Re: Favorite rifle, caliber, for ELR shooting?
RANGE REPORT 2/13/13
I was able to get to the range today and try out some loads. It was cold and windy. Clear sky. I brought 80 rounds with me and my shooting-partner,Scotsman, showed up just to spot for me.
I did not zero the scope other than to make sure the adjustable mounts for the scope we centered on the receiver.
My first shot was at a small gong set too 200 meters. It was off target at 7 o'clock 10" out. A few clicks of the dials and it was hitting dead center. At 200 meters the bullet struck the target the same time you heard the report. The FMJ 150 grain bullets were blowing holes through the 3/4" mild steel gong as if it was not there.
We moved the target out to 500 meters and Ron doped the wind for me. The pulled Turk 150 grain bullets are moving so fast that they are still blowing holes through the target even at 500 meters. Not wanting to make Swiss-Cheese out of my target, I went to the 185 grain Remington Core-Loc flat base, soft point bullet. This was over 82 grains of IMR-4831 powder.
The J&P muzzle brake is loud as one would expect, but the good news is,there is no recoil. I'm talking less than shooting an AR-15 with 55 grain bullets. A light weight .22 Hornet load recoils more when I shoot the Turk 150 grainers.
As I wrote, it was windy. 15 MPH pretty steady,left to right.
The speed of the bullet is so fast that wind was not a problem at 500 meters.
Firing from the bench and really taking my time between shots we found my rifle was shooting 2 1/2" groups at 500 meters!
And this while fire-forming the brass to my chamber! After 50 rounds down range to break in the new barrel, we drove down and took cell phone photo's of the groups I shot. Still ,some of the soft pointed bullets were blowing holes right through the plate!
Ron my spotter told me afterword that none of the bullets 150-200 grainers had ever left his line of sight due to the flat trajectory.
It was too windy for the CHRONI to be set up. I can only guess at the velocity by my computer program.
The long barrel did what I designed it to do. All of the heavy charges of normal and .50 BMG powders burned fully. The barrel did not string any of the shots. If I did my part, all rounds stayed close to one another. Barrel heat after 50 rounds in 30 minutes was not excessive, and you could grab the barrel and hold it in your hand. There is no build up of deposits on the muzzle brake. This is another plus.
Now I have to tweak my loads. Play with primers,bullet seating depth, change powders and bullets weights to see just what the rifle will do.
I will post the crappy cell phone photos later on tonight. I don't have the chip reader with me.
In all, I am very happy with the build. With the new powders and bullets I hope this will be one of the best rifles I have ever owned.