First go with factory in ages

[kent]

Quite recently i had a period of time were i could not re-load due to house renovations. Anyway stocks of deer rounds were fine but i ran out of Foxing rounds for my .243, not such a big deal as i just cracked on with the 95 grn noslers i have full confidence on with all quarry- though i did pick up a box of the above fedral 70 grn as i am running short on brass for the .243. They langished in the safe £30 wasted i thought.

Desided to try them out yesterday and re-zero using my T8 that sees very little use nowadays as i have a few foxes to deal with closer to the Farmhouse than normal.

Result first group at 100 yds 1/2" from clean cold bore (not bad for factory thinks i), strangly smack on zero- pure fluke but very handy! Moved target back to 220 yds Fired another group 1/2" again running one MOA low with 3" of wind, corrected elivation and put another group into the target - yep tidy little 1/2" again with exactly the same windage!

Now this is a very accurate rifle normally but the barrel is certainly showing signs of a fair degree of throat errosion now, but i think thats the best i have ever had from factory ammo in any rifle. It will be interesting to find out if i can actually better that with handloads. I normally figure on halving the group with fireformed brass and a tuned load, but i think 1/4" at 220 might just be pushing the old tube a bit too much

[Redgum]

Cracking shooting, even if you had ammunition that you knew was capable of doing tight little groups its another thing to do it. Half inch groups at 220 takes a bit of skill in itself, if you get quarter then maybe you should start thinking about 2012.I take it that your not shooting freehand. When you say you have some throat erosion, how many rnds has the rifle had through it.

[Blunderbust]

That is great results, I must get a box and try them.

[kent]

Cracking shooting, even if you had ammunition that you knew was capable of doing tight little groups its another thing to do it. Half inch groups at 220 takes a bit of skill in itself, if you get quarter then maybe you should start thinking about 2012.I take it that your not shooting freehand. When you say you have some throat erosion, how many rnds has the rifle had through it.

 

Nah, cant do that free hand. This sort of shooting won't win many prizes to be fair but i did used to compete in long range and tactical competition. They were shot prone off bipod and back bag, with lots of cooloing time between groups It is pretty neat though for a sporter weight barrel ain't it just The gun is sat in a Mcmillan Hunter and is tight bedded, but it always was a shooter even from new, it has done a few 3 shot screamers over the years ( three through a single calibre thickness) at 100yds - so it shoots better than i can . Its difficult to say how many but i recon about 1500 which is about the best you will get out of the calibre, coppers up real bad now one day soon it will just totally let go and spray bullets more than group them.

As for 2012, my competitive days are over now- it takes to much time and money to get to the top and stay there

[Redgum]

Hats off to ya, I cant shoot paper for toffee, my Remmy 700 sat in a hogue full alley bedded will shoot some lovely little groups with my 100gr homeloads.Consistancy is the main thing, one day it all goes so well off the bags, next day the scope won't stay still. That said when it comes to shooting the live stuff all my timing just seems to come together at the right time and never had a deer go more than 10yds and always dead on the floor, so far anyway.

[kent]

Hats off to ya, I cant shoot paper for toffee, my Remmy 700 sat in a hogue full alley bedded will shoot some lovely little groups with my 100gr homeloads.Consistancy is the main thing, one day it all goes so well off the bags, next day the scope won't stay still. That said when it comes to shooting the live stuff all my timing just seems to come together at the right time and never had a deer go more than 10yds and always dead on the floor, so far anyway.

 

expect deer to go further than that 10yds from boiler room shots, the fact they have only gone 10yds is perhaps just luck. By the way Ali-bedding blocks rarely fit the action and recoil lug as they should and although rigid benefit greatly from chemical bedding, check the clearance on that forearm don't close up under pressure from shooter or initial recoil stages this is a common issue with the overmolded stocks. Can't explain how your getting a wandering aim on twin bags though