Category: Ammunition

Roberts .257: A Quarter-Bore Worth a Comeback

The enclosed blind was warm, and it was still early; I was unlikely to see anything for a while. Truth is, I was wool-gathering… and when I glanced up there was a very large black boar standing broadside near the feeder. Oops! I raised the rifle, slowly got the barrel outside the window, and took a rest.

The distance was about a hundred yards; without further thought, I centered the crosshairs on the shoulder, a third up from the brisket. The shot felt good, but the pig lurched away, instantly lost behind some cedars. Now I needed to think about this. I’d taken the shot with a .257 Roberts and 117-grain Hornady SST. Hindsight being perfect, steady and at that distance, I could just as well have taken a head or neck shot, but I’d instinctively gone for my comfort zone, the shoulder shot, without considering that this was not a big gun for a large pig.

Well, done was done, and something else might come in. I waited until about 15 minutes after sundown, turned the scope down low, and went to check. The boar was every bit as big as I’d thought; he’d gone about 20 yards and was stone-dead. Impressive!

Wild Boar, Wild Hog, Texas Hunting
This big Texas hog took a 117-grain SST on the shoulder from the .257 Roberts and traveled about 20 yards.

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Joining the Creedmoor Club

Okay, I finally did it! After punching paper and ringing steel with at least a dozen rifles chambered to the 6.5mm Creedmoor, I finally got around to taking an animal with this amazingly popular little cartridge.

Actually, my wife, Donna joined the Creedmoor Club on the same hunt a few days before I did. We shared a Mossberg Patriot in stainless and synthetic, wearing a Riton 4-16x50mm scope. I chose Federal Premium’s 120-grain Trophy Copper load because we’d be hunting blacktails on California’s Central Coast, near our Paso Robles home. We call this area the “condor zone,” long mandated as a lead-free area for hunting. As the Creedmoor’s popularity continues its upward spiral load offerings continue to multiply, but as Opening Day neared, Trophy Copper was the only homogenous-alloy load I could get my hands on.

Creedmoor Club, bench shooting, Mossberg Patriot
On the bench with the Mossberg Patriot 6.5mm Creedmoor in preparation for the California deer season. Unleaded bullets are required for hunting, so the Boddingtons used Federal Premium 120-grain Trophy Copper…with good results.

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.270 versus 7mm: Too close to call!

Caliber .270, bullet diameter .277-inch, is primarily an American phenomenon based on the .270 Winchester, which was introduced in 1925. Its origin is murky; there was an experimental 6.8mm Mauser developed for China so rare that standard references show no photos. No evidence confirms that Winchester was even aware of this obscure cartridge.

Jack O'Connor ram 270 Winchester
Jack O’Connor with one of his last rams, taken with his famous Biesen-stocked “No. 2” .270. O’Connor was the undisputed champion of the .270 Winchester, but from the standpoint of years I have to agree he was right!

Nobody knows for sure why Winchester’s Roaring Twenties engineers settled on that bullet diameter. They probably wanted something based on the .30-06 case that might shoot flatter, kick less, and be almost as versatile. There were other options; both the 6.5mm and 7mm (.264 and .284-inch) bullet diameters were popular in Europe and making inroads in the United States, but in xenophobic post-WWI America, using a “European” diameter might have been out of the question. Continue reading “.270 versus 7mm: Too close to call!”

Loaded for Hunting Wild Boar

America’s population of feral hogs is now estimated at around nine million, growing and seemingly unstoppable. With crop and property damages running into the billions of dollars, pigs are clearly a plague for many farmers; what’s more, their status as a non-native invasive species means that we don’t yet know the long-term impact they’ll have on native fauna and flora. That said, hunting wild boar is a boon for hunters: They are our second-most numerous “big game animal” after the whitetail deer.

hunting wild boar in California .270 Winchester
hen I was a bit younger this is the way we usually recovered our pigs, and a big boar made quite a load! This boar was taken with a .270 Winchester, always an exceptional choice, and plenty powerful enough for any pig that walks.

