lancetkenyon

Link? I can't find it.

Glassed for an hour first. I have taken a few coyotes up there. The plate is 3/8 AR500. I have shot my .300RUM pushing 215 @ 3100, and my 25-06AI pushing 115 HVLD @ 3400 & 100 TTSX @ 3580 as close at 300 yards. The .300RUM put the very slightest of dents in the plate @ 300.

Had a great afternoon. My son-in-law was on fire. Best shooting I have seen from him. 3 shooters, 3 limits plus a bunch of Eurasians. I had 22 total birds, 28 shots. My second best outing this season.

Woe is me. I have been talked into one last afternoon hunt this evening. Heading out in about an hour.

Stock is factory. Aluminum block only.

I love my carbon fiber Manfrotto. About $320, but light, strong, and adjusts from basically prone height to taller than I can use standing up. I am no giant, but I bet 6'+ guy would still be fine.

If anyone has a Savage that is not shooting well, I have a suggestion to try. It definitely can't hurt. Test your action screw torque settings. I had pulled the rifle apart to clean everything, and reassembled. I had read about Savages being a bit finicky with the action screw torque settings. Some shoot great at 45 in/lbs, some at 65 in/lbs. I went out and tested this theory. I started my testing after cleaning and reassembly by shooting 7 foulers. I had started at 45 in/lbs on the front and rear action screws......holy cow, the groups I had been shooting between .4-.8" turned into a 2+" group. I thought it was just taking a bit to foul back in, so I shot 5 more, with the same results. 2.4" 5 shot group. With the loads I had already worked up for this rifle. I had another 18 rounds loaded which I had planned on using for long range confirmation. So I started torqueing the action screws down in 5 in/lb increments and shot 3 rounds at each. The results were crazy. 50 in/lbs: 1.75" group 55 in/lbs: 1.2" group 60 in/lbs: .75" group 65 in/lbs" .4" group 70 front/65 rear: .38" group So I went home and loaded up some more rounds of my recipe, and went out and braved the 100+ afternoon temps and 15mph winds to see how it would do at longer ranges. I actually set up my frame and a Shoot & See target to shoot for group at 400. But the mirage was so bad, I was afraid we would not be able to see impact, so I pulled it and just hung my steel. Drove back to 500 for my first shot. Hit about 4" low from what Shooter had predicted, but nailed L/R for my wind hold of 1.7 MOA. Easily visible hit on steel, and the ring was loud. I reset my info in Shooter to true my 500 yard hit, Moved back right away to 616. I had shifted my angle a bit on the drive back to 616, so recalculated my wind hold again. 1.8MOA wind hold, and dialed 10.75MOA. Mirage was bad, and Taylor was helping to spot with my 15s. First shot, hear the DING, but can't tell where the hit was. Tell her I am going to send another one. BOOM...DiNG. Can't be sure, but we both think it might be on the red center dot? Drive down to find this....low shot was my 500 then recalculated, and put the next 2 @ 616 about 1.5" apart on the money! This is looking good. Flip the target to the clean side and go back. I drove back on the dead end road to 727. Got set up in the truck bed again. Shooting to here.... Check Shooter, dial 14MOA, with a 1.9MOA wind hold as the road curved around and the wind direction changed a bit again. First shot @ 727 BOOM....DING. Taylor calls out a slightly low, right side hit. Rather than change the dial or POA, I give the same hold and put 2 more downrange. BOOM....DING BOOM....DING. Moved back to 811 where I ran out of hill top, and sent one final round. Dialed to 16.75MOA, Wind hold of 2MOA right.....BOOM.....DING. Slightly high, slightly right. Hard to see through the mirage, and the target was dancing pretty good in the scope too. To say I was happy with the 727 group would be an understatement. Top shot is 811, bottom 3 are 727 group. Not bad for not really truing any velocity or ballistics on the rifle/load combo. I think I am really close to my guess of 2940fps with the 210 HVLD. Probably about a 2.5" group at 727. That knife is 5" long when closed. I just measured with my tape. SO now all I have to do is go and resize the last of the brass, and load up all 100 and call the member to come get his rifle and start practicing with it for hunting season.

Heck yeah!

