Just a quick announcement for everyone regarding primer availability….  We just ran out of the Large Rifle S&B primers we received about 10 days ago.  This puts us back to zero on Small and Large Rifle primers at the moment.  We’re expecting some Winchester primers in just a few days in all styles except Small Rifle.  Be sure to place an order with our Call Center or support@sinclairintl.com and reserve your place in line as we receive them. 

Thanks for everyone’s cooperation and understanding with our request to limit purchases to one case per customer.  We want to do our part to enable everyone to get out and do some shooting while primers are difficult to obtain.

Good Shooting!!

Staff at Sinclair’s

As posted earlier, we received a few small and large S&B primers recently.  We are out of the small rifle primers, but we have a few of the large rifle primers left.  These probably won’t last through this week so if you’re in need of a few large, give us call or email our tech line for product availability and technical questions

Dear Fellow Shooters,

Just a product update from Sinclair International, Inc.  for our blog viewers. We received a medium sized shipment of Sellier & Belloit primers in yesterday. As of today, June 16, 2009 we have large and small rifle Sellier & Belloit primers in stock. The primers are leaving fast so if you need large or small rifle primers or know someone who does we have some at the moment. Visit our website at sinclairintl.com to check availability or call 1-800-717-8211. We have more large rifle primers than small rifle primers. Please limit yourself to 5,000 primers since many of your fellow shooters are without any primers at the present time. We’ll add another post when these primers are gone.

The Staff at Sinclair

I hope all of you are getting some time in at the range or in the field. I know the guys in the manufacturing area are going out tomorrow to do some prototype testing on some new items. The days are longer and it’s becoming easier to get some shooting done after work.

If you can’t get to the range as much as you would like, continue to do some dry firing in your various shooting positions. Regardless whether you hunt, compete, or just plink, this is good time on the gun for figuring out holds, positions, equipment adjustments, and trigger control. We have always used the A-Zoom Snap Caps for dry firing practice to protect our firing pins. They cover most of the commonly chambered cartridges but someone is always asking for something special. We recently added a new supplier, Harbour Arms, to fill part of this gap. They are making aluminum snap caps for us in some of the 6mm and 6.5mm target cartridges. We are glad to have these guys as part of our team!

We had a wonderful time at the NRA Show in Phoenix during May and appreciated the hospitality of the local folks. It was great seeing our existing customers as well as getting the chance to meet with some new customers.

The next major event for us is the beginning of the NRA National Matches at Port Clinton, Ohio (Camp Perry). We open our store on July 13 and are there through August 15 (seven days a week). Another great summer of getting to see our customers and do some shooting on the shores of Lake Erie.

We continue to add new products to our inventory so make sure you check out our new website (sinclairintl.com) and see what’s new!

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt

President – Sinclair International, Inc.

Many of you may not know but we now are offering some of the Berger bullets in 500 count and 1,000 count boxes. These larger count boxes are limited to some of the more popular target bullets and are currently only available through Sinclair International.

Berger Bullets produces some of the finest bullets in the world. If you haven’t tried them before this is a great opportunity to get some fantastic bullets and save a little money.

1000 count boxes

.20 Caliber

#18-20703 35 gr. Match Varmint

#18-20704 40 gr. Match Varmint BT

.22 Caliber

#18-22708 52 gr. Match Target

#18-22709 52 gr. Match Varmint

#18-22718 70 gr. Match Target VLD

#18-22720 73 gr. Match Target BT

#18-22722 80 gr. Match Target VLD

6 mm Caliber

#18-24711 68 gr. Match Target

#18-24725 90 gr. Match Target BT

500 count boxes

6 mm Caliber

#18-24729 105 gr. Match Target VLD

#18-24731 108 gr. Match Target BT

6.5 mm Caliber

#18-26701 140 gr. Match Target VLD

.30 Caliber

#18-30721 115 gr. Match Target FB

#18-30716 155.5 gr. Match BT Fullbore

#18-30715 210 gr. Match Target VLD

The twist rate of the barrel on any rifle has a lot to do with bullet stabilization. Twist rate is defined as the distance in inches of barrel that the rifling takes to make one complete revolution. An example would be a 1:10 twist rate. A 1:10 barrel has rifling that makes one complete revolution in 10 inches of barrel length. Rifle manufacturers usually publish twist rates for their standard rifle offerings and custom barrels are always ordered by caliber, contour, and twist rate. Be sure to record the twist rates in your records or logbooks. If you are having a custom barrel chambered you can ask the gunsmith to mark the barrel with the twist rate.

