204ar
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Post by 204ar on Aug 15, 2012 15:34:19 GMT -8
This is just a teaser, I did get the barrel yesterday, got it together this afternoon and took it out and shot 13 rounds thru it. For now I'll say I'm very impressed, pics and details will be coming later tonite!
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Post by GLSHOOTER on Aug 15, 2012 15:56:22 GMT -8
This is just a teaser, I did get the barrel yesterday, got it together this afternoon and took it out and shot 13 rounds thru it. For now I'll say I'm very impressed, pics and details will be coming later tonite! You sir, are unkind!! I am taking my THIRD Valium to still my anxiety!! Greg
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204ar
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Post by 204ar on Aug 15, 2012 17:30:45 GMT -8
Haha, sorry about that! It's a holy day and had to go to mass this evening. But here we go! Barrel looked great, love that satin look. I checked headspace and ran some wet patches thru right off the bat. It assembled without any problems. Here's the whole rifle, with my "trial" ff tube. When I'm sure it's a shooter I'll spring for a carbon fiber tube. So I went to the range, it was a lovely day for shooting! Just a slight bit breezy: This was the cross wind I was dealing with. I didn't expect much, just thought I'd get the adjustable gas block dialed in, and get it roughly zeroed. After looking down the bore to boresight it, I shot one shot which was off the paper to the left. Also needed to open up the gas block a little as the case didn't extract all the way. I adjusted the scope and shot one more, and this time the case ejected and the bolt locked back. Case landed perfectly at 3 oclock, recoil was very mild. Here's the targets: Shots 2, 3 and 4 were at the biggest orange dot. Talk about a 1 shot zero! Three of the groups were 75 gr Sierra hp's in front of 39.5 gr of 4064. Seated .010" off the lands. Interestingly, for the first group I didn't notice I had my 14x Burris turned down to about 8, and had the paralax at 50 yards. For the next groups I corrected that error and you see the results. Groups shifted slightly down and right. The 2 smallest groups were the 75's, and if you put one on top of the other they get no larger. Those 6 shots, 2 groups placed on top of each other, measure .75", this is at 120 yards. You can see where I drew the holes on the the top left target. 4 were nearly in one hole, with the 2 fliers to the left. Wind was left to right, btw. The bottom right group was 105 amax's, seated at .010" off the lands, over 47 gr of Retumbo. Not the best choice of powders for a 22" barrel, but I had some and love it in the 270 Wby. I'll try H4350 next probably with those. Oh and the shotgun pattern was my 308, also with a BHW barrel from Rainier. Not sure what's up with that thing, I expected it to shoot like this 243 does. Only thing I can think of is that it's threaded, and the thread protector sticks out past the muzzle a little. Might be messing with things? Seems far fetched, but I'm kind of starting to worry about that barrel. Two or 3 weeks ago, I talked to Andy about this 1-9. He wasn't sure it would work, but was willing to try it. He said if I wasn't happy he'd make a 1-10 for me. Well Andy, I don't think you're gonna get this one back! Shoots nearly 1/2 moa in a 25 mph crosswind! Can't wait for a calm day!
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Post by flutedbull204 on Aug 15, 2012 17:40:00 GMT -8
looks good so far, but i bet you are going to have to adjust your zero again, when it is calm I bet you will still be shooting to the left of your target a touch!!
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204ar
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Post by 204ar on Aug 15, 2012 17:50:30 GMT -8
looks good so far, but i bet you are going to have to adjust your zero again, when it is calm I bet you will still be shooting to the left of your target a touch!! Roger that! Actually it will be shooting to the right, I'd guess a couple inches. Hopefully this wasn't just a lucky outing and I can repeat these results or better.
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Post by GLSHOOTER on Aug 15, 2012 18:24:32 GMT -8
looks good so far, but i bet you are going to have to adjust your zero again, when it is calm I bet you will still be shooting to the left of your target a touch!! Roger that! Actually it will be shooting to the right, I'd guess a couple inches. Hopefully this wasn't just a lucky outing and I can repeat these results or better. Looks VERY promising. The 308 is vertical stringing. It is usually fixed by bumping the charge up. It is asking for speed. Greg PS: Don't forget Andy isn't the only one with a dog in that 1:9 fight!!
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204ar
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Post by 204ar on Aug 15, 2012 19:02:56 GMT -8
Looks VERY promising. The 308 is vertical stringing. It is usually fixed by bumping the charge up. It is asking for speed. Greg PS: Don't forget Andy isn't the only one with a dog in that 1:9 fight!! Thanks for the insight on the 308. I put these 5 rounds together just to try tonight while the 243 was cooling off. This was the min charge for Varget, which Nosler shows as the most accurate charge weight. Interestingly enough, they show nearly every powder for 150's, where the min charge is the most accurate. I thought that was odd. My last trip I tried hotter charges, the most accurate being 45.5. 46 and 46.5 started opening up again, with 46.5 stringing vertically. I just cleaned the barrel, no copper, and loaded 6 rounds with 44 gr of 4064. And I'm going to try my theory with the thread protector. I think that's a stretch, but what the heck. I also have some 178 amax to try, you think the 1-11 will work with them?
