Range Day

I went out to my private range today to shoot the Handi Rifles. The .30-30 and the .308 Winchester. These were the first rounds through the .30-30, and I don't know if I was off, or the loads were wrong, or the scope is bad, but I was disappointed in my shooting today.

I was testing 125 grain Sierra spitzers in that rifle, with both IMR 4895 and IMR 3031. Oh, they'd have killed a deer, but group sizes were on the nature of 6" at 100yards. I shot about 30 rounds through the rifle, using five different loads, got disgusted and put it away

I took out the .308 Handi and tried a few loads with 125 spitzers. Same story. I had brought along a box of a load that's done well in every .308 I've tried it in. It features 43 grains of Reloder 15 and the 165 grain Sierra Pro-Hunter bullet. that particular load shoots very well in a number of rifles, and in the Handi I can count on it turning in groups of 1.5-2.0 inches. Today was no exception. It gave me a 5-shot group, 2" in diameter, centered nicely around the bullseye.

Feeling better about my ability to shoot, I posted a fresh target and got the .30-30 out again. I had some of my cast-bullet reloads. This load uses the Lyman 311041 bullet, lubed with Lee's Liquid Alox. It is loaded over 27 grains of IMR 4895. In my Winchester 94 it gives me 1850 fps out of that 18" barrel with accuracy around 4 inches. It's a good deer/hog load for the thick woods of this area.

I put five rounds through the Handi and walked down to look at the target. The group was 4 inches, about what I expected. What surprised me was the velocities on the chronograph. In the Winchester 94 this load turns in 1850 fps. In the Handi rifle, the chrony registered the velocity at something hovering around 2000 fps.

I've got some 150 grain bullets loaded for the Handi, but I ran out of time and patience this afternoon. Another day we'll see what that 150 grain load will give ne.