Prioritise these rifle brands

[Subsonic Flyer]

The scope is a Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50 PM11 Tactical Milldot. The Prohunter range of rifles are excellent out of the box rifles. I have two, .308 and .243. I have done no work to either rifle except tune the original triggers and they both shoot sub 0.5" with hunting loads and better with target bullets.

 

The old (grey) stocks were a problem as they were inclined to flex and move with heat, either sun or barrel. The MK11 stocks are black and have been reinforced to overcome this problem. The .243 is the standard hunter and has a fully floating barrel the .308 heavy barrel has a rubber pressure point at the fore end. I considered taking this out but was strongly advised against it by Steyr. Which one shoots the best ------------------ its the .308 that averages mid 0.3" with 155g Amax and in the 0.4" with the 150g BTSP. Am I going to mess with the stock - not likely. Most custom rifles would not deliver better performance.

 

I must admit to being almost anal with my reloading and have spent many hours experimenting with differant powders, bullets and seating depths to find the right combinations.

 

I and a group of friends enjoy long range shooting (long for us but check these guys out Long range shooting ) and we use everything from .223 to 300RUM. (now there’s a gun with recoil - 30+ ft/lbs but still fun to shoot) I must stress I do not shoot deer at this range for the obvious reasons but I have shot all manner of vermin and even the occasional pigeon.

 

Our usual practice is on swinging steel plates or exploding targets as you need something visual at that range. Range finders, wind meters and drop charts are the norm and our aim is first round hits.

 

Attached is an example steel plate again shot with my .308. Plate is 8"x6"with a 2" square piece of black tape in the middle, cant remember the group size but looks about 1.5". Having tried so many calibres at these ranges if I had to choose the best all-rounder you know which one it would be!!!

[dunganick]

I must admit to being almost anal with my reloading and have spent many hours experimenting with differant powders, bullets and seating depths to find the right combinations.

 

i can sympathise :thumbs: i was taught reloading on the 222, i must have shot over 75 variations of that round, tried different bullets, powders, also primers (decided that seems to make sod all difference despite what many say) tried different seating depths, some pretty unusual ones (take a look at the 6.5 loaded with the lapua scenar 129, in the pictures section, that round is so far off the lands (lans? not sure of spelling) but you cant seat it any closer. still it shoots great groups with that load.

 

but all of this was done with an 8x56 swaro, and despite all my moaning and groaning for the old man to get a 6-24 swaro or a nightforce, he keeps on saying, you pay for it i will use it (cant understand that )

 

personally i feel the scope is the limiting factor on the bench, which is why my rifle (when i can afford it) will be wearing at least an 18x