What did you do at the range today?

[Q_Sertorius]

I had an excellent morning at the range today. I took my two Sauer 100s (6.5 CM and 9.3x62) and my CZ 457.

I’m still trying to find the right load for the 6.5 CM.

Today, I tried the Fiocchi 129-grain SP, Hornady 129-grain SST, Hornady 120-grain ELDM, and shot the S&B 156-grain load again.

The Fiocchi was thoroughly unsatisfactory.

The 129-grain SST was significantly better, but still not worth much of anything. I didn’t include the first shot in this group as part of the group because it was so outside the group. That was the first shot of the day with this ammo. I am assuming that was a gross error on my part.

That ammo just isn’t worth further consideration anyway.

The 120-grain ELDM shows greater promise, but not what I expect out of this rifle. Here is the 10-shot group:

And here is the 20-shot group.

The 156-grain S&B remains the best so far, with one 1.79” group and one 2.25” group.

Note also the five shots from the Sauer 100 9.3x62. I flinched badly on the third shot. This rifle isn’t suppressed yet. The blast and kick are tremendous. I was wearing ear plugs, headphones, and had a stocking cap on. I still have a bit of a headache from it. The PPU factory 285-grain is giving me 2185 FPS. I think I am going to cut it down to 18”, thread it, and count on my AB Raptor 10 to mitigate some of the side effects.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

In between 10-round groups with the 6.5 CM, I used the CZ 457 for 50-yard offhand and seated unsupported practice.

100 rounds offhand:

100 rounds seated:

Those are 6” paper plates with 1” dots and 3.5” “vitals”.

 

[Austin Kaufman]

I ran 4 mock NRL hunter stages. I gave myself 2 minutes to range(I knew where targets were) and engage the targets. I did 2 targets 2 positions, 4 targets 1 position. Ranges varied from 650 to 350. 12 and 10 inch rounds further out and 8 and 6 inch up closer. Cleaned the stages with my comp gun and then I dropped 4 shots with my 223. Ran a few PRS style stages with my comp gun off my barricade as well. Dropped a few on those.


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[Chris in TN]

So I was told to remove the contact lens from my right eye a week before my doc appointment next week to see if I'm a good candidate for cataract removal and lens replacement surgery.

First thought: I'll take a week off from shooting.
Second thought: I'll shoot weak side instead. Perfect opportunity.

I've shot .22lr seated off trek poles and prone w/bipod a few rounds every day since removing the contact (I think that was Thursday?). Prone left-handed is awkward for me, certainly slower than right-handed, but not terrible.

Today it was warm enough to get the tractor running, plus the 4-wheeler and chainsaw, and I cleared the 50 yards I needed to stretch my range from 500 to 550 yards. That's done - I chainsawed all the little trees and shrubs and then pushed it all out clean-ish with the tractor then used the sprayer on the 4-wheeler to spray everywhere that I'm worried about regrowth. Next week I'll sow some grass seed back there too.

From 550 yards, seated. The bench you see is my old 500-yard bench. Above it and to the left, the white dot is my 500 yard plate (now 550).



I went back right before dark and shot the 6.5cm prone and left-handed a few shots. With no right contact lens, dialing was a pain (had to use my reading glasses to see to dial) and it made me realize that my slightly nearsighted right eye (when I have contact in it) has been allowing me to read the scope dial. Can't do that with just my left eye.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Just a quick 20lbs through one of my 6.5 creedmoors. Just shot out to 300 off the bench, I havn’t shot for a few weeks now.

Scythe still didn’t blow up.

 

[YellowIH]

Shot a 44 Mag S&W snub nose that a friend of mine wanted to rehome. It wasn't as bad as the airweight 357.

 

[Austin Kaufman]

Shot an NRL hunter match Saturday. Then yesterday shot 50 rounds of 223 and 50 6 creeds practicing PRS stages for an up coming match. Shot a few mags of 6 arc off the tripod and prone for hunting position practice.


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[bnewt3]

Went to the range Sat with a pile of ammo to try and find something that shoots better than OK, and to be methodical with my end of things.

Savage 110 Tactical LH 6.5 Creed(old model, not the new one)
Bushnell Match Pro 6-24
Bipod front, bag rear on a bench

100yds according to the range.

