summer patriot, winter soldier

this is what i advocate, stated in a straightforward manner ...

jaycheviks of the world, unite!!!

update, 05.21.2012.  welcome, little green footballs.

every now and again little green footballs rediscovers me, and comes back to flood my blog with hits while they fulminate in their comments columns about what a no-good crazy i am.  well, it has happened again, so i have gone back to l.g.f. to see what they are saying.

one of the constant themes in their comments revolves around the assertion of, how can he be a believer in democracy if he is willing to subvert the will of the people as expressed in their electoral process.  it is an observation not entirely without substance, ... , but, i would remind you that adolf hitler took power officially after a plebiscite in which he was elected chancellor/president [?] by an overwhelming majority.  were the society of roses subverting democratic impulses when they rose against the tide of nazism?

but, that is a debater's point.  let's look at it this way, lizards.  ....   why don't you just regard me as the vanguard of the true proletariat, a worthy representative of the worker's soviets, syndicates, collective marketers, working stiffs and the peasant middle class?  i am, after all far more representative of the working man than are the typical academics, plutocrats, wanna be aristocrats and privileged who make up the lizards, and who emulate charles johnson, ... , as i sit here, i have soil and grease under my nails, and blisters and calluses on my hands, and blackened fingers from physical labor at the small lathes and tools that i use to ply my trade.  how many of you have calluses from labor?  eh?

so, jaycheviks of the world unite, under the flag of the vanguard of the conservative proletariat, wreckers of the socialist "paradise" about to be imposed upon us!!!    end update, 05.21.2012.  

rotflmfao.

friends:

this is what i advocate, stated in a straightforward manner.--

i advocate armed insurrection to excise radical leftist politicians and marxism from our body politic, if necessary.  i see very little to cause me to suppose that it is not necessary, nor to convince me that sooner is not better.

it is also clear that the present united states administration and democratic congress of the united states are hell bent for election to usurp, restrain and infringe our ancient liberties and rights, and that they fully intend to impose a european socialist state upon our politics.  they are well on their way to achieving precisely that, and they work continuously and insidiously towards that end, against the direct wishes of the electorate. 

they need removed from office, immediately, by any means necessary, including armed insurrection if they will not obey the electoral process, and if they continue to scheme and carry out plans to forcibly subvert it.

the time has come to act overtly.  and, to openly organize to carry out the goal of taking our country back.  the first step?  do not pay your taxes.  the next step?  acquire suitable arms and necessary ammunition.  then?  organize into militia and action teams.  the final step?  lethal violence directed towards our oppressors, ... , they are easy enough to identify.

it also seems quite imperative to me that islam be expelled from our body politics, by any means necessary, including force.  muslims should be fairly compensated for their property which they have acquired, they should be allowed to take their monies accumulated with them, but they should be made to leave, ... , at gunpoint, if necessary.

have i stated my views in a sufficiently clear manner?

please watch this video, ... , the speaker, newt gringrich.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtjfMjjce2Y .  i think him in fundamental accord with the views expressed herein.

please keep in mind that i advocate nothing less, and nothing more, than the expression of rights guaranteed in the united states constitution, and in the constitutions of the original & member nation states which comprised the united states of american upon its incorporation.

john jay @ 12.24.2009

p.s.  "live free or die."  the constitution of the state of new hampshire.  the right to rebel, as expressed by no less an authority than thomas jefferson.  www.myloc.gov/Exhibitions/.../TheRighttoRebel.aspx , and by john locke, to whom we owe our views on constitutional government, thevirtuousrepublic.com/?p=4758 , and as noted in chapter 7 of the following article/link, http://wapedia.mobi/en/Right_of_revolution?t=6. , the states of new hampshire, kentucky, pennsylvania, and tennessee contain express language enshrining the right of rebellion against tyranny.  the language following is typical:

• the kentucky constitutionalso guarantees a right of revolution in section 1 of the bill of rights:

all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their peace, safety, happiness and the protection of property. for the advancement of these ends, they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may deem proper.

and, finally, enshrined in the united states constitution is the 2nd amendment, whose meaning, purpose and protection is ably expounded upon in "the federalist papers" by hamilton, madison and jay.  the founders thought the amendment clearly a bulwark against despotism, and anticipated that the people would take arms to protect their liberties.  if you care to, you may look to the united states code annotated, and you will find that "the federalist papers" are part of the organic documents creating our country, to include:  the declaration of independence, the federalist papers, the constitution of the the united states, and the first ten amendments, styled the bill of rights.

it is that fucking simple.