If are unsure of the twist rate of the barrel, you can measure it yourself in a couple of minutes. You need a good cleaning rod with a rotating handle and a jag with a fairly tight fitting patch. Utilize a rod guide if you are accessing the barrel through the breech or a muzzle guide if you are going to come in from the muzzle end. Make sure the rod rotates freely in the handle under load. Start the patch into the barrel for a few inches and then stop. Put a piece of tape at the back of the rod by the handle (like a flag) or mark the rod in some way. Measure how much of the rod is still protruding from the rod guide. You can either measure from the rod guide or muzzle guide back to the flag or to a spot on the handle. Next, continue to push the rod in until the mark or tape flag has made one complete revolution. Re-measure the amount of rod that is left sticking out of the barrel. Use the same reference marks as you did on the first measurement. Next, subtract this measurement from the first measurement. This number is the twist rate. For example, if the rod has 24 inches remaining at the start and 16 inches remain after making one revolution, you have 8 inches of travel, thus a 1:8 twist barrel.

Most of you know that the twist of the rifling in the barrel is what puts spin on the bullet. As a bullet is pushed down the barrel and compressed into the rifling, the bullet follows the path or twist of the rifling. As it accelerates and leaves the barrel, the bullet is spinning at a tremendous rate. The combination of velocity and bullet spin is what stabilizes the bullet. A very popular example of twist rate affecting bullet selection is the use of bullets with rifles chambered in 223 Remington. Standard rifles chambered in 223 Remington will normally have a twist rate around 1:12. These rifles shoot very well when using ammunition loaded with 40 grain to 55 grain bullets. To use the heavier bullets such as the 69 to 80 grain bullets that are used in competition, one needs to have a barrel with a twist rate of at least 1:10 to stabilize the 69 grain bullets and a 1:8 to stabilize the 80 grain bullets. There are some 90 grain match bullets available now that need a 1:7 twist barrel to stabilize them.

Finding the twist rate for your barrel will help you in selecting appropriate weight bullets for your firearm. Remember, the general rule is that the faster the twist rate, the heavier the bullet you will be able to stabilize.

Choosing the right sandbag to shoot off a bench isn’t as easy as it once was. Years ago if you wanted to upgrade from shooting off a bag of shot there were only a handful of different sandbags on the market. Today there are dozens of bags to choose from including high quality bags to copycats having lesser quality.

Of the two companies that make a variety of bags to choose from, Protektor and Edgewood offer the best quality and the best selection. Protektor has been in the business for decades and has a tremendous selection of both leather and Cordura bags.

Their entire focus is on making the best quality bags for the money. Edgewood is a company owned and operated by a shooter named Jack Snyder. Edgewood makes some very premium rear and front bags. The stitching, the choice of materials, and the functional design of the Protektor bags and the Edgewood bags are superb.

Choosing Bags – General

A question to answer before selecting sandbags is, “how am I going to use the bags”? If you are going to shoot off a shooting rest, you will need an owl ear front bag, rear bag, and possibly an elbow bag. If you are going to shoot off a bench without a rest you will need a large front bag and a rear bag. If you are going to use a bi-pod, either on the ground or on a bench, you only need a rear bag.

Material Choices

Choosing a material is a good way to thin the market offerings down a bit. There are good quality leather bags, Cordura bags, suede leather bags, vinyl bags, and various fabric bags. Your choice of material depends on your personal preference and your budget. I prefer and recommend the use of good quality leather or fine-grade Cordura nylon bags. If you are using the bags with a fine grade wood finish rifle or a composite stock with a high glossy paint then I would stick with a good quality leather bag. The Cordura material will sometimes cause very light, almost unnoticeable scratching to the wood or gloss paint. Cordura is an excellent choice for most color molded composite stocks. The Cordura material is very smooth and creates less friction with the rifle than the leather bags.  It has become an increasingly popular choice among competitive shooters over the past 10 years.

