleasant contrast to the situation only a few years ago. ll are short enough to mount solid directly onto most receivers without need for bridges or sleeves. While the original Lyman 20x ll-merican scope is no longer in 25

7 Lyman 25x LWBR scope (upper) is shorter but fatter than the discontinued 20x Lyman ll-merican scope (lower). Larger objective lens, plus a more efficient lens arrangement, give the newer Lyman scope superior optics. 26 \ production, it is listed because it remains in wide use and readily available on the second-hand market. I was unable to weigh all of these scopes myself. The weights with an asterisk were supplied by the manufacturer. Wally Siebert supplied the figures on his conversions. scope weight (without lens caps) Lyman 20x ll-merican 14.8 (0.93) Leupold M8-24x 16.0(1.00) Redfield 6400 (20 and 24x) 18.0(1.13)* Lyman 20x LWBR 16.0 (1.OO)* Lyman 25x LWBR 20.0 (1.25) Weaver T20 and T (1.25) Weaver T (1.28)* Lyman-Siebert 25x (Lyman 20x ) 15.5 (0.97) Lyman-Siebert 30x (Lyman 20x ) 16.0 (1.00) Lyman-Siebert 32x (Lyman 25x LWBR) 20.5 (1.28) Lyman-Siebert 36x (Lyman 25x LWBR) 21.2 (1.33) Leupold-Siebert 30x (Leupold 24x) 16.5 (1.03) scope mounts Scope mounts can make a small difference in the weight of the finished rifle, which when you start getting down to the final few ounces can sometimes offer a way to squeeze under weight limits without taking metal off the barrel or doing any machine work on the action. set of plain bases, whether steel or aluminum, generally run less than one ounce, and thus not too much variation is possible there. The Redfield JR and SR mount systems have much heavier bases and so are not often seen on benchrest rifles. On Stolle s actions, the bases are of course an integral part of the receiver itself. The rings offer more room to maneuver, as shown in the table below. luminum rings can weigh less than two ounces. Combination steel-and-aluminum rings, such as the Weaver design, go between two and three ounces, while the all-steel Redfield rings tip the scales at four ounces. B-Square has recently developed some light aluminum mounts for solid target scopes. Their LWB and LWS systems combine bases and rings together and adjust for both windage and elevation. They have also developed an aluminum insert that adapts their dovetail rings to standard target bases as well as, of course, the top of the Stolle receiver. Even combined with the inserts, this dovetail system does not exceed 2% ounces per set, compared with four ounces for Redfield s target rings. rings weight per set base type Weaver (low) 2.5 (0.16) Weaver Weaver (high) 3.1 (0.19) Weaver United 2.2 (0.14) Weaver Bushnell 1.9 (0.12) Weaver Redfield Target 4.0 (0.25) Target 6-Square dovetail (with insert) 2.5 (0.16) Target B-Square LWS (rings and bases) 2.6 (0.16) triggers gain, only relatively little weight juggling is possible when choosing a trigger, and thus performance should probably be the overriding consideration. Most trigger assemblies weigh between two and three ounces. n exception would be the Kenyon, which is milled from a solid steel blank and weighs almost four ounces. It should be apparent that even when sticking with reasonable components (no 2 h-pound scqpes or massive walnut stocks), significant variations in weights exist. Thus each component must be selected with this in mind, if we hope to end up with a good balance in the finished rifle. While the action represents the widest range of weights, stocks and scopes are important variables also. By adding up some of the numbers, we can begin to see how the total can be divided up amongst the various pieces. In a Heavy Varmint rifle, a total of 13% pounds (216 ounces) are allowed. In Light Varmint and Sporter, the figure is 10lh pounds (168 ounces). The extreme combinations of the various components are tabulated below: -- minimum maximum actions 27.8 (1.74) 56.8 (3.55) stocks 28.0 (1.75) 40.0 (2.50) scopes 14.8 (0.93) 21.2 (1.33) scope mounts 2.6 (0.16) 4.7 (0.29) triggers 2.4 (0.15) 3.8 (0.24) total component weight 75.6 (4.73) (7.91) Weight remaining for barrel: Heavy Varmint (8.78) 89.5 (5.59) Light Varmint or Sporter 92.4 (5.78) 41.5 (2.59) Since from a practical viewpoint it s difficult to put much more than about 6Y2 pounds of barrel weight to good use in a Varmint rifle, there isn t much point in combining the lightest available components for a 13 %-pound rifle. Utilizing most of the weight allowed, in