"jj's brit" ™ ... a pretty good load ...

the load.   "jj's brit" ™ cases fabricated from remington peters cases in .243 winchester, as detailed more than once in these pages; 120 grain nosler ballistic tip bullets, seated to 2.440" inches overall cartridge length; 29.5 grains of h-4198 powder; cci 200 primers, and that's about it.

i had shot an exceptional group w/ the 120 grain bullet, but wanted a bit more velocity from the load.  and, previously, i had fired a group with 29.5 grains of h-4198 behind the nosler bullet, and it showed promise, but the group opened on a third shot when i just wasn't paying attention.

the group.  this time i paid attention.  3 shots from the bench at 100 yards, into 0.360".  when you look to the picture, look to the top hole, as it is actually two bullet holes: at the bottom left of the hole you can see an elongation of the hole.

this is a "bragging-size" group, and is exceptional accuracy from any rifle.

the conclusion.  this will be a "standard load."  i have some more work to do w/ the sierra 130, as i think it will eventually group this well, as well.  but, this load will become standard.

a rifle cartridge capable of getting 2650 fps from the muzzle with a 120 grain .284 caliber bullet and shooting a 0.360" group @ 100 yds is nothing to sneeze at.  this attracted a bit of attention from some shooters, who shot the rifle, and all were pretty enthused about it.   they liked it.

that's all good.

john jay @ 05.28.2012

picture.--

caption:  the target is a plaster on a used papa murphy's take & bake pizza tray.  it works pretty well.  "waste naught, want naught."  the trays don't store very well, though, and smell a bit funny.  you cannot, however, beat the price.  they make good targets.

update:  i got curious the other day, and decided to see if a nickel would cover the group.  well it did, so then i tried a dime.  much to my surprise, the dime covered it quite easily.  a dime isn't very big, about 0.704" in diameter.  i figured that there would be enough "space" between bullet holes to account for that, but there was not.  end update, picture to follow.  

caption:  the bullet alongside the dime is a nosler 120 grain ballistic tip, in .284 caliber.  someday i will learn how to focus the camera, a small nikon "coolpix."  it works wonderfully, except it doesn't focus worth beans.  it will have something in focus, and about the time i get ready to shoot, it backs out to "fuzzy."  it makes it kind of a game, i guess.

little green footballs & brett kimberlin ....

i don't bother reading the crappola at "little green turds," so i don't know if they have published any articles decrying the activities of one of george soros's little pet thugs, a felon by the name of brett kimberlin.

apparently mr. kimberlin specializes in threatening behavior on behalf of the american left, and as directed at writers on the american right.  kimberlin is a convicted felon, has done time in the big house, and looks suitably degenerate to fit the description of a vicious thug.  i suppose he's got the de rigueur little tear drops tattooed down his leathery cheeks.

just the sort of fellow that "little green balls of shit" should be decrying.

except that kimberlin is on the payroll of george soros, and barbara streisand, and other luminaries on the left.  i should not be too surprised to find out that sean penn is a devotee of this suspected murderer as well.

well, where are you, janet napolitano?  is this guy kimberlin a terrorist, or what.  laughing.

it will be a cold day in hell when someone of the left calls this guy what he is, and that is a vicious thug.  of course, the left calls their henchmen something else all together.  instead of just describing him as the piece of shit that he is, and, always has been.

john jay @ 05.27.2012

research and development ... "jj's brit" ™ ...

caption: chair.  computer.  reloading manual(s).  frank barnes' "cartridges of the world" on nearby shelves.  

that's about it.  oh, yeah.  think a bit, and look at stuff.  imagination.

john jay @ 05.27.2012

manufacturing & fabrication ... "jj's brit" ™

caption:  foreground, front of bench.  trim to length lathe, outside neck turner lathe, sock to clean cases, reloading press w/ sizer die in place, powder dispenser, and behind it two sets of scales (belt & suspenders sort of guy.).  in the background, container for dial calipers and mike, die set and powder canister.

it doesn't take much by way of equipment to make you own ammunition.  with these few simple tools you can fabricate lots of things, and you can do it so that you have accuracy and repeatibility.  it is pretty amazing, but the two little scales in the background can measure to 1/10th of a grain of powder, 440 grains to the ounce.  and, with the dial calipers & mike, you can easily measure to 1/1000th of an inch, and make an educated guess on increments of that dimension.

