My buddy Dell and I spent about 4 hours at the range today, mostly in the rain. We did get some stuff done tho....no real range pictures since the targets melted not too long after shooting them, and other technical difficulties made it....difficult.
On my side of the tent I got a fair amount of sighting and chorno graphing done.
Got the 6.5CM sighted after changing out the rings and basses to lower the scope some....well alot compared to the rail and rings that were on it. Its now just above the barrel instead of hanging 1/2" in the air.
Got the thing zero'd and shot a 1 hole group using a nosler 140 RDFs. The RDFs generally arnt the most consistent bullets in my experience, but at short range they do just fine.
Ive got something like 600 of these RDFs, so im probably going to be using them quite a bit even if they arnt stupendous.
The next rifle I worked on was the 300WM Howa 1500 I picked up for my Birthday.
This gun came as a package deal, which Dell snagged the mounts and scope off of, as I already had an Athlon Midas HMR, and a set of DNZ split rings for it. The rifle also got the muzzle brake of my 7-08Mesa since threading was the same, and I didnt find the brake overly useful on the smaller rifle. I also installed the cheek pad/riser my buddy Ed made for my Mesa, which didnt fit.....not surprising since he used the BAR to make the pattern for that one.
The gun was cleaned on arrival, and playing with my new borescope showed there to be some of the expected button chatter and a few rings, but otherwise one of the better factory barrels ive seen....specially on a 400 dollar rifle. There was still some copper fouling from the factory test firing, but I didnt bother to remove that.
Last night I loaded up 15rnds of 168gr TMKs over 80gr of 7828 @ a COAL of 3.525 which puts me about .02 off the lands, and very close to the end of my magazine length.
I also loaded up 10rnds of 212gr Eld-x over 73gr of 7828, COAL was run longer at 3.535, which is RIGHT at max COAL for my magazine, and action.
It took exactly 3 shots to zero the rifle, and 3 more to produce a 1"(ish) group with the 168TMKs. I chorno'd those rounds and came up with an AVG velocity of 3109, and ES of 25. Not too shabby for mixed brass. Ill probably increase this load another .5-1gr and see if I can drop the ES by a bit. I get the feeling this ones running a little on the low side.
I then fired a 3 shot group with the 212s which hit at the same POI as the 168, which is really nice.
group size was similar, if not a tad bit better, Id guess just under 1".
chrono results for these guys was 2858 avg, and ES of 11.
The next gun on the list was the 7-08 Mesa. Ive not really worked on this gun, beyond mounting a scope and taking of the muzzle brake....Its really never NEEDED anything. Heck ive never even bedded it.
Today I found it about 2moa left of center, which I THINK is where I forgot about and left it after shooting it at distance a few months ago.
8 clicks right, and the 120gr ballistic tips were clustered in the 1" orange target dot.
I switched to the newly loaded 120 TTSX, which were given to my by one of the guys on the forum, and I FINALLY got a chance to test. These rounds also clustered into the orange shoot and see.
Im really stoked with this effect, as Id like to be able to use the 120 ballistics for sheep, pigs and goats, and the TSX for deer at shorter ranges If the gun makes it to Molokai or Lanai.
heres the chorno picture for those rounds. I actually forgot to chorno these untill I was down to the last few shots, and only took 2 of each. It appears I might need to up the 120 Btips a bit, but im pretty happy with the 120TSXs at 2900.
I also shot the .22s, and my goofy little 20ga with its 9mm and 30-30 insert. The 30-30 seems pretty impressive. I was managing to nail berm trash at 100yds with that one and dells handloads.
On Dells side of the tent....he made noise!
Shot an AR he just finished, and a 10mm RIA that came in a while ago, otherwise he was mostly playing with my stuff.
https://youtube.com/shorts/kZx70pGKlIM?feature=share
Got home and the sun was out, and even the ground was dry......never mind that it was dumping less than a mile away lol.....ahhh paradise.....
Still fun day, Im really happy with the rifles shooting loads to the same poa, that simplifies alot of things. Also really happy with how the HOWA is performing in generall. Its smooth, accurate, and fairly full featured.
