Purple Frog Ammo

First, the story.

I bought a Zeiss 6-24×56 Diavari scope years ago. So long ago, I do not even remember where I bought it, but it was certainly before I knew all that much about scopes.

It has wonderful glass, as you might expect, and when I started F-Class shooting a few years ago it seemed an ideal scope for long-range target shooting.

It went on to a .308 built on a Barnard action, with a Lilja barrel and Jennings stock, by Mik Maksimovic at Dolphin Gun Company.

Once I started using it, I soon found out why mil-dot scopes are not ideal when shooting on ranges marked out in yards and at targets sized in minutes of angle. Nothing quite matches up!

The turrets were the real problem. The scope has 1/20 mil adjustments so each click moves the point of impact by 0.5cm at 100 metres – you can also do the math in yards and inches but it is really not worthwhile.

The elevation turret provides 4 turns, each of 80 clicks, for a total of 16 mils adjustment. So you would expect the turret to be marked from 0 to 4 (or to 3 and then to 0, but you know what I mean). But it isn’t. Instead, Zeiss fitted a turret marked for a scope with 1/10 mil adjustments. So the turret is marked from 0 to 8, which means the “1” on the turret represents only a 1/2 mil adjustment. The “4” represents 2 mils and so on.

Even worse, the windage turret is marked only with an “0”. There is no other numbering, and it does not take much windage adjustment before you lose sight of the zero mark.

You can read all about this in more detail on the excellent review I found on SniperCentral, which I wish I had seen before I bought the scope.

So what to do about it? I contacted Zeiss about changing the scope to MoA adjustments. I did this with a Schmidt & Bender scope, and it made it much more useful for my shooting. I discovered Zeiss will also do this, but the cost was remarkable, to say the least. I tried to get replacement turrets with the correct markings, but even offering to pay for them did not get me anywhere.

It seems this scope has become a bit of an orphan child in the world of Zeiss optics.

I did a bit of on-line searching and found that Kenton Industries used to make custom turrets for this scope but not any more.

The Sniperside forum provided a creative solution of using a couple of sticky labels to mark the turrets. This worked OK on the windage turret until it rained a few times. My labels did not like rain very much.

And at last I found Custom Turret Systems. They take the sticky label solution to the next level (actually, up several levels). Using their on-line design tool you can design whatever turret labels you want, for any ballistics you want and for any size of turret. I spent a few hours designing an elevation and a windage turret, trying various designs and layouts. Finally I settled on a design for each and sent my order.

They arrived in the post very quickly, especially given they came from America. And they were just as described. Here is what mine look like:

The top label is for the 4-turn elevation turret, while the bottom label is for the windage turret.

You get four identical labels with each order. I suspect this reflects the fact that most of the manufacturing cost is fixed, so printing four labels costs not much more than printing one label (and means you have some to practice with).

The labels come with an instruction sheet that tells you everything you need to know about fitting them (which is not much, as the process is very simple) and a windage chart that can be stuck on the scope body for ease of reference. Their website also has a helpful video demonstrating the fitting process.

I removed each turret, and used a small amount of detergent to remove any grease or oil. Then I wrapped each turret with the label. A very simple process and the wraps fitted the turret and matched the engraved markings exactly. Here are a couple of views of the finished product:

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The windage turret now has green numbers for left wind and red numbers for right wind (like the port and starboard lights on a ship). It also has an “R” with an arrow to help me remember – yes, I have turned it the wrong way before.

The elevation turret now shows the correct mil settings for the 4 turns of the turret and I do not have to keep dividing by 2 all the time.

It would be even better if the windage turret had each number vertically instead of on its side. I emailed CTS to see if this was possible and Dan at CTS responded very quickly to say this was something they are working on. Even without this, I am much better off than I was before.

All told, a very effective, practical and cost-effective solution to a problem that should never have existed in the first place.

UPDATE 14 November 2016

Click here to see my elevation turret label on Custom Turrets

Click here to see my windage turret label on Customer Turrets

 

Here is an interesting puzzle.

A reader sent me these photographs of an big-bore action he found at an auction:

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There are no markings on it to provide any clues. The 90 degree bolt throw and the straight bolt handle suggests a military action, not intended for use with a scope. The last photo gives an idea of the scale, and it appears to be larger than common military cartridges.

It does not resemble the Mauser actions I have seen. Mannlicher bolts usually feature a butter-knife bolt handle, quite different to the handle on the mystery action. And if it was a Mosin-Nagant you would expect some Russian military markings on the hardware.

I had a look through my copy of “Firearms Past and Present” but no luck. The closest match I could find was a Mauser 1871, but the rear of the bolt is a poor match.