We slayed them today. Probably my last outing this Dove season, but ended on a very high note. I had 13 mourning, 7 Eurasians, and 2 big flying rat pigeons. 27 shots. My kids had 18 between the 2 of them in a couple boxes, and my brother had a limit too, in about a box. Dove kebabs and poppers on the menu this week. The season total for me was 103 legal birds, 39 Eurasians. Plus a few pigeons. Shot a total of 202 shells. A far cry from last year's totals of 411 birds with 3/4 being Eurasians in 2 full cases. But great times none the less. A few closing photos.

RCBS dies can most definitely bump a shoulder back. All of mine (RCBS and Redding) are set to bump the shoulder back between .0025" to .0010" depending on cartridge. How are you measuring your sized cases? Something like this? http://m.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-Headspace-Kit-With-Body-1-Each/

Hit up the next gun show to roll through town. I picked up an 18" barrel and take off stock to cut down for my kids when they started for about $30.

Yep. I only clean when accuracy starts to fall off. For some rifles, that is around 100-150 rounds. Others go 800+. It usually takes 5-20 shots to foul them back to where they shoot like they should.

I was going to head out today after work....maybe not?

For sure. I always run new brass through a sizing die before loading.

Buy a DVD called "Magpul's Art of the Precision Rifle". I have watched it probably 5-6 times, and still learn things I missed. It is a lengthy video, a total of over 9 hours. But it is the best video for shooting technique I have seen personally. It teaches all kinds of fundementals, from zeroing, reticles and their uses plus pros and cons of different types, ballistic calculators and truing, wind holds, elevation holds, fundamentals and positional shooting, gear, etc. I get the heartbeat shift sometimes too. Relax, and learn breathing techniques and shooting form, along with using the right gear will help. If you are doing nothing but looking for bench rest type accuracy, the less input from the shooter the better. If you are shooting in a hunting or active type environment, shooter input is a necessary evil. You just need to learn how to deal with it. The better the rest and more points of contact with stationary objects, the better.

5-0-5 can measure up to 511 grains. 1010 can measure up to 1011 grains.

I started on the real stock tonight. Started life as a factory Savage plastic. Cleaned it, prepped it, and hit it with 2 coats of primer tonight.

Finished the test stock and got approval from my 14 year old customer. Masked off the stripes Hit it with 3 different blues Pulled the masking off and hit it with 2 coats of clear to deepen the colors.

I would never trust an electronic throw/scale like the RCBS Chargemaster or Hornady Autocharge for any type of precision loading. I have the Hornady Autocharge and it is great for getting close. Then I transfer it to my RCBS 5-0-5 beam scale. It is accurate. I can tell a difference between a single kernel of powder, and it is repeatable. I can get the charge weight perfect, pull it off, and it goes back to dead on. I have plans for a Gem Pro as well, just have not taken the time to buy one yet.

Nearly identical to my target load in my 6.5 SLR. Rem brass 140 HVLD 41.5 H4350 Fed GM210M 2.188" CBTO My .260 Rem is similar as well. Lapua brass 140 HVLD CCI BR-2 42.0 H4350 2.180" CBTO I say try the CCI BR-2. If they shoot, use them. Much easier to find over the Fed GM210M.

I let him use Taylor's 20 ga. O/U CZ Redhead Premier.

Quite a few people out today. But still had fun. 15 legal birds and 16 Eurasians. My shooting was off a bit this morning, but I turned it on after a while when I figured out my leads. My cousin brought his step son for his first ever Dove hunt. I think he shot a box and got 3 or 4 birds, so he is hooked. There were quite a few kids out there today which is awesome to see. Both hunting and bird dogging. I will say this, I picked up quite a few empty hulls that were not there on Thursday when we left.

Heading out in 10 minutes with my cousin.

Do you reload? That would make a huge difference in my suggestions. Here is a quick list, some are factory chamberings, some are wildcats. 6mm Rem 6mm Ackley Imp. 6mm-06 6mm-06 Ackley Imp. 6mm-.284 Win .25-06 Rem .25-06 Ackley Imp. .25-284 Win .257 Roberts .257 Ackley Imp. 6.5-06 6.5-06 Ackley Imp. 6.5x55 6.5x55 Ackley Imp. 6.5x.284 Win .280 Rem .280 Ackley Imp.

Will you let him shoot halfway through the barrel before you start making sense? That's just rude sir. (I just want to know how the factory barrel performs). What are you talking about? Lame attempt at a joke. I assumed you were attempting a convert to AI. No sweat. But converting to a .25-06AI is a great suggestion.....