you just have to pay attention.

john jay @ 05.27.2012

p.s.  the coffee cup?  that's for spilling things, obviously.  

and, the little pile of stuff behind the outside neck turning lathe?  brass filings.  i've been a busy boy.

i dropped norton 360 like a hot rock ... switched to ...

i just got very tired of norton 360, so i dropped it like a hot rock.

two words.---

"norton confidential."  i cannot tell you how many times those words flashed across my screen, with the phrase added, " ... has crashed ..., " often times taking everything else i was working on or viewing with it.

if i had $5.00 for every time i had to restart the machine to clear the trouble, ... , well, i would be able to buy a whole bunch of large pizza's.

so, i am shed of norton, and i have replaced it with kaspersky's "essential protection" level, anti-virus 2012.  i get to put it on 3 machines, and i will load the lap top tonight.  i will probably dance naked around a fire at midnight, just to make it all that much more enjoyable.  well, maybe not, but, it is a thought.

so far, kaspersky has performed well.  it loaded so much easier than norton it is just, ... , well, funny.  and, it seems to be working without interfering with every other program on the machine, sort of a seamless weld so far.  goodness, every time i loaded something from norton it was two days of constant struggle getting all the conflicts it had with everything else worked out.

yes, you can call me  happy.  i paid $32.00, flat, no damned coupons or anything like that, for kaspersky.  kaspersky, where you been all my life?

good bye, norton, and don't let the door hit you on the butt on your way out.

john jay @ 05.26.2012

 

p.s.  kaspersky.  kaSperSky.  it just sort of rolls off the tongue.  sorta.

beginning ballistics ... "jj's brit" ™ ... preliminary accuracy testing w/ the 120 grain nosler bt ...

in my neck of the woods sometimes things are hard to get a hold of.  i was just getting started developing loads for the 130 grain sierra match king (stock no. 1903) well the local supply dried up.  i have 'em on back order everywhere, to no avail.

so, i went to plan b, and looked for another bullet.  i wanted to try some 120 grain .284 speer/federal fusion bullets, but there are none to be had in the local stores.

so, i went to plan c, and decided to take a chance with some 120 grain nosler ballistic tips, .284 caliber.  now, there is nothing wrong with the nosler.  as a matter of fact, bullets they sell as "hunting bullets" often group as accurately a bullets described as "target" or "match," plus the perform dependably on game.  but, they do suffer one deficiency, insofar as my particular purposes go.  and, that is, nosler has designed the bullet with considerable taper in it, e.g., in other words, the bullet begins to diminish in diameter along its shank much earlier than the ogive starts, e.g., they get narrow before the official start of the pointy part.

as an example of what i am talking about, the 130 grain sierra stays at .284" until a point along the shank .473" from the base of the bullet, and remains at .283" in diameter for a considerable distance past that towards the tip.  i can seat this bullet at an overall cartridge length of 2.260" with "jj's brit," ™ although the case neck grip is not as firm at the case mouth as at the tip of the bullet.

the nosler is quite another story.  it is not a true .284" in diameter, measuring only .2835" at its base, the point of its greatest diameter.  at the point at which the sierra first begins to imperceptibly narrow, the nosler is only .282" in diameter, and very quickly past that point has narrowed to .280 to .279" in diameter.  the case neck of my cartridge simply will not grip it adequately if i attempt a seating at 2.260" overall depth, and the bullet simply falls into the interior of the case if pressed.

but, at 2.440" overall seating depth the case neck of "jj's brit" ™ grips the nosler very securely, and it just so happens it is at this overall cartridge length where the nosler begins to make contact with the barrels lands, evidenced by a scuff on the bullet when chambered in the rem-chester.

so, when in rome, do as the romans do.  i decided to test the nosler seated at 2.440" overall length.

i started simply.  i just used the powder charge i'd used for the 130 sierra for the 120 nosler, and made some cartridges with the nosler bullet seated at 2.440".  i drove out to the range, uncased the rifle, put a round or two over the chrony, and noted the speed at around 2550 fps.  this is slower than the heavier bullet achieves with the same powder charge, but the result is hardly surprising.  being a shorter bullet seated longer, there is more room in the cartridge case available for powder, and since no more powder was placed in it, the chamber pressure is lower.  also, the nosler is not as thick in diameter as the sierra, and not as much area of the bullet shank bears against the walls of the barrel's interior.  again, less pressure.

