I picked .308 Win 700 SPS a couple of weeks ago. Been looking at Cabela's for a while and they find put em on sale. I had a $100 off coupon and some points so I wound up paying $360 out the door for it. When funds are available it's going to be a .260 so in the mean time I figure I would shoot her.
For the time being I installed a reg 2 pc Warne base and rings and borrowed a MK 4 4.5x14 I had sitting on a Marlin XL7. The trigger was set at 4lbs 13oz from the factory. I messed with it some and was only able to get it down to 4 lbs. In my opinion the "new X Mark" has alot to be desired. *note to self* add a Jewell to the list of build items.
I decided to take the hard rubber pad off and fill the hollow tupperware butt with lead shot which brought the weight up to 15lbs 7 ozs. Perfect for taming the recoil :grin As per Hooper's suggestion I gave the bore a good treatment of JB's before firing it.
It took me 3 shots to get it zeroed and these were shots 4-12. I did clean every 3 shots. Left-Right 168 smk, 155 palma,175smk
These are only 3 shot groups which I know are prohibited.
I'm thinking this thing shows some promise right of the bat. I went on to shoot another 20 or so more rounds through it. I did manage a .1 bug hole with 155gr.
Fast forward to 5-7 and I have 25 rounds of each loaded for the 5/5 group target. 168 SMK using 44.5 grs of R15 and Fed 210's and 175 SMK with 43.0 gr of Varget.I am shooting 5 shot strings and using a blower to cool the barrel down. Ambient temps are in the mid 90's. THese are all five shot groups.
I started with the 175's at the upper right hand vertical target. Things started off great, the center bull got sloppy, then it tightened up and well sloppy again. There, 25 shots on paper so I switch to the lighter 168's.
Here's the 175 SMK target up close.
The 168 load was shot on the bottom left horizontal target L-R.The first group was the best of the day. I am feeling pretty good at this point and wait and fire the next 5. Hmmmmm, things are clicking not a bad 2nd group. Now is where things go wrong............
Just as all the previous groups I fired, I was using a blower/fan to help speed up the cooling and must have gotten in a hurry. I had been placing the rifle on top of a welding machine for 5-10 minutes and would wander off and do some work in the shop. Well I dont know what happened but I heard a sound and turned to see the rifle hit scope first on a concrete floor, my heart just sank. The sun shade flew off, the side paralax knob looks slightly bent and has a big ding in it and the outside on the muzzle had a good scrape mark on it.
I was a bit upset but picked it up and decided to see if anything was awry. I should have shot at another target but didnt. I centered up on the far right bull and pow, I look and see a hole just right of the group I had just fired minutes before. I think to myself, ARGGGGGGGGGG and then shoot another. Bam, that shot went just below 6 o'clock on the middle bull. At a loss, I was on a good high and within a few minutes am hanging my head. The fall the rifle took apparently moved something as now its shooting 4 inches to the left. Those 2 shots are circled in red .
I decided to call it a day as I only had 13 rounds left and at that point did not want to zero the gun again. I am tickled about the way this $360 gun is shooting with it's plastic stock and not being floated. Sorry for the rant
For the time being I installed a reg 2 pc Warne base and rings and borrowed a MK 4 4.5x14 I had sitting on a Marlin XL7. The trigger was set at 4lbs 13oz from the factory. I messed with it some and was only able to get it down to 4 lbs. In my opinion the "new X Mark" has alot to be desired. *note to self* add a Jewell to the list of build items.
I decided to take the hard rubber pad off and fill the hollow tupperware butt with lead shot which brought the weight up to 15lbs 7 ozs. Perfect for taming the recoil :grin As per Hooper's suggestion I gave the bore a good treatment of JB's before firing it.
It took me 3 shots to get it zeroed and these were shots 4-12. I did clean every 3 shots. Left-Right 168 smk, 155 palma,175smk
These are only 3 shot groups which I know are prohibited.
I'm thinking this thing shows some promise right of the bat. I went on to shoot another 20 or so more rounds through it. I did manage a .1 bug hole with 155gr.
Fast forward to 5-7 and I have 25 rounds of each loaded for the 5/5 group target. 168 SMK using 44.5 grs of R15 and Fed 210's and 175 SMK with 43.0 gr of Varget.I am shooting 5 shot strings and using a blower to cool the barrel down. Ambient temps are in the mid 90's. THese are all five shot groups.
I started with the 175's at the upper right hand vertical target. Things started off great, the center bull got sloppy, then it tightened up and well sloppy again. There, 25 shots on paper so I switch to the lighter 168's.
Here's the 175 SMK target up close.
The 168 load was shot on the bottom left horizontal target L-R.The first group was the best of the day. I am feeling pretty good at this point and wait and fire the next 5. Hmmmmm, things are clicking not a bad 2nd group. Now is where things go wrong............
Just as all the previous groups I fired, I was using a blower/fan to help speed up the cooling and must have gotten in a hurry. I had been placing the rifle on top of a welding machine for 5-10 minutes and would wander off and do some work in the shop. Well I dont know what happened but I heard a sound and turned to see the rifle hit scope first on a concrete floor, my heart just sank. The sun shade flew off, the side paralax knob looks slightly bent and has a big ding in it and the outside on the muzzle had a good scrape mark on it.
I was a bit upset but picked it up and decided to see if anything was awry. I should have shot at another target but didnt. I centered up on the far right bull and pow, I look and see a hole just right of the group I had just fired minutes before. I think to myself, ARGGGGGGGGGG and then shoot another. Bam, that shot went just below 6 o'clock on the middle bull. At a loss, I was on a good high and within a few minutes am hanging my head. The fall the rifle took apparently moved something as now its shooting 4 inches to the left. Those 2 shots are circled in red .
I decided to call it a day as I only had 13 rounds left and at that point did not want to zero the gun again. I am tickled about the way this $360 gun is shooting with it's plastic stock and not being floated. Sorry for the rant
