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Post by SFC (R) B on Aug 16, 2023 15:11:20 GMT -5
Through my PT job at Scheels I get to shoot quite a bit. Yesterday we were at the range for a Thunderbeast suppressor demo and guess what the owner brought with him to shoot? 3 different Accuracy International rifles.....300 PRC, 308, and 6.5 CM. I never thought I would get to shoot an AI (a variant of these rifles has made a confirmed 2700m kill from a UK sniper) due to the $$$$. They were everything I thought they were. 2 wore Zero Compromise optics and one a Schmidt and Bender. The range was only 100m so I had to "shoot small" to feel the goodness. There were sunflowers at the 100m mark and I took turns shooting pedals off of the flowers. This is me behind the 300 PRC. flic.kr/p/2oWbpKz |
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Post by esshup on Aug 16, 2023 16:02:30 GMT -5
Cool. How do you like the optics? 100m doesn't do them justice, my long range rifle will shoot a smaller group at 300 yds than at 100 yds. Shooting into the sun isn't the easiest thing to do either.
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Post by titanium700 on Aug 16, 2023 21:15:30 GMT -5
ZCO optics are primo alpha optics.
Cost more than some people’s cars. Lol
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Post by SFC (R) B on Aug 16, 2023 21:40:49 GMT -5
Cool. How do you like the optics? 100m doesn't do them justice, my long range rifle will shoot a smaller group at 300 yds than at 100 yds. Shooting into the sun isn't the easiest thing to do either. Yeah, whoever oriented that range was NOT a rifle shooter...  I've shot a couple SBs before and love them. The Zeroes seemed great but with the glare it was hard to get full usage. I'd love to have those setups for a few weeks......purely for empirical purposes, of course!!! |
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Post by esshup on Aug 16, 2023 21:45:46 GMT -5
Unless I am shooting long range, I don't see the need for that quality of glass, I think even a NF is overkill under 400-500 yds and I have one on the LR rifle.
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Post by SFC (R) B on Aug 16, 2023 22:25:00 GMT -5
Unless I am shooting long range, I don't see the need for that quality of glass, I think even a NF is overkill under 400-500 yds and I have one on the LR rifle. I have a Viper PST 5x25 that I have shot to 1000 and it is fine.....I do love the fancy stuff out there though, especially with the Tremor3 reticle. |
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Post by esshup on Aug 17, 2023 9:11:33 GMT -5
Unless I am shooting long range, I don't see the need for that quality of glass, I think even a NF is overkill under 400-500 yds and I have one on the LR rifle. I have a Viper PST 5x25 that I have shot to 1000 and it is fine.....I do love the fancy stuff out there though, especially with the Tremor3 reticle. I have one of those as well, and an Athlon 6-30x50 that I swap from rifle to rifle just for load development work if it's not going to be wearing a high magnification scope. Even if the rifle will be wearing a low powered scope, I throw that one on it to get the load dialed in. I feel there is no sense in wasting components when the group size could be influenced by not having high enough magnification when punching paper. Then once the load is dialed in I will swap to the glass that it will be wearing for the remainder of it's life. I know that any issues are then with the shooter and not the glass or the rifle. |
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Post by kicker on Aug 22, 2023 12:00:15 GMT -5
I will offer this in perspective to optics. Having guns with Bushnell 3200 / 4200 in either 3 x 9 x 40 or 4 x 12 x 40 with duplex reticles they are excellent in keeping it simple as far as hunting. But, since i have taken up NRL and PRS style of shooting they are insufficient. The glass is as good as it gets. The one feature that I like on my 6.5 PRC with Nightforce NX8 4 x 32 x50 is Nightforces concept of a zero stop. That hard zero stop is phenomenal. No matter what yardage that I dialed up to engage a target, once I am done shooting that stage, I can turn it back down to initial zero setting. But, being able to shoot 5000$ plus gun is a bucket list item. I have gun envy. LOL
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Post by esshup on Aug 23, 2023 17:42:01 GMT -5
I will offer this in perspective to optics. Having guns with Bushnell 3200 / 4200 in either 3 x 9 x 40 or 4 x 12 x 40 with duplex reticles they are excellent in keeping it simple as far as hunting. But, since i have taken up NRL and PRS style of shooting they are insufficient. The glass is as good as it gets. The one feature that I like on my 6.5 PRC with Nightforce NX8 4 x 32 x50 is Nightforces concept of a zero stop. That hard zero stop is phenomenal. No matter what yardage that I dialed up to engage a target, once I am done shooting that stage, I can turn it back down to initial zero setting. But, being able to shoot 5000$ plus gun is a bucket list item. I have gun envy. LOL I have the zero stop on my NF that is on my LR rifle as well. I'd hate to think what it would cost to build it today. 6th rifle down on the right side of the page. apsrifles.com/Full_Custom_Rifle_Photos.htmlCoyote at 867 yds (clean cold bore shot), Cow elk at 708 yds and I have run it out to 1400 yds on rocks in Colorado. |
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Post by kicker on Aug 28, 2023 15:40:12 GMT -5
essup,
I am at that point currently. At what point do I stop. I am looking at building a bucket list rifle. If I had known today that you could have one rifle with the ability to change out barrels on that action. man, that would have saved me a lot of dollars. LOL. Basically, i am looking either at a Terminus Zeus Action, or Impact Precision action, chamber in a 22 caliber, 6.5 caliber, and a 30 caliber all based on a short action. But, I will admit, have the fun in shooting different calibers is the trial / error of finding that 1 load that will due a 5 shot clover leaf at what ever zeroing yardage you stipulate then take that load out to extreme yardage. By the way, I have gun envy now, thanks so much. awesome pic of gun and exploits.