So, readers, any ideas?

Managing recoil is not a problem with a 6mm rifle, but once you move beyond .30 calibre it starts to become an issue.

The funny thing is you never feel the recoil when you are hunting,  but you certainly feel it when you are practising.

Remembering Newton’s Laws of Motion, if the bullet leaves the barrel with 5,000 foot-lbs of energy, there is also 5,000 foot-lbs acting in the other direction – against your shoulder. Fortunately, the rifle weighs a lot more than the bullet!

A good shooting technique helps manage this recoil. In particular, your shooting position should be appropriate to the calibre. No-one wants to shoot a 416 Rigby from the prone position. Shooting from the standing position allows your body to move with the rifle, helping to absorb some of the recoil.

The weight of the rifle has an obvious effect. Since the energy is a function of velocity and mass, if we keep the muzzle energy the same, but increase the weight of the rifle, its velocity to the rear will decrease. As a result the shooter will experience less recoil. But if you are carrying that rifle any distance you will soon feel that extra weight. A mountain hunter may well trade shooting comfort for lightness, but if you are shooting varmints from a bench, shooting comfort is more important.

Muzzle brakes reduce recoil by re-directing some of the gas created by the burning propellant to counter-act the rearwards motion of the rifle. Muzzle brakes come in various designs. The “pepper-pot” directs the gas radially in all directions. This design is sometimes modified to remove the downward facing holes to avoid disturbing the ground.  The “clam-shell” directs the gas to either side of the shooter.

Whatever the design, all muzzle brakes greatly increase the noise of the shot. That makes them uncomfortable to other people on a rifle range, and loathed by professional hunters and trackers.

Another option is the recoil reducer. These are tubes fixed into the stock and either half-filled with a heavy liquid (such as mercury) or contain a weight with a spring at each end. When the shot is fired the mercury or the weight absorbs some of the recoil. This changes the balance of the rifle, since there is now more weight in the stock, but with no increase in noise. I confess to being a big fan of these and have fitted them in all my rifles of .375 and above.

Finally, there is the old favourite, the recoil pad. This is a cloth or gel pad that fits on the shoulder. It works by absorbing some of the recoil and spreading the force over a wider area. They work well with shotguns, but the thickness of the pads for large calibre rifles means the effective stock length is increased and changes the handling of the rifle.

If only there was a way to absorb the recoil with a much thinner pad – and on a recent trip to America I discovered Evoshield!

Their system uses an undershirt with a rigid plastic shield. When you take the shield out of its foil wrapper it is flexible, but exposure to the air starts a 30-minute hardening process. You place it in the undershirt and mount a rifle a few times. The pad then hardens into the correct shape. At least, it is in the correct shape for holding a rifle in your shoulder. As a result it does not fit flat but is easy to remove from the undershirt when you finish shooting.

I tried it this weekend with my .416 Rigby. The difference was amazing. No bruising to my shoulder, no change to the fit of the rifle. It meant I could concentrate on the shot rather than the recoil. The same with my 470NE.

You do need to make sure the rifle is squarely mounted against the rigid shield so the butt does not slip. Also, while it protects the shoulder it does nothing to reduce the concussion effects on the brain!

But overall the Evoshield system makes shooting large calibre rifles much more comfortable. It is also very practical for travelling. No extra noise, no modification to the rifle. And it works equally well with shotguns – perfect for a few hours of clay shooting after you are done with the rifles.

 

Once you have the cases, you need a die set.

Fortunately, the re-introduction of factory ammunition fuelled interest in handloading for this cartridge, and die manufacturers responded accordingly.

RCBS make them, as does Redding. I got my first die set for the .470NE from CH Tool & Die in Mt Vernon, Ohio. They are a specialist die and handloading tool company, with very friendly and efficient service.

CH provide a 3-die set for the .470NE:

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These dies have their optional titanium nitride coating to the sizing die and the expander of the expander die.

Redding on the other hand provide a traditional 2-die set for this cartridge:

Now here is the interesting part. You may recall a previous post with a photo showing two different Norma headstamps:

The brass of the neck of the Norma case with “norma” in smaller lettering (“small norma” cases) is thinner than all the others. Not by much, it is true, but enough to be an issue.

The CH dies are designed to size cases that have a neck thickness in line with the published specifications. Their dies work fine for all my cases except the “small norma” cases. The thinner brass of the neck of the “small norma” case means that after re-sizing there is insufficient neck tension to hold the bullet. The Redding die on the other hand  uses an expander ball to size the neck to the correct diameter, regardless of the brass thickness. As a result the Redding dies will re-size all the cases to provide sufficient neck tension.

