A review of the Cadex CDX-30 in 6.5 Creedmoor PIC HEAVY!

T

Tikka223

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
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Location
New Brunswick
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Well it took 9 months from the time of my order but the rifle has finally arrived! The heavy demand for 6.5 Creedmoor barrels south of the border is the main culprit for the delay. Now that it's here and I'm my hands I'm posting this quick review of my first impressions.

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First the muzzle brake. What a pleasant surprise this little device has been! I've never fired a 6.5 Creedmoor before but there was literally no recoil. The very large butt pad no doubt helped, as did the weight of the rifle but the brake no doubt did it'a job. I had no problem whatsoever staying on target and there was zero muzzle flip and no movement of the rifle side to side.

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The butt stock. The butt stock is one of the main features that sold me on this rifle. My last long range rifle was a TrG-22, a fantastic rifle, but a rifle with poor adjustment and one that did not fit me well. The adjustments on the Cadex are fast, tooless and simple. Squeeze the two tabs to adjust comb height, flip the tab for length of pull, pull the lever to adjust butt stock height. The folding mechanism is bank vault smooth and the is literally no movement whatsoever in the butt stock.

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The action. Impressive. It is probably smoother than my TRG-22 with very nice tolerances. The three lugs make for a very short bolt lift and it does not require much effort to lift the bolt. Very slick. My first complaint: the length of the bolt slows how quickly you can cycle the action. Second complaint: the bolt is so nicely made that if you try to cycle it quickly it feels like it binds on itself, but really, that's my fault. Third complaint: the safety can't be actioned with your shooting hand. However, if Cadex's goal was to make it idiot-proof, they succeeded, you can't miss the safety because it's right in your face.

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Some final remarks:

The trigger. This rifle has a very nice two stage trigger. I fell in love with the TRG's trigger and so can't help but think of when when using the Cadex. The trigger is smooth in the first stage and perfect in the second when it breaks. If I could change anything it would be to add a little more weight to the take up stage and make the trigger blade a little wider and less concave.

The mags. The Cadex came with a 10 round Accurate mag. I bought a second 5 round Accurate mag from the dealer. I've heard a few complaints about Accurate Mags. The mags are smooth and not nearly as hard to load as some claim. I did have two problems in the 20 rounds I fired. First: the spring did not push a round up hard enough causing the bolt to go over the mag without feeding a round. Second, when cycling the bolt slowly to keep your brass from flying into the snow (the Cadex really throws the brass) the mag can feed a round Crocker, causing a fail to feed.

Lastly, the height. Something many won't consider is the height of the rifle. Next range trip I will actually have to bring a booster seat. The scope sits so high that sitting on the bench I am not tall enough to look through my scope, and I'm 5'9" tall. The bright side is that the bore axis is quite low which no doubt helps with recoil management.

Next post will be a quick range report.
 
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Range Report:

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Not bad. Not bad at all!

I went through a barrel break in that froze my fingertips. Hopefully it was worth my while but I'm not completely sold on these barrel break-in voodoo practices.

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Shot 1, cleaned
Shot 1, cleaned
Shot 3, cleaned
Etc.

The wind was a little off and on, mostly at 12 o'clock. I'm not sure if that's what accounted for the vertical dispersion but it could also be that I'm shooting a barrel that's freshly cleaned and then fouled.

The first two shots on the bottom of the right side were to get on paper with a rough zero. The next shots were all at the diamond on the left and were at 100m. The 3 shot group to the right of the diamond is the first group, the 5 in the verticale group on the left is the second group. Not sure what happened with the shots that went high and low but it was nice to be center punching the target.

Next up was a 10 shot group at 300m, all fired at the diamond on the right. I used Hornady's box info to get a firing solution for 300m: 1.1Mil. Turns out that .8Mil would have been better. I fired one shot then corrected. The remaining 9 were with .8Mil. I don't know why two escaped the group. The lowest one was not pulled and I'm left wondering if Hornady forgot a few grains of powder in that case. The remaining 6 shots leave me with great optimism.

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I was shooting 120gr AMAX factory ammo.
 
