New Cooper LVT

Farmer Harv

Farmer Harv

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Wandered up to Prophet River the other day, and thanks to Clay and staff I came out with a nice LVT, some SK ammo and a few odds and ends. Great people & great service, and I can't recommend them enough.

Because I totally suck at photography I'm not even going to try for a great shot, so snapped this mediocre one with everything on the camera set to the trusty "Auto" position. Needless to say the rifle looks so much better in real life.

CooperLVT.jpg


Cooper has a 1/4" group at 50 yards guarantee, and as the weather was pretty decent out I took her for a spin yesterday to see if it (read: me) could meet the challenge. I sighted it in for a 100 yard zero, and fired a few groups at 50 yards...

50yd-1.jpg


I got one in at .6", but none met the magic 1/2". I wasn't worried as the barrel would probably need a couple hundred rounds to break in/settle/season, and hung a target at 100 yards...

100yd-1.jpg


Not too shabby depending on the ammo, with a couple of really good ones in there. It seemed to quite like the SK High Velocity, but the SK Standard Plus not so much. The SK Magazine and Federal Target were both ok, and the Subsonic looked pretty poor.

The breeze was picking up, so I hung another target at 100 and quickly fired a few more comparison groups...

100yd-2.jpg


Pretty much reinforced what the first target showed, so I called it a day. Last night I separated the bolt, action and stock, gave everything a little lube and waxed the stock, and torqued the action screws to 17 inch pounds. Went back out today and hung a couple of targets...

50yd-2.jpg


Ahhh. That's better. :) A nice change from yesterday's 50 yard target... 3 groups under 1/2", a couple right at .5 and the Standard Plus going over once again. I'm still well over the group size guarantee, but getting closer. Hopefully with some practice I'll keep narrowing the gap.

I had one High Velocity round that sounded distinctly different when it was fired, and sure enough if you look at the top right group there's one round that impacted almost 2" low (it actually hit right at point of aim). Even the high priced stuff isn't immune to the odd wacky round I guess.

Anyhoo, wondering just how much the two pots of coffee this morning would screw things up, I dialled things back up for 100 yards...

100yd-3.jpg


Pretty much a repeat of yesterday, and really shows the flaws in my technique. I can see a need for a lot more consistency when shooting 22LR out to 100 yards and beyond, as it seems to be less forgiving than the centerfires or even the HM2. The good news is that shooting is fun, and a whole lot can be done with a hundred bucks worth of ammo. :)

As an aside, I could see my bullet trails, and occasionally the bullet itself, as they flew out to the targets yesterday. Pretty cool effect, and I fired a bunch of rounds at the gongs just to watch them.
 
Nice looking shooting stick! I'm glad I live far enough away that I can't just make a little drive over to Prophet River to have a look around - it would be hard to walk away without something.
Looks like it (and you) are shooting very well!
 
Are you subtracting the diameter of the average bullet hole from the measured group size? that is how you are supposed to measure center to center. Take the outside to outside group size and subtract the average bullet hole size calculated from four bullet holes. Thats how i do it anyways. Some people just subtract .223, the diameter of a .22lr bullet, either way, it looks to me the second day produced 3 groups in around, or maybe even under the .25" range. The top three groups left to right on the day 2 50m target.

Nice shooting! Very nice rifle!!
 
I zoomed in a bit on that target
.35 .43 .47? if thats what i can read on the 2nd target, it's technically;

.127"
.207"
.247"

That is 3 sub 1/4" groups right there my man. The rest are only over 1/4" by a hair!

Very very nice!
 
I zoomed in a bit on that target
.35 .43 .47? if thats what i can read on the 2nd target, it's technically;

.127"
.207"
.247"

That is 3 sub 1/4" groups right there my man. The rest are only over 1/4" by a hair!
Click to expand...

They certainly don't look like sub 1/4" groups, his .35,.43, and .47 look to be correct.

The groups below are sub 1/4" groups fired with a 22lr, and they certainly look smaller to my eyes.

1907recentgroup.jpg
 
Yep, my groups are center to center measured with calipers and a pair of Mark 1 eyeballs.

Bulls-eye: that's a 4-12x40 AO

Shimmer: It's a 2.5 hour drive for me, which is just long enough to keep me from driving up weekly. And weekly would be very bad for my wallet. :)
 
The more that you shoot your LVT, the more that you will like it, it's so easy to shoot small groups with them. Clay told me that I lucked out on the wood with my own LVT in 17HMR.

cooperlvt.jpg
 
Stellar-looking rifles guys, congrats on the new Cooper FamerHarv! I've never seen one of those in the flesh...would probably be a very tempting thing.
 
Thanks! Yes, they are much nicer in real life. If you really want to be tempted, go see the 22LR Custom Classic with upgrades that Clay has on the site. Truly beeyootiful, and if I hadn't had this LVT in mind before I went up, i would've found a way to bring the Custom home with me.
 
I've always loved the looks of the LVT. Just hard to put down the almost 2K price. Yes I'm glad I don't live there, I'm sure if I saw one live I'd have to buy it. :D. 22LR, precision tactical rifles and black rifles are a sickness.

Hey Farmer Harv. It's shooting the Lapua Sk not bad, but could be better. While almost all of my rifles like the SK, I have a couple that don't. My Kimber SVT doesn't shoot Lapua that well. But.. put in Federal Gold 711B and it's excellent (Check the side of the package, there are at least two loads in near identical boxes, with the 9 series being the same as American Eagle 40 grain solids). Another suggestion CCI Standard. One of these three rounds usually shoots very well out of these high end rifles. While the SK is usually my first choice as well. Then of course there is the realm of Eagleye 22LR shooting which is phenomenial but generally in the 36x scope range with some type of Elley. Worth reading his threads on 22LR (I do).

The other thing is if you keep shooting the Lapua the groups might close up. I've had that as well. Don't over clean the barrel.

Some day I'll add a LVT to the collection. Until then please keep posting. I'm living vicariously.
 
Epoxy: Interesting info about the Federal ammo. I never knew there was a difference, and I actually have both types here. Looks like I was using the 719 the other day, and will have to try the 711B as soon as it warms up this afternoon.

No worries about over cleaning the barrel...Clay said not to worry about it for 50k rounds, so I still have another 49,400 to go before the patches come out. :)

More pics and targets to follow for your viewing pleasure. :D
 
Farmer Harv said:
Epoxy: Interesting info about the Federal ammo. I never knew there was a difference, and I actually have both types here. Looks like I was using the 719 the other day, and will have to try the 711B as soon as it warms up this afternoon.

No worries about over cleaning the barrel...Clay said not to worry about it for 50k rounds, so I still have another 49,400 to go before the patches come out. :)

More pics and targets to follow for your viewing pleasure. :D
Click to expand...

I discovered the difference when I started shooting some American Eagle 40 grain just for fun out of the SVT. Lapua SK was shooting so so. I then bought some Federal gold. Only to find it shot exactly the same as the American Eagle. Further examination showed the rounds to be identical. So I'm looking at the 50 yard test target that used Federal Gold. I'm not a perfect shot but that test target that came with the rifle was a heck of a lot better than the results I was getting. :mad: The test target showed a decent 50 yard group and said Federal Gold.

Some looking online, and I learned the different loads. Ordered some 711B up and the rifle shot better than my test target. :D
 
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