First-time attempt at self-teaching/building

[davethegreat]

For the first time in my life I am able to buy all-new components and put a gun package together from the ground up. Not top-of-the-line stuff, but decent items that haven't already been broken in by some other shooter. So I decided that rather than adding yet another medium-range rifle or nifty pistol or obscure collector's item I would try to dip my toe in long-range shooting.

This is what I wound up with. Barrel break-in is next week.

Savage 111 FCNS .300 WIN MAG (with Accutrigger and the newer version of Accustock)
Warne steel 20 MOA base
Warne rings
SWFSA Supersniper 20x scope
iPhone with iStrelock (one of the many ballistic apps they have)

I'm opting out of Tacti-cool stuff (I'm very much a civilian now) and my goal is mainly to place rounds accurately rather than have them maintain lethality at such ranges.

So the plan is to take my rangefinder out and put a two-foot stake in the ground every 100 meters with a strip of marking tape hanging on it (more to see wind changes downrange rather than using them as a distance marker). Then one shot, clean, let it cool down (will bring plenty of other guns to shoot while waiting), shoot and clean and shoot and clean. One shot, cold-bore, for about 50 shots. I would rather not shoot groups yet because a warm rifle often has a slightly different point of aim than a cold rifle.

I honestly don't know if the rifle will shoot better than me or I will shoot better than the rifle. I have been shooting my whole life, plus military and police training, but have never tried to go out this far (when I was in the Army, they really only trained us out to 200 meters. Police out to 50). The math is fun to do and I'm hoping the fundamentals of grip, breathing and trigger are the same. Keeping the rifle upright is something I will have to practice (spotter/buddy will actually use a theodolite to let me know if the scope/rifle vertical line is off in my posture), and I am planning to log every single shot.

The range is going to be over wet grass (Oregon: we always have wet grass) so there should not be too much thermal uplift. And I have a dozen various kinds of ammo to try to find a commercial version my gun likes, and then base handload data off that.

Are there any tips you guys have? Any glaringly obvious things that you guys notice that I have missed? I welcome feedback, especially since I am trying to get there on my own. I have always been an above-average shot at average distances but I have no ego about my untested abilities at anything beyond 400 meters. 1000+ is uncharted territory for me.

 

[MALLARD]

Re: First-time attempt at self-teaching/building

depending on the quality of your ammo it should go easy

uh... could you post a video of the theodolite in action?

 

[wadebrown]

Re: First-time attempt at self-teaching/building

one shot then clean bore for the first 50 shots is overkill even with a factory tube. I use to break in my barrels cleaning after each shot for the first 10 shots, then every 3 shots, every 5 shots, etc, now I clean the gun after I get home for the first 200-300 shots and then every 200-300 shots after that. I figured I was good enough at cleaning and I should take my time practicing shooting. I have seen no differences in the accuracy or life of the barrel since changing my "break-in" routine.

 

[Blasst]

Re: First-time attempt at self-teaching/building

yep...you might want to read the cleaning sticky in the gunsmithing forum.
Congrats on the new gun direction. I picked up a new creedmoor today that promises to be awesome. While I was at my FFL waiting and looking at their guns I saw an old Tommy gun. WOW I would love to have that collectors item. Instead of carefully placed shots I'd rain down lead in all directions. Lol

 

[Dogtown]

Re: First-time attempt at self-teaching/building

Theodolite? From the Dean Michaelis school of thought...

 

[davethegreat]

Re: First-time attempt at self-teaching/building

I will get some video of the theodolite once we are out there. And compare the real one to the theodolite iPhone app just for giggles (I doubt either of them are necessary, but this is recreation for me, and gadgets are fun). Actually, looking at my range bag I realize the vast majority of the stuff I usually carry is totally unnecessary but still fun.

Thanks for the info on the barrel. A lot of what I know about guns in general falls into the "WWI generation taught the next who taught the next who taught the next who taught me" school. Century-old tips that may well have made more sense back then than they do now. I have a couple days yet, so I'll read the sticky and figure out how much cleaning I really want to do. I may just go to a nylon brush after the first ten rounds or so, mainly while waiting for it to cool off (I really do prefer sighting in on a cold bore rather than a hot one. Modern rifles should not matter much but I grew up shooting really old really cheap rifles that could drift 1-3 MOA between the first cold shot and the last burn-your-hand-if-you-touch-the-barrel hot shot).

Or I will use the time between shots for something else. Like shooting my .22 short rifle and marveling at the difference

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: First-time attempt at self-teaching/building

First, I no longer rely on a break-in procedure as once I did.

IMHO, the only thing inside the barrel that will really benefit from a wearing-in process is the tooling marks in the throat area left over from the throating operation. I rather doubt that anything short of abrasives will speed that, and I don't like putting abrasives down a bore, period.

Without abrasive, I think that friction from a copper bullet is not an effective measure, and suspect thet the real process at work is probably high temperature ablation by the propellent gasses as they expand through the case neck and out through the throat.

I seriously doubt that cleaning is going to have any effect, good or bad, on this; unless you don't employ a cleaning rod guide, and then the effect will likely be all bad.

So, I'd simply shoot the rifle, and whenever I cleaned it, whether after each shot or after each shooting session, I'd be sure to use the rod guide.

I'd use this time to fireform cases and do load/pressure testing.

These are steps that are not dependent on a consistent bore transit time, which IMHO is not going to settle down and beome dependable before the throat finishes the bulk of its wear-in process. The rifle will show some tightenng up of grouping, whatever the loads, once this process is by and large complete.

Then, and only then, will load development provide meaningful results.

The .300WM is a rather ambitious choice of chambering. It will give you LR performance, but it will come at a price. Recoil and throat wear will be at the rather higher end of the scale. This may not be an obvious issue for you, but no matter who you are, recoil over time is fatiguing, and invariably affects your practice and performance.

The .300WM is desirable because it should provide a flatter trajectory. If I have a point here, it's that I suspect you will eventually awaken to the fact that identical trajectories can be more agreeably obtained with less energy expenditure (meaning less cost and recoil). Meanwhile; I do hope you're putting some ballest into that Savage stock with the 300WM.

Simply put, you can get the same drop and drift with a .260 Rem, and maybe even better from the .280 Rem. Your Savage can be converted to these chamberings (except for the magazine, but I shoot LR as single feed anyway) with a barrel and bolt head swap.

File these tidbits away for future refence; for once that love affair with the .300WM goes lukewarm.

Greg