I wanted to go shoot the new stick, but did not have any load info and all I had was virgin Lapua brass. Stan the BBB had given me a recipe he has been using for his rifle. I did not have his powder so I searched the Hide and found a promising Varget load. I decided to use the Big Bam Boo’s bullet seating for the 130gr VLDs along with the Varget load I found. Upon attempting to seat the first bullet, I noticed the boat tail was only in the neck about 3/16 of an inch, now I know the Berger VLDs are seated out long, but this was crazy!! I called Stan and it was apparent his Hornady comparator and my Sinclair comparator were not in agreement from the ogive. Stan gave me his cartridge OAL and I seated accordingly then measure and decided to use this length for my loads. Stan told me he was seating the VLDs 15k into the lands. I did not know where my lands was so I figured I better back off the length a bit as I did not want to over pressure right off the bat. As I was loading, I found a one of the new Lapua brass had very little neck tension, I decided to use this case to find my lands. I minimally seated a bullet and closed the bolt. I took this measurement and performed the same function several more times until I got a consistent reading. I added 5K and used this for my cartridge OAL.
I laser bore sighted the rifle at 50 yards, checked all the screws one last time and off to the range I went. Well the first 5 shots were no where on paper at 100 yards! I ran two patches though the rifle and saw very little copper. I re-laser bore sighted the rifle, this time at 100 yards. I fired and still nothing? I tried to look down the barrel to bore sight the old fashion way but 30” is a lot of barrel to try and look into when indoors and dimly lit. I fired again at the top of the 24 inch target and hit nothing. I fired again at the bottom of the target and found a hole about ½ way up close to the left edge. I adjusted the scope and fired again, this time not even on paper. I scratched my head an ran another patch down the pipe, no copper at all. So I reloaded and fired again, still nothing. I then realized I had adjusted my scope in the wrong direction, both ways!! I counted back my clicks and fired again. Ahh back on paper but still low and left. I readjusted the scope and shot until I was now just a couple of inches low and left. One more shot and I was pretty close to being on at a 100. But alas I had gone through 13 of the 20 rounds I brought. I fired at a clean target and hit a tad high, I clicked down two and hit the bulls but just a tad left. One click right and bingo. I now only had five rounds left, I sighted in on a new target and let her rip, I was a tad high but this load was 3grains heaver then the previous one. I shot again and damn if it did not go in the same hole! Two more rounds were pretty much in the same hole. I had one more round for a damn near perfect bug hole, then the flier!! Wouldn’t you know it, damn, but the flyer was not a real bad one.
I cannot wait to get out again, now that my brass is fired formed I know the rifle will shoot even better. I don’t think I will have much to do in the way of load development. The first target below is of shots # 13, 14 and 15. The target below that is well you know!!
I think Jason from Chipley Arms out did himself of this build. I want to thank him for all his hard work and attention to detail, the proof is in the pudding as they say. As for Stan, well he got me into the Tikkas so nuff said there.
Shots 13,14,15
5 shot group
I laser bore sighted the rifle at 50 yards, checked all the screws one last time and off to the range I went. Well the first 5 shots were no where on paper at 100 yards! I ran two patches though the rifle and saw very little copper. I re-laser bore sighted the rifle, this time at 100 yards. I fired and still nothing? I tried to look down the barrel to bore sight the old fashion way but 30” is a lot of barrel to try and look into when indoors and dimly lit. I fired again at the top of the 24 inch target and hit nothing. I fired again at the bottom of the target and found a hole about ½ way up close to the left edge. I adjusted the scope and fired again, this time not even on paper. I scratched my head an ran another patch down the pipe, no copper at all. So I reloaded and fired again, still nothing. I then realized I had adjusted my scope in the wrong direction, both ways!! I counted back my clicks and fired again. Ahh back on paper but still low and left. I readjusted the scope and shot until I was now just a couple of inches low and left. One more shot and I was pretty close to being on at a 100. But alas I had gone through 13 of the 20 rounds I brought. I fired at a clean target and hit a tad high, I clicked down two and hit the bulls but just a tad left. One click right and bingo. I now only had five rounds left, I sighted in on a new target and let her rip, I was a tad high but this load was 3grains heaver then the previous one. I shot again and damn if it did not go in the same hole! Two more rounds were pretty much in the same hole. I had one more round for a damn near perfect bug hole, then the flier!! Wouldn’t you know it, damn, but the flyer was not a real bad one.
I cannot wait to get out again, now that my brass is fired formed I know the rifle will shoot even better. I don’t think I will have much to do in the way of load development. The first target below is of shots # 13, 14 and 15. The target below that is well you know!!
I think Jason from Chipley Arms out did himself of this build. I want to thank him for all his hard work and attention to detail, the proof is in the pudding as they say. As for Stan, well he got me into the Tikkas so nuff said there.
Shots 13,14,15
5 shot group