No scope adjustments after the first 10

Barrel was squeaky clean before going

I tried:
AAC 140gr SMK
Hornady 140gr ELD-M
Barnes Harvest 140gr TGK
Hornady Am Whitetail 129gr Interlock
Hornady Precision Hunter 143gr
S&B 140gr FMJ

After fouling 10 shots with the S&B, all were 5 shot groups.

No cold bore after that

No 5 shot group was less than an inch, I tried stacking 2 5 shot groups in some cases

Some were awful, particularly the S&B and the AAC.......probably 1.5-2 inches.

This was my first trip really paying attention to fundamentals: calling whether the trigger break was clean, pinning the trigger after the shot, getting a really steady position

I still had a few shots that I knew I yanked(thats progress I guess)

One was acceptable, probably right at an inch.

A couple were excellent groups......well under an inch......... if not for a flier. Usually at the last shot so very likely I yanked it. But at least a couple, I know I didnt yank.

Last time I went, nothing shot well at all and I realized when I got home that the thread protector was loose, it did not loosen up this time.

2 things I still have on my list are a chrono and loading my own.

It seemed like the recoil was sharper this time out, where I havent noticed that before. Not sure what that means.

I did notice that the barrel touches one side of the channel so I need to do a little work on that before I go next. So much for the stiffer Accustock. MDT XRS is in the plans as well.

 

[Chris in TN]

Last night right before dark:

I took my 6.8spc with its new side-charging upper and new collapsible stock (because the old A2 is too long for my kids) and shot prone/lefthanded at 225 and 400 yards. I love that rifle. On the plus side, she's a heavy pig and recoil is nil. On the minus side......she's a heavy pig. I'd hate to pack that rifle very far.

More prone/lefthanded this AM with the .22lr and then some dry fire from sitting, left handed, no support sticks. Man, I'd have to be in dire straits to ever shoot anything sitting and lefthanded. Not my strong position, for sure.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I didn’t take any pictures today, but I met up with [mention]knuckleball [/mention] at my local range to let him listen to and shoot some of my suppressors. We used my Sauer 100 6.5 CM with some half boxes of ammo left over from my search for the best load in this rifle. Between us, I think we fired 40 rounds through the Airlock ZG 6.5, Unknown OG and OG 6.5, and AB Raptor 8 and 10.

I’ll let knuckleball weigh in with his thoughts if he wants to, but I think his description of the AB Raptor 8 and 10 as sounding like loud farts was pretty accurate. I listened to him shoot the ZG and OG 6.5, but I can’t really tell the difference between them. The OG was the loudest of the bunch, but didn’t sound terrible on the 22” 6.5 CM.

 

[knuckleball]

I didn’t take any pictures today, but I met up with [mention]knuckleball [/mention] at my local range to let him listen to and shoot some of my suppressors. We used my Sauer 100 6.5 CM with some half boxes of ammo left over from my search for the best load in this rifle. Between us, I think we fired 40 rounds through the Airlock ZG 6.5, Unknown OG and OG 6.5, and AB Raptor 8 and 10.

I’ll let knuckleball weigh in with his thoughts if he wants to, but I think his description of the AB Raptor 8 and 10 as sounding like loud farts was pretty accurate. I listened to him shoot the ZG and OG 6.5, but I can’t really tell the difference between them. The OG was the loudest of the bunch, but didn’t sound terrible on the 22” 6.5 CM.

Huge Thank You to Q_Sertorius for meeting up with me today and letting me try his suppressors. I've never shot suppressed before, it's way more enjoyable.
The 6.5 OG and the Airlock 6.5 were the most impressive and the Raptor 10 the quietest. Looks like I'm gonna be spending some money.
Good times!

 

[Exterra]

It's 2/23 so I shot my .223. The rifle is a 16" barreled Tikka T3x, Exterra's Precision Hunter Rings, SWFA 3-15.
I am working up a load with Varget and 77 TMKs.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

It's been a slow start to the work week, since we are putting the finishing touches on a couple of things that have consumed a lot of time and energy the past four years, so I got back out to the range again today. After a five-mile "hike" on the treadmill and a one-mile walk with the dog, I drove out to the range all cold and sweaty. It was one of those days that says, "40 degrees, feels like 33." In the shade on the range, with the wind blowing, it felt like 23 to me. I was the only one at the rifle range.

