I'm BACK!!! ND PD hunt story--Part 1

[thekriebles]

LeRoy, it's great to see you back on the prairie! Thanks as always for sharing your experiences with us!!

[17VLD]

Sounds like a great time,happy to see you are back at it.Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.
Matt

[Alan in GA]

Originally Posted by JSH

Well you danged old codger, all ya gotta do is call and I would come pull your cart and fix a decent lunch.
Glad to see ya out and about. Played with my 17 today some. All is good with 8208 loads and the brass I got from ya.

22 Hornet in a new to me 527 is giving me fits.

Jeff

You probably already have, but SCRUB that CZ barrel one good time preferably before first shots. Not sure what CZ slathers inside their new barrels but it doesn't like to come out easy!

[Rocklong]

Nice story and great pics. Glad your able to get back out and shoot some pdogs again.

[georgeld]

LeRoy: Welcome back to the game.

Been wondering how you were getting along with that "old man's back".
Quite an ordeal isn't it?
Is this your first go round with it? I've had it done twice. Don't seem like we ever get over back problems. Only been 34 years for me so far with the back and 48 years with the crippled up knee's. Am hoping to get one replaced yet this summer.

I sure like that barrel finish, wish you'd show more of it close up.

38/38 is a fine score. Glad you didn't get shot. Gets a bit concerning with bullets flying close like that.

Stay well pard, and go shoot a few dozen more times real soon. Just don't over do it and hurt things again. Takes a couple years to heal up all the way.

[Silverfox]

Thank you fellows for all the nice comments on my little story.

georgeld--I had the S1 and L5 fused on April 10, 2017. One of the four titanium screws worked loose. That was rather painful!!! My surgeon had me on the table again this past February 16, 2018, where he removed the hardware he had put in on 4-10-2017 and replaced it with bigger screws. Another surgeon opened up my belly so the back surgeon could insert a spacer in my backbone to keep space open to allow room for new bone to grow to replace stuff he had removed.

Like I tell folks, this getting old isn't for sissies. I don't envy you having to put up with the back pain for 34 years. I have had about enough pain in the last two years to last me the rest of my life.

[georgeld]

Howdy again:
Thought I had one of the 8 bolts work loose, but, MRI showed it
was something else and hardware was fine.
L3, 4, 5, & S1 in mine. First time in Oct/06 was just L3.
I asked for the old hardware back. "lost it" he claimed later.
When I let him know I'd asked ahead of time. He mailed me
4 current type bolts and a short rod like was used.
Mighty costly hardware!

Hey, Jack's sent me some info on the nitride coating. Know you have it
done on all your guns. Does it wear thru from the bore? How many rounds
do you run thru your guns before rebarreling? You mention doing it so often.

I've been saying: "IF these past 7 years is any indication what my old age
is going to be like, just cancel my ticket!!" Hell, I'm ONLY 74.
Think you're older and BillK and some others are.

Much of the problems I have were caused by the life I lived.
Skinning cats (dozer oper) OTR trucking and such beats a man's body up
a lot from the jarring and over use of joints etc.
Re: Lot's of heavy chains thrown over high loads, pulling on the cheater pipe and binders.
Years of overhead welding don't help either.
Quite a bit of drywall finishing ceilings too.

Up until I got sick in '12, I was stronger than most bulls.
I know I ripped both rotators just pulling on pipe wrenches one day.
Felt them rip. Doc told me: "you're stronger than your body will stand up to."

I figure the chains and OH welding tore my shoulders up,
know the last ceiling I put it was the last straw.
Like they say: "Everyone's mileage will vary".

Hang in there LeRoy.

[NeilA.]

Glad to see you are back in the PD towns Leroy!

Thank you for the update.

[Silverfox]

georgeld--Sorry this has taken so long for a reply, but here's some information about barrel coating that you asked about.

I only had the BLACKNITRIDE™ treatment done on two of my rifles back on October 23, 2013. The company that did the work was H&M Metal Processing at 1414 Kenmore Blvd, Akron, OH 44314.

One of those rifles is a .204 Ruger and the other is a .17 Remington.

The .204 Ruger has a super match grade 1 in 11 twist, three groove stainless steel, Pac-Nor heavy barrel finished at 26". It has six 5/16" flutes and I had my gun smith put his custom swirl finish on the barrel. It has the muzzle end threaded with ½"-28x .600" threads for my suppressor. I have only shot 944 rounds down the tube so far and while there is some fire cracking at the throat, it is not bad at all.

The .17 Remington has a Remington Varmint contour stainless steel Lilja barrel with four grooves and a 1 in 9 twist with the BLACKNITRIDE™ treatment. It has six 5/16" flutes and I had my gun smith put his custom swirl finish on the barrel. It has the muzzle end threaded with ½"-28x .600" long threads for my suppressor. I have only shot 831 rounds down the tube so far and I can see some fire cracking at the throat with my Hawkeye borescope, but it is not bad at all.

“Does it wear thru from the bore?” The wear on the BLACKNITRIDE™ treatment from bullets is on the inside of the bore and while I do have a borescope, I can't really tell if the coating is still in the bore or not???? The outside hasn’t shown any signs of wear.

“How many rounds do you run thru your guns before rebarreling?” Barrel replacement depends on throat erosion I can see with my Hawkeye borescope. I just replaced the barrel I had on my Stiller Predator action after a few rounds over 1,000—bad throat erosion. That was a Remington Varmint contour 1 in 9 twist, four groove, stainless steel barrel that had not been treated with anything. The Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger that I bought in Miles City, MT back in June of 2004, had 2,707 bullets shot through that factory barrel and was still good for minute of prairie dog accuracy. The action now has a barrel on it with the BLACKNITRIDE™ treatment.

I have had two barrels given the Melonite treatment. One is a #2 super match grade Pac-Nor with a 1 in 9 twist, three grooves and is stainless steel in .17 Tactical caliber and the other is a .17 Remington that has a stainless steel Remington Varmint contour 1 in 9 twist four groove barrel. The .17 Remington is the rifle I let my son and grandson shoot. I put around 200 shots through that barrel working up a good load and there was very little evidence of fire cracking in the throat. My son shot another 250+ rounds through it in prairie dog towns and when I checked the throat, it showed quite a bit of fire cracking and when I measured where the bullets hit the lands I calculated there had been around .036" of throat erosion!!!

My son cannot get it into his head that rapid fire of a hot round like the .17 Remington without letting it cool off burns up the barrel. I will not let him shoot that rifle any longer. I gave him one of my .204 Rugers and loaded up 200 rounds of 40 gr. V-Max bullets coated with hBN and I put a benchrest magazine follower in the magazine. That will slow down the rapid fire crap, at least a little bit!!! If he burns up the barrel, he will have to pay for the new barrel, gunsmithing, etc. I have also been doing all the reloading for his prairie dog hunts and cleaning the barrels on the rifles he shoots. That service will no longer be provided by “Good Old Dad” because I am sick and tired of it. He will be 51 years old this coming October and he’ll have to take care of all those chores for himself. The thought of having to clean the barrel on a rifle you didn’t shoot and do all the work of resizing and reloading casings you will not be shooting takes away the pleasure of the hunt so I’m not going to do that any longer.

END OF RANT!!!!

[georgeld]

Thanks for the details.
Jack and I have been discussing this coating.

That's sure not many shots for starting a bore to cooking.
Do you load 'em hot?

Thanks, stay well.