We finally got home from our deployment last Tuesday and I was super excited to shoot my new 338LM, BUT our command told us we could not handle personal firearms for the first 96 hours were home. It was pure torture looking at my new rifle just sitting their... I tried to make the best of that time and made a bunch of hand loads to test out on Sunday. Sunday rolls around and I head out to the gun store for some last minute bullshit and MY CAR BREAKS DOWN IN THE PARKING LOT !!!!! WTTFFFFFFF!!!!! Being that I was super determined to get to the range I got my car towed and hijacked my wife's SUV and off I went. I finally make it to the range and my chronograph and all the stuff needed to test new hand loads and break in a new rifle. I had my iphone with ballistic FTE sitting on table ready to do a range log. I take aim at the 100yard zero target, put my finger on the trigger, give it a squeeze BANG! It works! I proceed to get a nice 100 yard zero then, out of the corner of my eye I see something laying on the ground. ITS MY PHONE, WITH A SHATTERD SCREEN FML, THERE GOES MY DOPE! Normally I do not rely on my iphone to provide dope, but since I there was a lot of unknown variables like muzzle velocity, I decided to use FTE at the range once I sent some rounds over the chronograph. At this point I was pretty mad and decided to a break for about 10 minutes. During this time a man and his sons showed up, his son had 22lr with what had to be a three 100 round mags. I told them which target was mine and asked them not to shoot it. So what happens? You guessed it, the kid dumps about 300 round in less ten minutes into my zero target shredding it to nothing. Sigh....... I take my rifle up to the 250 yard line to get a 250 yard zero. I send some rounds down and get my zero. At this time a friend of mine that was with me asked if he could shoot the new rifle. I give him a couple rounds and walked to the club house for a bio break. I come back to see that he is shooting at the 750 yard target and has adjusted my elevation knobs before I had set my zero stop. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! AM I LIVING IN SOME COUNTRY SONG NIGHTMARE FFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. At this point I pretty much give up and continue shooting to further the barrel break in and get some chronograph data. Out of the days misery I did find a decent load for the rifle. 93.5 grains of Retumbo seated with a 285gr Hornady BTHP. The rifle seemed to prefer my rounds .040 of the lands. All-in-all I was just glad when the day was over.
Today I went back out to the range with 40 hand loads, a new iphone, a new starter for my car, and a renewed sense of excitement. I sat down and took three shots and I couldn't have been more happy! Pay no attention to the .223 from some dillweed shooting my target yet again.
I make a few more adjustments and head over the 250-1k firing line. I sit down and work up a firing solution for 500yards on my new iphone with a $50 dollar case (not taking a chance). I take aim, squeeze the trigger, fire a round instantly hear a PING! I look through my scope and see the steel target flailing around violently! When it settles I see a big black spot dead center of the target! Next, I adjusted my scope for 750 yards took a shot then PING, nailed it! I couldn't tell where because the target was getting a lot of use. To make sure it wasn't a fluke I took another shot and PING, hit it again. At this point I am feeling good and all buyers remorse has left my mind. I adjust my scope for 1000 yards and send one down range, PING! AS you can see below I hit the target just a bit right. I made a quick correction then fired the next two shots which landed a few inches apart from each other! After the third shot the range was going cold for about 35 minutes and I had to go. Needless to say I couldn't have been happier! Big thanks to Gunsmith Mike Bryant For building this great rifle!
(1000 yards, winds at about 10-15 mph 90 degrees from the muzzle)
The best part is that I am not even done breaking her in. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the report.
here is a link to the builder http://www.bryantcustom.com/
Today I went back out to the range with 40 hand loads, a new iphone, a new starter for my car, and a renewed sense of excitement. I sat down and took three shots and I couldn't have been more happy! Pay no attention to the .223 from some dillweed shooting my target yet again.
I make a few more adjustments and head over the 250-1k firing line. I sit down and work up a firing solution for 500yards on my new iphone with a $50 dollar case (not taking a chance). I take aim, squeeze the trigger, fire a round instantly hear a PING! I look through my scope and see the steel target flailing around violently! When it settles I see a big black spot dead center of the target! Next, I adjusted my scope for 750 yards took a shot then PING, nailed it! I couldn't tell where because the target was getting a lot of use. To make sure it wasn't a fluke I took another shot and PING, hit it again. At this point I am feeling good and all buyers remorse has left my mind. I adjust my scope for 1000 yards and send one down range, PING! AS you can see below I hit the target just a bit right. I made a quick correction then fired the next two shots which landed a few inches apart from each other! After the third shot the range was going cold for about 35 minutes and I had to go. Needless to say I couldn't have been happier! Big thanks to Gunsmith Mike Bryant For building this great rifle!
(1000 yards, winds at about 10-15 mph 90 degrees from the muzzle)
The best part is that I am not even done breaking her in. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the report.
here is a link to the builder http://www.bryantcustom.com/