Looks like a nice piece of kit! Looking forward to see what this rifle prints later on this year? Any idea on how far you're going to be taking it out too?
 
The range goes to 1000m, so I plan on taking full advantage ... just need to remember to bring my snowshoes for the 2k treck to the target and back.
 
Instead of walking you should setup a remote viewer. I am most often by myself when shooting, and at 1000 meters it can be hard to determine if you hit the steel, let alone if you actually wanted to know where you hit the steel. You can buy one but they are easy as pie to build and at least half the price. I built one using a Ubiquiti's Locco M2, a Dlink security camera and a portable battery booster that happen to have a 12-volt plug in. You need a converter for the power. I then can watch the targets on my tablet using the Dlink app. Works great out to 2000 meters (not that I can shoot that far, I just wanted to see how far it worked, but after about 2000 meters I didn't care that much anymore). The security camera works ok, but what would even be better is if you had a Wifi enable camcorder. Then you can set it up away from the target and use the zoom to get right in on the target.
 
tomapleleafss said:
Instead of walking you should setup a remote viewer. I am most often by myself when shooting, and at 1000 meters it can be hard to determine if you hit the steel, let alone if you actually wanted to know where you hit the steel. You can buy one but they are easy as pie to build and at least half the price. I built one using a Ubiquiti's Locco M2, a Dlink security camera and a portable battery booster that happen to have a 12-volt plug in. You need a converter for the power. I then can watch the targets on my tablet using the Dlink app. Works great out to 2000 meters (not that I can shoot that far, I just wanted to see how far it worked, but after about 2000 meters I didn't care that much anymore). The security camera works ok, but what would even be better is if you had a Wifi enable camcorder. Then you can set it up away from the target and use the zoom to get right in on the target.
Click to expand...

That sounds like quite the little project actually. I don't know if I'm savvy enough. Can you point me to a how to video or something like that?
 
Tikka223 said:
That sounds like quite the little project actually. I don't know if I'm savvy enough. Can you point me to a how to video or something like that?
Click to expand...

I too would be interested in more info about how to set this up..any links to more info would be greatly appreciated..will usually my google-fu to see what I can find
 
What a really nice rig, congrats.

On the remote viewing subject. I use my drone as a remote viewer. Maybe find a used or cheap camera drone and set it near the target, then view it at the firing line on your iPad.

I dont shoot at three miles, however my video downlink has been verified to at least that distance.
A live 720 downlink and 1080p or 2k target video and reduced hiking in deep snow.
 
Never ever thought of using a drone. Might work better than my idea. I did a very quick amazon look and anything with a 1 km range is pretty pricey. I love the idea though, way to think out of the box.

As far as my project, I am a bit of a techy (but far from an expert) so with a bit of help for the IT guys at work I basically built it myself. Basically it works the same way your wireless home security camera works. You need a network. That is what the router is for, it is the same as your house router (well almost). It can still establish a local network (or WiFi) but there is nothing on it (no internet, unlike the one at your house). Mine is a long range (specs say 5 km, get one that specs at least double of what your longest range will be), outdoor router. There are tons of different ones out there, mine was $100. People like a cattle farmer may use one to watch his cattle from inside the house. He sets up the router and cameras in the barn and then sends the signal to the house. Now my camera is easy to link to the router because it has a LAN cable. I just plug the cable into the router and now the camera is hooked up to the local network. You can use wireless ones as well (like a wireless camcorder). The potential problem with a security camera that has no zoom is that either you set it up close to the steel target (paper, you have no worries) and then you have to worry about splash. Now that the camera is hooked up to the network the router sends the signal to you. You connect your tablet, phone, laptop, etc to the network (just like you do with your WiFi at home). Now you have to have a camera that has an app that allows you remote view. Most security cameras have these as it is a big selling feature to check in on the house while you are out. You download the app and hit live view and viola, you are watching the target on your device. The other thing you need to set up is power. The router and camera runs on household 120 volts (if it is not battery operated). You can purchase battery operated, portable, long range routers but they are pricey. What I did, is I had a regular inverter (you don't need a big expensive one, as the router and camera use very little power) and I had a battery booster pack that happen to have a 12-volt plug in (one of those cigarette lighter plug ins). So, all I had to do was plug in my inverter to the pack, then plug in the devices to the inverter, and you have power. Like I said they don't use much power and I they have never died on me. Your tablet, phone, etc. will probably die first.

