What loads are you shooting for CMP vintage match?

[Bob S]

I've always wondered why no one has brought a Lee Navy to one of these matches?

I don't own Winchester-Lee, aka M1895 Lee Navy. I have not found one in decent enough shape for a price I could afford to pay. I'm always on the look-out though. :-) Same with the Remington-Lee M1899 Michegan militia rifle, 30-40.

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[jon_norstog]

Bob,

I can not speak about the Lee Navy, having never shot one. As for the '95 Remington Lee, I think you would be disappointed. It's chief advantages are the strength of its action, light weight, and the nifty detachable magazine. Its downsides include a balky (compared to the Krag) action, unreliable ejection, and a ridiculous half-cock safety requiring the shooter to cock the striker before taking a shot.

Stick with the Krag! And good luck.

jn

[Bob S]

Jon,

I have fired a Michegan rifle; while it did have the funky "half cock" that seems to be common to all Lee rifles, it was not necessary to manually draw the striker back to fire. Cycle the bolt, and it's ready to fire. The rifles were not well received by the Michegan troops, and they were replaced by Krags. I'm just a glutton for punishment. ;-)

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[Dick Hosmer]

Ditto the M1885 Rem-Lee Navy. Compared to the smoothness of a Krag, it leaves a lot to be desired, but, if the striker does not end up at full cock after bolt manipulation, something (possibly dangerous) is definitely wrong.

[madsenshooter]

I really like the rear sight on the 1882 Remington Lee, or at least one that I found that was both windage and elevation adjustable. Krag smoothness...first time I fired mine rapid fire, I had to open the bolt a couple times to make sure it picked up a round, it sure didn't feel like one fed, compared to some of my other bolt actions. I don't think it would be much fun shooting downwind of someone using a black powder cannon. It could make target acquisition a bit iffy. In my case, that'd be real bad, I crossfire enough as is!

[jon_norstog]

Jon,

I have fired a Michegan rifle; while it did have the funky "half cock" that seems to be common to all Lee rifles, it was not necessary to manually draw the striker back to fire. Cycle the bolt, and it's ready to fire. The rifles were not well received by the Michegan troops, and they were replaced by Krags. I'm just a glutton for punishment. ;-)

Resp'y,
Bob S.

Bob,


My bad. Of course the '95 Remington Lee is cocked and ready to fire once the bolt is closed. I'm writing as a hunter who always carries his weapon on safety - that gun has a half-cock safety and you have to pull back the striker to get off a shot. The time that takes is enough for an elk to totally disappear! Wing safety, long live the Krag!

jn

[Bob S]

Jon,

Toi biet.

Bob,

No worries, I won't be shooting black powder in a CMP match. Of course, the shredded pink toilet paper wad wafting in the breeze could distract some shooters I s'pose. :-P

Resp'y,
Bob S.

[madsenshooter]

I was experimenting with some plastic filler in some of my lead bullet loads. Judging by the way the plastic sand sometimes blows back into my eyes, I don't think I'll be using any of the filler in competitive matches. Or, maybe I will, if you can't beat em, blind em!

[madsenshooter]

After much investigation I decided that I'll be using Nosler 168gr BTHP bullets that I got auction style for .18ea, in this year's event. I compared the trajectories of my 123gr V-Max load at 2450fps, the 220gr RN at 2000fps, and the aforementioned Nosler @2450fps using tools available on ammoguide.com. The 168s nearly halved both the drop and wind drift of the other two loads. I used 38gr of AA2015 behind the 168. There's a reclaimed strip mine area not far from my house here in Upper Appalachia and I was able to obtain a good zero on the SR bull. With a 6 o'clock hold my last 3 shot group was two tens and an X. With a dead center hold the 1902 sight would have been right on when set at 200yd, elevation-wise, but only because my front sight is not standard height, it's shorter. Using a 6 o'clock hold the sight had to be set right at the bottom of the number 3. The match bullets wouldn't feed reliably until seated to an OAL of 3.077" (rapid fire rounds). I took great care in the reloading process, primer pockets were uniformed, flash holes deburred, charges weighed, etc. Slowfire rounds were loaded using the closing of the rifle's bolt to seat the bullet as I'd set neck tension to be only .002" (not a recommended method unless done in a safe area, living on the edge of town has it's benefits!) Finished rounds were weighed and sorted with the final variance of the 35 rounds needed being less than .5gr. I'm hoping the extra care will allow me to move up some from my previous middle of the pack finishes. Hope to see some of you there! Oh, I'm using the parkerized 92/96 this year, and I have my version of Parashooter's charger working with one finger, shouldn't even have to take the rifle off my shoulder!

[psteinmayer]

I'll be shooting in the Vintage Match for the first time this year. I'm going to meet Madsenshooter there, and hopefully, I won't make too much of a fool of myself. I'll be using my 1898 rifle (pictures posted here last year), and I can't wait! I loaded up two different rounds to use... Hornady 220 grain round nose over 40 grains of IMR-4350; and Hornady 165 grain boat-tailed soft point spitzers over 39.5 grains of IMR-4064. All of my powder loads are weighed, all of my primer cups carefully cleaned with a small plastic brush in a dremmel tool, and all of my cases are cleaned, trimmed, annealed, neck sized only, and polished! I used Remington cases with the 220 loads, and Winchester cases with the 165 grain rounds... I did this for consistancy sake. After much discussion with Madesnshooter, I think I'm going to use the 165 grain rounds. I should be around 2350/2400 fps, and I know that my 98 likes the 165 BTSPs as I've been using them for years. The 39.5 grain powder loads are slightly higher than I have used in the past, but still well below max loads. The spitzers feed great in my Krags, so I'm confident that I won't have a problem in that respect. I loaded up some dummy rounds for practice (I used plastic in the primer cups to act like a snap cap and prevent dry-fire) and I've been practicing rapid loading and firing while prone. All in all, I'm looking forward to not only seeing how well I'll do... but also meeting some other Krag shooters, and hopefully making some new friends!

Paul