Pigs are intelligent and prolific, and I’m not at all convinced that conventional hunting techniques can control their numbers. But that’s above my pay grade. As a game animal, they provide excellent pork, are fun and surprisingly challenging to hunt, and can often be pursued year-round. They’re tough, and under the right (or wrong) circumstances they can be dangerous. I like to hit them hard, with plenty of bullet and enough gun.
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Turkey Time!

Let me be perfectly clear: I am not an expert turkey hunter! No way am I going to give you calling tips or turkey hunting tips. I bumble along, and fortunately we have a lot of turkeys to hunt these days.

Strutting Turkey in the field
With the head tucked down this is a normal presentation when a gobbler is strutting, but this is a poor shot; better to wait a few seconds until the head and neck are extended!

So, important admissions made, I’m pretty good at shooting turkeys if and when I get a chance. Over the years—and I can go back about 50 years—I’ve hunted all the varieties, and I’ve hunted turkeys in a lot of places. My opinions have shifted over time, and may shift again. In part this is because, as turkey hunting has exploded, our turkey guns and turkey loads keep getting better.

Today I am convinced of three things: To anchor turkeys consistently you need good chokes, you need good shells, and sights are a really great idea.
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Double Rifle Cartridges

What do you think of when someone mentions double rifles? For many, the double rifle conjures romantic thoughts of nostalgia and tradition. In the United States, we tend to think of the double rifle as a large caliber specialist, meant only for dangerous game. In Europe, however, double rifles are favored for driven game thanks to the fast second shot. There’s no reason why a double rifle (of the appropriate caliber, of course) couldn’t be effective in the US for black bear, wild hogs, or any close-cover hunting where shots beyond a hundred yards are unlikely.

Gordon Marsh shooting a Sabatti double rifle in Mozambique
Gordon Marsh of Wholesale Hunter on the range in Mozambique with a scoped Sabatti double in .450/.40003”. This rifle accounted for three buffaloes over the next few days.

Although modern manufacturing techniques have lowered the costs of purchasing customizing a double rifle, they’re still generally more expensive. The double requires more hand-fitting, and getting both barrels to shoot together is a time-consuming process. The double is the least accurate action type, but it’s a short to very medium-range arm…and nothing is faster for delivering a second shot.

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Outfit Yourself for Deer Hunting Season

It’s late autumn now, so your deer season might be over. My deer hunting is coming up soon—next week I’m going to the thick brush of Quebec’s Anticosti Island, a place I’ve long wanted to see. Then, after Thanksgiving, comes “my” deer hunt, the 12-day rifle season on my Kansas farm. I decided which rifle to use in Anticosti a long time ago, but I’m still pondering exactly what I’m going to use in Kansas.

This is a rare luxury. I love my job, but I have to produce what my editors want. This often means that I have an obligation to use a particular new rifle or cartridge on a hunt instead of one of my old favorites. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it’s fun to try out some of the new whiz-bangs. On the other hand, there’s a down side: constantly switching rifles, cartridges, and optics is probably not a great key to hunting success! Never forget the old adage “beware the one-gun man.”

Hunting with 7x57 cartridge
A Kansas buck taken with a custom Todd Ramirez 7×57. For medium-range work the 7×57 is Boddington’s all-time favorite cartridge.

I’m not complaining, mind you—I know I’m fortunate. I get to spend a lot of time at the range and in the field for a living. All that time has shown me that choosing a sound deer rifle and sticking with it critical, perhaps especially so for the multitude of hunters who are limited in both practice time and days afield!

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Hunting Bullet Basics

Autumn is approaching quickly, which means hunting season is coming soon! Actually, depending on where you live, it may already be here. Rifle deer season starts in August in Alaska, parts of South Carolina, and right here in coastal California, where I’m penning these lines. I’m in a “lead-free zone” for hunting bullets, so my choices are limited. More about that later, though! Let’s start with an inviolable premise: It’s ultimately the bullet that does the work. So these later days of summer offer a good time to select the load and bullet you’ll be hunting with this fall.

A huge-bodied Alberta mule deer, taken with a .270 Winchester with 130-grain Barnes TTSX. The homogenous-alloy bullets are very tough for deer-sized game and will almost always exit. This buck was shot quartering away through the opposite shoulder…three jumps and he was down, and the bullet may still be going.

