It has been said that opinions are like rear ends, everyone has one. I have been buying, selling, and trading guns since the 1960s. I started hand loading about the same time and casting in the early 1970s. I have formed my opinions based on my experiences hunting and shooting over the years. I live in windy Western Kansas and I am sure this has some bearing on my opinions also. First off, firearms. I now have all I need. That is not to say all I want, but I could live without more.
Lets start with shotguns. I have two. I’m not much into shotguns; to me a cheep shotgun does the same job as an expensive one. The first on in a Remington 1100, 20ga, 2 ¾ plain barrel modified choke. I use this for dove almost exclusively. It gets 7/8 oz of 7 ½ shot. The other shotgun is a Remington 870 Wingmaster in 12ga 2 ¾” full choke. It is loaded most of the time with 1 1/4oz of #4 shot. This works real well on pheasants. I do keep a few boxes of 00 buck around for emergencies. I don’t hunt ducks or geese because I don’t like duck or geese.
On to handguns. The assortment is a little more extensive there. First off there is a little Ruger Mk2. This is a six-inch blue with fixed sights. Not a bad little pistol after I re-cut the sear disconnect plate so the trigger would reset after each round. Before I reworked it you had to jiggle the trigger after each shot to get it to reset. It resides on top of the wardrobe next to the back door for critters that wander up into my yard. I keep it loaded with CCI Stingers.
Next up would be my wife’s carry arm. That would be a Colt Mk IV Series 70 in 38 Super. I picked this up at an auction for trading stock but the wife shot it and them claimed it. It is stock except for Millett high profile fixed sights. Those little bitty things the put on at the factory are worthless. I have only one load for this arm, a 125gr JHP over Blue Dot powder.
Now my all time favorite handgun, a Colt Python 4 inch blue. This is without a doubt the finest handgun I have ever had. The fit and finish is just about perfect. The throats measure .358. Not .358 plus or minus, .358 on the dot. All six of them. The bore is .357 back to front. I bought this used in 1988, and when I got it home I tore it down to give it a good cleaning. The fit and polish internally was better than any I have ever seen. One complaint, the grips. Why does the factory insist on making the grips biggest on the bottom where your hand is the shortest? A set of Houge Mono-grips cured that problem. I shouldn’t complain, I sold those factory grips last year for $275.00 to a guy in Canada. That was just $100.00 less than I paid for the gun. I call this gun my pickup gun because it goes everywhere I go. It is 25 miles to and from work, mostly county roads and this gun has killed lots of skunks, coon, coyotes, and many, many feral cats. I only use 2 loads in this handgun, a 125gr JHP over Blue Dot and a 162gr cast RNFP over 2400. I can hit more, at longer range with this Colt than any handgun I have ever owned.
Next step up is my hunting handgun. This is a S&W Model 29 44 mag. This is a six inch blue model. I slicked up the action and changed the grips. I have taken 3 deer with this handgun. I use two loads in this handgun, a 240gr JHP over 2400 and a 280gr cast RNFP over H110.
My “beside the bed” weapon is another Colt Mk. IV Series70 but in 45ACP. This one is a long way from stock, suffice to say it works. It rest on my bedside table with a full magazine and one in the chamber. The load is a 241gr cast lead RNFP over AA #5. It is amazing that in the near 100 years this design has been around, no one has been able to come up with a better combat handgun. John Browning was a genius, no doubt about it! Over the years I have heard a lot about “resting” the spring in your magazines. Mine have been loaded since 1974 and still work fine. The only time they are empty is when I am shooting, and then just long enough to refill them.
Last but not least is my carry arm, a Sig p220 in 45ACP. Why not the Colt? Weight! The Sig packs a lot easier when I have to carry it all day. Uses the same load as the Colt.
Now to the rifles. First of is a little Marlin 39A. I bought this rifle used in 1978 and the owner bought it new in 1962. I have no idea how many round have been through this rifle but it still works fine. I shortened the stock to fit my wife and she is a terror on jack rabbits with it.
Out here there are still a fair number of prairie dogs to shoot and my main rifle for that is a Savage 112 single shot in .223. This works great out to about 325 or 350 yards if the wind is not blowing TOO hard. It sports a Weaver T15 scope and shoots in the ½” to ¾” range when I do my part. It seems to prefer 50gr Remington soft points. This is kind of strange considering the loooooong throat it has. If I were to seat the bullet touching the lands the base of the bullet would be about a 1/16” beyond the end of the case! Never the less, it shoots this bullet better than a 68 or 69gr BTHP match bullet. It has a 1 in 9 twist so this makes no sense to me. Go figure.
When the range gets out there I switch to a 25.06. I built this rifle in the 70s with a FN 400 Supreme action and a Douglass barrel. It is now on its third barrel and second scope. It now wears a Redfield 6x18 Golden Five Star in Weaver rings and bases. I made the stock from a nice Bishop blank. The best load is a 87gr Hornady over H4831. I have taken a number of 600 yard dogs with this one.