fact, improves the way the finished rifle handles and shoots off the sandbags. Thus it wouldn t be necessarily advantageous to choose components for a Heavy Varmint rifle totaling up to less than six and a half or seven pounds. When this does happen, shooters often end up putting lead in the stock to increase the rifle s weight and stability. Ending up with an excess allowance for barrel weight in the 10 /2-pound classes, on the other hand, isn t going to be the problem. If you hope to use somewhere around five pounds of barrel, then obviously the total weight of the other parts must be kept down to around five and a half pounds, which in turn means keeping reasonably near the minimum on most of the components. RIFLE 74

8 Let s go through a couple of hypothetical examples, first assembling a.22 Heavy Varmint rifle and then a 6mm Sporter, choosing what appear to be reasonable components. Then we ll go back and determine what kind of barrels can be used with that combination. For a Heavy Varmint rifle, using the massive Hall Model B action is something of a challenge. Combining it with a medium to light fiberglass stock, Lyman 25x LWBR scope, Bushnell rings, and a Hart two-ounce trigger yields the following: component weight action (3.55) stock (2.00) scope (1.25) mount (0.17) trigger (0.18) guard bow (0.03) (Rem M700) (7.18) We re slightly over our six and a half to seven pounds, which in turn cuts back a little on barrel choice. But rather than abandoning any of these components yet, let s look specifically at the barrel situation. Subtracting the above weight from the 216-ounce (13%-pound) limit leaves ounces (6.33 pounds) for a barrel. The tables on pages 32 and 33 of Rifle 73 give an idea of the barrel choices available. If we want a strict maximum Heavy-Varmint contour, twenty-three inches is about as long a barrel as is possible. Going to a modified maximum Heavy Varmint taper allows a little over twenty-four inches in barrel length, while the somewhat lighter Hart contours allow going all the way to twenty-six inches - and beyond, if one should desire. ny of these is a very reasonable choice, particularly considering that some very successful shooters are convinced that for maximum stiffness, twenty-two or twenty-three inches is as long as a barrel should be, anyway, regardless of how much weight is available. Thus it can be seen that with a little attention to detail, we can combine in a 13Yz-pound rifle the stiffest action and stiffest barrel presently at our disposal. In working-up a 6mm Sporter, let s use a Stolle Panda, because it so effectively combines light weight and rigid construction. We will use the special Lee Six stock designed for this action, which should run around thirtysix ounces finished and bedded, an original Lyman 20x ll-merican scope boosted to 25x by Siebert, B-Square dovetail rings with insert to clamp directly to Stolle s receiver, and a Remington two-ounce trigger. component weight action (2.08) stock (2.25) scope (0.97) mount (0.16) trigger (0.16) 89.8 (5.61) Here, we end up with = 78.2 ounces (4.89 pounds) available for a barrel. The barrel-weight tables in Rifle 73 show that a maximum Heavy-Varmint taper isn t practical here but that the modified Hart taper allows roughly a twenty-inch barrel. The 40XBR contour also looks like a good choice, allowing a twenty-oneinch barrel. The advantage of accounting for the weights of the various parts when initially planning a Varmint rifle should now be apparent. In the above case, if one decided that a higher-power scope was a must for two-hundredyard shooting, substitution of a lighter stock might avoid sacrificing barrel size. Whatever proved necessary, one is at least a lot better off trying to solve the problem at this point rather than after all the parts for the rifle have been purchased, and possibly even assembled. - pair of Weaver s aluminum bases weigh eight tenths of an ounce and can be used with Weaver rings (left) or with rings from United or Bushnell. Steel target-scope bases used for the older recoil-mounted scopes can also be used with Redfield target rings (upper left). This set of bases weighs seven tenths of an ounce. The 6-Square LWS mount (right) is adjustable for both elevation and windage. The Remington two-ounce trigger (1) weighs 2.6 ounces. The Hart two-ounce trigger (2) weighs 2.8 ounces. The Canjar 700-LP (3) weighs 2.4 ounces, and the Kenyon (4) weighs 3.8 ounces. MRCH-PRIL