less pressure, less velocity.

i shot three rounds.  no warm ups, no mulligans.

i went down to examine the target with a friend who witnessed the shooting, and when i saw the group i had shot, i said, "oh, shit."

it was a very small cluster of three holes measuring .584" between the holes farthest apart.  that's good.  but, i said oh shit because i want higher velocity from this bullet, and my very real concern was that as i obtained velocity the groups shot by the rifle would expand.  that's the way it works in my world.

so, to the range today.

with the 120 grain nosler bullets loaded in front of 29, 29.5 and 30.0 grains of h-4198, and seated to an overall cartridge length of 2.440".  i put the 30 grain load across the chrony first, and it registered 2670 fps in muzzle velocity, the chronograph about 15 feet in front of the gun's muzzle.  i then shot a group with that load, and it measured 2.000" across exactly (as exact as it gets in my world), with horizontal "stringing."  this means that while the bullets were within .250" of each other on the vertical axis, on the horizontal axis the middle round had a bullet about 1.000" on either flank.

next i shot a group with the 29 grain powder charge, and it made a nice little round cluster, (actually, pretty much an equilateral triangle) measuring .885" between the two farthest bullet holes.  the group center was about 2.500" above the point of aim, and directly above it.

perfect, in my world.  that means a shot taken at 300 yards with that load, bullet and speed, will hit about dead on at 300 yards, and about 4 to 5" high at 200 yards, or so.  in other points, point and shoot.

finally, i shot the load propelled by 29.5 grains of h-4198 over the chronograph, and it measured about 2650 feet per second in velocity.  this confirmed to my suspicion that the load with 30 grains of powder was "stringing" perhaps because of pressure problems.  too much powder, ... , probably.  with a bit of a caveat on that.  i will want to speak with my friends who do the quick load analysis, to make sure the "vibration nodes" were simply not in order.

trust me, this is a bit more technical than you want to hear about.

to conclude the festivities, i shot on final group, and it measured around 2.095" in another string.  was i disappointed?  nope, because i new that when i fired the second shot, that i had entered into "brain fart" mode, and that i was paying attention, and that i was moving when i fired the shot.  even while one part of your mind knows that it is doing wrong, the other part has committed to a course, and completes it.  (this is true.  people who look into human performance note that when a baseball pitcher commits to throwing the curve ball, all of the sequences which have been pre-programmed are going to be carried out, even if the pitcher knows he has begun badly.  it sort of like when you put the boat into the water in the grand canyon, you are committed to the trip.  physiologically speaking, of course.)  

the two bullets nearest each other in this group were about .608" from each other, and i suspect that had i not "brain farted" on the second shot, that this group would have been quite similar to the first group of the day.

i am pretty confident that if i fiddle with this load just a bit, going up or down a .1 of a grain or so from 29.5 grains of powder used in it, that i will arrive sooner or later at a "shooter."

i may fiddle with some different powders over the next 3 months or so, as finances permit, but, for the most part i am inclined just to accept the fact that this has been a pretty painless endeavor finding a load that will shoot well.

why fix it, if it ain't broke?  not all rifles and loads shot .584" and .885" groups the first two times out of the chute.  i am not inclined to look a gift horse in the mouth.

i think this cartridge will shoot.  it shot a .950" group with the 130 grain sierra bullet, and .584" & 885" with the 120 grain nosler bullet.   who knows what it shot with the 100 sierra hollow point bullet, i never found the holes?  laughing.  (when in fact a young man, i had a ruger model 77 rifle in .22-250 remington that would shoot all day long inside a dime, with a very cheap bushnell scope, any combination of brass & powder i could think of, as long as it was using 52 grain speer hollow point bullets.  i sold that rifle, much to my everlasting regret.  it's been 40 years ago, and i regret it, so that is pretty close to ever lasting in my book.)   i thought that all rifles and all loads shot so well.  *sigh*   if i had only known.

