- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
That rosewood is beautiful. Makes me want to go shooting again. Haven't shot anything in far too long.
Long Range Shooting
- Thread starter glockman
- Start date
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
xjtony
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Grantsville, Ut
@DAA those are some beautiful rifles. That rosewood is beautiful.
A lot has changed in the long range game over the last 10 years. You can pick up a capable shooter that will consistently shoot sub MOA right out of the box. Glass manufacturing has made huge leaps as well, along with ballistic software.
Like Mark said right now ammo is the bottleneck. I've talked to a few people who have said components should start showing back up by fall but we will see. I've gotten lucky and found some primers and bullets, but powder has been hard to get for a decent price. For the 6.5 Creedmore there many factory loads that should perform very well.
A lot has changed in the long range game over the last 10 years. You can pick up a capable shooter that will consistently shoot sub MOA right out of the box. Glass manufacturing has made huge leaps as well, along with ballistic software.
Like Mark said right now ammo is the bottleneck. I've talked to a few people who have said components should start showing back up by fall but we will see. I've gotten lucky and found some primers and bullets, but powder has been hard to get for a decent price. For the 6.5 Creedmore there many factory loads that should perform very well.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
Lots of cool rifles Dave and Tony. Great feedback on the Athlons. I have a source that I can get them for a pretty sweet deal. I have shot some one of the Midas TAC models on a Ruger Precision .17hmr out to about 300 yards just plinking while camping.
I haven't picked up the scope yet. I'll have to see what price is on a comparable Athlon.
I haven't picked up the scope yet. I'll have to see what price is on a comparable Athlon.
- Location
- West Bountiful, UT
Things have changed and progressed a heckuva lot since I was really paying attention. I'm definitely not up on what is the current state of the art!
- DAA
- DAA
xjtony
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Grantsville, Ut
It has changed quite a bit, but there something to be said for the old school stuff. My build is AR-15 pattern and shoots pretty good, but doesn't have any class lol. I have a buddy who has a rifle actually built by P.O. Akley back in the day sitting in his safe. I believe it's .243 AI.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
Long range and shooting in general have exploded in the last ten years. I used to be able to keep up pretty easily with the jargon and knowledge of 95% of people. I often find myself out of my depth now. It's awesome to see so many people take up shooting even with population growth in Utah and far fewer people growing up running around with a pellet gun or a .22lr.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
I picked up the scope and parts Saturday. I went with the Vortex Venom, Tally 34mm rings and a 20moa Leupold base.
Went to mount the scope today and we couldn't get the base screws to tighten. 35in/lbs and they were acting stripped. Pulled them out and one rear had broken and one front was stretched.
Stretched screw
This is odd with a new in the package Leupold but fortunately the old man has a Leupold screw set laying around. We put in new screws and got them torqued to 45in/lbs.
Mounted the scope using his levels, which is pretty cool.
Went to insert the zero stop ring after bore sighting it and found the elevation indicator dot was free spinning.
Line should be directly above the up.
I can't say I wasn't warned, but damn, first the Leupold failure and now the Vortex failure.
We did get the barrel cleaned, oiled with the old man's special "barrel break in oil" and fired the first round.
His method of break in is to clean, run a patch with his oil, fire a round, clean, run a patch with his oil, fire a round. Usually takes 3-5 cleaning/firings to get it broken in. I'll continue once I get the scope bullshit figured out.
Went to mount the scope today and we couldn't get the base screws to tighten. 35in/lbs and they were acting stripped. Pulled them out and one rear had broken and one front was stretched.
Stretched screw
This is odd with a new in the package Leupold but fortunately the old man has a Leupold screw set laying around. We put in new screws and got them torqued to 45in/lbs.
Mounted the scope using his levels, which is pretty cool.
Went to insert the zero stop ring after bore sighting it and found the elevation indicator dot was free spinning.
Line should be directly above the up.
