SO! I am learning ALOT these last few hours and days. First of all, I feel that all the work to prep 243, 7-08 or 308 brass is a pain in the a$$. I am going to source some proper 260 brass to make my life that much easier. I did however make it to the range today, and managed to fire off some lead too. I had absolutely horrible conditions though, probably close to 40 km/h winds, gusting left to right, and a windchill factor of close to -10C. But, I was not going to let a day pass and not shoot this baby!
My loads consisted of some trash 243 mixed headstamp brass, some winchester, some super x, and I have no idea how many times it had been fired. I had some difficulty getting it sized as the die wanted a very precise amount of lube, a little too much and I would get a dent in the shoulder, and not enough got me a couple of stuck cases. Anyways, I then trimmed the brass with a Lee 260 case length gauge, chamfered and deburred the case mouths, cleaned the primer pockets and then proceeded to load a WLR primer behind 42 grains of H4350 and a 140 grain A Max.
The photo shows the results. I am suitably impressed considering my lack of reloading skill and knowledge, the lack of proper components and the conditions. The first 3 shots at 50 yards landed all together on the vertical line about 2" low. After a quick elevation adjustment, I re-shot at 50 and got another nice little group. Time to move to 100 yards, and I shot the first 2 and them made a small elevation and windage change. Then I shot 5, and then 3. All in, I was impressed. I haven't measured the groups yet, but the squares on my targets are 1" X 1", so you can kinda extrapolate from there. Finally, my two boys were with me and wanted me to shoot the pig target someone else had left up. So I shot the cross hair first, then his left nostril then his right. I was pretty impressed with both my luck and the accuracy of the rifle!
And yes Jerry, I had a pretty hard time chambering some of the ammo, some did not chamber at all, and some was hard to cycle after the shot. This is the main reason I will source some proper headstamped brass!
As far as the Vortex product goes, I really like it. However you need to understand a few things first. I am a complete newb when it comes to quality glass--but I am learning! I have used bushnell in the past and it works, but I made the switch to Vortex about three years ago and I have not regretted it one bit.
I will edit my original post with some close ups of the rifle and equipment.
