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Lever-action silhouette starting up February 1 at Blacks Creek Range south of Boise! In case anyone is interested, I’ll share my experience getting ready for the centerfire LA rifle event:
I found that most shooters in this event are using 30-30’s -emailed the match organizer and that’s what he uses. I found a NIB Winchester Canadian Commemorative model from 1967 for $1050, with a 26 inch heavy octagonal barrel. Drifted out the factory sights and replaced them with Williams FP micro sights with target knobs (rear) and Lyman 17A globe sight, .494 height (front). Best inserts for the Lyman front sight are Lee Shavers – the ones that come with the sight are thick. Hint - you can stack the Shaver fine bead or post insert with a circle insert. Loaded 170 grain Hornady Interlock flat points, over 29 grains of Varget, in Starline cases with CCI 200 LR primers, for the heavy rams at 200 yards - chrono’d at an average 2040 FPS with SD of 24 fps. Pleasant and plenty accurate enough for rams. Didn’t want to tear up the smaller and closer targets, so I’ll be loading up 150 grain Sierra FP over 28 grains of Varget. Quickload gave high-pressure warnings but from researching various forums, many shooters are loading considerably heavier with Varget - 31 grains or more. SAAMI standards are very low for the 30-30 and I didn’t see any overpressure signs, but of course, you're responsible for safe loads with your rifle. Warning – this is a long-necked case, and the expander stem works over a long distance. The expander stem in the full-length Lee sizing/depriming die I used actually pulled out of the die and stuck in a case. Problem is that the cheap Lee die uses a compression collet to hold the stem in place, instead of a threaded attachment in higher-quality dies. You have to wrench on the darn stem nut like a boss to get it tighter. I could not overcam at all without loosening the stem. It’s possible that the collet fingers are kept from closing by machining burrs - maybe could be dressed up and made to work. If anyone wants this piece of garbage, along with their neck-sizing die, let me know and you can have them. Their factory crimp die is pretty good, however. I picked up a two-die FL sizing and seating set from Hornady. Looking forward to my first competition Feb 1! Note that it’s followed in the afternoon with a rimfire lever action contest.
I found that most shooters in this event are using 30-30’s -emailed the match organizer and that’s what he uses. I found a NIB Winchester Canadian Commemorative model from 1967 for $1050, with a 26 inch heavy octagonal barrel. Drifted out the factory sights and replaced them with Williams FP micro sights with target knobs (rear) and Lyman 17A globe sight, .494 height (front). Best inserts for the Lyman front sight are Lee Shavers – the ones that come with the sight are thick. Hint - you can stack the Shaver fine bead or post insert with a circle insert. Loaded 170 grain Hornady Interlock flat points, over 29 grains of Varget, in Starline cases with CCI 200 LR primers, for the heavy rams at 200 yards - chrono’d at an average 2040 FPS with SD of 24 fps. Pleasant and plenty accurate enough for rams. Didn’t want to tear up the smaller and closer targets, so I’ll be loading up 150 grain Sierra FP over 28 grains of Varget. Quickload gave high-pressure warnings but from researching various forums, many shooters are loading considerably heavier with Varget - 31 grains or more. SAAMI standards are very low for the 30-30 and I didn’t see any overpressure signs, but of course, you're responsible for safe loads with your rifle. Warning – this is a long-necked case, and the expander stem works over a long distance. The expander stem in the full-length Lee sizing/depriming die I used actually pulled out of the die and stuck in a case. Problem is that the cheap Lee die uses a compression collet to hold the stem in place, instead of a threaded attachment in higher-quality dies. You have to wrench on the darn stem nut like a boss to get it tighter. I could not overcam at all without loosening the stem. It’s possible that the collet fingers are kept from closing by machining burrs - maybe could be dressed up and made to work. If anyone wants this piece of garbage, along with their neck-sizing die, let me know and you can have them. Their factory crimp die is pretty good, however. I picked up a two-die FL sizing and seating set from Hornady. Looking forward to my first competition Feb 1! Note that it’s followed in the afternoon with a rimfire lever action contest.
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