Well today I took her out for the first time, a gorgeous spring day on the coast of Maine--the only problem is the winds were a constant 20+ mph and very gusty. Since the winds were so strong I didn't bring the Labradar along. Since I was breaking the barrel in anyway, I chose a combination of 95 gr tipped game kings and 2015--I have tons of both and wasn't looking to develop a serious load--just "break-in fodder." I typically clean after each shot for the first 5 to 10 shots depending on what signs are coming out on the patches, then every 3 shots for a few more groups, again depending on signs of the bore in the patches.
After getting all set-up I was ready to take the very first shot, and pulled the trigger...click. Nothing happened. Cycled the round out and chambered another...click, again, nothing happened. That ain't good. I check the cartridges heads and I notice there's not even a pin strike. While most people would figure it out pretty quickly, I'm not exactly the fast logical type--so I decide to pack things up and go home to take her back apart to see what the deal was. My first thought is that I must have goofed the head spacing with the gauges somehow.
After getting the barrel apart from the receiver I looked inside and it was plain as day--probably should have figured out before taking things apart--the last part of the assembly was putting the scope base on, I'm using an el-cheapo weaver base since several of my parts orders are still drifting aimlessly through the UPS galaxy. The weaver has two different screw lengths--and I somehow got the front ones switched--so it was coming through and catching the bolt lug. Reassembled everything and went back out to the dump where I shoot and set up again.
My scope zero technique is one of the few things I do that has actually improved over time (saving ammo), I just bore sight at 100 yds and generally can get on paper with the first shot, though not always.
Winds were still strong, so I had to time my shots to when the target wasn't moving around as much. Even so, and even with the breaks for cleaning the bore, became apparent to me very quickly this is one bad-a little cartridge!
All but the very first group (which I was tuning for zero) generally was around .5 MOA. Not having the labradar, I really can't tell which is the better load to refine--so I'll have to wait for another calmer day to do-over.
I hate to use sensationalistic hyperbole, even though I do it every now and then, but my impression is this is a fabulous set-up! The action is mated so tightly and seamlessly to the chassis it feels like it's one solid piece--which is saying a lot for a goofy savage axis action.
Shooting it is--dare I say it--actually very fun and pleasurable, can't wait to shoot it again. Felt recoil to me seems quite a bit less than a 5.56--though some of that may be due to the 11.5 lb overall weight. It's really cool to shoot effortless and follow through and see the bullet impact with minimal sight movement. Even though this was a random break-in test--you can see readily the cartridge delivers the goods in terms of accuracy and consistency. MDT says their chassis will improve most shooter's accuracy by 21% (I have no idea how they arrived at that figure) but in my case I'm certain it's more like 50 to 100%. Gonna be buying more MDT chassis for future builds for sure--in fact I think I'm abandoning my upgrades to wood stocks from here on in.