Spring has finally sprung here in the great state of Utah and I was able to eke out a few hours this weekend to sight and break in three rifles this past weekend. My break-in procedure is to fire one shot and clean five times and then fire five consecutive five-shot strings cleaning in between. Due to time, I only fired the first five individual shots and then one five shot string. The weather was perfect at 68*F and virtually no breeze and overcast just enough to keep the sun out of my eyes.
I set the target up at about 70 yards for sight-in mainly because I had shorts on and didn't want to wade through 30 yards of sage brush to get to 100 and because I wasn't really shooting for accuracy considerations.
First up is the AR. It's an older model Rock River National Match A2 that's been sitting in the back of the safe unfired for close to fifteen years now. I'm not a big AR guy & I bought this back when a friend of mine was in charge of the Army's shooting team. He was able to get them at the same price the Army was paying so I picked one up on a whim. Now that my younger son is 15, he's taken a particular interest in this rifle so I threw a 3x9 scope I had laying around on it and took it along. The ammo was some 60 grain Hornady SP I loaded up for I forget what - perfect for breaking in a barrel.
Not too bad and about what i would expect.
Next up was my 204 Ruger. This is one I had put together over the winter. It's a trued up Reminton 700 action in a B&C Medallist stock with a 25" Shilen select match barrel in #3 contour. It's wears a Nikon Monarch 5-20 BDC scope; the perfect walking varminter IMHO. Ammo was new Winchester brass with Rem 7-1/2 primers, 26.0 gr WCC 844 powder (h335 equivalent) topped with Nosler Varmageddon 32 grain pills.
A really nice group except the fourth shot dropped out about 1/2 inch. I'm less than impressed with my Winchester brass. The primer pockets vary from quite tight to almost too loose and this in new brass and it appears to be ignition related given it dropped straight down. Anyway, I'm stoked as it looks to definately be a performer!
Last up is my CZ 527 in 17 Hornet. It's the varminter model which I like but they all come in a wood stock which I don't like quite so much. I have an early 527 chambered in 223 with an HS Precision kevlar stock. It shoots 1/2" groups all day long. I've been thinking about trying to find a kevlar or laminated stock for the 17 Hornet but haven't come across anything yet but I haven't been actively looking either. The only thing I've done to it was adjust the trigger a bit lighter so it's more to my liking. One thing the factory did do was float the barrel and bed the recoil lug into the stock so that probably helps. This one has a Nikon Monarch 4-16 Mil dot scope on it. I shot the factory Hornady 20 grain Superformance ammo and the results were a real surprise!
Now I have several custom guns that will shoot like this but I've never had a factory gun shooting factory ammo shoot that well!!! You could have tipped me over with a feather! That's five shots in a group of 0.13" and I wasn't particularly trying since I was in a bit of a hurry. Now granted they won't be quite like that at a hundy but I think this one is a keeper!
The best part is I'm supposed to go look at Prairie dogs this weekend
Smile for the camera.
I set the target up at about 70 yards for sight-in mainly because I had shorts on and didn't want to wade through 30 yards of sage brush to get to 100 and because I wasn't really shooting for accuracy considerations.
First up is the AR. It's an older model Rock River National Match A2 that's been sitting in the back of the safe unfired for close to fifteen years now. I'm not a big AR guy & I bought this back when a friend of mine was in charge of the Army's shooting team. He was able to get them at the same price the Army was paying so I picked one up on a whim. Now that my younger son is 15, he's taken a particular interest in this rifle so I threw a 3x9 scope I had laying around on it and took it along. The ammo was some 60 grain Hornady SP I loaded up for I forget what - perfect for breaking in a barrel.
Not too bad and about what i would expect.
Next up was my 204 Ruger. This is one I had put together over the winter. It's a trued up Reminton 700 action in a B&C Medallist stock with a 25" Shilen select match barrel in #3 contour. It's wears a Nikon Monarch 5-20 BDC scope; the perfect walking varminter IMHO. Ammo was new Winchester brass with Rem 7-1/2 primers, 26.0 gr WCC 844 powder (h335 equivalent) topped with Nosler Varmageddon 32 grain pills.
A really nice group except the fourth shot dropped out about 1/2 inch. I'm less than impressed with my Winchester brass. The primer pockets vary from quite tight to almost too loose and this in new brass and it appears to be ignition related given it dropped straight down. Anyway, I'm stoked as it looks to definately be a performer!
Last up is my CZ 527 in 17 Hornet. It's the varminter model which I like but they all come in a wood stock which I don't like quite so much. I have an early 527 chambered in 223 with an HS Precision kevlar stock. It shoots 1/2" groups all day long. I've been thinking about trying to find a kevlar or laminated stock for the 17 Hornet but haven't come across anything yet but I haven't been actively looking either. The only thing I've done to it was adjust the trigger a bit lighter so it's more to my liking. One thing the factory did do was float the barrel and bed the recoil lug into the stock so that probably helps. This one has a Nikon Monarch 4-16 Mil dot scope on it. I shot the factory Hornady 20 grain Superformance ammo and the results were a real surprise!
Now I have several custom guns that will shoot like this but I've never had a factory gun shooting factory ammo shoot that well!!! You could have tipped me over with a feather! That's five shots in a group of 0.13" and I wasn't particularly trying since I was in a bit of a hurry. Now granted they won't be quite like that at a hundy but I think this one is a keeper!
The best part is I'm supposed to go look at Prairie dogs this weekend
Smile for the camera.
