Well, I picked the rifle up Tuesday after the State of California concluded its ten day investigation as to my fitness to purchase firearms. I mounted the Zeiss Conquest scope salvaged from my Ruger, boresighted, and made it to the range Saturday. I used factory loads to sight in, two boxes of Remington 170 grain round nosed Core Lokts. One box was purchased in the early 1980s and stored in the house all these years, the other was fresh last week.

The old ammo was frightening![:'(] Twelve of twenty case necks split and accuracy was horrible. I cleaned frequently between shots as the barrel is brand new, but I fired ten rounds of the new stuff without cleaning the last of the old out. The cases all held together on the new stuff, but it wasn't until I cleaned again that the last ten shots started falling into place. I must say that the last two five shot groups were great, for factory loads anyway. The old stuff must have used a lot of very brittle brass, as it was worse than lots of WWII surplus 8mm and .303 that I shoot. Happens, I guess.

My Midway shipment of bullets, cases and reloading book for 8mm haven't gotten here yet. This rifle is begging for a good handload. The factory loads would be fine for deer out to 150 yards or so, but they are really a bit mild in my opinion for hunting hogs.

This should be a fun project.

Thanks to all who shared their favorite 8mm load, by the way!