NSSF Offers $250,000 in Grants for Gun Clubs and Shooting Ranges

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has announced a new grant program for ranges aimed at helping public and private shooting facilities jumpstart their recruitment and retention efforts. “The best way to increase participation is to enhance and promote shooting opportunities at the local level,” said Melissa Schilling, NSSF recruitment and retention manager. “We’re looking for unique proposals that move the needle on recruiting new shooters, attracting lapsed shooters back to the range and increasing opportunities for active shooters.” The projects will serve as pilot programs, which, if successful, can be used by other facilities across the country. A total of $250,000 will be available through the program.

Project applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis in 2008, and the funded program must be completed by February 2, 2009.

CLICK HERE to Download 2008 Grant Application Form

The NSSF noted that this grant program is NOT intended for land purchases, for building or improving structures (such as club-houses), or for acquisition of range equipment and supplies. A winning grant proposal will focus on bringing new shooters to the sport and reviving the interest of shooters who are currently inactive. The NSSF also favors programs that will allow active shooters to try new disciplines. To learn more about program objectives and grant selection criteria, visit RangeInfo.org.

Neck-Expander Mandrels for More Uniform Neck Tension

Lapua brass is so good that you’ll be tempted to just load and shoot, if you have a “no-turn” chamber. However, some minimal case prep will ensure more uniform neck tension. This will produce better accuracy, more consistent bullet seating, and lower Extreme Spread and Standard Deviation (ES/SD). Lapua brass, particularly 6BR, 6.5×47, .243 Win and .308 Win comes from the factory with tighter-than-optimal necks. Before you seat bullets, at a minimum, you should inside chamfer the case mouths, after running an expander mandrel down the necks. The expander mandrels from both Sinclair and K&M will both leave the necks with enough neck tension (more than .001″) so you can then seat bullets without another operation. Put a bit of lube on the mandrel before running it down the necks–but remove any lube that gets inside the necks before seating bullets.

Both Sinclair and K&M Tools make a die body specifically to hold expander mandrels. The Sinclair version, item NT-EXP, is shown above. This $18.50 unit fits caliber-specific expander mandrels ($8.50) which measure approximately .001″ less than bullet diameter for each caliber. Once you run the Sinclair expander mandrel down the necks of Lapua brass, after you account for brass spring-back, you’ll have about .002″ neck tension. This will make the process of seating bullets go much more smoothly, and you will also iron out any dents in the case mouths. Once the case mouths are all expanded, and uniformly round, then do your inside neck chamfering/deburring. The same expander mandrels can be used to “neck-up” smaller diameter brass, or prepare brass for neck-turning.

If you haven’t acquired an appropriate expander mandrel for your brass, but you DO have a full-length sizing die with an expander ball, this will also function to “iron out” the necks and reduce tension. However, using a die with an expander ball will work the necks more — since you first size them down, then the ball expands them up again.