BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
Well I decided that winter or not, I was heading to the range today to shoot the LE2B and the Rigby to get them sighted in, since I haven't fired a shot from either since I moved North.
The rig in question (in case you've missed the other threads) is a Savage 10FP LE2B with a Ken Farrell +2- MOA base, Nightforce rings, Nightforce NXS 3.5-15x56. The load was my oft-mentioned 168 gr AMax in once fired and FL sized (fired from a different rifle) brass. 42 grains of Varget and a Federal 210 (not match) primer. OAL is 2.815 (5 thou off the lands). The weather was -24 Degrees, 67% humidity, no wind clear skies. Quite a bit of mirage. I should have headed out earlier.
Shot a 5 shot group at 100 yards with the Savage.
Top right was from a cold clean barrel. With that included the group is .792". If discount the first shot the group is .637". Not the greatest performance so I'll make some feeble excuses. I was shooting from prone off a bipod and a rear bag that wasn't quite tall enough. And I was lying in the snow to boot! I only shot the one group then had a go at 300 yards (my 200 yard target was partially blocked by the 100 yard board...idiot). I shot a 3 shot group at 300 with two shots .5" apart and the third (I think) 2" above the first two and .25 right (just enough to be off the paper
). I could have shot a 5 shot group but I didn't have my spotting scope and didn't feel like I was accomplishing anything since I couldn't see where my shots were landing. Kinda wish I had now, but if they were off the paper that wouldn't have helped. Perhaps a nice big piece of brown parcel wrapping paper stapled to the board first would have been a smart idea (perfect for cutting out and putting in your load development book.
All in all, a damned fine day at the range. And the Rigby shot just right at 25 yards. I didn't go any farther because there's no bench at the range so all shooting was done from the standing right hand barricade. Shooting at 100 would have been counter productive because I wasn't particularly steady on the 25 yard shots. I think the rifle has serious potential if fired from a decent rest. It doesn't recoil as much as my #1H 458 Win so as soon as I build myself a bench I'll be in business. First shot was the best break, ironic since I was anticipating the recoil having never fired the rifle before (luckily the first shot was a total flinch saved only because I still had the safety on...dummy). First shot is dead centre. Second shot was a called right break (and that's where it hit) and the third shot was a called left break (again, right on). Now the group was completely irrelevant, but I posted it anyways (1.36"). Interesting was the fourth bullet in the mag (I loaded the mag to test to ensure it wouldn't pop open at an inopportune time under recoil...no problem). Note the flattened tip of the bullet on the left as compared to one that hasn't ridden in the mag. I'd say that's justification enough to be wary of soft pointed bullets and stick to bullets with no (or little) exposed lead and use a decent crimp to avoid having the bullets battered deeper into the case. Whether any of that matters I don't know, but it would be interesting to test. I realized on taking the photo that the bullets are different. These were 4 "leffers" that I had thought were 410 gr Federal Premium Soft Points. I got a box of those and a box of Federal Premium 400 gr TBBC when I bought the rifle from Flashman. I figured on sighting in with the standard soft points in case I had to clobber a raging caribou. No need to used the TBBC for that. Now I see they're different. Maybe if Flashman reads this he can shed some light on what the 4 left over round noses were. I'm just going out on a limb and saying that they were 400 gr Federal Premium softpoints of some other vintage, or the same bullet without a cannelure.
Enjoy!
The rig in question (in case you've missed the other threads) is a Savage 10FP LE2B with a Ken Farrell +2- MOA base, Nightforce rings, Nightforce NXS 3.5-15x56. The load was my oft-mentioned 168 gr AMax in once fired and FL sized (fired from a different rifle) brass. 42 grains of Varget and a Federal 210 (not match) primer. OAL is 2.815 (5 thou off the lands). The weather was -24 Degrees, 67% humidity, no wind clear skies. Quite a bit of mirage. I should have headed out earlier.
Shot a 5 shot group at 100 yards with the Savage.
Top right was from a cold clean barrel. With that included the group is .792". If discount the first shot the group is .637". Not the greatest performance so I'll make some feeble excuses. I was shooting from prone off a bipod and a rear bag that wasn't quite tall enough. And I was lying in the snow to boot! I only shot the one group then had a go at 300 yards (my 200 yard target was partially blocked by the 100 yard board...idiot). I shot a 3 shot group at 300 with two shots .5" apart and the third (I think) 2" above the first two and .25 right (just enough to be off the paper
). I could have shot a 5 shot group but I didn't have my spotting scope and didn't feel like I was accomplishing anything since I couldn't see where my shots were landing. Kinda wish I had now, but if they were off the paper that wouldn't have helped. Perhaps a nice big piece of brown parcel wrapping paper stapled to the board first would have been a smart idea (perfect for cutting out and putting in your load development book.All in all, a damned fine day at the range. And the Rigby shot just right at 25 yards. I didn't go any farther because there's no bench at the range so all shooting was done from the standing right hand barricade. Shooting at 100 would have been counter productive because I wasn't particularly steady on the 25 yard shots. I think the rifle has serious potential if fired from a decent rest. It doesn't recoil as much as my #1H 458 Win so as soon as I build myself a bench I'll be in business. First shot was the best break, ironic since I was anticipating the recoil having never fired the rifle before (luckily the first shot was a total flinch saved only because I still had the safety on...dummy). First shot is dead centre. Second shot was a called right break (and that's where it hit) and the third shot was a called left break (again, right on). Now the group was completely irrelevant, but I posted it anyways (1.36"). Interesting was the fourth bullet in the mag (I loaded the mag to test to ensure it wouldn't pop open at an inopportune time under recoil...no problem). Note the flattened tip of the bullet on the left as compared to one that hasn't ridden in the mag. I'd say that's justification enough to be wary of soft pointed bullets and stick to bullets with no (or little) exposed lead and use a decent crimp to avoid having the bullets battered deeper into the case. Whether any of that matters I don't know, but it would be interesting to test. I realized on taking the photo that the bullets are different. These were 4 "leffers" that I had thought were 410 gr Federal Premium Soft Points. I got a box of those and a box of Federal Premium 400 gr TBBC when I bought the rifle from Flashman. I figured on sighting in with the standard soft points in case I had to clobber a raging caribou. No need to used the TBBC for that. Now I see they're different. Maybe if Flashman reads this he can shed some light on what the 4 left over round noses were. I'm just going out on a limb and saying that they were 400 gr Federal Premium softpoints of some other vintage, or the same bullet without a cannelure.
Enjoy!