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Post by GLSHOOTER on Aug 15, 2012 19:53:45 GMT -8
[/quote] Thanks for the insight on the 308. I put these 5 rounds together just to try tonight while the 243 was cooling off. This was the min charge for Varget, which Nosler shows as the most accurate charge weight. Interestingly enough, they show nearly every powder for 150's, where the min charge is the most accurate. I thought that was odd. My last trip I tried hotter charges, the most accurate being 45.5. 46 and 46.5 started opening up again, with 46.5 stringing vertically. I just cleaned the barrel, no copper, and loaded 6 rounds with 44 gr of 4064. And I'm going to try my theory with the thread protector. I think that's a stretch, but what the heck. I also have some 178 amax to try, you think the 1-11 will work with them?[/quote] I have never had Varget do much for me. I'm more of a IMR guy. The 178 might work but I think you may be on the ragged edge on those unless you push them hard.That being said if you don't shoot them you don't now. Greg
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204ar
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Post by 204ar on Aug 20, 2012 19:25:58 GMT -8
Here's an updated pic with the carbon fiber float tube installed. What a difference that makes in how it feels, I love it! The 243 is a real winner, though I haven't shot it yet with the new float tube, it shouldn't make a difference in accuracy. It loves the 75 grainers, shoots 58 gr vmax nearly as well, and likes 100 gr Hdy's plenty well enough. Haven't shot enough 105's yet to know for sure. Now the bad news. After trying numerous loads with very little success, and no consistent success with anything, I'm declaring the 308 a dud. 1.5 moa is the best it will do with 3 shot groups, except 168 smk's, which will sometimes go into 1.25 moa for a 5 shot group. Factory ammo is abysmal, and fmjs are lucky to hit paper. Worst shooting 308 I've every seen. It's a Rainier Select, which is a 5 groove poly rifling barrel. It is a BHW barrel with Rainier's name on it. Money back guarantee, so it's going back for exchange or refund. Unless BHW wants it back themselves. No room in my safe for a 1.5 to 2 moa rifle.
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204ar
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Post by 204ar on Aug 26, 2012 16:09:28 GMT -8
On the off chance anyone is still reading this thread (lol) here are some range results from today. Load is 75 gr Sierra HP's over 39.5 gr of 4064. Velocity is 3180. I can safely get them up to 3300 with 41 grains, but accuracy seems to suffer a little. Group is sitting against a haybale, with a bipod. 360 yards: 4 shots, right and low. Had a very light left to right breeze and didn't try to compensate. And here is 450: Also 4 shots, the one furthest to the left was me. I thought I felt a little stronger breeze and tried to compensate. At 450 I had 2 on the left edge, one high and one almost dead center. Remember, though these aren't great, they do represent field shooting, sitting with a bipod. I'm sure they'd be smaller if I was shooting off a bench. All in all I'm tickled, and if I manage to call in a coyote he's in deep trouble!
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Post by GLSHOOTER on Aug 26, 2012 16:34:37 GMT -8
Very good shooting from a "field" position. Lots of powders out there to make it work. I've shot a lot of 760 under 70 grainers. Another one might be the IMR 8208. I'm not sure if the CFE 223 is usable but if it is I would try it. It is giving great velocity with 75's in my 6X6.8 with no pressures that I can see at 3330. Accuracy at 50 has been good on more than one occasion. Greg
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204ar
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Post by 204ar on Sept 21, 2013 15:52:26 GMT -8
The latest update, 13 months, 2 coyotes, 1 deer, and who knows how many hundreds of rounds later, accuracy seems to have dropped off. It's pretty erratic. I'm not sure what to think yet, but have emailed the sales department to see what they have in stock for a replacement. I wouldn't think it's shot out yet, but who knows. I think I'll test the scope on another upper. It's a Zeiss Conquest so I don't think that that's my problem.
Anyone else with a 243 barrel out there? What's been your experience afa accuracy and round count?
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Post by GLSHOOTER on Sept 21, 2013 20:54:12 GMT -8
The latest update, 13 months, 2 coyotes, 1 deer, and who knows how many hundreds of rounds later, accuracy seems to have dropped off. It's pretty erratic. I'm not sure what to think yet, but have emailed the sales department to see what they have in stock for a replacement. I wouldn't think it's shot out yet, but who knows. I think I'll test the scope on another upper. It's a Zeiss Conquest so I don't think that that's my problem. Anyone else with a 243 barrel out there? What's been your experience afa accuracy and round count? Pure target accuracy in the 243 can go away in 2000 rounds but I haven't seen a BHW barrel in 243 shot that much. Have you tried a heavy cleaning with a copper solvent? Greg
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204ar
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Post by 204ar on Sept 22, 2013 6:42:36 GMT -8
Yeah I've always cleaned it with Boretech Eliminator. Which seems to work very well while being much safer than the ammonia cleaners. I have noticed it copper fouling much more lately than it used to. A year ago you'd have to try pretty hard to get any color out of it, it's still not what I'd call a bad fouler, but much worse than it used to be.
I'm no where near 2k rounds, but probably close to 1k.
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Post by GLSHOOTER on Sept 22, 2013 8:58:20 GMT -8
Yeah I've always cleaned it with Boretech Eliminator. Which seems to work very well while being much safer than the ammonia cleaners. I have noticed it copper fouling much more lately than it used to. A year ago you'd have to try pretty hard to get any color out of it, it's still not what I'd call a bad fouler, but much worse than it used to be. I'm no where near 2k rounds, but probably close to 1k. You might look at carbon fouling in the front of the chamber. KROIL and GM Top Engine Cleaner. Sometimes you see a degradation in accuracy due to this build up. A little JB Bore past might help too in that area for a through cleaning. Greg
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