I just got back from the range breaking in my new SRS in .338 Lapua Magnum. I'm almost surprised how impressive this rifle is - the balance and ergonomics are immediately noticeable and lead to a very comfortable shooting experience. Manipulating the rearward bolt isn't awkward at all and function of the rifle was flawless.
I spent the afternoon shooting Black Hills 250 Scenar loads, twenty via the shoot once, clean, shoot again method. Carbon fouling was about what I expected but copper fouling seemed quite a bit less than anticipated. Normally when I break a barrel in I got a lot of copper fouling early on in the first ten rounds or so. I'm not sure what the deal with that is but I've got the rifle sitting in the garage with a barrel full of Wipeout, so we'll see if maybe I wasn't aggressive enough about cleaning out the copper
I chrono'd the Black Hills ammo to get a good baseline on velocities get the rifle dialed in on paper. The average was 2850fps +-50fps across the box of 20 rounds. Not bad, Black Hills!
I initially had some hopping problems but I was able to eliminate them by getting used to shooting the rifle in the prone and just paying attention to my form and follow through (if that makes sense). The trigger on the SRS is really damned nice and coming from a bullpup configuration it makes it even more impressive. The last five rounds of the day I shot consecutive into a single string that were all touching, roughly 1/2MOA at 100 yards.
About the only complaint I had, and it was a very minor one, was the boreguide I got from DTA. It works as advertised but I wish it was longer to fit down the length of the rifle. What I noticed as I ran patches with KG-1 and KG-12 was that it was very difficult to keep solvent from getting into the rifle behind the chamber. With the magazine out this wasn't much of a problem as solvent would just drip out anyway, but I noticed it would get on the plastic towards the rear of the receiver where the bolt slides. After a few cleanings this made the bolt movement very sluggish. I resolved this by running a rag with light lube along the inside surface as well as lubing the bolt collar.
Overall I'm really happy with the rifle so far. Load development is next after I put another 10 rounds or so down the tube. Then it's time to stretch this puppy out in the desert. This is a rifle that gets a LOT of attention at the range. I got a lot of questions, some good, some clueless. For some reason a lot of people seem to think it's a Barrett. I overheard a pair of guys talking while I was shooting that last string: "That's a Barrett fifty cal...really cool, eh?" Another guy asked me how I liked my "Ba-rott". Oh well - half a dozen people know about DTA now.
I spent the afternoon shooting Black Hills 250 Scenar loads, twenty via the shoot once, clean, shoot again method. Carbon fouling was about what I expected but copper fouling seemed quite a bit less than anticipated. Normally when I break a barrel in I got a lot of copper fouling early on in the first ten rounds or so. I'm not sure what the deal with that is but I've got the rifle sitting in the garage with a barrel full of Wipeout, so we'll see if maybe I wasn't aggressive enough about cleaning out the copper
I chrono'd the Black Hills ammo to get a good baseline on velocities get the rifle dialed in on paper. The average was 2850fps +-50fps across the box of 20 rounds. Not bad, Black Hills!
I initially had some hopping problems but I was able to eliminate them by getting used to shooting the rifle in the prone and just paying attention to my form and follow through (if that makes sense). The trigger on the SRS is really damned nice and coming from a bullpup configuration it makes it even more impressive. The last five rounds of the day I shot consecutive into a single string that were all touching, roughly 1/2MOA at 100 yards.
About the only complaint I had, and it was a very minor one, was the boreguide I got from DTA. It works as advertised but I wish it was longer to fit down the length of the rifle. What I noticed as I ran patches with KG-1 and KG-12 was that it was very difficult to keep solvent from getting into the rifle behind the chamber. With the magazine out this wasn't much of a problem as solvent would just drip out anyway, but I noticed it would get on the plastic towards the rear of the receiver where the bolt slides. After a few cleanings this made the bolt movement very sluggish. I resolved this by running a rag with light lube along the inside surface as well as lubing the bolt collar.
Overall I'm really happy with the rifle so far. Load development is next after I put another 10 rounds or so down the tube. Then it's time to stretch this puppy out in the desert. This is a rifle that gets a LOT of attention at the range. I got a lot of questions, some good, some clueless. For some reason a lot of people seem to think it's a Barrett. I overheard a pair of guys talking while I was shooting that last string: "That's a Barrett fifty cal...really cool, eh?" Another guy asked me how I liked my "Ba-rott". Oh well - half a dozen people know about DTA now.
