AuGres River mini report
There are a few crazy snowmobiler’s on the river again, meaning that it’s most likely safe for ice fishing. It’s been well below freezing for days, with low’s close to zero a couple of times. (and lot’s of WIND) Even so, two day’s ago, there were a few open water areas in the river!! Caution would be in order! I have no idea if anything is biting? Perchville starts in East Tawas next weekend, so hopefully they have Perch up there. (and the ice stays good)
Myself, I’ve putting together my Walleye gear for next summer, and doing a bit of shooting on the warmer days. The new scopes are all sighted in now. The 30-06 is dead on at 25 yds and 2 inches high at 100. The .22 is putting rounds into a pattern of about 1.25 inch at 25 yds, (didn’t try it farther out). The .308, is shooting into the same hole at 25 yds.
Problems arose again, (this seems to be getting to be habit forming). I’ve had my Ruger 10/22 for years and it’s always been a fair shooter with open sights. Now it has the Weaver 2.5 power scope that was on my Ruger M-77 30.06. It took me about 5 rounds to get the little .22 into the center of the 25 yd. target, and then I had what I thought was a light load, PUFF, it went, rather than CRACK. I noticed a bit of smoke from around the magazine, but didn’t check it. The following round was Ok, but the the third round, PUFFED even bigger, and actually knocked the magazine out of the gun. Upon inspection, I found that the chambered round had split at it’s base and the hot gas had ignited the round below it in the mag. Amazingly, after cleaning up the gun I found no damage. Checking the empties on the ground, I found that 3 other cases had split. I immediately stop shooting it, as I had no other ammo, and it now needed a good cleaning. There was nothing wrong with the gun, so I’ve contacted Federal to ask them what they’re going to do about this questionable ammo. (Federal PowerFlyte No. 510)
Second problem, my DPMS LR-308B has always been very tight chambered and I’ve been trying different brands of ammo hoping to get reliable chambering. It has the new Simmons ATEK 2.5x to 10x. This time I had a few Korean era hardball rounds, a box of Talon remanufacturered 7.62 ball and a box of Sellier and Bellot FMJ’s. I started off with the old Korean stuff, stamped 1966 and had enough to them to get it in the bullseye at 25 yds. Once it was gone I switched over to the Talon ammo. (Note Talon is out of business) On Talon round #3 the bolt failed to return home, jamming the cartridge in the barrel and requiring it to be driven out. Round 4 and 5 were good, about 1/2 inch apart, the round 6 jammed things up again. Once it was cleared out, I tried hand cycling a few more, and none of them would chamber easily, (if at all). The LR-308B doesn’t have a forward assist, so these jams are not fun. I put the Talon ammo aside, and loaded up a mag of the Sellier and Bellot. First round cycled nicely, it and round 2 and 3 went into 1 hole about 1 inch right of center. About 8 clicks, brought it over to dead center. Then to vent some frustration and test the gun a bit, I buzzed 5 rapid fire rounds downrange. The Sellier and Bellot seemed to function fine. A bit of online reading at AR15.com , informed me that it’s a good idea to use small based reloading dies when reloading for automatic and semi-automatic rifles. This insures that they chamber properly and avoids the type of problem I have with the Talon ammo…… I suppose I’ll be deassembling the rest of my Talon rounds, resizing, and reassembling them, when warmer weather comes.
The Ruger M-77 has been in my safe for a number of years, feebly scoped with the old Weaver that’s now on the 10/22. It was sent to happyville, by the almost new Bushnell 2.5 to 9 Pro-Hunter that came from the DPMS. For it, I had some surplus hardball of unknown origin, (new enough not to be corrosive), some 165gr reloads, and box of Greek M-2 Ball. It took 3 rounds to work it to dead center at 25 yards, then I brought it up a few clicks and took 3 more at 100 yds. Not one hole, but pretty close, and about 2 inches high at 100. To cold to try the 200 yd range, that can wait for warmer weather. The Surplus Greek M-2 shot very well in the Ruger. I had a little fun ripping up the piece of iron that was hanging from the 100 yard target rail. (6×6 in. railroad plate, I think) Every round going downrange, rang it hard, until the force finally snapped the wire it was hanging by. The M-77 is a great little rifle, it really took to that Bushnell. It’s light, fairly short, and shoot’s very well, with no problems. Sometimes makes me wonder about the wisdom of purchasing a highpowered semi-auto (the DPMS). (but that’s another story)
They’re all cleaned up now and waiting for a followup swabbing in a few days to clear out any residue lifted by the Hoppe’s No. 9 . Since that day I shot, it’s been to cold to shoot again anyway, so I’m thinking the next trip to the club with rifles, will be during warmer weather.