Got out and shot…finally!

[u/EcstaticStock499]

Had a lot of load development I hadn’t been able to actually get out and test. Today was the day!

In addition to 22lr fun, I ended up shooting exactly 100 rounds of centerfire. 30 rounds of 450 Ackley (like a 458 Lott but bigger by a tad), 32 rounds of 300 rum, 11 rounds of 350 rem mag, and 27 rounds of 257 STW.

The browning x bolt max long range in 300 rum 1:8 twist with the vortex 5-25x56 strike eagle is just so awesome. With 212 bore riders I had no trouble making a first round hit at 500 yards (the goose shaped steel, note the close up of the copper splash on it) after verifying where it was hitting at 300.

The 450 humbled me, it’s not bad from standing (though very stout), but this was my first time shooting it the elephant gun from a bench…500 grain bullets with a full case of 748 powder rattle your teeth and pulverize your shoulder off the bench. Twas fun because I’m a masochist and a recoil junkie, but I have a bruise starting and weird ball/lump under the skin on that shoulder now.

Note the expanded bullet I dug out of the dirt bank…that’s a mushroom, it almost looks like a tooth with roots haha. 280 grains retained after slamming into sand, lost 220. Ought to be fine for moose 🤣

The 257 stw was disappointing today…I discovered both my ultra light and ultra heavy loads were keyholing. They should be stable, I guess maybe the RPMs at north of 4400 fps get a bit squirrelly for the 75 grain hammer and the hornady eldm 134 grain isn’t meant to handle this kind of velocity either. It is an 8 twist.

I’ll try some more basic 100 grain bullets next.

[u/looloopklopm]

Those are some interesting calibers. Perks of reloading!

Are they just all around better than typical offerings? Or what's your reason to buy and shoot these??

Cool collection man

[u/EcstaticStock499 → u/looloopklopm]

What can I say, my mom took too much Tylenol🤣

No but for real if it’s practical and readily available and everyone has one it’s just kind of boring to me. I’m under no illusion about needing any of these, or that there aren’t more sensible chamberings haha…but those don’t do anything for me. I like weird stuff.

[u/looloopklopm → u/EcstaticStock499]

That's really cool man. Keep being you!

[u/EcstaticStock499 → u/looloopklopm]

But actually I do have some normal centerfires too haha, they just didn’t come with me this time. I do have a .30-06, a .243, and .223 as well as a couple of 12 gauges.