While we are talking about different materials, I wanted to mention what to add to the bags to reduce friction. When using leather sandbags, we recommend using Sinclair Bag Wax on the ears. It really lets the rifle move freely and consistently on the bag. An acceptable substitute is baby powder but unlike the Bag Wax, the baby powder tends to clump up during high humidity or damp weather. On Cordura bags, we recommend using a silicone spray. It really reduces the friction between the stock and bag.

Some shooters like suede sandbags, but I don’t like them because I could never get the rifle to recoil consistently in them. I believed they affected my rifle’s accuracy. Vinyl bags are a lower-price substitute to leather bags and they will tear more easily. Other bags made from various fabrics (cotton, polyester, etc.) range from high-quality, heavy-duty bags such as the “Dog-Gone Good” brand of bags to cheap, thin material bags that rot or fall apart quickly.

Choosing a Front Bag

Front rest bags are designed to fit on the rest top or bag plate of rifle rests. They are available in several different sizes but the three standard sizes will fit 98% of the sporting rifles in the world. The bag style for most front rest bags is referred to as an “owl ear” style. The smallest owl ear size will fit most narrow hunting rifle forends, the medium size will fit most varmint rifles, High Power rifles, long-range rifles, and tactical rifles, while the largest size is designed to fit standard 3” wide benchrest rifle stocks with flat forends. There are some additional larger sizes that accommodate the extremely large forend designs of some 1000-yard benchrest rifle stocks. Most owl ear bags have integral tie straps with eyelets that are used for tying the bags to a flat rest top or when securing them to a more sophisticated rest top. Most rest tops use the tie straps as a means to hold the bag in place by securing them between a bar or metal strap and the bottom of the rest top. We usually remove any ends of the tie strap that protrude after securing the top. A sharp utility knife or razor blade works well for this task.

There are some front bags designed for use without a rest. These bags are larger than owl ear bags, and can be used in conjunction with or without a rear bag. They can be used on the ground or on a shooting bench. Companies like Dog-Gone Good, Uncle Buds, and Stoney Point make some large front bags with carry straps that are useful for field use. These field style bags support a larger area of the forend than a normal bag and can be used with or without a rearbag. Due to the larger size of these bags, it is usually best to fill these with a lighter media than sand. Corncob media, cat litter, and recycled plastic pellets (Dog-Gone Good uses these) make good bag filler for large field bags.

Choosing a Rear Bag

A decade ago there were only a couple styles of rear bags available; bunny ear and rabbit ear rear bags. Then, if my memory serves me correctly, Bill Gephardt of Bald Eagle Machine began to put an extra row of stitching between the ears creating more separation which allowed large benchrest and prone stocks to sit further down between the ears. This increased the stability of the rifle. Soon many bags began to come out of the shops of other manufacturers that focused on different ear designs. Today, the Sinclair catalog has over 16 different rear bags ranging from the original bags (all leather) to leather bags with Cordura ears having triple layers of leather on the bottom for additional stiffness and support.

The choice of a rear bag depends entirely on what type of rifles you’ll be using it in and what you want to spend. First decide whether you want a bunny ear bag or a rabbit ear design. Bunny ear bags have shorter ears, which are great if you have rifles with cheek pieces; the cheek piece will slide past the bunny ear with no interference. Rabbit ear bags have taller ears (about twice as tall), which provide more contact area and also give you a little more movement if you are squeezing the ears for elevation and lateral movement. There are some bags introduced by Protektor that have a mid-ear design (what we call it). These bags have ears that are halfway in height between a bunny and a rabbit.

Rear bags are available with one line of stitching running between the ears or with multiple lines of stitching. The additional lines of stitching allow stocks having a flat along the bottom of the comb to sit further down into the ears.

Your decision on Cordura versus leather, bunny, rabbit, or mid-height ears, and the amount of space between the bag ears will cut your choices down to 3 to 5 different bags.

Another factor in choosing a rear bag is the design of your stock. Traditional stock designs will work fine in most standard height rear bags. But some of the newer benchrest, varmint, and F-Class stocks have buttstocks that are almost flat from the toe of the butt up to the pistol grip. If you use one of these stocks with a traditional height rear bag, you will have trouble getting your front rest low enough to get on target as the muzzle is elevated because of the lack of drop in the stock design. There are rear bags available that have more height in the body that will elevate the butt of these stocks sufficiently. This is a good question to ask a salesperson about before deciding on a rear bag.

