i bought this today and slapped an old scope on it. Hopefully I can zero and shoot it some tomorrow. I have two tapco gen 2 30 round mags coming for it. The price is nice at wally world, due to the 5 round mag i think.



The sling is my old reliable leather one from the 70's..I don't even remember who made it.

The scope is temporary, but it will be tested.

Yep, saw one in Wally Mart today myself and commented to my wife we should get it just because it looked lonely. But... I just bought a tactical yesterday so I behaved.

Let us know how it shoots.... is that a 581 series?

Yes it is a 581. I am very anxious to shoot it and work a load for it for training and one for coyotes. I use sierra bullets and really enjoy them.

I am currently loading some Hornady's in 55 grain for range plinking. Will test them out in a couple of days. Shooting a 180 series original model with 1-10 twist and the 580 Tactical with the 1-9 twist. I don't have a Sierra manual yet but will get one at some point.

The sierra manual is such a great reference. I also load for my .308 and will try different things from time to time. i know guys at work who just picked a book load in the middle and never tried another one. The sierra guys did a lot of shooting to come up with this data. They shot every single load for groups, as I understand it. The factory is not far from here and i buy seconds. They are fine....need a tumble sometimes, that's about it.

I currently shoot the 69 grain matchking in my savage bolt action. I haven't even experimented much with it and it is minute of angle easy. My .308 is minute of angle with frequent excursions into 1/2 moa (165 gr gameking for deer). Handloading is a second hobby I didn't want and swore i wouldn't do..but there it is...lol.

I saw one at walmart today that had a beautiful wood stock on it. I load 55,60,65, and 69gr. bullets for my mini. All seirra. They all get great accuracy with the 60gr varmiters being the best so far with 1.25'' five shot group at 100yrds. Sierra makes a damn fine bullet at a great price in my opinion.

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agreed. I have zero complaints. i have tried several different bullets in my .308...hard to pick just one...lol. For my.223 bolt, i have no experience with anything but the 69 gr matchking. I will be getting the 55 gr cannelure fmj bullet first to work with in the mini..get more per pound (tightwad here). This will be a very fun experiement..i love reloading more than i wanted to. now it's a second hobby i never wanted...i got into it to shoot cheaper...lol.

I like my birch stocks to be darker and more worn looking even when they are new. Today i began the antiquing process i use to do that. It is a combination of flat black enamel and hand rubbing with different oils and waxes to get an oily looking, but dry, tough finish I like better than the factory one.

Some of the process is just shooting the darned thing once it';s painted..it's not the most scientific process...here's my 10/22 finished this way:



The "handguard" is a two peice fabrication made from the leftover handguard of my wife's ATI strikeforce after i fitted a quad rail to hers. It was just for fun and was only on there overnight until my own rail arrived...lol.


Looking at the new mini on the wall rack above the 10/22 just made me want to paint it..lol.

changed my mind..here's the current version after today's initial range outing...




Decided to paint one solid color for now. Homemade strut definitely cools barrel as a heat sink and groups ended up around 2-2.5 inches at 100 yards in 5-7 gusting to 10 mph full value wind. Didn't detect any other benefit than cooling from the strut. of course it is simple and homemade.

Good first trip and I celebrated by painting the mini...didn't like the first attempt...might not like this one tomorrow. I like my mini though.

Well, less than a week..about 3 days i guess...here it is now.