It has been too hot to fish this week, so I've used this time to test some rifle loads.
That's not pleasant in the heat and humidity, either, but at least a canopy over my shooting bench allows me to work in the shade. The canopy also keeps direct sunlight off my ammo and gun barrels. Wearing earmuffs makes me sweat in torrents, and the heat fogs my shooting glasses.
The first order of business was to break in a new rifle, a Remington Model 700 5R Stainless Cerakoted chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. With a Nikon 3-9x40 Tactical scope, the rifle placed its first two shots out of the box just off the left edge of the paper. After adjusting for the wind, shots 3-4-5 printed about 1/2 inch, with two holes (4-5) touching. Shot 3 connected with 4-5 to form a rectangular tear.
The ammo was Hornady Match featuring Hornady's 140-grain ELD-M bullet. This bullet is all the rage these days. I bought a box for reloading, and I will do some extensive load testing with them in Creedmoor and in 6.5x55 Swedish.
Curiously, the box lists the muzzle velocity for this ammo at 2,710 feet per second. My chronograph clocked all five shots at about 70 fps slower. That's about the same as my reloads for my 6.5x55 Swedish featuring 140-gr. Speer Boat Tails powered by 44.5 grains of IMR-4831. Out of a 22-inch barrel, that's very good. None of those rounds shows pressure signs, so I feel secure to push them faster.
Those loads in that rifle are perplexing. With regular factory Remington Core-Lokt ammo, that rifle -- a Ruger Model 77 Mk. II -- shoots tight cloverleafs. The load is very mild, so I reload various bullets from Nosler, Speer, Sierra and Remington with IMR-4831 for more speed. No matter the bullet, the first shot out of a cold barrel always hits precisely at the point of aim. Subsequent shots widen, but they are still well within Arkansas hunting tolerances. If I wait 15-20 minutes for the barrel to cool entirely, the rifle stacks them tight.
Years ago, a reader who is a competitive benchrest shooter challenged me about that practice in an e-mail. "Why don't you shoot the way people normally shoot, bang-bang-bang?" he asked.
"I don't shoot benchrest." I replied. "I shoot once, and I collect my deer. The session is over. If I practice that way, I only shoot one round per day. A cold barrel shot is the only one that matters to me."
Next up was a sight-in/break-in session with a new rifle, a Ruger Model 77 African chambered in 6.5x55 Swedish. It is a special run of only 250 ordered by Lipseys, a major Baton Rouge distributor. It has a 24-inch barrel and fancier trim than my older M77. Using a consistent aim point, that rifle wearing a Leupold VX3 3.5-10x40 threw bullets all over the paper. I replaced it with a Bushnell Elite 3200 3-9x40 and placed eight shots in a 11/2 x 11/2 square. Four went through two holes.
That ammo was Hornady Custom with 140-gr. Interlocks. Listed on the box was a muzzle velocity 2,526 fps. According to my chronograph, only one round made it to 2,500 fps. The rest were about 2,430-2,450.
Bill Pool of Benton, a gunsmith, laughed at this.
"They probably got that 2,460 using a Model 96 Mauser with a 29-inch barrel," Pool said. "Lopping five inches off the barrel will slow it down quite a bit."
Pool inspected the rifle's bore with a bore scope and showed me again why factory barrels are incapable of bench rest grade accuracy. There were tool marks down the entire length of the bore. A premium barrel maker polishes the bore and removes imperfections in the finishing process. Mass barrel manufacturers don't finish their bores.
"It's fine for hunting, and that's what this rifle is made for, but don't ever expect a hunting rifle to shoot MOA (1.047-inch at 100 yards)," Pool said. "It might do it once in a while, when the wind and the weather are just right and the temperature and humidity are just so, and when you do everything just right. All that will do for you is create unreasonable expectations."
I finished the session with a Browning A-Bolt II Eclipse in 270 WSM and a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 7x57 Mauser. The results were interesting, but darn it, we've run out of space.