It is an interesting decision for the die manufacturer. Do you make a 3-die set matching the published specifications of the case, thus reducing the working of the brass and helping to prolong the life of the cases? Or do you make a 2-die set, which works regardless of the variation in the case neck thickness, at the cost of greater working of the brass? CH takes the first approach, Redding goes with the second.

You notice the difference in approach when you use the dies. The 470NE case has a short shoulder and long neck. With the Redding die, you must pull the expander ball a long way through the neck and you can really feel it, even with graphite case neck lube. With the CH die, the sizing process is a lot less effort, at the cost of an extra step in flaring the case mouth.

Another benefit of the 3-die set is that flaring the case mouth avoids the case mouth shaving cast lead bullets when they are seated. Using cast lead bullets enables you to reduce the cost per round, and so do a lot more shooting.

In summary, both die sets will do the job perfectly well, unless you have a big bag of “small norma” cases. I found the CH dies smoother to use and they work the brass less. They are also a better choice if you are planning to use cast lead bullets for practice. I will also confess that the titanium nitride coating just makes them look that little bit more special!

So maybe you have an entire basement for your reloading. Or perhaps just a corner of the kitchen table.

Most of us wind up with some (semi-)permanent place for all our loading gear, even if just to have somewhere to mount a decent press.

Having started with the kitchen table route, I now have a small room fitted with a scaled-down version of the National Reloading Manufacturers Association bench.  Speaking of which, whatever happened to the NRMA? They published these excellent plans for a bench years ago but I can find nothing else about them on-line.

I would need a fish-eye lens (the ones real estate agents use to make the smallest space look like a ballroom) to photograph it properly, but here is a view of the bench with press:

It is an internal room, with no windows so I needed some way to light it. The original incandescent bulb was fine when it was a wardrobe (its original use) but made the room quite warm, especially in the summer.

Adding LED strip lighting above the bench makes it much cooler and the light is brighter and more even, not to mention being more compact. Makes a real difference, especially after a few hours, and when trying to read markings and small measurements.

You are probably wondering about the white tape on the posts of the Ammomaster press, at least, I hope so, since that is the point of this post! The tape has a series of LEDs embedded in it. When you flip the switch…

Makes a real difference being able to see everything clearly. It was a little fiddly to wrap around each post, but once done it gives you all the light you could need.

 

The perils of the beginner blogger. I added a few plug-ins to this WordPress site, then found (by chance) that the “Contact me” page acted as if it had sent an email to me, but did not actually do it.

GoDadddy (who host the blog) spent a lot of time with me to work out where the fault lay. User error, of course – I had added plug-ins that were not compatible. With them removed, regular service returns.

Shows the value of testing everything when you start making changes. Not so different to handloading!

What better way to start the Purple Frog Ammo blog than with the 470 Nitro Express, an iconic big-bore cartridge?

And the starting point of any cartridge is the case.

In the past, finding .470NE cases was no easy matter. You were probably left trying to hunt down some Kynoch cases from the 1960s.

Now you have a lot more choice. Hornady, Norma, and Bertram all sell cases for the .470. I have not seen Federal or Kynoch new brass for sale, but you can always re-use the cases from loaded ammunition you (or a friend!) purchase. You might even be lucky enough to find some discarded at your local range (although I would not count on that as a way of keeping yourself supplied).

Ever wonder what happens to all the cases from ammunition that riflemakers use to test their rifles? In the UK, Krieghoff sells used cases through Alan Rhone Ltd, its main UK distributor, here (they also ship internationally). It is a mixed bag of plain and nickel-plated brass with a variety of headstamps, but all useful for the .470NE shooter.

Here is a selection of headstamps from cases I have collected over the years – Federal, two Norma cases (more about the difference in another post), Hornady and Kynoch.

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Auctions can be a good way of getting ammunition (and a subsequent supply of cases). Holts Auctioneers holds a quarterly auction in London and ammunition often appears in the Sealed Bid section of each auction. You can bid by email and they ship internationally. This can be a good source of ammunition from house clearances, or when someone decides his big-bore shooting days are over and has some ammunition unused.

Here is a case of 50 rounds I purchased at auction:

10 packs, each of 5 rounds:

        

and here is what they look like:

The cases will never polish up to match their nickel-plated counterparts, but will certainly do the job!

Bertram brass is well worth checking out. Bertram Bullet Company (a bit confusing, as they make cases, not bullets) is based in Seymour, Australia but they have distributors around the world.

I have used their .505 Gibbs, .470 NE and .600 NE cases, all with good results. The packaging is straightforward:

and you can see the distinctive “BB” and twin kangaroos in this photo of the headstamp:

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