Alright, so after some thought and playtime with the rifle, I have a few small odds and ends to change to add to the utility of the build. I love the fit of the stock to me, and the rifle has so little recoil that it is an immense pleasure to shoot. It literally has half the recoil of a .308 Remington with a heavy barrel, partly due to the weight of the gun, but mostly due to the excellent muzzle brake, which also is not offensive at all to shoot, it does not pound the shooter with gas at all. (Sorry to guys beside it though lol, I will do my usual thing and try to sit away from them at the range or let them know I intend to shoot a braked magnum rifle.)
Anyways, onto my first roundup of modifications.
First off is a SAP 2 round velcro holder, which I had on my old rifle and was an excellent bit of kit for shooting matches. Having 2 extra rounds handy that can be thrown directly into the ejection port is excellent. The original version was designed for .223 and .308, but I could squeeze .338 into them at the cost of them being a bit stiff to pull back out, but SAP has now come out with a magnum version designed for .338LM to .50BMG cartridges, so I ordered one of these a bit ago.
Next is a Wiebad mini stock pad specifically fitted to my manners cheek riser, again from SAP. I like having a touch of padding between my cheek and the stock because I shoot year round, and when it is -35 Celsius out, it is nice to have something to keep your face a bit warmer. I personally find it helps to keep my cheek weld more consistant. Personal choice. This is in the same order as above.
Next up is a change to my scope mount. The mount I have currently installed is a takeoff from one of my 50's... the Steyr HS50, and it is too high for this particular gun. Even with the cheek piece maxed out in height, I find I am sitting about 1/4" too low for perfect cheek weld. I like to lie behind my rifle and do my best impression that I am a sack of potatoes, so for long shooting sessions it strains my neck to have to lift my face up, even if only by the smallest amount like 1/4". This strain makes it harder to stay loose and make good groups after long sessions behind the rifle. Perfect cheek weld is more important than a lot of people realize.
My current mount is also a cantilevered mount, which I have no need for, I had to max the mount out to the rear just to get proper eye relief, so I will be purchasing a new SPUHR ISMS SP-3601. This mount is not cantilevered, still has a 20.6 MOA cant, and most importantly takes my height from top of picatinny to center of the scope from 1.35" to 1.18", which is the lowest mount they make. I'll still have plenty of clearance, but it will drop the scope just the right amount for me to have that perfect cheek weld I desire by the time I add the stock pad.
Also playing with the idea of adding a direct device attach mount to add one of the spare mini red dot optics I have lying around. Never used one with a magnified rifle sight before, but it may just be a cool and useful addition to aid in initial target acquisition by getting your reticule on target faster without having to dial down the magnification first... or even poke at the odd short range target. Like I said, I already have a Shield Mini Sight sitting around, so I may as well get a direct mount and put it on at a 45 degree offset just to play around with and see if it will be of any use or not. I've seen them being used before in matches by the odd person here or there and it may just be neat. Anybody have thoughts on this idea? Neat and useful or a waste of time?
Finally I swapped the Atlas bipod out for a spare LRA Light Tactical that I had as a spare. While I adore the Atlas bipod, I want a bit more stability than it can offer from a rifle this heavy. This rifle is a few pounds heavier than my former .338LM, and at that weight range, the LRA really comes into its own for stability. I think the LRA suits the rifle far better and will be a much more stable bipod.
After all this is set up and I'm happy, I'll start to custom cut the foam in the case for a more professional and secure fit into the pelican case for transport. I love projects like this! Lots of little details to play with and perfect... makes me happy!
