What did you do at the range today?

[pbroski]

I was at my shooting spot this morning making my second Cold Bore Challenge shot. Click the link to see how it went.

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/2026-cold-bore-challenge.452660/post-4732322

My rifle is a custom Kimber Adirondack chambered in .22 ARC with an NXS 2.5-10x42 scope firing 80 gr. eld-m handloads. I felt like doing some more shooting, so I went even further back to 656 yards. I was shooting from sitting with sticks in front and pack in rear. Fired 3 shots captured on video. First shot was a miss to the left.

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

I ran two tests today in the Shieln/Rem78 30-06.


Test #1 - the 178 ELD-X's that I haven't been able to get under 2MOA in anything, I had 10 left in the box. I typically seat everythiung at least .030 off the lands, but on a lark, I ran these out to 0.010 off the lands. Lo and behold, wow, that's still not enough to put me over the moon, but that's a straight up result! This was over N150 in my 30-06 with the Shilen barrel with WLR (I think? might have been WLRM) primers.

So... to buy another box of these and work on this a little, or say 'screw it, the 180 Sierras shoot better anyway', or say 'I wanna try the 200 ELD-X and see, in my 7mm, the heavies shoot way better than the lights'.... TBD.





Test #2 - The 180 Sierra GameKing's that have shot really quite well for me over H4350, I thought I'd give them a go with Ramshot Hunter. This was 57.8 grains (well under book max, but definitely seems pretty 'hot' in my gun). 2840 FPS, ES of 16 FPS, SD of 5, I had high hopes. I mean, this isn't awful awful, but it's not as good as the H4350 was doing with this same bullet. This composite group also discards one flier that pushed the group out to 2 MOA that I am fairly confident wasn't me (but was a vertical flier, so it could have been due to a powder drop that came out a bit off).

 

[UnckleBob]

Sunday, out of good ammo, I bought the only 243 ammo the range stocked (they don't stock much). From a cold barrel, my 243 Tikka shot this 3 shot group. I won't hunt with their ammo, but it made me confident i could hunt with just about any factory ammo should the need arise.

The problem I have is that it is always 85 degrees or more. Getting larger sample sizes is tough because getting the barrel and suppressor back to "cold" temperatures takes forever.

I also shot my 7BC with Federal's 175g tipped fusion load. It is not delivering stellar results, but I'll take 1 MOA in that rifle. 2,814 fps from 16" barrel.

 

[shomi]

The problem I have is that it is always 85 degrees or more. Getting larger sample sizes is tough because getting the barrel and suppressor back to "cold" temperatures takes forever

Do you use any kind of a fan to cool the barrel from the inside?