Fun with Suhl 150-1

[katokoch]

I posted some photos of my custom Suhl 150-1 benchrest rifle after making a laminated cedar/carbon fiber stock for it last year, and since a lot of changes have been made to the rifle. This is the bulletin article on the rifle: http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2013/07/nice-suhl-150-1-rimfire-br-rig-with-home-built-stock/

I shot it in 8 or 9 IR50/50 matches last year and to be honest the results were pretty disappointing. It turns out the 1:19" twist factory barrel simply wouldn't cooperate if the temperatures were below 70 degrees, and it was even better in the 80s. Seeing as I live and shoot in Minnesota, temps in the 50s and 60s were the norm as we started matches in the mornings and there were only a couple months with high enough temps for the rifle to feel somewhat accurate on match day. The best target I shot was a 246 and my X counts were never very high. On a good day, my goal was just to keep my scores above 240 and that didn't always happen.

Over the winter months, I went to work on the rifle and the only things that remained unchanged were the receiver, trigger, and stock. In all, I did the following:
-Installed a new-to-me factory Suhl barrel with a 16.5" twist bore (Loctited barrel in place and re-installed pin)
-Installed a Wolff firing pin spring
-Added a new tuner, this one a "light" Harrel's model with a lathe-turned body
-Replaced the 1979 mfg. Leupold 36x scope (pre locking ring) with a brand new Leupold 40x45mm Competition scope

I had originally planned on getting a quality barrel for the rifle (I was thinking Shilen Ratchet) and having a reputable rimfire gunsmith install it, but the intake manifold gasket in my car blew out at the wrong time and swiftly eliminated my barrel budget. Another rimfire benchrest shooter very graciously sent me the factory takeoff barrel from his Suhl he was having rebarreled and I fitted and installed it on my rifle, using the instructions from rebarreling an Anschutz from Border Barrels' website. I had previously done another rifle with a pinned slip-fit tenon (Marlin 980S) and figured doing the Suhl would take an afternoon- of course it ended up taking the entire weekend!

In addition to all of this, I upgraded my front rest by getting a Caldwell Rock BR rest and replacing the windage top with my Greenlaw windage top. Previously I had a lightweight cast iron base with a non-adjustable top, and then I purchased and put the Greenlaw top on it and used that setup last year. I really like the Greenlaw top but the little cast base meant I had to be careful with moving my rifle in the rests- bump it too hard against the fore-end stop and the whole thing would move. Now this isn't the best front rest rig out there but I think it's a big improvement over what I was previously using. A perfect example of why you should just buy good equipment to begin with!

Sounds pretty good, right? At least I thought so, until I took the rifle to an indoor range to test a dozen lots of Eley Match.

It wouldn't be a trip to the indoor range without zombie targets.

It did shoot some good groups but was constantly throwing shots all over the place and on top of that many bullets made oval-shaped holes on paper, leading me to believe they weren't stabilizing. I shot more 1"+ groups at 50 yards (indoors!) that day than I want to admit to. A rifle that will shoot the occasional one-hole group is fun, but for competition I need something that will do it on a consistent basis. That first trip to the range after making all of the modifications made me want to wrap the rifle around a telephone pole.

After that I came home and instead of torching the rifle like I wanted to, I pulled the tuner off and discovered this:

Ouch. When I got the barrel I was told it might have an issue with the crown and they were not kidding. Realizing a professional fix was probably the best route, I tried lapping the crown by myself first to see if that would make any difference. It helped a little but the rifle was still being a pain. On top of that I made the drive from Minneapolis to Nebraska to do some testing in a private range and while I was boresighting the rifle in the range, my Leupold 36x took a dump on me. The crosshairs had moved since the last time I went shooting and while adjusting the windage, I noticed the crosshairs moved vertically and horizontally. Then I went to adjust the elevation and the crosshairs were dead. Click-click-click nothing! Insert your favorite curse word here! I ended up borrowing a Weaver T36 for the range session, which only showed that the rifle still had some real issues.

I ended up taking the rifle to local gunsmith Jim Kobe and he re-cut a new crown for me. I went shooting the next day with a Mueller 8.5-25x scope (my back-up target scope) and it was like I had a new rifle! When I first test ammo I like to shoot 10 3-shot groups per lot # and the rifle went from fliers in almost every 3-shot group to NO fliers. I ended up shooting my best 10x3 target yet, with one lot # producing 10 3-shot groups that averaged .127" at 50 yards indoors (and with a $150 scope, no less!).

