Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 24HC Black Rifle Challenge Thread

if all is good, anneal.. 5 more loadings generally...at least thats what I'd do, and at rough last count I had over 100K cases for 223...

I got a few split necks, maybe 3 out of 50 or so but I have to start keeping better track of my brass. Never worried about it before.

i chased him through the wheat field for hundreds of yards, but he was about to go over the horizon. i had to take the shot at a couple hundred yards or risk losing him. first shot hit solid but he ran. he took several more shots to the body before turning towards me.

he was still pretty far so i waited for him to get a little closer. i watched in amazement of his speed, power and mass. in just seconds, close turned to serious, and i fired 3 shots in his face when he plowed up at 30 paces.

What powder do you use for that? I haven't been able to push 77's that fast from my 16", but maybe your load would do the trick.

Cool, my point was, I know you love the 308 and there are no flies on it, especially for bigger pigs... but if you hit him in the noggin, then a 5.56 WOULD have done the same. LOL.

Man in a way you are lucky with all that trigger time, OTOH I"ve seen how destructive they can be... and that sucks on crops for sure!

Jeff

TAC is what I have been using but I'm testing Lever this weekend hopefully, it beat TAC with 55's.

I might add, my Colt 16" barrel won't do that but the Noveske will. SS is said to be faster for some reason

Ways to get faster... more pressure obviously.

But odd groove rifling, correct chamber including freebore, coating barrel and bullets, using special powders.

All the above gains a bit at a time. Such that you can likely sometimes get 100 fps more than just a standard shot at it.

TAC Imho is not a light bullet powder but a heavy bullet powder and in the day, it was almost as fast as N500 powders in our guns.

Ok second try, this time by the rules:









Same gun: Stag Varminter (Model 6) with SWFA 16x FF
Black Hills 69gr. MKHP
28.3mm = 1.114 OD, .89 CTC left target (fliers were shots 1 and 2)
30.9mm = 1.212 OD, .988 CTC right target

(.89+.988) = 1.878/2= .939

gonna hazard a guess and say you need to dry fire a couple or 5 times before you start shooting for groups if the ones out are 1 and 2 and not called out.

Not bad shooting.

Yeah that occurred to me after I already started shooting...

-Thanks

Fiddy I like that bag for the handgrip! Is that Caldwell as well? Seems like it does pretty good! I got to get me one of those big front bags and a bag for the handgrip.

Thanks - but actually it's more meant to rest the bottom of a standard rifle butt stock. I have a PRS on this gun which has a flat bottom so the rear bag I have (Caldwell) doesn't do it's intended job. However, it lined up perfectly with my front rest and the target in this case. And it was comfortable enough so I went with it.

Jimmy - I find that firmness on both the rear and front bags can make a fair difference in how the gun snugs in, and so I carry a ziplock of the walnut shell innards for ballast. Different stocks snug into the bags differently. I really like the front Caldwell because the gap in the vee where the gun rests is narrow or wide depending upon whether you have it right-side-up or up-side-down.

The rear bag is finicky. If you remove even a small amount of the stuffing, the two vertically extending pouches (pictured at the sides of the grip in my earlier post) empty out, become floppy, and serve no purpose. I would explore other options before getting this type of Caldwell rear, though I have no other suggestion to offer due to lack of experience.

Well, I went out and gave it try today. I normally use a bench rest stand and a rear bag when shooting groups and not using them hurt my ego! I thought they had a good supply of sand bags at the range and planned on using them but all I found was a 2X4 with some carpet nailed to it. This made it impossible to use a rear bag. With that setup and no rear bag this was the best I could do.

2.92" average for the two groups. Not that any of it is good but the one flyer really hurt the average. Looking through the pics I see several went ahead and used a front benchrest stand. I think I'm gonna cheat a little and use one myself when I do this again or at least find some sand bags that'll allow me to support the rifle front and back. If I do a disclaimer will be given

Rifle is a custom Mini 14 with a 3-9X40 Weaver scope. Ammunition are reloads with 77gn Nosler CC bullets. No, it's not an AR-15 but I can usually get MOA or better out of it with 3 and 5 shot groups (with a good rest.)

Rifle and rest


Range


Results


I'm going to try it again soon but with a full set of bags or maybe even a front ADJ. rest and rear bag.

for a mini, thats not bad at all.

That's good shooting in anyone's book. Take away the flyers and you're right in the running! I think I'm gonna try my bulls bag and rest to see what difference the bi-pod makes.

Is that the new model mini or did you have work done to it? Nice gun regardless.

It's a 580 series model. My guess from the serial# is that it was made around 2005-2006. I found it in a pawn shop a few years back for $300. It was sent to Carl over at ASI. He did a fantastic trigger job, a propriatary pin style bedding job and installed a new barrel (18", 1 in 7" twist, Wylde chamber)without notching it for the gas block. The gas block fits the barrel instead of the other way around.

It shoots better than the picture shows but that's the best I could manage off a 2X4. I'm taking blame for the flyers

For me it's just a fun to shoot rifle. I need to find a better rest setup that'll stay within the rules and give it another try. I really need to take my AR out next time too.

Whats a pin style bedding? I"m thinking thats been done a LOT in years past on M1 type guns, but I'm always interested in other theories.

Nice! Glad you shot, and I am sure it will do better with a bag.