New toy to play with

Unfortunatly at the Moment I'm playing Mr Mum as My wife was flown off to adeliade last week & near died on me ! She's still in a induced coma so I have time to burn as it were ! I recived a Rifle from a dear Friend who has retired & decided that I should have several of his working rifles ! The one of intrest to me is a Pat 14 rechamberd to 270-303 . It's a .303 necked back to 270 & was the first of the .303 convertions /wildcats after WW2 . Now for many years I have avoided the round as I had no intrest,but as I now have one & have time to spare I thought I'd put it through it's paces ! In the Old days it was a case of Pull the Bullet out of a standard MKV11 rnd Full lenght resize it & seat a 120gn .270 pill on the cordite charge & away you went! I'm using 120gn pills & it shoots like a dream !

Dave

Hi Dave, I hope things go better very soon with your wife.

The 270 has to be the most controversial caliber around, opinions ranging from 'pure magic' to 'total uselessness'.
I've been frankly cold about it myself due to the hype and the not so heavy bullets available for what is after all a 7mm in a big case.... but wildcating a 303 or a '08 case for it....maybe...

What do you think about the P14?

kg

Dave I'll say a prayer for you and the wife tonight . I sure hope thing s go well for her. I know I am lost with out my wife. Good luck my friend.

Dave,
It's good to have something to keep your mind occupied when heavy things are happening and there's nothing you can do but sit and stew. I hope things work out for the better and soon. How far out of Adelaide are you?
(I finally got to a decent map and found the Flinders Range, comparable in height to the White Mountains where I live, and am beginning to get a better idea of OZ geography. Not many details and no pictures, but I'm beginning to connect some of the places you mention to spots on the map. I'm getting a new atlas on cdROM this weekend, hopefully it will have more info than the one at my dad's farm.)

I've really never been more than lukewarm towards the .270 either, though I am loading for one a friend got in trade. It's hunting accurate (2-3" @100yds), but not enough to really impress me. I just think the -06 will do anything the the .270 can, usually with better accuracy, and if I want a smaller bore with long cases, there's the .280 with many more bullet choices available, and the .25-06 for longer ranges. The wildcat you're playing with sounds like fun, though. Is the rifle very accurate? It seems like it would be a good chambering for a single shot like the Encore.

Thanks For the kind words ! I'm in agreeance wih you Blokes on the .270 . It's a round that has never earned favor with me . I belive that the 7x57 fills any niche that is needed in the 7mm class & the 270 was a step backward from the 30-06 . The 270 -303 was created (& later was a factory round in Aus for many years along with the 25-303 & others ) just after WW2 when rifles were scarce as imports & Aussie shooters wanted US calibres . Hense the .303 was a parent cartridge for at least 5 .224 variants I can think of ,a 243 -303 ,25-303 & 270 -303 . The biggest draw back of these rounds was the use of Mk111 & Mk1V actions were the pressures had to be kept around the 45,000 psi mark !
The 25-303 has been along standing working rifle to me as I figure if it ain't broke why try & fix it ? Yet the .270 was something that never caught my eye ,until now . I've heard the Horror stories of the recivers on Eddystones developing cracks but i have yet to encounter one. I have a real soft spot for the Pat 14 .The one piece stock lends it's self to bedding & the action enables the 303 & it's off spring to be loaded to their full potentcal ! I have been able to put 7inch groups on a 39inch target that I have set up at 1000 yrds ( I won't say how many rounds I used to get the distance :-D )
Where we are is approx 5o kms nth of Pt Augusta & 11kms out of Quorn so it's roughly about 400kms (3 1/2 -4 hrs ) From Adeliade.

Dave

So I got the computer map of Quom. Where are you from Yarley, Ostrich Farm to the south or are you closer in towards Quom, say above Albury Vale and below The Dutchman?

Take Care

Bob

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Canuck44

So I got the computer map of Quom. Where are you from Yarley, Ostrich Farm to the south or are you closer in towards Quom, say above Albury Vale and below The Dutchman?

Take Care

Bob

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We're about 6kms further N/W from the Dutchmans stern ! towards Warrens Gouge (we're Arden Hills ) When I look out the side of the House The "Stern" is a promenint feature! Tecnicly we're above the Stern The Old Ostrich farm folded years ago & is there by Name only! It's way south of us ! Basicly if your Map shows Arden Vale Rd comming out from Quorn we're 11kms from Quorn & should be marked out as Arden Vale Hills Station

Dave

Found Arden Vale. Well I think I have you pinned. Now to find a better map. LOL

Found a site that shows a few pictures of your area. Looks beautiful my friend. I can see why you chose the life you did.


Take Care

Bob

Funny thing Bob ! I was born here . My family have lived here for 3 Generations & each generation have had at least one Farmer & one Son who has taken to the Shooting /Trapping side of things! My Brother is the Farmer in our Generation & good luck to him ! I normally work a lot further NW out towards The Nullabour Plain or up North from us . I've got a Dog Stiffening contract comming up shortly (Dingo control ) Up the Northen end of the Flinders on the Dog Fence ! I have never & will never get tired of the veiw from our Place . Which is our origanal family home. It started as a 2 Roomed stone cottage over 100yrs ago & was built onto as the Family grew !
Due to the Heat in Summer the Kitchen was origanaly a seperate room ut the back & not attached to the rest of the house ! It is now joined by a enclosed veranda & is our Bath Room /Laundry ! There are the inithals of family members carved in the rear wall from 1932 & more funnily at what was the Back door before the veranda joined the 2 buildings ,is a stone in the rear wall (sand stone ) which has a large groove worn into it where Knives were sharpened! (my mother put a end to it in the early 1960s )

Dave

Well I have been a bit of a nomad really. Born in Banff, alberta I was raised in Edmonton and worked in banking allover Alberta and the N.W.T. before moving east to Peterborough. spent 10 years back there. Family orginally settle in Ontario. before the American Revolution, family were Quakers at the time, and figured Fleshing Meadows was getting far to Liberal, what with just putting people in the Stocks etc. In any event after the family moved out to B.C. they eventually migrated to Alberta. Now most of the family are in B.C., again. I'll likely stay here now.

The more I moved around the more I found people to be just about the same where ever I went and also found there were any number of beautiful places to live. All a bit different but all with their own sense of beauty. I'll try to post pictures.

Bob