That is awesome. You have no-doubt defined my opinion of the M14/M1A. When tuned, it is an outstanding semi-auto precision tool. Not to mention the fact that you provide the proof. I have only proven my Colt 901 at half that distance. Well done, sir.

quote:

Originally posted by KSGM:
That is awesome. You have no-doubt defined my opinion of the M14/M1A. When tuned, it is an outstanding semi-auto precision tool. Not to mention the fact that you provide the proof. I have only proven my Colt 901 at half that distance. Well done, sir.

Thank you, sir! I just got back from the 600 yard range and took out the first rifle I ever built. I haven't played with it much lately and decided to give it a spin. I ended up shooting a 1.7 MOA 10-shot group at 600 for a 100-4X.




I need to get a tuned load for this one and see if it can do any better. This was the first time shooting the 169 SMK through it.

Tony.

Another for the discussion.

Tikka T3x Super Varmint, 223 Remington, ammunition IMI 77 grain HPBT-Match. Position kneeling with rifle supported on a tripod with Arca rail clamp. 100 yards.





The group actually consists of 12 shots, and if I could eliminate the two “flyers,” the 10 shots in the middle would measure 0.821 inch center to center. That’s pretty good for that ammunition and my shooting from a semi-supported position.

I fired these two 22 Long Rifle 10-shot groups with my Winchester model 52E rifle supported by a heavy bench rest at 100 yards. They were the last two groups of a 125 round session testing different higher quality ammunition types.





What I found particularly interesting (not to mention surprising) was that the group on the left was fired with Lapua Center-X ammunition and the one on the right with SK Standard Plus ammunition. The center to center group sizes were 0.721 inch for the Center-X and 0.812" for the Standard Plus. Both are very good results for 22 Long Rifle ammunition at 100 yards, but even though I shoot a lot of the Standard Plus with a different rifle and the 52E usually does very well with the Lapua, I didn’t expect them to produce such similar groups—and why?

Although the availability of both varies greatly at different times, the online prices for 50 rounds that I found were $8 for the Standard Plus and $18(!) for the Center-X.* The two groups pictured were the best for the two loads, but two other Standard Plus groups measured 0.962" (with nine in 0.700") and 0.852" (seven shots). The two other 10-shot groups with the Center-X measured 1.109" and 1.003", or actually a little worse than the much less expensive Standard Plus groups.

* Center-X is not the most expensive Lapua 22 Long Rifle ammunition. X-Act goes for about $37 for 50 rounds. (I bought one box one time. It didn’t perform noticeably better from the 52E than Center-X does.)

Futzing around with the Kimber 22lr sporter. I'm going to a steel field match, so I needed to confirm zero and try to get some elevation dope. Most stages will have targets of 50-200 yards, but one long-ball stage goes past 400 yards. As often occurs, conditions weren't optimal -- winds of 5-20 mph, generally from 8-9 o'clock. I don't recall if I ever held on target, due to a bunch of wind drift. RWS R50 ammo.

5 rounds at 80 yards produced an OK group with 7/8" vertical and a touch more horizontal.
5 rounds at 90 yards produced a little better group with 3/4" vertical and a touch more horizontal.

Here is 10 rounds at 107 yards. 1-3/8" vertical and 2-1/8" horizontal dispersion. About 1.2 MOA vertical. POA was left of the plate, 4 MOA below top edge.




Moving out, here's a 10 round group at 173 yards. 2" vertical and 3-1/8" horizontal. About 1.1 MOA vertical. POA was left of the plate, level with the hole.




I developed elevation dope out to 280 yards. I had significant challenges with a target at 245 yards. It was on the horizon, lots of tall grass in the area, no way to see ground impacts, and the variable wind was a serious pain in the butt.

It was tough getting dope to match with JBM, and I had good DA and MV. I got JBM to produce fairly decent elevations, but only after I changed the MV from the measured 1141 fps to 1180 fps. I wonder if R50 has a little better BC than listed in JBM. The match could be interesting....

I posted this in the review of the Tikka T3x Super Varmint, but as the group consisted of 10 shots, I decided to put it here as well. 100 yards, bipod on bench; group fired to check zero.

