The Next Big Thing Part II

That old Remington 721 in .270 Winchester? Remember this old gun? Yeah, I took it out to the range today. Before that, as you may recall, I had cleaned it and stuck a leftover scope on it in preparation for today. But even before I could shoot it, I had to manufacture ammunition for it. I had to reload some empty brass I had laying around.

I won't get into the ins and outs of reloading, there's been whole books and tomes written about the subject. All I will say, is that since every rifle, shotgun, and pistol  has their own favorite load, reloading makes finding that pet firearm's favorite load a snap. Or rather, it should be pretty easy to "cook" up several loads for one rifle and testing different recipes.

You can do that searching with factory ammo true enough, but factory ammo is expensive and comes in boxes of 20 cartridges for most rifles. So if your rifle hates Brand A, and you figure that out in a group of five shots, you're stuck with 15 cartridges you'll never take hunting or shouldn't take hunting as it sprays your target with a group that looks more like a shotgun "pattern" than a tack-driving deer slayer.

What I've started doing lately is loading batches of five cartridges of different configurations and seeing what can happen. Since I've always kept pretty good records of what I've shot and how it performed in almost all of my rifles, this has proven pretty effective and more affordable. Five test cartridges cost less than twenty.

So with twenty-five different concoctions, I went to the Rockingham County Gun Club to see what this old, new-to-me rifle would do.

What a mess. This doesn't include "the range box" of even more stuff.

Spread out, it looks like alot of stuff...well, it is. I got my pad for my elbow--the first time I ever shot at The Rock I bloodied my elbow! I have my front rest and rear bag for steady shooting to check loads for accuracy and to "zero" the rifle when the time comes. I have my notebook for keeping up with which load went into which target out there at 100 yards and sometimes, especially during hunting season, 200 yards. Ear muffs and a junky scope pressed into spotting scope service, and screwdriver kit are a must. I also have a knee-pad I like to stuff under my shirt to absorb some recoil though somebody I know has called it a diaper. Not pictured are shooting glasses which should be required for all shooting sports.

And obviously, I have bags and bags of cartridges fresh off the presses, or press. I really only use one. These are what will tell the tale of what my most accurate load is in this rifle from the several I brought with me. Each bag has the recipe written on a card and stuffed inside with the cartridges. To keep up with your results, it is super important to release your inner nerd, your inner bookkeeper, and keep (nearly--I'm a carpenter, Jim, not a scientist) meticulous records.

Don't try these recipes at home without doing your own homework! 

So once you have your loaded "shells" and all your accoutrements and you've tacked up a few numbered targets up on the backer board, you can start bam-bamming until you get a headache, which happens more than you think--shooting from the bench is no fun most of the time.

Since I hadn't zeroed the rifle with that scope before, I had to "boresight" it so I wouldn't waste all my precious, new ammo "getting on paper". Let's just say, these days I actually pull the bolt out, look down the bore and move the cross hairs to match what I see through the actual rifle barrel! I was on paper with three factory cartridges that I had shot and hated years before in a different rifle--see above: stuck with ammo you hate and wouldn't/shouldn't hunt with. They do come in handy from time to time I reckon.

After getting the gun on target, it's just a matter of putting bullets downrange all the while not flinching, jerking the trigger, and not letting the barrel get too hot. Hot barrels do hot-barrel things to your trajectory that a hunter just isn't going to encounter. A hunter's shot is going to be from a cold barrel, so cooling time between "shot strings" is a must. Don't be in a hurry is all I can suggest. Or, if you're like me, you take more than one rifle to alternate shooting times and thus, heating times.

After I shot, the results were in.

At 100 yards, the results were a bit disappointing I reckon, but target two's load shows promise!

Right now...I'll remind you that the rifle, the M721 Remington chambered in .270 Winchester was manufactured way back in 1951. That makes this rifle roughly 63 years old. Having said that, sometimes, that doesn't matter. I mean, who shoots all that much to "wear out" a barrel? Many people just don't shoot that much. The ethical hunters pull out there rifle in November, shoot it a few times to check zero, and then hunt with it for two months, maybe firing it twice before stuffing it back into the closet. That's how most of America uses rifles--but I suspect the previous owners of this gun was a shooter.

Not many rifles in .270 won't print a good group even with factory ammo, but this one seems finicky, and maybe it's due to the fact that previous owners shot it alot. Or maybe all she needs is a new muzzle crown or a pressure point and/or a bedding job. I have no idea, but look at target number two on the boards; that load shows some promise. The M721 printed an actual group that's worthy of more cartridges of that recipe being loaded and moving the crosshairs so the projectile will strike the target dead center[ish] and an inch and a half high.