Lower priced bags will usually have thinner leather making up the sidewalls and only one or two layers of leather on the base.  Thicker leather sidewalls and additional layers of leather on the bottom add to the expense. Thinner sidewalls eventually lead to a ballooning effect as the weight of the sand stretches out the leather and gives you a rounder and shorter bag. Less leather on the bottom of the bag will cause the bag to curl a little and the bag won’t sit as square on the bench top as we would prefer. These attributes may not be noticeable to the casual shooter but they are factors that have led to the development of better designed and fabricated bags.

The thickness of the base is a factor of stability and budget. The premium bags made by Protektor and Edgewood feature as many as five (5) layers of leather on the base. These premium bags feature an integral doughnut, which is a bottom design feature consisting of thinner leather in the middle and more layers of leather toward the outside of the bottom. This design allows the bottom outer edges to sit square on the bench. Prior to this design, many shooters used a separate doughnut shaped bag between their rear bag and the bench top to raise the center of the bag so it wouldn’t rock. Additional layers of leather on the base increase the cost.

Summary

Choosing a front bag is relatively easy once you have decided on Cordura or leather. The choice is then based on simply the width of your forend.

The choice of a rear bag is not as easy to make but it is easier if you break it down by the variables; 1) leather or Cordura ears, 2) ear height, 3) thickness of base, and 4) height of the base of the ears from the bench top.

If your budget is a little tight and you are just using your bags to load test or sight-in rifles, then the Protektor Standard Rear Bag available in bunny ears or rabbit ears will work just fine. A Protektor leather front owl ear bag will be great to accompany the rear bag.

If you are going to shoot competitively off a bench and your budget is a little bigger, then you may wish to consider one of the Protektor Deluxe Rear Bags (#BAG40, BAG41, BAG42, and BAG43). Again, these bags pair up well with either the Protektor Owl Ear Front Bags, either in leather or Cordura.

When budget isn’t an issue, I recommend getting one of the Edgewood Rear Bags and pair it up with an Edgewood Front Bag. My favorite rear bag is the Minigater because it has a large footprint without being too big.

Give the technicians at Sinclair a call at 1-800-717-8211 if you need help when choosing a sandbag or talk to a buddy who shoots off a bench.

I can’t stress how important it is to keep your bolt and action clean. Shooters use a lot of grease and oil on their bolts to reduce friction and to prevent wear to the bearing surfaces. Unfortunately, both of these compounds attract grit, powder residue, primer residue, etc.
Cleaning your receiver is especially critical in maintaining custom actions where the fit between the action and bolt is held to very tight tolerances. Routine cleaning of the action will prevent unnecessary wear on the bolt body, locking lugs, and the action raceways/guide rails. Frequent action cleaning is also essential to keeping the trigger area free of debris which can cause trigger hang-ups and failures. Cleaning rifle actions is one of the most neglected chores of rifle maintenance, but a task that only takes a few minutes. It should be done at least every time you put your rifle away after a shooting session.

Before cleaning the action, the bolt should be removed from the action. I recommend that you clean the bore first, clean the action second, and then care for the exterior surfaces of your firearm and scope/sights.

Cleaning the Chamber

The first step is to clean the chamber. This can be done in several ways using a threaded chamber rod (8-32 female threads).

1) Install a clean cotton mop of the correct size on the end of a chamber rod and insert the mop into the chamber. Rotate the mop several times to remove any brush bristles left behind and any excess solvent that was between the rod guide snout and the end of the chamber. Make sure the chamber is dry. Prior to storing a rifle you can oil the chamber but make sure the oil is removed prior to firing the rifle.

2) Another method to clean the chamber is to install an old bore brush on a chamber rod, overlap a couple of patches on the brush bristles, and wrap them around the brush completely encapsulating the brush. Then insert the patch covered brush into the chamber while rotating it to remove the excess solvent and debris. Push it firmly into the neck area of the chamber. A similar method is to pierce a large patch on the end of the brush loop and insert it into the action, again rotating the brush as you push the patch up against the breech.