Ammunition: Frontier 55 grain Hollow Point Match (223 Remington) that has turned into a real sleeper. As I mentioned before, I was looking for something less expensive than IMI 77 grain HPBT Match for drills, but more precise than plain old AE223 bulk pack. As it’s turned out, though, the Frontier load has given me excellent results in the Tikka.

The below 10 shots measures 0.749 inch center to center, but without the loner at the top the other nine shots measured 0.496" CTC. And I’ll claim that I called the “flyer” as the shot broke.

I've recently posted a few target results of my GAP Crusader 308 in the 3-round group thread in the Rifles section. On the previous time out, I shot my last boxes of Corbon 155 Scenar ammo. It didn't go well. More popped primers, sticky cases on extraction, and accuracy was bad. Frustrating -- I wasn't certain if the problem was rooted in the ammo, the aging barrel, or my technique. Nevertheless, on to Hornady 168 Amax or Federal GMM 175 for the time out.

It was another chainsaw weekend duty at the ranch, as weather has been warm and snow is lacking. Saturday was way too windy for reasonable shooting -- winds of 20-25 mph even in the trees, and worse in the open. Sunday's forecast was for winds of 5-8, so at the last minute I packed the rifle. Maybe half way to the ranch I realized I forgot to grab the bag with rear bag, Kestrel, LRF, ear muffs, and dope cards. Ugh. With the limited daylight work hours this time of year, I didn't return home to grab the stuff. I'll just do with what I can. At least I brought Hornady ammo, magazines, and the suppressor.

First, the weather guessers did poorly. Winds were highly variable 5-15+ mph, from my 4 o'clock when I started shooting. My shooting position had a line of trees behind me, and I couldn't really feel the wind speeds. The remaining dried prairie grasses don't move much in the wind this time of year, so down range wind estimation was interesting.

Here's an important concept about wind. A number of shooters tend to blame their target "flyers" on wind. Let me state this -- if you can aim directly at your target and expect that the impact will hit your target -- you don't have real wind. When you're holding OFF TARGET to expect an impact on target, then you have wind.

So...lacking a rear squeeze bag for prone with bipod shooting, I cut a short piece of a branch about the diameter of my forearm for a "rear bag". Well, here we go. My intended shooting for the day was bouncing between multiple targets, but without a rear support that was reasonably adjustable for elevation, it came down to just banging away on a single targets. First up was a 12" plate at 412 yards. Lacking dope for this ammo, I sent a couple of rounds at the plate's 9 o'clock point, knowing that wind would push the impacts left of the plate into the dirt. Once I got the scope's elevation set, I aimed at the 3 o'clock point, figuring the wind drift would keep rounds on the plate. 10 rounds, 3-1/4" vertical dispersion, 11" horizontal dispersion. About .75M OA vertical. I can honestly state the using a branch for a "rear bag" ain't optimal.




That went OK, so on to a 16" plate at 527 yards. Ixnaying the branch, I tried an empty 16 ounce Pepsi bottle topped by a pair of leather work gloves for rear support. Better, but still not optimal. The wind wasn't quite so variable on this target. I held a little right of the plate's 3 o'clock point. 10 rounds, 4-1/2" vertical dispersion and 9" horizontal. About .77 MOA vertical.




Feeling OK, I drove downrange to set a 16" plate at either 650 or 660 yards. Call it 650 yards for grins, as I didn't have my LRF to confirm. A little low on my dialed elevation, as I had some difficulty getting a good impact location of the rounds I sent into the dirt to the right of the plate. Feeling better with the Pepsi-bottle-glove "rear bag", I thought "hold my caffeine, I got this". Wrong cola breath -- middle of the string I sent a round high (the one near the 3 o'clock point) and I knew it from how the reticle jumped up during recoil. Oh well -- coulda, woulda, shoulda. 11 rounds, 4-3/4" vertical dispersion, 10-1/4" horizontal. About .70 MOA vertical. As with the previous target, my holds were a little right of the plate's 3 o'clock point.




It's amazing that this barrel is still not giving up the ghost, after 6800+ rounds. Hornady Amax bullets seem to tolerate a large jump to the lands, so this probably helps.

I'm a bit late to this thread but here's my contributions.

198-15 on a 600 reduced 300 yard slow fire NRA MR-63 target. I shot my best ever a 198-15/198-9/194-9 that day.


22LR at 100 yards from the bench..


22LR at 50 yards from the bench. The flier on the right is not part of this group.