I am not a professional mall ninja or a vendor. However, I do like the fun of long range shooting, so after a year or so of reading and reading and reading I fell for the Ashbury ASW338 LM. My selected options were:
Full dark earth
27" 9.4 barrel
folding stock
30moa rail
mono pod
I dealt with Paul Laidler at Ashbury and Jimmy Foltz at TSSI. The entire purchase process was great. Paul and Jimmy were very good to answer my questions, and the rifle appeared at my local dealer 7 weeks and 5 days after the transaction was sent from TSSI to Ashbury. It would have been 7 weeks but the new manual was at the printer.
Sadly, I was traveling and had to wait an extra week to put my hands on it. My local dealer actually kept his store open late so I could get it the night I arrived back in town.
We opened the box and I have been pleased with it every second since. The fit and finish were flawless. After handling so many sloppy bolts from Remington and Savage (yep I know a custom build wouldn't do that), I was all grins as I cammed it back and slid it home... Then I passed it around... more grins. The weapon was well balanced and the composite foreend makes it much lighter than it looks
Well I went over it with a magnifying glass at home and couldn't find any flaws - for that much money I wanted a perfect weapon - except one so far. The cheek piece will not let you remove the bolt, you have to fold the stock.
I have had it for a month now and put 150 rounds thru it.
Observations:
1 - recoil is lite. I think it is the AAC brake.
2 - chamber is very tight. I had to obtain the Redding shell holder set and body die to get the shoulder bumped back enough from previously once fired brass before I could get the rounds in.
3 - .025 off the lands is the closest I could seat 300g Lapua Scenars and .105 is as close as I could get 300g Berger OTM. The ID of the 10 round mag is the limiting factor.
4 - I have fired 20 rounds of 300g Cor-Bon performance match in 2 10 round groups at 424 yards according to the leupold range finder. The 1st group measured 1.34 inchs outside. The second group measured 3.52 ( the result of still recovering from shoulder surgery )
5 - I have fired 30 rounds of 300g Lapua over 92.3g of H1000 at .030 off lands with an avg speed of 2790.5 fps and ES of 25. 1st 10 rounds measured 2.89 outside. 2nd 3.67 and 3rd 5.92
6 - I have fired 30 rounds of 300g Lapua over N570. 15 with 91.5g and 15 with 92g. The 1st 15 avg 2772.6fps and 2.98 outside the 2nd 15 avg 2790.75fps 2.07 outside.
7 - the remaining 70 rounds were all new brass loaded for a Savage BA110 but they fit the chamber and the magazine. They were fired at trees and rocks and fence posts - I hit about half of what I was aiming at.
8 - The bore cleans very easily with wipe-out patch-out sitting for 2 hours then wiped clean. I then bore-scoped it and could find any copper fouling.
That is all I have for now. When I get over the fun of shooting it and get around to actually working up a load that gets over 2800 fps with at least .5 moa at 500yards I will post it.
Full dark earth
27" 9.4 barrel
folding stock
30moa rail
mono pod
I dealt with Paul Laidler at Ashbury and Jimmy Foltz at TSSI. The entire purchase process was great. Paul and Jimmy were very good to answer my questions, and the rifle appeared at my local dealer 7 weeks and 5 days after the transaction was sent from TSSI to Ashbury. It would have been 7 weeks but the new manual was at the printer.
Sadly, I was traveling and had to wait an extra week to put my hands on it. My local dealer actually kept his store open late so I could get it the night I arrived back in town.
We opened the box and I have been pleased with it every second since. The fit and finish were flawless. After handling so many sloppy bolts from Remington and Savage (yep I know a custom build wouldn't do that), I was all grins as I cammed it back and slid it home... Then I passed it around... more grins. The weapon was well balanced and the composite foreend makes it much lighter than it looks
Well I went over it with a magnifying glass at home and couldn't find any flaws - for that much money I wanted a perfect weapon - except one so far. The cheek piece will not let you remove the bolt, you have to fold the stock.
I have had it for a month now and put 150 rounds thru it.
Observations:
1 - recoil is lite. I think it is the AAC brake.
2 - chamber is very tight. I had to obtain the Redding shell holder set and body die to get the shoulder bumped back enough from previously once fired brass before I could get the rounds in.
3 - .025 off the lands is the closest I could seat 300g Lapua Scenars and .105 is as close as I could get 300g Berger OTM. The ID of the 10 round mag is the limiting factor.
4 - I have fired 20 rounds of 300g Cor-Bon performance match in 2 10 round groups at 424 yards according to the leupold range finder. The 1st group measured 1.34 inchs outside. The second group measured 3.52 ( the result of still recovering from shoulder surgery )
5 - I have fired 30 rounds of 300g Lapua over 92.3g of H1000 at .030 off lands with an avg speed of 2790.5 fps and ES of 25. 1st 10 rounds measured 2.89 outside. 2nd 3.67 and 3rd 5.92
6 - I have fired 30 rounds of 300g Lapua over N570. 15 with 91.5g and 15 with 92g. The 1st 15 avg 2772.6fps and 2.98 outside the 2nd 15 avg 2790.75fps 2.07 outside.
7 - the remaining 70 rounds were all new brass loaded for a Savage BA110 but they fit the chamber and the magazine. They were fired at trees and rocks and fence posts - I hit about half of what I was aiming at.
8 - The bore cleans very easily with wipe-out patch-out sitting for 2 hours then wiped clean. I then bore-scoped it and could find any copper fouling.
That is all I have for now. When I get over the fun of shooting it and get around to actually working up a load that gets over 2800 fps with at least .5 moa at 500yards I will post it.
