“Tag: John Haviland”

Years ago, hunters rarely considered that the propellant they handloaded into their rifle cartridges could cause enough of a swing in velocity between shooting during the summer heat and the winter cold that it might cause them to miss their targets and/or game at extended distances.

Not that long ago, sporting goods store shelves contained an adequate selection of 16-ga. shells. The last few years, however, barely a box of any 16-ga. shells can be found anywhere. But that’s of little concern to those with a shotshell-reloading press, such as the MEC 600 Jr., close at hand.

It was a pipsqueak when introduced in 2002, but Hornady’s inventive .17-cal. rimfire quickly grew in stature in the hearts of varmint hunters, plinkers and target shooters alike. Now, two decades on, the .17 HMR stands among the all-time giants of the rimfire realm.

The 6.5x55 mm Swedish is an age-old cartridge, drafted for military duty by Sweden and Norway in 1894. The 6.5 mm Swede has also been rejuvenated in recent years due to interest in a host of popular new 6.5 mm cartridges and the stream of new bullets, initially intended for those cartridges, that make the now-classic Swede an even better target and hunting cartridge.

The 6 mm Remington has been a big part of John Haviland's life for almost half a century. Here's where it came from and what it can do.

According to RCBS, there are about 4 million handloaders, and that number grows every year. RCBS is a go-to resource for those crafting their own cartridges.

I must move within social circles with those who are cognizant of effective ballistics, because hunters regularly tell me that their main big-game rifles are chambered in .270 Winchester.

The folks at Cooper Firearms of Montana commonly shoot Barnes Triple Shock X (TSX) and Tipped Triple Shock X (TTSX) bullets to test the accuracy of their rifles.

The .356 Win. never caught the fancy of big-game hunters, and production of Winchester and Marlin lever-action rifles chambered for it lasted only a few years during the 1980s.