Cleaning the Lug Recess Area

The next step is to clean the action lug recess area, which is one of the dirtiest places on a bolt-action rifle. Use a lug recess cleaning tool such as the Sinclair lug recess tool to properly clean this area.

1) Insert a cotton roll or cleaning felt into your lug recess cleaning tool and wet both ends and the face of the cotton roll/felt with solvent.

2) Insert the tool into the action and push it forward until it is positioned fully in the lug recess area and rotate the tool head several times. Then reverse the rotation for another few turns. While rotating the tool move it slightly in and out to cover the entire recess area and to also clean the breech face.

3) Remove the tool from the action and inspect the surface of the felt or cotton roll. If there is quite a bit of residue on both sides of the felt/roll, then repeat with another wet felt/roll.
4) When you feel the recess area is completely clean, insert a dry cotton roll into the tool and rotate the tool head to remove any remaining solvent and debris. If necessary, use a second dry cotton roll.
5) You can follow this step up with another pass of a mop or patches into the chamber to get any debris or solvent that pushed forward out of the lug recess area.

Cleaning the Action Body

To clean the remainder of the action, just take some patches and solvent and thoroughly scrub all the surfaces of the action. You can use inexpensive cotton swabs (get the long double-ended ones) to clean the raceways and areas you can’t reach. I use a large bottle style brush with a half sheet of a good quality paper towel (blue shop paper towel works great) wrapped around the brush to clean most of the interior body of the action. I use a towel damp with solvent and then follow-up with a dry towel.

Cleaning the Bolt – Routine/Basic Cleaning

When the action itself is clean, turn your attention to the bolt. For routine cleaning, I clean the bolt intact without disassembling it.

1) Degrease the bolt with any gun degreaser like Shooter’s Choice Quickscrub or Gunscrub. I spray mine down over a catch pan (I keep a turkey roasting pan in my shop to catch the spray).

2) Use a brush (Utility brush, GI brush, or old toothbrush) with degreaser sprayed on the bristles to clean the lugs, bolt face, bolt body, and the rear of the bolt. Use cotton swabs to clean the very corners of the bolt face.

3) Flush the bolt again with degreaser until it is visibly clean of old grease and residue.
4) Lightly lubricate the rear side of the locking lugs and the contact surfaces of the bolt shroud with a quality bolt grease. A light (very light) film of oil or lube can be applied to the length of the bolt body with particular attention to any guide rails on the bolt body. I prefer to use a treated rag like a Birchwood Casey Gun Cloth or a Sentry Tuf-Cloth, especially in the field. Lately I have been using a lubricant called Bolt Magic. I just take a drop and rub it all over the surface of the bolt body. It really makes your bolt work very smoothly.

Cleaning the Inside of the Bolt Body

Occasionally, you should partially disassemble the bolt with a bolt disassembly tool and clean out the inside of the bolt body with a degreaser. Some bolts can be disassembled without any specialized tools, while bolts such as Remington’s are more easily taken apart using a firing pin removal tool like a Sinclair Firing Pin Removal Tool.

1) Remove the complete firing pin assembly from the bolt body. Using an aerosol degreaser flush out any old grease and primer residue from the bolt body. A bottle brush can be used to clean the interior if you have one available.
2) Spray down the firing pin assembly with the aerosol degreaser and use a brush if necessary. There is no need to remove the firing pin spring from the firing pin to clean it properly. Disassembly is usually only necessary if you need to replace a spring, a shroud, or firing pin. This usually requires having a special firing pin spring removal tool to control the energy of the spring. The layman with the right tool can do this task easily. Sinclair and Brownell’s both make tools for this job.

3) Apply a good bolt grease to the firing pin spring. Run a thin string of grease down the length of the spring, then use your finger or an applicator to lightly coat the entire surface of the spring. It is a good idea to know the operating temperature of the grease or oil you are using. In extreme cold weather, it may be preferable to use a light oil versus the grease you would use in normal weather. Don’t use a gob of grease; a light film is sufficient.
4) Re-assemble the firing pin assembly and bolt body. Re-lube the bolt as described above.

Summary
With a good action cleaning routine, your bolt will cycle and operate much smoother and your action will wear less. It only takes a few minutes but the benefits are definitely worth the time and effort.