 

caption:  this is the same target from an earlier shooting session, using the 130 grain sierra match king, .284 caliber, for evaluation.  you've seen it at, http://wintersoldier2008.typepad.com/summer_patriot_winter_sol/2012/05/beginning-ballistics-jjs-brit-preliminary-accuracy-testing-w-the-130-grain-sierra-.html .   i've just reused it.

you can see the little group, at .584", just to the left of my signature.  it was the first group i shot w/ the 120 grain nosler ballistic tips.  the next day, near the bottom of the target, i shot another good group, at .885", the center of aim being the bottom orange ball.  larger groups shot that next day, as noted in the text, were with powder charges of 29.5 and 30.0 grains of h-4198, and with increasing pressure the groups began to spread a bit.   still in all, compared to the "standard" set by the 7.62x39mm russian, this is good grouping indeed.

velocities with the larger doses of powder averaged above 2650 feet per second, pretty sprightly for such a small case.

 

well, enough of this.

for right now, this is the last of the "jj's brit" ™ articles for a while.

i am satisfied it is a doable concept.  i don't mean the .30/280 british as adopted by great britain and then abandoned to keep favor with america.   the validity of that program, and the .30/280 british was established nigh onto 60 years ago.

no, what i mean is, it is a doable concept for you to get some reloading dies, and to fabricate a virtual replica/duplicate/facsimile of the .30/280 british cartridge as i have outlined and described in the pages of this blog, and to find yourself with a very tractable (by that, i mean it has no unpleasant surprises, at least as i have found, with high pressure or other disagreeable traits in a hand-load cartridge), and exceptionally accurate rifle cartridge that is a snap to reload when the initial chore of fabricating cases is done.

simple as that.

the little dear is easy & quite predictable to reload, and it is accurate and potent to boot.

john jay @ 05.25.2012

p.s.  i think britain should readopt the .30/284 british, or the "jjs' brit" ™ if they would like, and load it into a scaled down fn fal rifle with provisions for a good optical sight.  they would have, quite simply, one of the best, if not the best, rifle and cartridge combinations of any nation on earth.

"invented here," as they say.  re-invented here, as i say.

and, much credit should be extended to louis potter, and english gun smith, member of the gun trade, and well respected firearms authority and author who still plies his trade in england.  and, who still extols the virtues of the .30/280 british.

i deeply regret that he has never seen fit to contact me about the whole matter, and i made considerable effort to achieve that on my end.

more's the pity.  i would like to talk to him about this, my elbows drowning in the overflow from a couple good pints of beer.  it is apparently not intended to be. 

"jj's swede" ™ becomes the "6.5 beowulf" ™ ...

friends:

i had no more than published this article, http://wintersoldier2008.typepad.com/summer_patriot_winter_sol/2012/05/for-those-of-you-who-simply-must-have-an-intermediate-infantry-round-in-65mm-264-caliber-.html , when drew@barking-moonbat.com sent me a complete set of cartridge drawings with the case as i had described it, along with a performance analysis of the proposed cartridge.

i believe this cartridge can also be known as the "6.5 grendel slayer," ™ for trademark and copyright purposes.

i am asserting intellectual property and trademark protection of the cartridge as conceptualized and designed by the joint efforts of myself and drew@barking-moonbat.com , and to be known as the "6.5 beowulf."  ™

here is the cartridge drawing as generated by drew@barking-moonbat.com.  ---

 

 

 

 now, the methodology of making the cartridge shall be precisely that as followed in my fabrication of "jj's brit."  ™  it will be just that simple, and just that workable.  the entire process is described in the links found here, http://wintersoldier2008.typepad.com/summer_patriot_winter_sol/2012/05/jjs-brit-is-a-trademark-symbol-denoting-the-intellectual-property-of-john-joseph-jay-in-the-rifle-ca.html .   in short, we'll take a set of 6.5x55mm reloading dies and cut them back until case forming results in a case shoulder at 1.300", as shown in the drawing above.  we'll make a "master" case for head spacing, and use a 6.5x55mm chamber reamer with a spacer to set the rifle's chamber's internal dimensions at a 1.300" shoulder, and a separate reamer to cut the cartridge neck, straight.

update, 05.26.2012:  here's a couple pictures of the first cartridges.  i just ran a couple 6.5x55mm swedes through my "jj's .284 brit" ™ sizing dies, depriming & expander ball stem removed, trimmed (with a file, i don't have a .264 caliber pilot for the case trimmer) it to length, and seated a 125 grain nosler partition in .264 caliber in the casing.

it just worked, ... , well, very smoothly.

