Finally got everything mostly together on these two rifles.
The Savage was bought on a whim when the opportunity to pick it up for a really good price dropped into my lap. I was actually going to convert it to a 30BR but the rifle shoots so well as it is that I think I will leave it alone for the moment.
In initial load testing with a different scope it routinely and easily produced 5/8" groups with 125gr Ballistic Tips at a book velocity of 3100 fps which should do nicely for pretty much anything out to about 500 yds or so.
The muzzle device is a modified NEA Phoenix Flash Suppressor. I changed the thread size to 11/16x24 to maintain as much meat around the crown as possible and then tweaked the prongs to eliminate the post shot tuning fork like ring.
All the rifle was waiting for was the Sightron scope, which came in the other day direct from Hirsch Precision. It is an SIII 16X Mil Dot. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet but so far the scope seems a quality unit.
The second rifle has been a bit of a project rifle. It was initially built to test some ideas but has ended up being such a cool little rifle I think I will keep it.
It is a Rem 722 action with an 18.5" lightweight externally tensioned barrel. What that means is the barrel itself is a very lightweight profile but it has an aluminum tube over top that is squeezed between a shoulder machined into the barrel shank and the muzzle cap to put the barrel under tension. This helps to reduce harmonic vibration during firing. The end result is a very short, handy and lightweight rifle that maintains reasonable accuracy.
During initial testing I only had IMR4350 available which is a pretty slow powder for a short barreled 308. The result was a huge muzzle flash. The rifle is so light that I found it kicked pretty stoutly with heavy bullets as well. So the solution was a combination muzzle brake / flash suppressor profiled to match the outer tensioning sleeve.
The Savage was bought on a whim when the opportunity to pick it up for a really good price dropped into my lap. I was actually going to convert it to a 30BR but the rifle shoots so well as it is that I think I will leave it alone for the moment.
In initial load testing with a different scope it routinely and easily produced 5/8" groups with 125gr Ballistic Tips at a book velocity of 3100 fps which should do nicely for pretty much anything out to about 500 yds or so.
The muzzle device is a modified NEA Phoenix Flash Suppressor. I changed the thread size to 11/16x24 to maintain as much meat around the crown as possible and then tweaked the prongs to eliminate the post shot tuning fork like ring.
All the rifle was waiting for was the Sightron scope, which came in the other day direct from Hirsch Precision. It is an SIII 16X Mil Dot. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet but so far the scope seems a quality unit.
The second rifle has been a bit of a project rifle. It was initially built to test some ideas but has ended up being such a cool little rifle I think I will keep it.
It is a Rem 722 action with an 18.5" lightweight externally tensioned barrel. What that means is the barrel itself is a very lightweight profile but it has an aluminum tube over top that is squeezed between a shoulder machined into the barrel shank and the muzzle cap to put the barrel under tension. This helps to reduce harmonic vibration during firing. The end result is a very short, handy and lightweight rifle that maintains reasonable accuracy.
During initial testing I only had IMR4350 available which is a pretty slow powder for a short barreled 308. The result was a huge muzzle flash. The rifle is so light that I found it kicked pretty stoutly with heavy bullets as well. So the solution was a combination muzzle brake / flash suppressor profiled to match the outer tensioning sleeve.
