Little range time with the AI and dustingaunder

[vdub]

Dustin and I made it out to the benchrest range at the OKC Gun Club for a little shooting fun. I took the AI and some reloads out so we could stretch the legs some. Unfortunately, the highpower range was closed for a match and team practice but we stretched the AI out to 300yds. The groups were fired from a Caldwell Rock Jr with rear bag. I entered the targets into On Target to get the group information and have posted two sets of groups below. The first one is with all flyers counted (Note: the lowest one on my target was a sight-in see what adjustments needed to be made for 300yds). The second set is with no flyers scored. I think the only things the outing accomplished was to see that the AI shoots better than either of us, it made Dustin covet the AI, shows my reloads and rifle are better than I can shoot at 300yds or any range for that matter, and made me realize even more that I need a spotting scope to see those holes better past 200yds.





And one of the AI:

 

[338Shooter]

Those 4 fliers were unfamiliarity with the gun. The upper left 3 were the first 3 rounds I shot. Once I settled in, then you see the magic happening. Forget your thumbnails fool!

 

[NikatKimber]

Pretty sweet! Details on gun? Caliber, scope etc.

 

[338Shooter]

The rifle is an Accuracy International AW in .308. Scope is a Night Force 3.5-15x50 with MLR reticle I believe.

 

[vdub]

Dustin is correct on the gun. I got it through Stacey Blankenship before he moved over to Accuracy International North America.

The reloads were 155Gr Lapua Scenars over 46.5Gr Varget in Lapua brass with CCI BR2 primers. Rests were Caldwell Rock Jr and rear bag. There was some wind but nothing too major.

 

[prdator]

So have you ran any Bergers though it yet???

That's pretty good shoot'n

 

[338Shooter]

I haven't seen anything from Berger that can touch the BC of the scenars. Even their heavier 168 VLDs fall short. The 155 Lapuas will give better ballistic performance and higher velocity than the 168VLD.

The 155 grain VLD from Berger has a BC of .439 and the Lapua has a BC of .508. Even the 168 VLD has a BC of .473.

I think the lapua bullets are the cats meow, but I can't speak for vdub.

 

[vdub]

No, I have not shot any Bergers through it. The bullets I have tried are Sierra MK 168, Sierra MK 175, Sierra Palma MK 155, and Lapua 155 Scenars. I believe the Palma MK 155 have the closest BC to the 155 Scenars. However I find the meplats of the 155 Scenars are alot more consistent and uniform than the Palma MK 155. The 155 Scenars are round and have a very distinct hole. The Sierras I have shot all seemed to have a smushed end and the hole was closed. Not sure if that factors alot into but since Giraud makes a meplat trimmer I am sure it might factor in somewhere.

I have thought about trying the 185 Scenars since they have a .521 BC and some thought has been given to the Berger bullets. However, I bought 1000 of the 155 Scenars so I have plenty of shooting before I consider buying anything else in bulk.

Edit: I have also been trying to figure out how to improve my shooting and ran into this thread over on Sniper's Hide (http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1174420&page=1). Even though it has some bs mixed in, I think I figured out the rather big muzzle hop and why my groups have a tendency to spread out more as can be seen between Dustin's and mine targets. I will test this out this weekend when I go shoot at my auto-poppers I have ordered.

 

[AndoOKC]

Are you shooting off concrete?

My gun hops a little when on concrete but when im shooting on the ground be it in grass or dirt the hop is compeltely eliminated. In fact if you want to get the best stability out of your bipod dig a little divot/hole in the ground for your bipod legss. You'll be surprised how nicely the gun responds when the bipod legs are secured. Ill give you a link here that will teach you how to shoot bugholes off a bipod.

http://www.6mmbr.com/TacticalFroggyA1.html

BTW nice gun. I have an AICS 1.5 on an R700 shooting consistently around the 0.5 MOA mark when im doing everything im supposed to be doing. Im shooting 175gr SMKs moly coated with 43.8grs Varget in LC 82 Match brass trimmed down and with CCI large rifle primers (not the BR2s). I think your gun should prolly shoot better than mine or at least more consistently. I will say that the Black hills 168gr molys shoot around the .25-.40 MOA. All my groups are shot in the prone position with a bipod and a rear sandbag.

 

[vdub]

All shooting was done of the concrete benches on the benchrest range. The issue I had was that I was leaning over onto the bench and had the rifle off-centered on my right shoulder. Everytime I shot the rifle jumped up and to the left and took me off target.

I have some auto-popper AR500 targets on the way to me. I will then shoot those at the shillouette range in the prone position. The test target from Stacey Blankenship was under 0.5MOA using FGMM. The rifle is definitely not the problem on the groups!!