I did make it out to the range today and went through the barrel break-in process. After 20 rounds of break-in, I shot several groups of 5 with Hornady 140gr ELD-Match factory ammo. It was okay at about 1 MOA but nothing spectacular. I didn't expect the Hornady's to do great as they didn't in an RPR and don't in my 22" Semi-auto 6.5. They are consistent at 1 MOA but not much better.

Using the Hornday Lock-N-Load O.A.L. gauge, I measured my chamber. It seems to be on the long side. Curious what would be considered normal. Going to give you results in COAL as that is more impactful. Using a 140 gr Berger VLD Hunting, the projectile touches the lands at 2.9370"(!); with a 142 gr Sierra MatchKing touching the lands at 2.9345"!! Loading to .020 off the lands doesn't leave much bullet in the case. About .16" or slightly more than 1/2 the diameter of the bullet. There is some good news, however. Even with a loaded COAL of 2.9200 for the Berger and 2.9135 for the SMKs, both fit in the magazine. There is almost no room to spare but they do fit without damaging the tips.

I loaded 20 of each of the above and shot them suppressed and unsuppressed. Here is one of my 100 yard 5-round-group targets from those rounds. Berger VLD Hunting on left Sierra MatchKings on Right. Un-suppressed on top, Suppressed on bottom. The bottom left group was the first group with the suppressor. The threaded-on suppressor was loose after the 5-round group and, I'm going to claim, was partially responsible for that scattered group.

Overall this is an encouraging first day with the new rifle:


With the bullets so far out, speed was way down by over 70 fps as compared to the identical load at 2.81 COAL. Will have to figure out how to get that back on the MatchKings w/o messing up the accuracy.

If the bullet is the truth, I am happy with this bullet launcher so far.

Henryrifle

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