Not a great range day.

[Picher]

First Problem: I decided to go to the range today because winds were supposed to be about 5-8 mph nearly straight back to the benches. Turns out we had 15-20 mph squirrely winds from about every number on the clock.

Second Problem: Yesterday, I filled my new varmint top leather sandbag and installed my new Timney 2.5 lb. trigger in the "new" Rem 700, .223 Rem, Light Varmint Stainless Fluted rifle.

Prior to my leaving, the sandbag was installed temporarily on my old Hoppe's rest because the Hart Varmint Top didn't come for my Base (presently being used with a benchrest windage top). Unfortunately, I put the rest in the truck, but forgot the rear sandbags.

Okay, so I get set up at the range, without a rear rest and look around for something to use for a rear rest and find a tapered rock and my PAST shoulder pad. Set the past as a rear bag on top of the rock and made the best of a bad situation.

The best 3-shot groups at 100 yards were an inch and the worst, strung out to about 1 1/2" with both my deadly-accurate Tikka 595 and the Rem 700.

Anyway, I'd brought wind flags and tried to shoot at the same flag positions, but they were very few and far between. Chalk it up to having too much time on my hands and 70-something forgetfulness. I remember going to the cabinet to get the rear bag, but decided to take the windflags and forgot the darn sandbags.

Anyway, I really love the Timney. The factory stainless "Walker Trigger" was very inconsistent; close to dangerous.

 

[Unlicensed Dremel]

Holy dang, that's a pretty rifle.

 

[Picher]

Thanks U.D., but pretty is as pretty does. I saw it in the "used" gun rack at L.L. Bean in Freeport and it was love at first sight, so it followed me home.

I'm still working on accuracy loads but, after bedding, it's under 1/2 MOA in decent conditions. As a walkabout rifle, that's better than necessary, but I feel the need to get it a bit better...just because.

Having fun in my retirement!!!

 

[MrBorland]

Unfortunately, I put the rest in the truck, but forgot the rear sandbags.

Wait...some people use bags at the rear of the stock, too?!

Seriously, I've never used a rear bag - I was taught to use your support hand to grasp your "strong" bicep as your support. Kinda like this:

From: http://8541tactical.com/2013/09/14/the-supported-prone-position/

 

[Picher]

Better shooting day today. Made several groups, trying to shoot between small gusts, but they were from several angles.

Shot a 1/4" three-shot group and others were 0.6-0.75" Also only one group shot at 200 yards went into one inch.

MrBorland: I'm to old to be comfortable shooting off the ground, but have some great benchrest rests and rear bags that eliminate all pulse movement, but on hunting rifles, I hold the forend back and down to minimize the difference between offhand and bench shots.

In the field, I use a monopod for long shots from a sitting position, but usually shoot game kill zones larger than about 4 MOA offhand out to 200 meters.

 

[dakiwi13]

Ll beans sellls guns?

 

[nemesiss45]

Wait...some people use bags at the rear of the stock, too?!

Seriously, I've never used a rear bag - I was taught to use your support hand to grasp your "strong" bicep as your support. Kinda like this:

From: http://8541tactical.com/2013/09/14/the-supported-prone-position/

I was taught to ball a fist under the butt, then you can flex lower POA and relax to raise POA. You can get a small sandbag to grasp, resting the butt on the bag, then squeezing and releasing to adjust POA. The bag isolates more body movement. I have only started using a bag like this recently, but it was an immediate improvement.

 

[jimbob86]

Play with the cards dealt .....

On days when winds are squirrelly, and not conducive to benchrest level groups, why not work on the weakest link in the system, the shooter? Using targets larger than the wind will blow a bullet off of, try The Rifle Bounce .....



http://artoftherifleblog.com/rifle-bounce/2012/06/rifle-bounce.html

Ll beans sellls guns?

As I understand it, LL Bean sells everthing there is to be bought, aside frm groceries, in Maine ..... I'd never heard of LL Bean until I met a "Mainah" in person ..... you'd have thought it was Cabela's or somthin'

Holy dang, that's a pretty rifle.

Thanks U.D., but pretty is as pretty does.

It'd be a whole lot prettier to me with an M-1907 style sling .....

