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F-TR 600-36X at 500 Yd.

Woo-hoo!!! I nailed it today, with a 600-36X at 500 yards in F-TR (200-13, 200-8, 200-15). I've shot 23 600's before with the sling, but this is my first in F-TR and I was pretty happy about it! Conditions were pretty mild for Phoenix and it didn't even get too hot, mid 90's or so.

BAT 3L with a Krieger 1:11" twist medium Palma (#15), Nightforce NSX on about 30X, Rempel bipod, Robertson stock.

The load was WCC 60 .308 brass, Russian primers, 42.0 IMR 4064 (1960 vintage), Sierra 180's (also pretty old) moly coated and pointed with a Whidden tool.

Yesterday My friend John L. throated it out a bit for me and that seemed to clean up the elevation a bit. It now has 0.100" freebore (more or less, it's hard to be real exact here). I'll have an article next month on the website about the throating process. What was fun to see today was that after having the barrel off the action, the action out of the stock, the scope off the action and then reassembling everything, the first shot out of the barrel was a 10 at 9:00 with perfect elevation. Nice to know the rifle holds zero even through total disassembly.

The barrel had 1150 rounds on it before the throat job, which essentially left a brand new throat. As always, my break-in consisted of shooting a match. Seems to work, that's the second time I shoot a 600 for a "break-in."

Thanks for putting up with me, but I thought at least the load details might be useful to others, work up to the load, it isn't particularly hot, but my powder is 52 years old and the bullets are at least 30 years old and things do change over time, both in manufacturing and the powder even just from age.

gas%2520600-36%2520FTR.jpeg
 
Wow, great shooting! Are those the "old" style Sierra 180's with the longer boat-tails? What is your velocity with that load if you don't mind me asking?
 
Spencer, yes, they are the old style, but I've shot both types back to back before and don't see any difference at 500 yards except that because the short boat-tail versions have a bit more bearing surface it's worth reducing the load by a couple of tenths. I've never chronographed the load, so kind of clueless, but the same load with a 190 give me 2640 fps, so maybe with the 180 it would be 2670 to 2680, just guessing at that...

The old 180 like I used is essentially a 190 with a bit of shank removed; the modern 180 is a 168 with a bit of shank added. they're both great bullets; no magic in either one.
 
Great shooting sir! Thanks for sharing with us. It is always a pleasure to read what you are doing and how it is working for you.
 
Woo-hoo!!! I nailed it today, with a 600-36X at 500 yards in F-TR (200-13, 200-8, 200-15). I've shot 23 600's before with the sling, but this is my first in F-TR and I was pretty happy about it! Conditions were pretty mild for Phoenix and it didn't even get too hot, mid 90's or so.

Great Job! Keep it up!

Dennis
 
Nice Job - I am envious :)

Was the throating an attempt to fix vertical or a nice additional outcome?.... I know wait for the blog ;)
 
Thanks for the kind remarks, everyone!

NZ, the throating was done to get the shank of the 190 Sierra above the neck shoulder junction on the case. I have a lot of 190's, which I like, but wasn't using them in this barrel because it wasn't chambered with my usual long-throat reamer and I don't like getting the shank below the neck.

I used the 180's today because it was just a quick club match at 500 yd. and I know they shoot well enough there. The vertical before throating wasn't bad, but it was more than X ring, I would say that today, more than 50 of the 60 record shots had solid X ring elevation. I think the 180's shank might have been below the neck also, I'll check with my previous measurements and the cutaway cases and include that in the article.
 
Fantastic German -- it's great to see your dedication to excellence pay off. Hopefully you may stick with F-TR a while longer even as the shoulder heals up.

Bravo.
 
Congratulations, that is fantastic. Is this the Ben Avery Range? I shot at the Black Canyon range in a NRA High Power match in the mid 80's, is this the same range?
 
Black Canyon/Ben Avery is still there, but the match was at the Phoenix Rod & Gun Club on the south side of town, about 30 miles south of Ben Avery. We don't shoot at Ben Avery after April because of the heat and lack of roof; we get going there again in November.
 
My mistake, German. I read it that he was asking if Black Canyon and Ben Avery are the same. I know you guys retreat to the shade when temps rise. ;)
 
Great shooting, German!

Looking forward to your upcoming throating article. I have a .308 that is a bit short throated for the 185 LRBT's that I shoot. It could benefit from a rethroating.
 

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