The 'Lazy Leopard' lives.

Al Nyhus

"It'll never work!"
This is the recoil-lugged Panda 30BR project I've been working on. Today was a perfect day to test with winds under 12-13 mph, although they were from 5-7 o'clock. Our range faces S-SE and this wind angle can catch you when the mirage shifts.

Barrel break in was a bit different than I usually do, mainly because I had some questions that had been nagging at me. That done, and my questions answered...at least to my satisfaction, it was time to do like John Wayne: "Let's get to the rat killin!"

Components were standard plain vanilla 30BR stuff. H4198, Fed 205M, neck clearance was .003, shoulders bumped .0025, bushing was .004 smaller than the measurement across the neck at the pressure ring. Seating stem was .015 shorter than when the marks just quit on the bullets. Cases are Lapua 6BR, the inside necks cut before neck turning, then annealed and full length sized again. No primer pocket uniforming but the flash holes are deburred with an aggressive internal chamfer. Bullets used were my Dakota B1, 1.00" jacket 8 ogive .3084/.3086 left over from my bullet making days....marinating since 2012.

It tuned up per the norm for a good 30BR set up this way. Staring from the lower rt. you can see the vertical tune out as the powder charge went up. Groups were three shots. The 33.5 was shot twice to verify. The final group on the left was the same 33.5 load but it's 7 shots which was shot purposely ignoring the wind speed changes and flag angle. You can see the 'poppers' as the wind picked up and mirage was flipping.

Thank you Kreiger for another great barrel, 'Humble' Henry Rivers for awesome barrel work and Sightron for a rock solid scope. The action and stock were purchased used for this project...a Kelbly's Panda RB/LP/RE and a Bruno/McMillan pattern stock (my favorite of all time).

Good shootin'. -Al

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Al, it looks like you've got you a winner there.

Nice work and terrific results. I never cease to be amazed by these thirties. They just SHOOT ! And they are not finicky. Easy to tune and even more important, easy to keep in tune.

One day, several years ago, Ralph Stewart and I were enjoying a relaxing day out at the tunnel when he said, "We need to fear these thirties." Ralph, do you remember that?
 
The "Bruno/Mcmillan Collaberation" :)

Yup, I just got two more in this last week.......27oz of goodness....... since't I cain't get the Borden hollow cross-braced ones anymore
 
The "Bruno/Mcmillan Collaberation" :)

Yup, I just got two more in this last week.......27oz of goodness....... since't I cain't get the Borden hollow cross-braced ones anymore

I have two myself, bought directly from Lester :)
 
A bit better pic. My go-to Kodak finally bit the dust so I'm learning the ways of a new Nikon D5300 SLR. This was shot in a heavy, dark overcast. I strayed too far into areas that require actual skill, so it's back to auto focus to relearn the basics. -Al

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