I am pretty busy for the next couple of weeks (taking some university classes and got finals coming up) so I am not going to get out shooting till around the 15th at the very earliest. Hopefully it doesn't snow anymore. But next time I go out I will take some pictures as I am setting up. I'll then put together something a little more formal and easier to follow (maybe my first Youtube video). I had found a few videos and info on the internet but nothing that really worked for me. The commercial ones are pretty neat but I didn't want to spend $800 to $1000 on one. I'll keep you all posted.

By the way, love your rig.
 
tomapleleafss said:
Never ever thought of using a drone. Might work better than my idea. I did a very quick amazon look and anything with a 1 km range is pretty pricey. I love the idea though, way to think out of the box.

As far as my project, I am a bit of a techy (but far from an expert) so with a bit of help for the IT guys at work I basically built it myself. Basically it works the same way your wireless home security camera works. You need a network. That is what the router is for, it is the same as your house router (well almost). It can still establish a local network (or WiFi) but there is nothing on it (no internet, unlike the one at your house). Mine is a long range (specs say 5 km, get one that specs at least double of what your longest range will be), outdoor router. There are tons of different ones out there, mine was $100. People like a cattle farmer may use one to watch his cattle from inside the house. He sets up the router and cameras in the barn and then sends the signal to the house. Now my camera is easy to link to the router because it has a LAN cable. I just plug the cable into the router and now the camera is hooked up to the local network. You can use wireless ones as well (like a wireless camcorder). The potential problem with a security camera that has no zoom is that either you set it up close to the steel target (paper, you have no worries) and then you have to worry about splash. Now that the camera is hooked up to the network the router sends the signal to you. You connect your tablet, phone, laptop, etc to the network (just like you do with your WiFi at home). Now you have to have a camera that has an app that allows you remote view. Most security cameras have these as it is a big selling feature to check in on the house while you are out. You download the app and hit live view and viola, you are watching the target on your device. The other thing you need to set up is power. The router and camera runs on household 120 volts (if it is not battery operated). You can purchase battery operated, portable, long range routers but they are pricey. What I did, is I had a regular inverter (you don't need a big expensive one, as the router and camera use very little power) and I had a battery booster pack that happen to have a 12-volt plug in (one of those cigarette lighter plug ins). So, all I had to do was plug in my inverter to the pack, then plug in the devices to the inverter, and you have power. Like I said they don't use much power and I they have never died on me. Your tablet, phone, etc. will probably die first.

I am pretty busy for the next couple of weeks (taking some university classes and got finals coming up) so I am not going to get out shooting till around the 15th at the very earliest. Hopefully it doesn't snow anymore. But next time I go out I will take some pictures as I am setting up. I'll then put together something a little more formal and easier to follow (maybe my first Youtube video). I had found a few videos and info on the internet but nothing that really worked for me. The commercial ones are pretty neat but I didn't want to spend $800 to $1000 on one. I'll keep you all posted.

By the way, love your rig.
Click to expand...

Awesome...thanks..your explanation was spot on for me
 
Beautiful rifle....

If interested in a commercial plug and play wireless camera set up, let me know. I have used it to good effect. Very simple to use with excellent range.

Economical given it is all included and ready to go play.

PM or email.

Thanks

Jerry
 
How difficult is it to replace barrels yourself on the CDX-30? I understand Cadex is coming out with a quick change barrel system but I am curious about this model.
 
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Roddy said:
How difficult is it to replace barrels yourself on the CDX-30? I understand Cadex is coming out with a quick change barrel system but I am curious about this model.
Click to expand...

No clue. I don't have a barrel and action vice or clamp or whatever is needed. I also haven't taken the chassis part to the barreled action to look.

I will say that when I inquired with a Cadex about barrel replacements I was told they would charge a flat rate of 50ish$ plus the cost of the barrel.
 
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