just a couple days between conception and fabrication.   it goes like that, when "r & d" are on the same work bench as the "fabrication shop," and personnel is so closely intertwined.  laughing.  end update.

and, we'll just develop loads as suggested by drew's analysis, here.--

"raise the pressure to a more modern 55K, shorten the OAL to 2.26", and 30.3gr of IMR3031 will do a tick over 2700fps and give you a perfect military loading: 100% density for accuracy, 100% burn for minimal muzzle flash. this "hot" round gives you a hair over 8lbs of recoil at 8fps in a 7.5lb rifle, a recoil level so minuscule it's approaching that of the m1 carbine."

credit must also go to drew for the name "6.5 beowulf," which he suggested in the comments section of the immediately preceding post.

now, i am doing this very quickly, as this is such a good idea that i want to protect it.  and, i want to recognize drew's contribution to the whole process.  i thought of shortening the "swede," and he has taken very quick steps to help realize it and bring it to fruition.  we work well collaborating, and most certainly in this cartridge he has taken immediate steps to protect the ideas involved such that i could not.

so, chamber drawing and cartridge name and loading analysis and performance projections are contributed by drew, and for that he should have intellectual property and trademark protection in this cartridge on equal footing with me.

the "6.5 beowulf" it is.

john jay @ 05.23.2012

 

p.s.  drew has some ideas of his own, i have some that diverge a bit from his, but, we'll work it out.  and, if we take different paths, i will  not interfere in his resultant intellectual property or copyright.  he comes up with some pretty damned good stuff, and i'd be the last in the world to stand in his way.  he stays partners in this for as long as he wants, and shares 50-50% in the filthy lucre.  

laughing uproariously.  as if.  in the unlikely event a dime is generated from any of this, we share.  even if he takes a different path on his own.

i kinda like the guy.  laughing.  he just jumps in, and helps.  good fellow, that way.

for those of you who simply must have an intermediate infantry round in 6.5mm (.264 caliber) ....

personally, i don't think a "ballistic coefficient" ever killed anything all by itself.  and, i find all the emphasis upon ballistic coefficient bordering on occult enthusiasm ridiculous in the extreme.  a good cartridge balances many factors, b.c. being but one among them.

end of the discussion, as far as i am concerned.

but, for those of you who simply must have an "intermediate infantry round" in 6.5mm, or .264 caliber, may i offer the following suggestion, along with the rather gratuitous observation that it would just beat the living snot out of the 6.5 grendel.  (yes, you may infer that i regard most of the rhetoric surrounding the grendel as promoter's hype, and not much more.  it's an o.k. round, even a good round, but it is not by any means superlative or superior.)

i give you the 6.5x55mm swedish, a very nice little round in its own right.  i know i wouldn't want to be shot with one, at any distance.

it has a case 55 mm's long, and the specimen i just measured mike's out at 2.155" in length.

it is 1.726" long to the very well defined shoulder.

if you took the simple expedient of moving that shoulder back to 1.300", as i have done with the "jj's brit" using the .308/.30-06 family of case for fabrication, you will end up with a case somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.729" length.  to do so, you will have to move the shoulder back about 0.426", by my measurement.  (2.155" minus 0.426 ='s 1.729.)

i have trimmed my little "brit" back to 1.710" in case length, and trim a couple more thousands when i reload cartridges, to account for any lengthening of the case upon firing.  i don't trim any more than that, because my little brit is so stout it doesn't stretch much after the first firing, if any at all.

if it is important to you that someday you wish to stuff your creation into an ar-15 magazine/magazine well, you could trim your case accordingly, or just leave it at 1.729".

it's up to you.

i think you would have a very nicely balanced little round.  in fact, i may building one myself, and i think that i would call  it "jj's swede," ™ in another spate of modesty.  laughing.  i'll assert trademark protection on "jj's .264 swede" ™ & "jj's swede" ™right now, and build one.***  with bullets in the 100 to 110 grain range, it will be a nice effective round.

and, as noted, i think that it would beat the socks off the 6.5 grendel.  and quiet the clamor from that crowd, which would be an almost priceless side benefit.  and, in an ar-15 if would outperform a grendel, and in a bolt action rifle with the bullet seated farther out, it would smoke the grendel.  sort of the difference between the swede as made originally, and the carcano & mannlicher shoenauer & 6.5mm japanese, and a whole host of european 6.5's.  incidentally, they are all long gone now, simply because the 7mm and .30 caliber weapons proved superior.

