Great Outing with LMT MWS and NX8 Nightforce

[Centuriator]

Had a great outing this morning fine tuning the zero on my Nightforce NX8 2.5-10. I put a full sized Fat Bastard brake on it and frankly, it is now feeling more like a super-charged 5.56, rather than .308.

I got the Nightforce zero stop set up nicely too. I was at our 100 range and the wind was pretty blustery out at 100 gusting to 15-20 mph, it is kind of a natural wind tunnel.

I'm using a 20" SS LMT barrel on it.

It's favorite ammo is Federal GMM 175gr SMKs and when I'm doing my part I'm getting .75 MOA groups at 100, shooting at 2" red sticker dots at 100, clustering them rather nicely, a few three round groups hit .5 but I feel a 5 shot group is a better "judge of character."

I'm using a Geissele SSA-E trigger group in it. I got the LMT DMR stock on it and got it adjusted perfectly from the prone, need about an extra 1.25 or so LOP on it, and once I got it all set the eye box was working very well for me, both prone and from the bench. I'm using a Harris bipod and I really concentrated on minimal contact with my hand, etc. ... I enjoy the challenge of eeking out max accuracy from a gas gun.

The NX8 2.5-20 is doing everything I wanted it to do with this rifle, and I feel it is a good offering from Nightforce if/when you don't want/need to step up to the ATACR. I put a 3" sunshade on it, so it's kind of ridiculously long looking now. I got it from Mile High Shooting and with their new customer discount of 10% I got it for $1700.

I snagged the LMT MWS on a deal they were offering a few months ago for $2000, I replaced the stock it came with, sold it and put the proceeds toward the DMR stock as seen in pic.

 

[Stepsjframe]

I have handled both LMT MWS and NX8 Nightforce and they are excellent combination. i have not use them collective but i know from personal experience that are individually top notch.

 

[Centuriator]

 

[Centuriator]

UPDATE: August 31

Another beautiful morning at Arnold Rifle and Pistol Club in Pevely, Missouri...anyone in the Saint Louis area owes it to himself to check our club out. 68-70 degrees. Fairly high humidty, kept fogging up my shooting glasses. Laser range finder told me my target was 102 yards out, maybe 101 when I stretched the rifle out.

So...this time...I have my 60X spotting scope with me. It's a Vortex and frankly, even at 100 yards it is not razor sharp...I'm looking to upgrade, but .. I had it mounted on my tripod this time...so, good enough. I put out targets at 100 yards.

My goal in this range session was to test for myself MOA on a cold barrel v. hot barrel.

I was using Federal Gold Medal Match 175gr SMK rounds...and.. from a cold bore, I was getting consistenly sub-MOA results at 100 yards. .75 and .50 at 100. Using the LMT with SS barrel. The 20x Nightforce scope shows my heart beat, moves the reticle left, then right, left, then right. So I timed my shots. Really concentrated on my breath control and trigger press. Fun times.

Here's an important note: When I had my rifle out and cleaned it, I jammed the heck out of it with a patch that was too large, apparently, and I had to pound the crap out of it, first trying it on a concrete driveway with the rod stuck, then with a mallet. I wailed on the thing. It made absolutely no difference on the scope. Zero was solid in spite of the upper receiver group beating I have it.

The NXS 2.5-20 rocks. Eyebox requires the shooter to get his position properly, pretty unforgiving, but at this point, I see no need to spend $1300 more for a ATACR scope which would be longer and heavier and anyway.

I switched over to some German surplus Mil Spec 7.62 and the groups opened up precisely double what I was getting with the match grade, but in terms Minute of Meat/Man more than good enough. I was fairly impressed. I was putting rounds into a 2-3" groups at 100 with this German stuff.

The full size Fat Bastard brake on my rifle really makes a huge difference. When I load the bipod (Harris) I can easily see each hit. I'm using a nice bean bag type rear rest and I'm nearly isolating my body mechanics from the shot as I shoot from the bench.

My trigger group is a Geiselle SSA-E and I had a bit of fun with my cheapo ammo, Maylasian surplus crap, and was working the trigger so quickly I had a few onlooker asking me if it was "automatic" ... nope, just a fast trigger finger.

As I concentrated on my cold bore shots I was pleased to be putting every shot into a very tight group.

Why is this so satisfying? I don't know, but I sure enjoy it.