They are edging out the Ruger Americans as my most likely to recommend budget bolt guns again....tho I think the RAs are still more accurate on average.
On my side of the tent I got a fair amount of sighting and chorno graphing done.
Got the 6.5CM sighted after changing out the rings and basses to lower the scope some....well alot compared to the rail and rings that were on it. Its now just above the barrel instead of hanging 1/2" in the air.
Got the thing zero'd and shot a 1 hole group using a nosler 140 RDFs. The RDFs generally arnt the most consistent bullets in my experience, but at short range they do just fine.
Ive got something like 600 of these RDFs, so im probably going to be using them quite a bit even if they arnt stupendous.
The next rifle I worked on was the 300WM Howa 1500 I picked up for my Birthday.
This gun came as a package deal, which Dell snagged the mounts and scope off of, as I already had an Athlon Midas HMR, and a set of DNZ split rings for it. The rifle also got the muzzle brake of my 7-08Mesa since threading was the same, and I didnt find the brake overly useful on the smaller rifle. I also installed the cheek pad/riser my buddy Ed made for my Mesa, which didnt fit.....not surprising since he used the BAR to make the pattern for that one.
The gun was cleaned on arrival, and playing with my new borescope showed there to be some of the expected button chatter and a few rings, but otherwise one of the better factory barrels ive seen....specially on a 400 dollar rifle. There was still some copper fouling from the factory test firing, but I didnt bother to remove that.
Last night I loaded up 15rnds of 168gr TMKs over 80gr of 7828 @ a COAL of 3.525 which puts me about .02 off the lands, and very close to the end of my magazine length.
I also loaded up 10rnds of 212gr Eld-x over 73gr of 7828, COAL was run longer at 3.535, which is RIGHT at max COAL for my magazine, and action.
It took exactly 3 shots to zero the rifle, and 3 more to produce a 1"(ish) group with the 168TMKs. I chorno'd those rounds and came up with an AVG velocity of 3109, and ES of 25. Not too shabby for mixed brass. Ill probably increase this load another .5-1gr and see if I can drop the ES by a bit. I get the feeling this ones running a little on the low side.
I then fired a 3 shot group with the 212s which hit at the same POI as the 168, which is really nice.
group size was similar, if not a tad bit better, Id guess just under 1".
chrono results for these guys was 2858 avg, and ES of 11.
The next gun on the list was the 7-08 Mesa. Ive not really worked on this gun, beyond mounting a scope and taking of the muzzle brake....Its really never NEEDED anything. Heck ive never even bedded it.
Today I found it about 2moa left of center, which I THINK is where I forgot about and left it after shooting it at distance a few months ago.
8 clicks right, and the 120gr ballistic tips were clustered in the 1" orange target dot.
I switched to the newly loaded 120 TTSX, which were given to my by one of the guys on the forum, and I FINALLY got a chance to test. These rounds also clustered into the orange shoot and see.
Im really stoked with this effect, as Id like to be able to use the 120 ballistics for sheep, pigs and goats, and the TSX for deer at shorter ranges If the gun makes it to Molokai or Lanai.
heres the chorno picture for those rounds. I actually forgot to chorno these untill I was down to the last few shots, and only took 2 of each. It appears I might need to up the 120 Btips a bit, but im pretty happy with the 120TSXs at 2900.
I also shot the .22s, and my goofy little 20ga with its 9mm and 30-30 insert. The 30-30 seems pretty impressive. I was managing to nail berm trash at 100yds with that one and dells handloads.
On Dells side of the tent....he made noise!
Shot an AR he just finished, and a 10mm RIA that came in a while ago, otherwise he was mostly playing with my stuff.
https://youtube.com/shorts/kZx70pGKlIM?feature=share
Got home and the sun was out, and even the ground was dry......never mind that it was dumping less than a mile away lol.....ahhh paradise.....
Still fun day, Im really happy with the rifles shooting loads to the same poa, that simplifies alot of things. Also really happy with how the HOWA is performing in generall. Its smooth, accurate, and fairly full featured.
They are edging out the Ruger Americans as my most likely to recommend budget bolt guns again....tho I think the RAs are still more accurate on average.
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