I started off sighting in my new T1X (thanks, Jake @EuroOptic !).

Then I shot a 25-round group to see what it and I were capable of from the bench. A couple of flyers there, but not terrible.

I had one failure to feed out of 50 rounds fired. I'll have to keep an eye on my 10-round magazines and see if it becomes a trend.

I played some scope roulette last night. I moved the Trijicon AccuPoint 3-9x40 back onto the CZ 527 in 6.5mm Grendel. That's a really nice rifle and it deserves a good scope, but it doesn't need one that can dial.

I got it sighted in again and I am quite happy with its performance. It really likes Hornady Black 123-grain ELDMs.

Then, having moved the Trijicon off the Sauer 100 6.5 CM, I put on the SWFA 3-9x40. This was my first time using that scope "for real" and I really, really like it. The reticle is great. It's very clear. The adjustments are nice and crisp. Unfortunately, I think I may have discovered why my Sauer 100 isn't shooting great groups.

Edit - I forgot to mention that after 2.5 hours out in the cold, I really just wanted to go home, but I had put up my target for the Carl Ross drill and hadn’t shot it yet. So, I slung on my binocular harness and my backpack, loaded up the .223, and ran a modified version of the drill. I gave myself 60 seconds for each stage and did the five standing, five seated, five seated-supported, and five prone over backpack (60 seconds to get into position from an alert carry with all gear on and shoot five shots). I shot a fourteen, which given how cold and stiff I was, seems about right. I need to get back into doing the drill “for real”, since ultimately breaking position each time is important.

 

[43.6N]

It's been a slow start to the work week, since we are putting the finishing touches on a couple of things that have consumed a lot of time and energy the past four years, so I got back out to the range again today. After a five-mile "hike" on the treadmill and a one-mile walk with the dog, I drove out to the range all cold and sweaty. It was one of those days that says, "40 degrees, feels like 33." In the shade on the range, with the wind blowing, it felt like 23 to me. I was the only one at the rifle range.

I started off sighting in my new T1X (thanks, Jake @EuroOptic !).

Then I shot a 25-round group to see what it and I were capable of from the bench. A couple of flyers there, but not terrible.

I had one failure to feed out of 50 rounds fired. I'll have to keep an eye on my 10-round magazines and see if it becomes a trend.

I played some scope roulette last night. I moved the Trijicon AccuPoint 3-9x40 back onto the CZ 527 in 6.5mm Grendel. That's a really nice rifle and it deserves a good scope, but it doesn't need one that can dial.

I got it sighted in again and I am quite happy with its performance. It really likes Hornady Black 123-grain ELDMs.

Then, having moved the Trijicon off the Sauer 100 6.5 CM, I put on the SWFA 3-9x40. This was my first time using that scope "for real" and I really, really like it. The reticle is great. It's very clear. The adjustments are nice and crisp. Unfortunately, I think I may have discovered why my Sauer 100 isn't shooting great groups.

Oh no. That’s really sad to see. Weren’t you saying you were really impressed with how beautiful the grain on the sauer was too?

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Oh no. That’s really sad to see. Weren’t you saying you were really impressed with how beautiful the grain on the sauer was too?

Yes, it has pretty wood. I think that crack merits a trip back to the factory though…

 

[RockAndSage]

Yes, it has pretty wood. I think that crack merits a trip back to the factory though…

That's quite a bummer on that crack.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I am probably right that the crack probably explains why the best group I have had from that rifle is 1.8”, right? And the groups have been getting worse, not better.

Edit - I already contacted Sauer. I'll see what they have to say.

 

[bnewt3]

Hopefully they can get you something comparable.

 

[Austin Kaufman]

Zero check on a new bullet lot and shot some prs practice stages with the 223 and 6 creed.


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[thinhorn_AK]

shot some 22 off my porch at my 50 and 75yd steel plates, that’s as far as I can get because of the woods unless I want to go to the shooting range.

I was just practing shooting offnof sticks and my pack.