Shot a 25 shot group this AM

[tominboise]

Went out early this AM with 5 rifles. Among others, I shot my Remington 700 SA Laminated .221 Fireball. It has a Leupold 6X42 on it. and a factory trigger. I shot a 25 shot group into 1-3/8". The group was shot in 5 shot strings over a couple of hours. The light went from dawn shadows to full sun. The winds were negligible. The load was 40 gr Hornady vmax over RL7. Pretty pleased with this rifle.

I also shot for the first time, my Weatherby Super Varmint master in .223 Rem. Best load was 5 shots into 9/16" - 50 gr Vax over AA2520. Scope is a 3X9 elite 3000 I had laying around.

I shot my Featherweight M70 6.5X55.  New Norma brass ejects fine from this rifle (it won't eject Remginton cases with any consistency).  3 shot groups were 5/8" - 120 gs Nosler BT over H414.

[Zachary]

Scope is a 3X9 elite 3000 I had laying around.

Funny how I too have some new scopes laying around my house too.  I guess they're just waiting to get married to a rifle.

As for the shooting, I don't know much about the Fireball, but 1 3/8 inch groups isn't that bad for a 5 shot group.

As for the 6.5, I have been told that Norma brass is among the best out there - pricey, but the best.

Zachary

[tominboise]

Zachary, that's 1-3/8" for a 25 shot group, not a 5 shot group..... :lol:

And you're correct, I still have another scope or two waiting for the right rifle to come along.  It's a sickness, I admit......... :wink:

[Sigma]

Tom,

Excellent group with the 6.5x55 on your Model 70 - 5/8". Did you have to customize it in any way, or did it shoot that way out of the box?

Regards

[tominboise]

The only mods were that I rebedded the M70 when I got it, before I ever shot it.  I scraped out the hot glue bedding and free floated the barrel.  I use JB weld for bedding material.  While I had it out of the stock, I adjusted the trigger to about 3#.  The scope is an old Leupold Vari-x III 2.5-8X.  

I worked up reloads using a method that involves finding the vibration nodes of the barrel.  It made a difference in finding the sweet spot quickly.  The method involves loading a series of shells, one round at each powder charge, varying the charge by .3 gr. from starting to max charge weight.  Shoot them all in one group, noting as you shoot, where the bullets impact.  You will typically start with shots scattering quite widely, but as you approach a node, the bullets will land on top of one another (for a few charge weights), and then scatter again.  I found two distinct nodes with this rifle and 120 and 140 gr bullets.  Then it's a matter of picking out the powder charge that coincides with the node.  The results speak for themselves.  It's a variation on shooting multiple 3 shot groups at varying powder charges - it just saves on bullets and powder.

Next time I will shoot some 5 shot groups, just to see that the node really is the node.

Tom