i will continue along with "jj's .284 brit" ™ for that very reason, e.g., the 7mm bore is just a superior stopper compared to the 6.5mm's.  maybe not a superior target round, though it won't give away much on that score to the 6.5's either, but just a better stopper.  so all the militaries of the world who have looked into it have decided, after experience on the battlefield w/ the 6.5's forced them to consider the move to larger rounds.

but, "jj's swede" ™ would make a decent round.

john jay @ 05.22.2012

 

*** anyone have a used barrel in 6.5mm you could sell me ridiculously cheap.  and, any spare rifles in a short action you might give me, to support my intellectual and engineering endeavors & bent.  i am a little short of the "vigorish" right now, and could use any charitable contribution you might spare.  laughing.

beginning ballistics ... "jj's brit" ™ ... preliminary accuracy testing w/ the 130 grain sierra ...

well, it is going to shoot pretty well from all preliminary indications, and the question remains as to just how well it will eventually shoot.  but, the early results are heartening.

i took the little dear to the shooting range the other day to shoot some formal targets  ...  no ditch bank results to be reported this post.  laughing.

i set the target up on the 100 yard target standards, and the rifle up on a shooting bench with a wool blanket on top, and bb shot filled shooting bags to steady my aim.  i made some brass out of loads that were not to be, and then took 9 bullets of "jj's .284 brit" ™ and shot three 3-shot groups.  nothing elaborate, no need to be doing anything fancier at this stage.

the loads were from cases fabricated w/ remington-peters .243 winchester brass, presumably once-fired, using 130 grain sierra match king bullets (stock no. 1903), in front of 29 grains of h-4198 powder, topped off with standard cci large rifle primers.   related post, regarding the .284 caliber 120 grain nosler ballistic tip.--  http://wintersoldier2008.typepad.com/summer_patriot_winter_sol/2012/05/beginning-ballistics-jjs-brit-preliminary-accuracy-testing-w-the-120-grain-nosler-bt-.html

an index of articles on "jj's brit." ™ ---  http://wintersoldier2008.typepad.com/summer_patriot_winter_sol/2012/05/jjs-brit-is-a-trademark-symbol-denoting-the-intellectual-property-of-john-joseph-jay-in-the-rifle-ca.html  

admonition.  i am not a ballistician, nor a reloading manual, and i do not have a ballistics laboratory.  use these loads at you own risk, observe proper reloading technique and beginning your loading about 3 grains below my listed maximum, and proceed at your own risk, watching for signs of excessive pressure.  wear shooting glasses.  be advised that if you use other cases to make your own "jj's brit" ™ you run the risk of dangerous pressure spikes.  have fun.  end admonition. 

the groups.

the first group went into 2.160".  nothing particularly good about that, but, for the first group, o.k.  the rifle had been apart, so that i could relieve a little wood around the barrel nut still making contact with the action.  nor had the barrel been swabbed out for a while.

the second group went into 1.441" .  better.  i found the rifle to have a little more "soup" to it than the size of the case might suggest.  it has a bit of recoil, a little more than my 6.8mm remington spc shot through the ar-15 upper.  i was using my left hand to steady the boot stock, and upon firing the bottom of the pistol grip was striking bone on the back of my hand, not altogether pleasant, though hardly agonizing.

i decided to change that grip a bit.

the third group, after deciding upon a little better rifle management, went into a nice round cluster measuring .950" in diameter. nothing astounding, but very decent, and a harbinger of things to come, i should think.  again, the rifle was not shot in a mechanical rest, shot in shirt sleeves, and with no attempt made to read the wind or wait for better conditions.  i did allow the barrel to cool a bit, but, it was still warm to the touch.

photo attached.

click on the picture for a full screen view.

caption:  the first two groups were shot using the large orange plaster as an aiming point, while the third group was shot using the small "right eye" plaster as the aiming point.  as you can see, the bullet strike is about 2" or so above the point of aim, which is intended, and of great utility for shooting at intermediate ranges in the neighborhood of 2 to 300 yards.  bullet impact is also to the left of the point of aim, which will have to be corrected at subsequent sessions.  for reference, the little plaster is about 15/16th's in diameter, and is largely obscured by the intersection of the cross hairs on the scope.  a little more high power scope might conceivably have extracted a bit smaller group from the shooting session, but, not a whole bunch.

