She's home! - RANGE REPORT ON POST #37!

[TruEdge]

Very nice rifle. I hope one day I can get a rifle like that. Like someone else said lets see a range report I want to know how that baby shoots!

[vliberatore]

Paint work is expensive!
I charge $250 to hang a barrel on an action with a muzzle brake on the barrel.
That leaves $525 in paint work.
I really should start doing paint work...

GA charges ~$300 for cerakote if you really are thinking about it.

[evol ways]

She's a beauty!! Marc is one hell of guy. He's installing a .308 M24/40 barrel on my 591 next week. He builds really sweet rifles. can't wait to see the range results.

[Jeff L]

That's Bad @ss!

[bsumoba]

Going to the range tomorrow to do barrel "break-in"...or whatever we call it. I will be posting videos if I can, but sure I will have targets and pics. If its shooting well off the bat with factory ammo, I'll go straight into load development with 140 a-max's and hybrids with H4350.

[Glockrocks]

Very nice indeed! Can't wait for the range report tomorrow.

[bsumoba]

Well guys, I am back from the range, and all I can say is...WOW!

So you asked for a range report, you got it.

Started out in 50 degree S. San Jose weather @ Metcalf on the 100 yd line. I boresighted my scope and barrel and fired a shot, and within 3 shots, I was within a few inches of my POA. Took Sweets and Hoppes#9 and did a thorough clean right there and then, trying to get out as much carbon first, then the copper. A couple dry patches and then fired off 2 more shots, did a carbon and copper clean. I forgot to take pictures of these because I was in the zone of trying to "break in" the barrel. Shot 6 and 7 were still shooting a little off, so I did another carbon and copper clean. Shot 8 was way off the mark and I thought I might have did something wrong to my bore . Shot 9, 10 and 11 then grouped nicely. I thought to myself...alright we're on. One last sight adjustment, then fired off a 3-shot group at the top right target. Holy crap batman...with 140gr A-Max factory ammo, I shot a 1/4" group! Then, fired off a 5-shot string, and managed a 0.60"ish group! Barrel broken in at shot 11 so I was happy with that. I was talking to a guy shooting a 6mmBR that mentioned he spent a whole day breaking in his barrel and I do it in an hour or so with 11 shots. I was also thinking to myself, 2012 lot 140 factory A-Maxs, maybe I should just shoot factory. LOL ...Nah!!! NO fun in that!







So, what the hell, I tell myself, time for some load devleopment while I am here. With 20 rounds down its pipe, why not right? All groups were 3-shot groups and in a round robin fashion working low-to-high, then high-to-low, with periodic breaks after the 7 shot string. This was all from bench, but was really trying to maintain a forward position, on the gun as if I were prone. Also, no pressure signs at all on any of the shots.

Started with 140gr A-Maxs. See pics below.


Then, off to 140gr Berger Hybrids. See pics below.


So when all is said and done, fired off 62 shot between 8AM and 11AM and I must say, I am quite pleased with the results.

I am going to ask the shooting community to analyze my OCW (yea, I know, do a ladder, but I dont have a 200+ range nearby and I was anxious. But the results were decent. I also didnt chrono but I will...

What I think...

140 Amax
* I am thinking 43.5 will be promising, although I didnt go higher than 43.5. 42gr might be a good area to explore as the POI for 41.9 and 42.3 are very similar. All of them are so close, I feel like doing this again at 200-300 yards is the only way to weed it out.

140 Hybrid
* Again, 43.5 are looks good with 43.1 in the same quadrant. 41.7 might also be a spot to explore. I hear people going really high on the charge weights with hybrids, so I might run it again 43gr-44gr and see what I get.

Please tell me what you think. I have a timetable that is really short (2 more weekends to do development) before the clinic. I also did not mention that some of the groups could be tightened up IMO, with a few questionable trigger pulls (still getting used to a Jewell trigger). I know now this thing can shoot easy 3/8" MOA with good handloads and proper marksmanship.

Hope you had fun reading as much as I had fun shooting!

[CobraRed]

6.5 140 amax's are the business. I have over a thousand and dont use any other bullet now, i tried VLDs, Sierras Scenars... love those things.

[phish]

She's a beauty!! Marc is one hell of guy.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1395614029.658475.jpg

, jk, he obviously knows wtf he's doing

[Vu 308]

Good looking rig, hope to see it on the line up here soon.

It would make sense that you are seeing good accuracy around 43.5 as that is what we all run using H4350 with 139s or 140s in our 260s.

Another good load is a 47.0gn of H4831SC...compressed so use a long drop tube.

If you can get your hands on some 139 scenars..those drive like nothing else.

Speed with a 140 with 43.5 in a 26" tube should be 2850 to 2875.

Give it about another 200 rounds and she will shoot even tighter.

[Vu 308]

As for the comments on pricing.

This is one of those times you get what you pay for. Marc does killer work and you see his rifles winning locally and doing well in the national arena as well.

Not to mention Marc is now breaking into the F-Class arena where the most anal shooters live. His rifle actually won the 2 day march madness mid range event this last weekend.

Marc does this full time and it is not a hobby for him to tinker in the shop. I much rather pay market price than to deal with someone jacking up my 1300.00 action or experience the horror stories we have all seen posted here on the net.

Just like anything else in life, there is your top tiers and then your typical stuff.

[DirtRacer151]

Sometimes the cheapest price on gunsmith ing work isn't always the best route.

I personally pay for quality. Marc has done 2 rifles for me and each have shot excellent!!

I've had a not so professional chamber job before and while the rifle shot decent, the smith didn't clear the chips as he was chambering and it left a groove on the shoulder. My brand new brass would have grooves in it from where it was fire forming into them.

[bsumoba]

As for the comments on pricing.

This is one of those times you get what you pay for. Marc does killer work and you see his rifles winning locally and doing well in the national arena as well.

Not to mention Marc is now breaking into the F-Class arena where the most anal shooters live. His rifle actually won the 2 day march madness mid range event this last weekend.

Marc does this full time and it is not a hobby for him to tinker in the shop. I much rather pay market price than to deal with someone jacking up my 1300.00 action or experience the horror stories we have all seen posted here on the net.

Just like anything else in life, there is your top tiers and then your typical stuff.

Thanks Vu. I'll be there Sat and Sun for both clinics. I am planning a trip up there to get time on the 300yd line this coming weekend to fine tune and confirm my loads. Thanks for the advise on the loads. I picked up a lot of hybrids and a-max's so Im going to use those up before looking into another pill to use.

I was at Marc's place on thursday and saw his F-class rig and it is looking really nice. He also mentioned getting back into F-class.

Sometimes the cheapest price on gunsmith ing work isn't always the best route.

I personally pay for quality. Marc has done 2 rifles for me and each have shot excellent!!

I've had a not so professional chamber job before and while the rifle shot decent, the smith didn't clear the chips as he was chambering and it left a groove on the shoulder. My brand new brass would have grooves in it from where it was fire forming into them.

The fact that the rifle "broke" in and was shooting 1/4" inch with factory 6.5 match ammo after round #11 has to be partially attributed to Marc's smithing work IMO.

[Vu 308]

Good deal, we will see you up here in a few weeks.

Vu