I can't say I wasn't warned, but damn, first the Leupold failure and now the Vortex failure.
We did get the barrel cleaned, oiled with the old man's special "barrel break in oil" and fired the first round.
His method of break in is to clean, run a patch with his oil, fire a round, clean, run a patch with his oil, fire a round. Usually takes 3-5 cleaning/firings to get it broken in. I'll continue once I get the scope bullshit figured out.
xjtony
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Grantsville, Ut
That's the rub with Vortex, or really any similar scope manufacturer. The will fix you up, but sometimes you have to send one back. Their CS is normally fairly good. I've never had a piece of glass take more than a week turnaround from either Vortex or Athlon.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
Yeah, I called them this morning and they sent me a prepaid return label. Fingers crossed.
- Location
- West Bountiful, UT
Vortex is best known for their exceptional warranty service.
- DAA
- DAA
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
xjtony
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Grantsville, Ut
That's their business model, and a lot of scope companies have followed suit. It's cheaper for them to do less QC and just replace the bad ones. Their Razor and AMG glass sees less of a turnaround because they are assembled in house, but the import lines sometimes have issues. The optical and mechanical designs seem to be pretty good as long as you get a good one. If you look around now a days many of the manufacturers do similar.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
Got the scope back last week which was about 7 day turnaround. Here's to hoping it tracks once I start shooting it at distance.
Got it back on the gun and did the barrel break in.
Fire a shot, brush the barrel, dry patch, then JB bore paste, then a dry patch, then 3 patches with solvent, then one patch with break in oil.
Repeated this and on the 5th shot, the third patch with solvent is basically white, no fouling.
We shot a couple test loads with some Hornady ELD-M 140grn bullets and H4350 powder just to get it rough sighted in.
I plan to do load development with the ELD 140's and some Barnes Match Burner 140, 145 and 147's. The Barnes bullets are available and cheaper than the Hornady's, so they will probably shoot like crap.
I'm picked up some new Lapua small primer brass and will start development next week hopefully.
Got it back on the gun and did the barrel break in.
Fire a shot, brush the barrel, dry patch, then JB bore paste, then a dry patch, then 3 patches with solvent, then one patch with break in oil.
Repeated this and on the 5th shot, the third patch with solvent is basically white, no fouling.
We shot a couple test loads with some Hornady ELD-M 140grn bullets and H4350 powder just to get it rough sighted in.
I plan to do load development with the ELD 140's and some Barnes Match Burner 140, 145 and 147's. The Barnes bullets are available and cheaper than the Hornady's, so they will probably shoot like crap.
I'm picked up some new Lapua small primer brass and will start development next week hopefully.
- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
I'll bet you can make a recipe for the Barnes? I'd be surprised if you couldn't get something to work out
xjtony
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Grantsville, Ut
I have never loaded the Barnes projectiles but I do know that a lot of Grendel guys like their lighter bullets and get some good results. My pet load uses 129g Nosler Accubond Long Range bullets. Good BC and very accurate. At the moment its really load whatever you can find. I grabbed a pound of Enduron 4166 the other day. Its the only powder I've seen on the self in a year. I'm going to load some test loads for my 24 inch Grendel this weekend.
I've had decent success with 4 different 6.5 CR running 143 ELDMs and 50 gn of RL-26. I bought 3 Rem 700s last year for each of my boys and a kimber for me. All have really liked the ELDM but the burgers and Noslers not as much.
Also +1 on the Athlon, I'm running the Area BTR 2.5x-15 FFP on the Kimber and love it. I have a pair of their Midas 10x binos as well that have been good.
Also +1 on the Athlon, I'm running the Area BTR 2.5x-15 FFP on the Kimber and love it. I have a pair of their Midas 10x binos as well that have been good.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
My dad has a couple boxes of 143 ELDM's. We will likely try them too. I haven't been this stoked to shoot stuff in years.
- Location
- West Bountiful, UT
Meh...
- DAA
- DAA