jds holler
Gold $$ Contributor
I finally got this little rifle out for a maiden voyage today, and gotta say that I didn't get stung for the money I spent. This is a straight up Gen 1 in .243 Win, that Sportsmans was blowing out for $325. I've been tinkering around with smoothing things up, and such, and did the trigger hack, getting a very nice 2.5, and crispy. - And slapped one of my Vipers on it.
I've been laid up with this foot for over three months now, but finally got to get out almost like a two legged guy.
I had a batch of old reloads here that I'd tried with my old M77 with mediocre results prolly 5 years ago. They were WINCHESTER bulk bullets (80 Gr.) no less, and under them I have old surplus Hodgdon H380. I figured I'd use them to get on target, which we did, and then proceeded to rip off a .358" group.
Well that gave me some hope.
Then I started out shooting what I'd bought to try out, Horn., 108 gr. ELD M's with Staball 6.5. I left them out at "touch" and started low, figuring to find out how hot I could get before things got tight. Well things never did get too hot but group went to hell at 42.5 gr.
Velocity was right where it's sposed to be according to book, and groups were OK - mostly inch or less. And I haven't messed with seating depth at all, yet.
Those bullets are pretty heavy for this rifle, and I can't seat them out further. They probably aren't the best choice, but I wanted to try them..
I frankly didn't know what to expect, but I wasn't disappointed. And there aint nothing wrong with a cheap date for a cheap skate.
I've been laid up with this foot for over three months now, but finally got to get out almost like a two legged guy.
I had a batch of old reloads here that I'd tried with my old M77 with mediocre results prolly 5 years ago. They were WINCHESTER bulk bullets (80 Gr.) no less, and under them I have old surplus Hodgdon H380. I figured I'd use them to get on target, which we did, and then proceeded to rip off a .358" group.
Well that gave me some hope.Then I started out shooting what I'd bought to try out, Horn., 108 gr. ELD M's with Staball 6.5. I left them out at "touch" and started low, figuring to find out how hot I could get before things got tight. Well things never did get too hot but group went to hell at 42.5 gr.
Velocity was right where it's sposed to be according to book, and groups were OK - mostly inch or less. And I haven't messed with seating depth at all, yet.
Those bullets are pretty heavy for this rifle, and I can't seat them out further. They probably aren't the best choice, but I wanted to try them..
I frankly didn't know what to expect, but I wasn't disappointed. And there aint nothing wrong with a cheap date for a cheap skate.
