Well my friend Laverne came up with some new loads for his 20 Extreme and he also loaded up a whole bunch of 40 Vax loads for my many 222 rifles with Reloder 7 powder.
Get to the range and fire up the furnace in the indoor shoot area, with slide open gates to access the 100 and 50 yard target boards.
With a windless day predicted I went to work on a couple of rifles with the Shooters Choice cleaner on my early 70's Ithaca LS 55 heavy barrel and my new Steyr Classic Manlicher. Wow did that old Ithaca need a cleaning,nothing blue but a whole lotta black. The Steyr being brand new just need some brown crud removed from the bore. The other 222 of choice was a very early Rem 788, you know it is one of the early models when it is in a walnut stock, so I was told.
Laverne was very particular about barrel break in with the Steyr and I had never done this shoot 1 then clean treatment. I just couldn't believe how much black was down that barrel after only 1 shot. So did this 4 more times before shooting a 4 shot group, then clean again. Now I know why I have so many more used rifles in the safes, as this was getting to be a bit of a pain.
The scope I chose for the new Steyr is the Leupold VXII 6-18 with the varmint reticle, good looking combo. Thanks to George Ward at P&D for the ring selection.
So I start shooting some groups and they are like 3/4 of an inch, lots of shots touching and I call it good and try out the next rifle. I pass the Steyr over to Laverne as he is usually a better shot from the bench than I.
I go and grab the freshly cleaned LS 55 HB. Now I have had this rifle for a few years but at the time I got it I had a large amount of factory ammo so that is what I shot in this rifle. There was nothing special about any of the groups, and the glass I used was a bushnell Legend 5-15 mildot. So I re sight in the scope for the new load and start shooting a group, looks OK kinda like what the Steyr was producing. 4 clicks to the left and I should be bang on the bull. So I shoot one and it lands right in the bull, I shoot another same thing, then the last shot from the 3 shot mag bingo dead center. WooHoo my first ever 1 hole group with a center fire. Even Iclund was impressed, a feat not easily accomplished.
Parked that rifle and shot some rimfire from the Cooper which has seen a lot of gopher action but I hadn't ever tried any of the various brands of match ammo with it at the range. RWS gave me my best group at 50 yards and Laverne shot some groups with the Lapua master L ammo that looked pretty good.
We finished the day with Laverne shooting a group in the 788 with this new load, another ho hum 3/4 inch group.
Can't wait to get back with the Ithaca and try for some more one hole groups and bring along the Kimber of Oregon custom classic also chambered in 222. FS
Get to the range and fire up the furnace in the indoor shoot area, with slide open gates to access the 100 and 50 yard target boards.
With a windless day predicted I went to work on a couple of rifles with the Shooters Choice cleaner on my early 70's Ithaca LS 55 heavy barrel and my new Steyr Classic Manlicher. Wow did that old Ithaca need a cleaning,nothing blue but a whole lotta black. The Steyr being brand new just need some brown crud removed from the bore. The other 222 of choice was a very early Rem 788, you know it is one of the early models when it is in a walnut stock, so I was told.
Laverne was very particular about barrel break in with the Steyr and I had never done this shoot 1 then clean treatment. I just couldn't believe how much black was down that barrel after only 1 shot. So did this 4 more times before shooting a 4 shot group, then clean again. Now I know why I have so many more used rifles in the safes, as this was getting to be a bit of a pain.
The scope I chose for the new Steyr is the Leupold VXII 6-18 with the varmint reticle, good looking combo. Thanks to George Ward at P&D for the ring selection.
So I start shooting some groups and they are like 3/4 of an inch, lots of shots touching and I call it good and try out the next rifle. I pass the Steyr over to Laverne as he is usually a better shot from the bench than I.
I go and grab the freshly cleaned LS 55 HB. Now I have had this rifle for a few years but at the time I got it I had a large amount of factory ammo so that is what I shot in this rifle. There was nothing special about any of the groups, and the glass I used was a bushnell Legend 5-15 mildot. So I re sight in the scope for the new load and start shooting a group, looks OK kinda like what the Steyr was producing. 4 clicks to the left and I should be bang on the bull. So I shoot one and it lands right in the bull, I shoot another same thing, then the last shot from the 3 shot mag bingo dead center. WooHoo my first ever 1 hole group with a center fire. Even Iclund was impressed, a feat not easily accomplished.
Parked that rifle and shot some rimfire from the Cooper which has seen a lot of gopher action but I hadn't ever tried any of the various brands of match ammo with it at the range. RWS gave me my best group at 50 yards and Laverne shot some groups with the Lapua master L ammo that looked pretty good.
We finished the day with Laverne shooting a group in the 788 with this new load, another ho hum 3/4 inch group.
Can't wait to get back with the Ithaca and try for some more one hole groups and bring along the Kimber of Oregon custom classic also chambered in 222. FS
