Two weekends of long range shooting

May was a good month, as I had time to go to two different long range shooting areas.

The first one was in Hätilä, which is located near the city of Hämeenlinna. The shooting area is actually an anti-tank weapons range, where soldiers from Armored Brigade conduct their training.

The furthest distance to set targets was at 750 meters. Me and my buddy set our steel targets at 550 m and 750 m. We were using my .308 Tikka T3 and .223 AR-15. Wind was quite challenging, so it was a good training opportunity for us.

Here's some photos from Hätilä:

The shooting area in Hätilä and some targets.

Firing position.

View trough Vortex Recon R/T 15x50 monocular at 750 meters.

Target at 750 meters. Diameter is 50 cm.

Target at 550 m. Dimensions are 30 cm x 20 cm.

Our firing position.

My friend was using a shemagh as a shell catcher.

Fine precision rifles. Sako TRG's, Accuracy International AW's and AX's, Remington 700's, Tikka T3's, H&K MR338, Dragunov and some custom rifles.

The other shooting area was in Niinisalo, which is a training area of Pori Brigade. The range where we were shooting is normally used as a weapons testing range, mainly for artillery pieces.

I only have one photo of that day, as we weren't allowed to take photos of other people and their equipment.
We were shooting reactive targets, which were scattered at different distances between 530 m - 930 m. We trained how to shoot using shooting sticks and DIY wooden tripods, and how to shoot with the weapon canted sideways. We also practiced different shooting positions such as sitting, kneeling, standing and using your buddy as a support.

The shooting range in Niinisalo.

Sako TRG M10

I had a change to shoot the new Sako TRG M10 in .308 WIN caliber. A few years ago I shot the preproduction model in .338 Lapua Magnum, so this allowed for comparison between the two caliber setups.

The civilian model of M10 comes in two caliber choices, 308 WIN and .338 LM. The .308 WIN has two barrel lengths available, 509,5 mm and 656 mm, and the .338 LM has a 689 mm long barrel.

The rear stock is fully adjustable without tools and it also folds. Rifle's aluminum chassis has a full length 30 MOA picatinny rail and positions on side and bottom for accessories. 

The trigger set is adjustable and barrel change can be done without gunsmith tools in minutes.

The test rifle had a Steiner Military 5-25x56 MSR scope on it, which is one of the best scopes on the market today. The reticle is designed by Finnish snipers, and it allows fine range estimation and corrections for second shot.

As the rifle is designed around .338 LM caliber, it's not at it's best when in .308 configuration. The bolt movement is long and the magazines are comically large. The rifle is quite heavy, around 6 kg without optics. Magazine release and safety switch can easily be operated on both sides. Barrel has a muzzle thread, which allows installation of muzzle break or suppressor.

The rifle is really nice, but for non-military personnel it might not be the best choice. Sako TRG-42 or TRG-22 are less than half the cost of TRG M10, and they perform on the range as well as the M10. But for military operations the M10 is the ideal sniper rifle.

Reloading with Lee Classic Loader

This time I'm going to give you an example on how I use the Lee Classic Loader.

The Classic Loader is ideal for people who just want try out reloading and don't want to spend lots of money on fancy reloading equipment. In it's most basic form, you only need the Classic Loader kit, a mallet, shell casings, primers, gun powder and bullets. For you doomsday preppers, this is the reloading kit you want. The reloading process with this kit is quite noisy, so it might not be suitable for people living in apartment houses.

This is what comes in the package. On the left is a priming rod, next is a loader body and a priming chamber, then a powder dipper and a depriming chamber, and finally a depriming rod.

The first step in reloading is to deprime the fired brass. Remember to check that the brass you are using is not damaged in any way.

Take out the brass, depriming rod, depriming chamber and a mallet.

 Put the brass into the depriming chamber and insert the rod in the brass.

Give the rod couple of taps with the mallet, so that the spent primer pops out.
Repeat this process until you have enough deprimed casings for your reloading needs.

Next step is cleaning the brass. I like to use an ultrasound washer, as it cleans the primer pocket and flash hole better than a tumbler. I simply pour hot water and some dish washing liquid into the washer and put the deprimed casings in. It takes about 30 minutes for the ultrasound washer to clean the brass. After washing the brass must be rinsed in running water and then dried.

When the brass is clean and shiny, it's time for neck sizing. For this you need clean casing, the loader's body and a mallet.

Put the brass into the loader.

Using a mallet drive the brass completely inside the loader. The neck is now resized.

To get the resized brass out of the loader, you need depriming chamber, priming rod (which I'm not using for priming at all) and of course a mallet.

Put the brass and loader combination on the depriming chamber and insert the priming rod in the loader.

With a few whacks from the mallet on the rod, the brass drops out of the loader. At this point it is wise to check the dimensions of the brass with a caliper. Do the neck sizing for all the casings.

After all the casings have been neck sized, it's time for priming. I use a hand priming tool, as I don't like the idea about hammering the primer in.

Remember to check that the new primer isn't inserted too deep or too high.

After all the casings have been primed, it's time for gun powder and bullets. First measure the desired amount of gun powder.

 Then put the prepared case in depriming chamber and pour the gun powder in it using a funnel.

Next you need is the loader body, priming chamber (I'm not using it for priming), a mallet and a bullet.

Put the loader body on the filled case and drop the bullet in the loader.

 

Put the rod of the priming chamber on top of the bullet and hit it with the mallet until the chamber meets a stop collar. Make sure there is no debris or anything in the depriming chamber that could strike the primer while hammering!

Take off the priming chamber and loader body. The cartridge is now finished. It takes a bit of trial and error to get the depth of the bullet right, you can adjust it by the locking nut on the loader body.

 Check the overall length of the cartridge to ensure everything is by the book.

This is how I use the Lee Classic Loader. I think my way is a bit safer and more accurate than the traditional way, which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeEl9wZyabc

Happy reloading!