Seriously, I've never used a rear bag - I was taught to use your support hand to grasp your "strong" bicep as your support. Kinda like this:

I can't figure out how, unless the pictured shooter has 12" long quadruple jointed fingers .... he is grasping his "strong" bicep ..... not seeing that in the pic .....

 

[Picher]

LL Bean is probably the original outdoor store/catalog sales company, opening in Freeport, Maine in the early 1900s, I believe.

A great thing about Beans is that whatever you buy is guaranteed to be serviceable almost forever. It's not a discount house, since prices are higher than comparable stores, but their stuff has been fantastic.

The day I bought the rifle, I'd gone to Beans to return a fleece vest that was about 20 year old that had a broken zipper, instead of fixing the zipper, they gave me a gift card for the full price of the present cost of that vest...$47.

Our family owns 140 acres behind the house, most of which is forest, and blueberry fields. I walk about a mile down a woods road almost every day and if there aren't any coyotes around, I have several old metallic silhouette targets staked down at the edges of the berry fields...good practice for hunting. We can get up to a 450 yard shot, but I take offhand shots on a turkey target to about 300 yds.

Most of the time, I carry the rifle with a light, cheap, Winchester strap that has a 2" wide, rubber non-slip surface that is placed near the rear stud, so the rifle hangs downward. That end is heavier and bulkier, so when the rifle is aimed, the light end of the sling doesn't swing and throw my aim off much, or is more easily held against the forend. (I hardly ever use a sling to shoot in the field offhand because I'm unencumbered and probably as accurate without it.) It's the most comfortable sling I've ever used and doesn't slip off the shoulder.

 

[MrBorland]

MrBorland: I'm to old to be comfortable shooting off the ground, but have some great benchrest rests and rear bags that eliminate all pulse movement, but on hunting rifles, I hold the forend back and down to minimize the difference between offhand and bench shots.

I posted the pic to kinda sorta show the hand position I was referring to, not the position. The hand position is applicable to shooting off a bench, too, IMO. It's just nice to not be dependent on another piece of gear (e.g. rear bag) when needed.

I can't figure out how, unless the pictured shooter has 12" long quadruple jointed fingers .... he is grasping his "strong" bicep ..... not seeing that in the pic .....

Yeah, it was the best pic I could find in a quick search, and why I said "kinda like this". The point is that the weak hand gets under the buttstock, stabilizes itself on something it can hold or sit upon, then lets the buttstock sit in the web between the thumb & 1st finger.

 

[PetahW]

Chalk it up to having too much time on my hands and 70-something forgetfulness.

Just wait until you get to the point that youll need a checklist, just to get dressed in the morning.

(This, from another "70-something".)


.

 

[Picher]

When I was a teenager with very little money, I made a "bipod" from a couple of pieces of 1/2" copper tubing. It was the shape of a flat-topped "A", more like an "H" with a roof. It was about 10 inches long and I flattened and curled the bottom of the legs, so it could be stuck in the ground when hunting chucks.
It could fit in my back pocket, so it didn't add weight to the rifle. I wrapped felt around the top and secured the edges with electrical tape.

I don't know how many chucks and crows were shot off that thing, probably over a hundred. It's probably still kicking around the basement here. If I find it, I'll post a picture.

My father was a plumber and I worked with him, so I knew how to use a torch to anneal copper and how to sweat pipe. My dad had several anvils and metal-working tools.

 

[Picher]

I finally got my 50 grain bullet load adjusted for the new 700 LVSF. After going on the Accurate website and finding that the max load for the .223 wasn't 26 grains (Lyman Manual), but 24 grains, and realizing that with the short leade in my rifle, I cut the powder charge to 22.5, but groups opened up, so went to 23.0 and adjusted C.O.A.L. to give 2.230" and groups tightened and became round at just under 1/2 MOA.

I'm done monkeying with that bullet weight, as it's more than satisfactory, both in feeding and accuracy. Primer cratering (no flattening) is gone. Next is the 55 grain bullet weight, but that can wait for a while.

This is really a fun rifle! I it carried by sling for a couple of miles in the woods and fields yesterday and it was fantastic. Didn't see anything that needed shooting, but did luck onto a grouse that did the broken-wing fake-out...almost convincingly. Never found the ground-nest, but didn't look very hard.