My “go to” rifle when it is time to put meat in the freezer is a Mk 10 Mauser in 30.06. I have had this rifle since the early 80’s and it is pretty much a never fail shootin iron. It has a RamLine stock and a fixed power Redfield 6x scope. I load 150gr SP over AA2700, 180gr SP over IMR4350 and 200gr Barnes Triple Shock over H4831. This rifle shoots all 3 in 1.25/1.75 most any time. When I call coyotes I load a 152gr cast paper patch bullet (Lyman 311446) over AA2700. I use an alloy that gives me a BHN of 16 and this makes a great hunting bullet. If for some reason or the other I had to sell all my firearms but 1, this would be the one I kept.
Back in November I decided to develop a sub-MOA, 3000fps load for a 30 caliber rifle. It took awhile, but I believe I have “got er done.”
The Rifle.
In order to get the velocity I wanted with this weight bullet I chose a 300RUM in a Savage model 116. It is stainless with a laminated stock. It came from the factory with pillar bedding, and I added glass behind the recoil lug, and under the front receiver ring and tang. I topped it with a Weaver T15 for this test. This rifle will group ¾ to 7/8 with good jacketed bullet loads.
The Bullet.
The most consistently accurate 30cal bullet I cast is the Lyman 311284 so this is the one I worked with. The alloy is a mix of WW and Linotype. I added lino. until an air cooled bullet tested 16.0 BHN on my Lee tester. The bullet was then sized .3015 with a push through die. This gave me full length bearing surface. The bullet was then patched with 16# green bar printer paper and allowed to dry overnight. I then clipped the tail, lubed with White Label BAC and run through a .310 push through die. This left the bullet .311 and ready to load. The finish weight, with patch, was 202gr.
The Brass.
I used new Remington brass. I full length sized them and sorted by weight allowing no more than +/- 1%. It was then trimmed to length, outside neck turned to .012 thickness, the primer pocket reamed to a uniform depth, flash holes drilled uniform and deburred. I then loaded with a 180gr. Core Lock and H4831 to fireform. The test load was then loaded in UNSIZED brass. I tried H1000, Retumbo, and finally settled on reloader25. The starting load was 88.0 and I worked up to 93.0. This gave me 3069 with no signs of excess pressure. Oh yes, the primer was a Federal 215. The bullets were seated about ¼ inch into the case and finished seating when the bolt was closed. This gave me an OAL of 3.670.
The Test.
Testing was done over 2 days. Shots were fired over a bench rest with a windage and elevation adjustable front rest and “bunny ear” rear rest. Twenty 3 shot groups were fired allowing the barrel to cool completely. The smallest group measured .760 and the largest was 1.140. The overall average figured out to .992. Mission accomplished, but just barely. So what good is this load? Not much unless unless you like poking holes in paper. Next step will be to neck size, seat to correct OAL and see how they shoot. Might make a good hunting load that way.
I do load some jacketed 180, 200, and 220 grain bullets for this one. It now wears a Simmons 3.5x10 scope. Maybe some day I can go elk hunting.
A few years ago I ordered a Enfield #4 Mk2 for $89.00. When I received it, it turned out to be a #4 Mk2. The bore sill had reamer marks visible on top of the lands. I put a Advanced Technologies stock on it and made it my pickup rifle. If it gets stolen out of my pickup, I am not out much. The only load used is the Lyman 311466 sized .304 and patched back up over AA2495.
The next rifle is my “fun gun” It is a Marlin 1895G. This short, handy, thumper is just fun to shoot. It is stock except for a Lyman 66 rear sight. After five years of trying I have finally found THE load for my Marlin 1895g. Does everything I want done and is still shootable. I started with new Remington brass, annealed the first ¾ inch using the melted lead method, belled with a Lee expander and primed with CCI 200. The powder charge is 52gr AA 2495. I started with 48 and worked up with no signs of pressure. This is a compressed load, even using a 16 inch drop tube. The magic bullet is cast in a Lyman 451114 mould. The alloy is 17 parts pure lead, 2 ½ parts linotype, and ½ part tin. The bullet drops from the mould .451 and is ready for patching. I make my patches from 16lb green bar computer paper, cut 2.750 long on a 60* angle 1.500 high. I dip in water and wrap twice around the bullet. They are left to dry overnight, then lubed with BAC from White Label Lube. The next day the tails are clipped and the bullet is run through a .459 Lee sizing die. I seat them to an OCL of 2.580. These shoot clover leaf groups at 25 yards and into 1.75 at 100. This is with a Lyman 66 rear sight and factory front sight. Not bad for 57 year old eyes. Bullet performance on game is all one could ask for. I’ll not quit experimenting, but how does one improve on perfection? I have taken two deer, and half a dozen or so coyotes with this gun. Maybe someday I will have a chance to go hog hunting.
Last but not least is a 458 Win. Mag. I built this on a P14 action with a Douglass barrel with a 1 in 22 twist. Again to test the limits of paper patched bullets. I took a 430gr bullet to just over 2600fps. No pressure signs, good accuracy. But it was starting to HURT. I stopped there. Anyone out there want to take it higher?
There you have it. All I need but not all I want. 
