A mate dropped around for a visit the other day and bought with him a box of goodies. His Dad is slowing down with age and has consolidated his rifle holdings, along with components.
The box contained about 150 once fired .243 cases of mixed brands (all primed), mainly Norma and Winchester Western with a couple of head stamps that are unknown to me…2 4 3 well spaced and 243W…both have nothing else, just the calibre; time for some research methinks.
I addition to the cases, there’s a couple of full packs of Sierra 6mm 60gr HP, a near enough full pack of Hornady 6mm 70gr Spire Point, a 3/4 pack of Speer 6mm 75gr HP, a 3/4 pack of Speer 6mm 75gr HP VARMINT, and a full pack of Sierra 6mm 100gr Spitzer.

All in all, what I consider to be a good score…especially since it was a gift…no cost.

perfect bunny blasting material.... and primed cases is just pure gold in these trying times...if they dont fit well in your chmber..remove expander ball spindle from die and resize them...you got couple of choices..either just let projectile open them back up..dead easy with boat tails...or dont remove spndle completely,either lift it high enough in case its not touching bottom or if your lucky you may be able to remove depriming pin off end...Ive actually got a spare .224 spindle which broke off pin and I keep it just for this sort of thing...at $20ish bucks it is just about buying a new one just to alter it.... primers are going for CRAZY money over here..some trademe auctions have seen $1.50 per primer reached!!!!! I paid $0.35 the last time I bought large rifle primers.
wonder if those cases are made by CAC????.... wouldnt surprise me if some found there way across the ditch.

If, and I mean if, you can find primers in a store they start around $139 a brick for small rifle and go up from there.Of course that is canadian dollars - convert to your local $. On the forum buy and sells they usually start around $300 a brick and I've seen asking north of $600! Don't know if they get that but that is the listed price.

“Elvis” wrote:

…remove expander ball spindle from die and resize them…

That is exactly what I did mate. It was a simple matter to remove the decapper…just screw the whole thing out of the top of the die. This allowed me to Full Length Size the cases back to SAAMI specs. You are right when you say that primed cases are pure gold…I’m happy.

The price of primers…when you can find them…is disgusting here as well mate. The prices run around AUD$140 per thousand and in excess of $620 per 5000 depending on brand and type. Percussion caps are expensive as well…between AUD$200 and AUD$245 per hundred.

I try to use Remington primers exclusively, both LR and SR, but at this time I can’t get any. I have a couple of thousand in my safe…now if I can just find the key to the safe I’ll be happy a happy man.

Wow those old boxes bring back memories. I loved shooting Speer back in the day when I was a broke teenager. The "GrandSlams" were a really good yet cheap "premium" style hunting bullet.

-DallanC

that is hilarious..in a bad way...not being able to find something really grinds my gears...might be time to call in professional help Vince...for the safe,not your sanity......at this stage anyway.

“Dallan” wrote:

Wow those old boxes bring back memories. I loved shooting Speer back in the day when I was a broke teenager. The “GrandSlams” were a really good yet cheap “premium” style hunting bullet.

Gee, I didn’t think they were THAT old mate.

I decided to check weigh some of the Sierra 60gr bullets and I found a two tenths of a grain variation over the entire box, and that was only about 4 or 5 bullets in total…I’m impressed. Now all I have to do is load a few different bullets and see how they shoot…then try to get out and do some bunny busting.

Elvis wrote:

that is hilarious..in a bad way...not being able to find something really grinds my gears...might be time to call in professional help Vince...for the safe, not your sanity......at this stage anyway.

Yep, agree mate. I have an idea where it may be…I think it slipped off my chest of drawers and is caught up in some other crap and corruption or has slid underneath the unit. Professional help…nah, they charge like a wounded bull and would destroy my old safe to get in. I’ll either find the key soon or try another method of getting it unlocked. I’m pretty sure I have an impression of the key, but it’s in a “safe place”, which we all know is hidden and probably never found again for a number of years. Maybe I’ll try my hand at lock picking…plenty of instructional videos online.

It is nice to have friends like that.

I recently obtained a pound of AS30 powder from a friend, so now I can shoot again

Would some black powder help to BLOW the lock?

Bushmaster wrote:

Would some black powder help to BLOW the lock?

Now that’s a thought mate, although the door of the safe faces my powder cabinet, and with my ouch it would set it all afire.

I’ve loaded up some Sierra 60gr HP and some Hornady 70gr Spire Point bullets with two different ADI powders, AR2206H and Benchmark 8208, to see which load my Weatherby Vanguard prefers.

I’m really hoping for “head of rabbit” out to 200m accuracy which is quite achievable if I do my part…I just have to find the best bullet/powder combination. My usual “go to” bullet in this rifle is the Hornady 87gr HP…it shoots .7 of an inch at 100m which is more than enough accuracy for my needs, so I’m really hoping these lighter bullets shoot as well.

fun times ahead, try ringing a locksmith..you may be surprised in a good way.