kicker
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Post by esshup on Aug 29, 2023 2:02:13 GMT -5
essup, I am at that point currently. At what point do I stop. I am looking at building a bucket list rifle. If I had known today that you could have one rifle with the ability to change out barrels on that action. man, that would have saved me a lot of dollars. LOL. Basically, i am looking either at a Terminus Zeus Action, or Impact Precision action, chamber in a 22 caliber, 6.5 caliber, and a 30 caliber all based on a short action. But, I will admit, have the fun in shooting different calibers is the trial / error of finding that 1 load that will due a 5 shot clover leaf at what ever zeroing yardage you stipulate then take that load out to extreme yardage. By the way, I have gun envy now, thanks so much. awesome pic of gun and exploits. kicker
Kicker, thanks. Kirby (the gunsmith) guarantees 1/2 moa out to 1,000 yds but if the shooter does his part with load development and reading the wind they will shoot 1/4 moa. I've shot a 3/4" c-c group at 300 yds with mine and that 300 yd is the zero for the gun, and have shot a 1/2 scale prairie dog steel target at 1,000 yds. When I ran it out to 1,400 yds in Colorado the spotter said the 2nd bullet impacted in the center of the crater formed in the dirt in the side of the hill that the first bullet made when I hit the rock he told me to aim at. Reading the wind at distance is the hardest part of shooting small groups. In that rifle I started out shooting a 7mm 175g Sierra Matchking at 3450 fps (that's where the accuracy node was, I did run them up to 3525 but the accuracy wasn't there) but switched to 180g Berger VLD's at 3350 fps or the 195g Berger Elite Hunter bullet at 3300 fps. I was using WC-872 powder but found out that it is VERY temperature sensitive - dropping 1,000' in elevation and going from 40°F to -8°F changed point of impact 2 moa. So now I'm using Alliant Reloader 50. RL33 was just as accurate, but I wasn't getting the FPS before signs of high pressure showed up. The chambering is a .338 Lapua necked down, the shoulder is blown forward a bit and the case body taper is reduced. It holds about 10% more grains of water than a standard .338 Lapua case. |
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Post by kicker on Aug 29, 2023 17:48:29 GMT -5
For my 6.5 PRC, It liked IMR 4831 right around 54.5 grains. I initially loaded Berger 140 gr VLD and that shot well. I finally got in some Berger 6.5 156 gr VLD, and when the crops come off, I will be able to load test. There is nothing better than “ Gun Powder Aroma Therapy “
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Post by esshup on Aug 29, 2023 21:49:18 GMT -5
Because of the overbore and the case capacity, I am really limited on powder types. I could get another 50-100 fps if I had a longer barrel, but my criteria was a rifle that weighed under 10 pounds before I added the scope. It's not bad to pack around in the Eberlestock backpack. With the range that it has, there's not much need for spot and stalk. If it's within "X" yards, and the wind is good, it's spot and shoot.  If I get a good vantage point, I can cover a LOT of ground. |
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I've shot a couple SBs before and love them. The Zeroes seemed great but with the glare it was hard to get full usage. I'd love to have those setups for a few weeks......purely for empirical purposes, of course!!!
If I get a good vantage point, I can cover a LOT of ground.