in sum, i am quite pleased with the shooting results so far.  the load that i am using shows no signs of pressure in the brass, and the bullet is showing itself to travel true.  the velocity is holding very steady right at 2600 fps over the chronograph.

at this point, i will adjust the powder charge up & down a little bit, to see if i can find a sweet spot that will give even better accuracy.

john jay @ 05.22.2012

p.s.  i have an ar-15 upper in 6.8mm remington spc that i am quite fond of.  if i do my part, the rifle shoots under a minute of angle for me, i.e., < 1.00" approximately at 100 yards, and others can shoot it even more accurately.  i seem to be the fly in the ointment, insofar as accuracy goes.

it took me forever to find a load that would shoot in that upper, and i used up a lot of powder and a lot of bullets getting it to shoot, over the better part of a couple years.  until i developed the present load, the rifle shot "minute of grapefruit" to barely better than an ak.  that was not good.

this rifle, in "jj's brit" ™ has proved, by contrast, ridiculously easy to get to shoot this well.  the first powder i tried, h-322 was just too slow a burning rate, and i ran out of room in the cartridge to even approach the speeds i wanted from it.

the load used above in "jj's brit" ™ is comprised of the second powder i tried, h-4198 and not more than 7 or 8 shots bumped up 1/2 grain at a time to get the 2600 feet per second velocity at the muzzle that was the performance target.  i have no doubt that the velocity could be bumped up a bit, but, i don't want to even try to make the cartridge any more potent that what it is.

the whole project has just gone like that, with every step of the way being with a struggle to make the cartridge perform as intended.

it has proved an extremely tractable round, indeed.

and, all of this at an overall cartridge length of 2.260", designed to fit in the magazine/magazine well of an ar-15 rifle.  it will seat the bullet i am shooting to about a 2.400" overall length in the bolt action rifle, my little "rem-chester", that is being used at the test mule for the project.  and, yes, i could extract more velocity from the cartridge at this overall length if i wanted, quite easily, i suspect.

but, that is for another day.  right now, the goal is to chamber the round in an ar-15, or perhaps an fn scar.

 

the fn scar flatters the ar-15 rifle, in a very sincere fashion ....

i saw and handled my first fn scar in caliber 7.62x51mm nato this afternoon.

my impressions?

well, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the fn scar flatters the ar-15 rifle system with utmost sincerity.  it is as simple as that.

the fn scar is not an outright copy of the ar-15.  it may as well be.  no feature of the fn scar upper receiver does anything in any fashion or by any mechanical contrivance that is not being done by any manner of ar-15 rifle platforms, as sold my any number of manufacturers and vendors in the united states.

period.

end of discussion on that point.

if there is any innovation in the rifle it comes in the lower portion of the rifle, and in the butt stock.  the butt stock folds forward from the rear of the receiver along the right hand (ejection port) side.  that is about the only feature not commonly found on ar-15 rifles, and even that could be quite easily emulated by a stock that fit over and not on the return spring housing, which projects behind the receiver in the ar-15.

finally, the upper seems well made and well thought out to me, ... , it ought to be, it basically is an ar-15 upper receiver with a monolithic receiver/forearm arrangement.  the lower receiver is, how should i put this precisely, ... ,  "cheesy" seems the appropriate word.  the plastic magazine well does not inspire confidence, as it looks flimsy and sounds the same rapped with a knuckle.  the stock controls are overly stiff and balk at every effort of manipulation, which suggests they have been made/fitted overly tight in order to compensate for loosening with wear as the rifle is used.  the pistol grip is nothing too much to get excited about, but, that is of little consequence as magpul and others will have aftermarket stuff out in a jiffy, and i suspect magpul's pistol grip already fits the fn.

in short, i remain underwhelmed.  

it would be, however, just about the perfect platform for my little "jj's brit," ™, as it will accommodate a .473" bolt face.

it retails at $2,999.99 .  for that price, i can buy 3 pretty nice & well equipped ar-15 uppers, and they will send bullets down range fully as well as the scar.  maybe even better.

i don't see that it is much of an accomplishment, this fn scar, in terms of advancing the utility and efficacy of the ar-15 rifle system.  it is simply another iteration of the ar-15.  likely its equal, but hardly its superior.

john jay @ 05.21.2012