Sky: Clear
Temp: 60's
Wind: Heavy, Variable 15-25 gusts to 35, cross-range.
With winds as they were, and still needing an initial sighting - in, I decided to stay on the 50 yard line. Later I'll do a more serious workup, by then I should have my replacement stock fitted.
I used BVAC's 55gr V-Max ammo, stated velocity roughly 3100 FPS.
First - the Bushnell Elite 3200 gave a nice, bright, clear view, edge-to-edge. Leupold's Medium Rings gave plenty of clearance from the barrel for the 40mm glass. I mounted the scope pretty far forward, since this rifle will be used either from the bench or from prone. The scope allowed plenty of forward adjustment without being close to the rear ring.
The stock was standard 'sporter' feel fare. The hard plastic was just that - hard plastic. It was, though as comfortable as I expected and easy to hold on to. Pushing a round home, I looked through the scope to my target downrange and dialed down to the scope's lowest setting of 4x. For some reason I had a case of the jiggles today - but controlled slow breathing brought it under control enough to take some test shots. After dialing in I shot some test groups. Best 4 round group showed about 3/8ths inch spread. I have to admit I haven't shot in a while and in some of my groups I did pull a few rounds. Extreme worst group was 1.75" - and I claim all of that
. By the end of the session I felt dialed right in, however. As a side note, the trigger release was excellent but I prefer a lighter pull.
I'm extremely pleased with this rifle. I clearly have a lot of practice ahead of me! However, in a day with less wind, after more practice I imagine this rifle will be able to keep one ragged hole at 100 yards - it certainly cut its share at 50. 200+ will have to wait for another session - as the nearest >100 yard range is quite a ways away from me.
When I considered the support (wobbly wooden block with a thin sandbag), the shooter (experienced, but greatly out of practice.. and out of shape), the wind and that -zero- effort was made to find a better-shooting load... the performance was excellent.
Temp: 60's
Wind: Heavy, Variable 15-25 gusts to 35, cross-range.
With winds as they were, and still needing an initial sighting - in, I decided to stay on the 50 yard line. Later I'll do a more serious workup, by then I should have my replacement stock fitted.
I used BVAC's 55gr V-Max ammo, stated velocity roughly 3100 FPS.
First - the Bushnell Elite 3200 gave a nice, bright, clear view, edge-to-edge. Leupold's Medium Rings gave plenty of clearance from the barrel for the 40mm glass. I mounted the scope pretty far forward, since this rifle will be used either from the bench or from prone. The scope allowed plenty of forward adjustment without being close to the rear ring.
The stock was standard 'sporter' feel fare. The hard plastic was just that - hard plastic. It was, though as comfortable as I expected and easy to hold on to. Pushing a round home, I looked through the scope to my target downrange and dialed down to the scope's lowest setting of 4x. For some reason I had a case of the jiggles today - but controlled slow breathing brought it under control enough to take some test shots. After dialing in I shot some test groups. Best 4 round group showed about 3/8ths inch spread. I have to admit I haven't shot in a while and in some of my groups I did pull a few rounds. Extreme worst group was 1.75" - and I claim all of that
. By the end of the session I felt dialed right in, however. As a side note, the trigger release was excellent but I prefer a lighter pull.I'm extremely pleased with this rifle. I clearly have a lot of practice ahead of me! However, in a day with less wind, after more practice I imagine this rifle will be able to keep one ragged hole at 100 yards - it certainly cut its share at 50. 200+ will have to wait for another session - as the nearest >100 yard range is quite a ways away from me.
When I considered the support (wobbly wooden block with a thin sandbag), the shooter (experienced, but greatly out of practice.. and out of shape), the wind and that -zero- effort was made to find a better-shooting load... the performance was excellent.