'06 Handi's range report

[Survivor]

There weren't many of us there but all of the guys at the range acted like they'd never heard of a Handi rifle.  I said really?  NEF?  Harrington & Richards etc etc.  There's a link on the Marlin website!  I felt like an internet nerd.  They were pretty into the Choate set up and the size.  The Handi didn't show much for tightness or patters at first.  I cleaned and shot through 2 bxs of PowerShock 150 grainers and cleaned every 5 shots.  I shot some PowerShock 180s towards the end.  Things started to shape up.  Cheap ammo but but no great performance out of the rifle yet with either load.  I'm so used to shooting my .243 Savage 110 that I have to admit it kicks my @ss a little in 30-06, but that's what I wanted.  I've got a little more thunder at my fingertips.  Here's a pic of the first real tight grouping towards the end of the session.  I found a reasonable zero and changed my mark to take a couple shots at the "S" for a group. Following the top/right hole was the last adjustment at 2 clicks left and I put two through the same hole (low) and one above.  I was anticipating the shots a little too.  I could tell.  I have to admit that the heavy trigger makes me tense so the variance in POI was probably mostly me.  Needless to say my shoulder was shot and it was getting dark...I closed the bar so to speak.   MAybe I'll shoot from a bipod next time.  The sandbag rest wasn't the best I don't think either.  I like the foam-strip-bedding idea.  I'll try some things. 

[burntmuch]

You ve got your 06 in a varmint stock? Did you stay with the varmint forend? I ve got the same thing, wondering what I should do to  Forend. Im gonna start with oring to keep forend off barrel. No time to go to the range. this is my overtime season. My gun is in case by door, like a dog waiting to go for walk.  Let me know how yours does.

[Survivor]

Only the Varmint stock.  Synthetic factory forend. O Ring for me too.  Then the foamstrips+/-???  We'll see.

[Badnews Bob]

Thats not a bad start, Hunting accurate for sure. Now comes the fun part and thats tinkering with it till it gets better. That recoil will get ya untill youve gotton familar with it to. Doing your own trigger isn't hard at all if you don't mind tinkering it is well worth the effort.

[EVOC ONE]

I had to try a pretty fair amount of tuning techniques to get my .30-06 Handi to shoot anything close to your group.

The final combination was:

- A 1/2"W X 5/8"L piece of felt weather strip attached to the forend approx 1" from the front.
- The "O" ring around the forend mount stud.
- Enlarging the mount stud hole in the forend so that the forend falls off the rifle under it own weight.

The rifle now shoots three consecutive shots +/- 1" at 100 yards with Federal Power Shok 180 gr SP.
 

[burntmuch]

evoc did you try any other ammo. or were the 180s the best u got. I just got my 06 and i was thinking about starting a little lighter.

[Survivor]

Hey, don't count me out of the woods yet.  I actually lost a little sleep over it last night. Of course I thought I'd get the one Handi in the world either with all of the bugs or a sniper out of the box.  With my luck it's always a toss up.  So, with the Handi I lean consideribly towards favorable so I count my blessings.  I'll start with something similar to EVOC's process.  I think this gun swallows a couple more boxes, I'll keep after that barrel with good solvents, and that trigger, man, the trigger will take some nerve too but first I'll try the "two opposing fingers on the hammer" for moderate opposing resistance against the sear releasing and try to polish the trigger guts from the inside without disassembly.  I'm a toss up on that one too.  Anyway, for the most part it didn't shoot well BUT for the benifit of the dought,
a. The barrel is brand new and I don't know what ammo it likes 
b. There's some irony to sighting in a scope while dealing with (a)
c. I was in poor form with my fundamentals.  Tense.  Anticipating. 
d. First time I've shot over the .243.  By the time the gun was starting to come around I had to change grains=POI=scope zero (which I almost found) and my shoulder was sore.  I said all of this already but I just have to own my part.  I can feel the potential.     

[burntmuch]

Looks like youre doing real good with a gun Thats new to ya. Hey why didnt U use the varmint forend. As far as trigger, Im lucky. My handi came with a real nice trigger. Im geussing 4 lbs. Which is where I like it Hey is this gun gonna be a hunting gun or range gun? 

[Survivor]

I like range performance in a hunting gun.  The relatively light weight of the gun is for and against me in some ways.  I'll need to practice my off hand posture so the little guy aint wild.  I wanted it light and the factory synthetic forend seemed lighter with leaner contour than the choate forend.  I like that too.  I just had a stock on my savage that had a wide forend and I wasn't fond of that.  However, I'll need to improve upon whichever forend before the sucker will stay consistant from a rest +- a few front to back of the forend screw.  I hope it doesn't get too picky.  I did pretty well returning to target from a rest though.  I'm less than robotic which could be improved upon.  Roomm to grow.  What ammunition do you shoot in you '06? 

PS  Is there a formula that can approximate the variable trajectories a bullet will follow at different grains.  MAnufacturers probably vary too.  I'll have to expirement with different ammo to find the right match up but it'd be neat to know how many mil dots higher to aim or how many scope clicks ... or something like that.  Approximate math.  Sounds fool proof!    

[quickdtoo]

The 150gr Federal Fusion shoot real good in my SS .30-06, right at 1", Mac won the postal match with em in his '06!! I would also try the Power-shoks, great deer bullets.

Tim

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=001293006A

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=251821

[burntmuch]

Im switching over from 308 to 06 so im starting from scratch. I plan on using 150 rem corlocts (A start)  Im hoping that the varmint forearm will be a little stiffer, I plan on using A bipod.  What I do to get ready for hunting is A lotta of shooting with 223 barrel  50 yd  unsupported. Then 100yds bench,, unsupported,,, then Using a tree or post at the range Then when hunting season nears I switch over to Hunting caliber 06 Use same Pattern. Unsupported at 100yds is tough. But if U were in woods & a deer was a 100yds out Youre gonna wanta throw ashot at it. Me & my brother do this all year. We made up score cards. Loser buys burger & beer after shooting. Thats where the 223 comes into play. Doesnt break the bank

[EVOC ONE]

evoc did you try any other ammo. or were the 180s the best u got. I just got my 06 and i was thinking about starting a little lighter.

I only tried 180's at the start.  They are all I had ever shot in bolt actions and I wanted to use them in the Handi.  I had read several comments where the 150's performed well in the Handi .30-06's.  Favoring the 180's, I wanted to see if I could make them work. 

Now that the rifle is shooting consistantly, I began experimenting with 150's and 165's for curiosity sake.  Federal Power Shok 150's group just as well as the 180's and, oddly enough, I don't have to change the scope adjustments from the Federal 180's.  Winchester Power Point 165's also group just as good, but well off the bull with the same scope setting.

By the way, I don't notice very much, if any, difference in recoil between each bullet weight.

[burntmuch]

Im gonna start at 150gn rem then 150 gn fed fusion. Im hearing good things about the fed fusions from a pretty good source (Quick) boy retirement must be nice!!