There are dozens of cartridges suitable for deer-sized game, and only a slightly smaller universe of cartridges acceptable for larger game such as elk, moose, and bear. Choice of bullet makes a greater difference than the specific cartridge, and choosing wisely can take a borderline cartridge to a larger class of game.

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The Creedmoor Craze

Suddenly everybody wants one…and most manufacturers produce them!

In my 40-year career in this business, I’ve seen a lot of cartridges come and go. The introduction of a new cartridge is usually accompanied by serious marketing efforts, but they don’t always work, and success seems a bit random even though most cartridges work as advertised. I’ve seen a fair number of good cartridges do poorly right out of the starting gate, and I’ve seen cartridges enjoy immense popularity even though they’re similar to good cartridges that are already on the market. The 6.5mm Creedmoor is an anomaly, though—I don’t recall seeing a cartridge that sort of rolls along for a full decade and then skyrockets into popularity.

Photo by Craig Boddington
With a long, aerodynamic bullet the Creedmoor case pretty well maxes out a 7.62×51 (.308 Winchester) AR-10 magazine—but it fits and it feeds!

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Reloading .32 S&W Top-Break Revolvers

Part of the fun of reloading is bringing hundred-year-old guns back to life, like 32 S&W top-break revolver. These revolvers can be very inexpensive—running around $200 or less for one in excellent condition—and ammunition and reloading supplies are also inexpensive. Loading and shooting this round offer some challenges, though, so below I offer my personal experience loading and shooting this round.

Buying Reloading Brass

A few companies do sell loaded ammunition for the .32 S&W top-break revolver; likewise, Starline and Magtech both offer unprimed brass at a low price. You should cast pure lead bullets and not worry about sizing them. Lee offers an inexpensive (around $19) 98 grain bullet mold that can cast an 88 grain bullet that’s .311” in diameter.

Choosing the Right Die

Now comes the difficult part. No one currently makes dedicated .32 S&W dies, but you have a few options that will work. Dies made for 32 S&W Long, 32 H&R Mag and .327 Federal magnum will all work to some degree. Even dies for 32 ACP will work.

The sizing die is the same for these options, but the expanding die and seating/crimp die can cause problems. The 32 ACP dies will size and expand the neck just fine and the seating die will seat the bullet well, but the 32 ACP uses a tapered crimp, which means you won’t have a nice factory roll crimp. Depending on the powder you use, this may not be a problem. Personally, I prefer a modest roll crimp to get a better powder burn and to burn the powder fast enough so the case expands to the chamber and creates a good seal. A faster burn also lessens the stress on the gun itself and prevents the chamber from getting dirty.

I use the Lee .32 S&W Long Die set because it comes with the correct shell holder at no extra cost. You can disassemble the Lee expanding die and insert a filler plug to make the expander plug extend down enough to properly expand the neck.

Now we have to address the seating die and crimp. One option is to simply screw the seating plug down enough to seat the bullet and the die will close the flared case, but that isn’t ideal. Fortunately, I have a small lathe in my workshop that enables me to chuck the factory die, shorten it by 3/16”, and recut the internal bevel so it accepts a flared case. This worked like a charm—I have a perfect roll crimp and I can still use the dies in the original calibers they were designed for.

Picking Your Powder

When it comes to loading, nobody can tell you exactly what’s safe for your antique revolver. However, I can tell you what works best for my 32. My 32 S&W is an H&R top-break made between 1895 and 1905 that is in excellent condition. I tried a few powders like Red Dot, Win 231 and Unique before finding that 1.6 grains of Tin Star was perfect. It filled the case to the base of the bullet, just as it was designed to do with old Black Powder cartridges. Tin Star burns very clean, though it does require at least a modest roll crimp. Using Tin Star, I can record a velocity of about 600 FPS. To my surprise, the soft lead cast bullet easily penetrated a pressure-treated 2×4.

 

At Wholesale Hunter, we can help you find the right supplies so you can load your favorite antique top-break revolver. Contact us with questions–we’d love to hear from you.