Each square is an inch, so that's a 1.5 inch group maybe? Maybe a tad smaller.

But all the targets, no matter how crappy the load, go into a binder so I can remember the good stuff, and not repeat the bad stuff. The recipe for target two was an old favorite. The bullet was seated in the case just off the lands of the rifling and the powder was Hodgen 4350, an old warhorse if there ever was one. By contrast, if you can see from the photo of the targets, target four is a bust, but the only difference between it and target two is the powder choice--everything else was the same.

So that's the first outing with the rifle. It will get better I imagine--it shouldn't be able to get any worse! Now, though, I do have perfect little "fire-formed" cases that fit this rifle's chamber tighter than any factory ammunition ever could and that could mean even more accuracy out of target number two's load. And that's what I'll try the next time at the range, maybe daring to load 10 of them for 100 yard and then 200 yard shooting--we handloaders are a cheap, frugal bunch.

And before next time I guess I'll clean the bore again so it won't be as filthy as it was when I bought the rifle the other day. Once I get it zeroed and ready for hunting though, I won't clean or change a thing until the season's over. Once you get a rifle in its sweet spot, shooting where you want it to shoot, it's best just to keep it clean and lightly oiled on the outside and let it ride.

The Next Big Thing

I couldn't resist. The Cherry's Fine Guns website updates frequently...and like an H.I. McDunnough, I find myself virtually "driving by" eyeing the rifles for sale like H.I. did with convenient stores in the movie Raising Arizona.

And so it was, that a vintage Remington showed up yesterday for a reasonable price. And today, it showed up at my house! It is a Remington 721 in .270 Winchester. A quick message of text to someone in the know, and I found out it was manufactured in 1951. That's plenty of vintage for me.

The 720/721 models were introduced in 1948. They were a step above Remington's model 30's which were really just a quick and easy way to make sporting rifles out of leftover Enfield parts the government stuck them with after WWI. Obviously, there weren't any new rifles made for the public during WWII, and it looks like, after the war, Remington hit the ground running with the 720 and 721. 

Pick up your trusty Model 700, right now, and you're holding the latest refinement on the older 721. Think of your model 700 as the 721 2.1--no kidding. It's neat for me to see the likenesses, and differences, as I fondle my "new" rifle. But that's how innovation is. One idea spawns another.

Anyway, the next order of business is to rip it apart and clean it, inspect it, and really fondle it, inside and out. I'll snatch it out of the stock and check for rust below the stock-line and if I find any, whisk it away with some very fine steel wool. I'll blow the trigger mechanism out with compressed air. Just sitting around for years and years, a rifle can collect alot of dust in very unlikely places. Let the trigger and safety gunk up with dust and old, sticky gun oil and you're asking for trouble, especially on a cold morning.

Then, after I finish and put it all back together, I'll grab the scope I had on the last rifle I sold that was chambered in .270 as well (Oh the irony) and mount it atop the receiver. As old as the rifle is, those new-fangled scopes were coming into widespread use back then, so Remington wisely drilled and tapped the receivers for the mounts. My older Model 30 Express isn't prepared like that, and when I took it hunting, it was with open sights because I couldn't bring myself to "butcher" the old rifle and wanted to leave it as it was back in the day.

I know, I sold the old M700 Mountain Rifle and declared that I only like short action rifles, but this is a vintage model remember. I would have bought it even it had been chambered in something as dull and lack-luster as 30-06. I'll be holding "grand-dad's" rifle--someone's grand-dad I reckon. It's got it's own history inside it somewhere, and while I'm shooting it at the bench and working a load up for it, I'll be thinking about the people who did the same thing before me.

And when I'm up in a stand, or hiding under my poncho, hunting, I'll be thinking about how someone else had done the same things and had seen the same things as I. I'll think about how I'm using the rifle for what it was built to do. In my mind, the rifle has sat in a closet or a safe until Grand-dad died and the grand-kids took it to Cherry's to be sold on consignment for the cash and that it hasn't been in the woods for twenty or thirty years. And when I throw it over my shoulder and carry it afield, all will be the way it should be.

And when, if I'm lucky enough to do so, I shoulder the rifle and place the cross-hairs on a game animal, I'll have done everything right by that old rifle.

Remington Model 721

So, I can rationalize buying a new rifle to myself just like that--usually I have no problem doing so. And when it's an old, yet innovative-for-its-time workhorse, chambered in a go to cartridge like the .270 Winchester, giving into that craving just gets easier. My wife doesn't even try to understand, but then, I don't understand why we have at least three Christmas trees every year.

I'll keep you posted on how it shoots, and of course, I'll let you know when and where it gets to go hunting again--stay tuned.