After my success at 600 yards a couple of weeks ago, I got in a quick range session today with my M25. I had 15 rounds remaining of a batch of 175 SMK's that I loaded up. This group was shot at 200 yards with the gas off, single-feed. I chose to single feed because one of these rounds had a case-head separation on my last range session so I wanted to inspect the rounds as they came out of the chamber.
15 rounds, 2.163" at 200 yards for 1.032 MOA. I don't think I've ever shot a tighter 15-round group. We also had light gusty winds, swirling.
Exact load:
175gr SMK
LC cases
BR-2 primers
42.8 grains of RL-15
Trim cases to 2.005"
Seat to 2.800" (base to ogive: 2.152")
Time to stock up on 175's!!
I also found that my cases were hard to remove when I cycled the action manually. This would indicate that I have to polish my chamber. I actually had one jam up so bad that I had to use a block of wood to hit my operating rod handle to unchamber the round. This might explain my case-head separation from my last range session.
I built this rifle myself and cut the chamber so I have nobody to blame but myself. If I can't polish the chamber with the barrel in place, I'll remove it to polish it.
Headspace is 1.6325". Cases were sized to 1.629 +/- 0.001". Fired cases measured ~1.627". I measured some PMC bronze cases that I fired in semi-auto and they measured ~1.635"
Tony.
15 rounds, 2.163" at 200 yards for 1.032 MOA. I don't think I've ever shot a tighter 15-round group. We also had light gusty winds, swirling.
Exact load:
175gr SMK
LC cases
BR-2 primers
42.8 grains of RL-15
Trim cases to 2.005"
Seat to 2.800" (base to ogive: 2.152")
Time to stock up on 175's!!
I also found that my cases were hard to remove when I cycled the action manually. This would indicate that I have to polish my chamber. I actually had one jam up so bad that I had to use a block of wood to hit my operating rod handle to unchamber the round. This might explain my case-head separation from my last range session.
I built this rifle myself and cut the chamber so I have nobody to blame but myself. If I can't polish the chamber with the barrel in place, I'll remove it to polish it.
Headspace is 1.6325". Cases were sized to 1.629 +/- 0.001". Fired cases measured ~1.627". I measured some PMC bronze cases that I fired in semi-auto and they measured ~1.635"
Tony.