This was the crown after that range session. Looks much better than it used to.

 

[katokoch]

I went and shot in my first match of the year with the Mueller scope on my rifle and shot 248-14x and 246-10x targets. This made me very happy since the 248 was my best yet, but I still want that 250.

This is the view looking through the Mueller.

After my Leupold 36X went down in Nebraska, I sent it in for inspection. They discovered the erector lense had separated and since they no longer have parts for the old 36X scopes, they would replace it with a new one. Two months after sending them my old 36X, I received a brand new 40x45mm Competition Series scope with a fine crosshair. Since I used BKL 257H rings with the 36x and thought they were fine, I ordered some BKL 357 rings for my new scope with its 30mm tube.

Looks good!

I immediately installed the scope once I got it and went back to the indoor range with a new scope and some real confidence in the rifle. If it could perform with a $150 scope, it should do well with a Leupold, right? Well it did. I did a little testing with the tuner and after settling on a new setting to try, I shot some IR50/50 practice targets and produced two 250 score targets. One was a 250-18x and very close to a 250-20x. I took it outside and proceeded to shoot a 248, two 249s, and a 250-18x target outdoors. It was the first 250 I'd ever shot outdoors and it felt great to pull that off after so much disappointment with the rifle.

After finally breaking the 250 barrier in practice, my next goal was to shoot it in competition. In my next match, the first with the new Leupold 40x, I came pretty close. I shot a 248-13x, and 249-12x. On the second target my first miss was #20 and on the third target my one miss was #25. I almost had it!

View through the 40x (compare to the Mueller above).

The FM #25 target...

I shot in the same condition for the whole target and held around the same area in the 10-ring. I felt confident with the condition I picked to shoot in but for whatever reason, the shot flew high on the last shot. I can still hear the groans I heard from other shooters who were watching my target through spotting scopes. The worst thing is, I had over five minutes left to shoot and could have easily sat up and taken a breather to calm my nerves. You could say I learned a lesson but we'll find out the next time I keep a target clean and have the crosshairs on #25.

I've shot in one match since that last one and conditions were terrible (20mph switchy winds) so I didn't do very well, but my rifle was still outperforming the best it did last year and that is reassuring. I could still shoot 10s when in the same conditions last year I'd be struggling to keep shots out of the "black."

For fun here's a couple videos from that match:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhoIBUbcEX4&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApiRJN66RI8&feature=youtu.be

Another shot through the 40X scope.

I still have a few more matches to shoot in this year so I'll get my opportunity at that 250 again, and thankfully I also have full confidence that I can actually do it too. It's a matter of reading the conditions and keeping my head screwed on tight at this point. After seeing the bulletin article on the rifle come up again I figured some may enjoy seeing how the rifle has changed since then. Through the good, bad, and ugly this rifle project has taught me a lot about accurate rimfire rifles and shooting- and it won't be easy but I will get that 250 with my basement-built Suhl!

 

[HuskerP7M8]

Great post Evan!
It's fun to read of all your trials & tribulation, as well as your success over the last couple of years in a single post.
It should also be helpful for others on the same path.

Landy

 

[katokoch]

Great post Evan!
It's fun to read of all your trials & tribulation, as well as your success over the last couple of years in a single post.
It should also be helpful for others on the same path.

Landy

Thanks much Landy! You've been a great help for me and I very much appreciate it.

 

[markr]

I'm just kinda wondering why the gunsmith, when recrowning the barrel didn't just go ahead and clean up to "fresh" steel instead of leaving the pitting......not that it probably hurts anything.

 

[katokoch]

I'm just kinda wondering why the gunsmith, when recrowning the barrel didn't just go ahead and clean up to "fresh" steel instead of leaving the pitting......not that it probably hurts anything.

I dunno... it's not the prettiest job I've seen but it sure as heck works (and I'd shoot the ugliest BR gun if it was the best shooting). If it was a high dollar custom sporter I'd feel differently but ultimately I paid for what I got. He charged me a fraction of what I expected the bill to be, and I'm satisfied with his work as it shows on the targets.