I don't post much due to time but, I really enjoy reading these forums. I am a gun nut and somewhat of a LRH nut. After reading about these 338 Edge guns I just had to try 1. Well actually 2 of them! I don't have the other one yet and it is for my Dad.
Anyhow I recieved the rifle last Friday and due to a bunch of goofy stuff happening I did not get a chance to shoot it until this evening. The last thing that stopped me was that my powder scale quit me last night as I was preparing to go to a 1,000 yard range today. Well that did not happen obviously so I went and purchased a new scale and got home ASAP. Fortunately We have several hundred acres we live on and I felt that we would be able to at least set up a 100 yard target so I could play with it for a little bit.
Well I got home, loaded some ammo and then set up a makeshift target (4'x4' piece of board with targets tape to it) and a pretty poor shooting table. I had about 10 minutes to get set up and shoot before my light was gone. Now my bench was just an old ragged table with 2 bags in front and 1 in the rear. Not bad but, not 100% desirable to see what a new gun would do.
To start with I decided to get my zero at 100 yard. This took all of 2 shots (Good Job Shawn!). Next I decided to shoot a 3 shot group at 100 yards. Now keep in mind I was shooting pretty quickly because I was running out of time. Well I did not measure the next 3 shots but, it was 1 ragged hole!
Well this got me pretty pumped up. I have many guns that shoot a ragged hole but, they are all much smaller calibers so I was really excited to try this thing at some range. Even though the sun was down we decided to run the target out to 500 yards (well 496 to be exact). I just had to do it.
With light fading quickly I set up to shoot a 5 shot group if I could get it done in time. Luckily there was Zero wind to be measured on the Kestrel! I looked at my chart and dialed in 8.25 MOA and off I went. The light was good enough to see the target but, the glow from the sunset on the western horizon made it pretty tough. I took as much time as I could and touched off 5 rounds without much cooling time. I felt good about all 5 rounds but, I was skeptical since this was the 5th-10th round I had ever fired from this rifle.
Well I about fell out of our Ranger when we pulled up to the target. The bullseye was about 1/2 dollar size and there were 2 holes inside of it. The other 3 were very close as well. I normally do not measure groups as I hunt with these rifles and do mot punch paper but, I could not resist. Now I am not sure I did it 100% correct but, the furthest shots were 3.657 center to center. You could easily lay a piece of 4"x4" paper over all 5 holes to cover them up.
I was simply amazed and excited.
After that we were pumped up enough to find enough room that we should be able to get at least 1000 yards tomorrow so I can start stretching this babies legs.
I have seen others results and I was somewhat skeptical thinking maybe they were just phenominal shots or something else was up. I am here to tell you that I am a very average shooter. I get to shoot a lot but, I have never entered a match and for the most part I never really shoot paper. This thing seems to basically shoot itself!
I am one very satisfied customer and want to give a lot of thanks to Shawn! He has went above and beyond and answered all of my dumb questions. He has a been a pleasure to work with and everything has went as planned. I am excited to recieve my other 2 rifles he is building me and I am sure there will plenty of other rifles in teh near future!
Tomorrow I plan to shoot earlier and I will try to take some pictures of the targets.
Also before you guys ask the gun is as follows:
Rem 700 action
Jewel Trigger
30" Hart with Defensive Edge Brake (also this thing DOES NOT have any recoil!)
HS Precision Stock (like the PSS)
HS Precision Bottom Metal and Box Magazine
Nightforce 8-32 NP-R2
AIC Cosine Cosine Indicator
All Work was done by Shawn Carlock at Defensive Edge.
Hope this helps resolve any skeptisism about this cartridge or Shawns smithwork!
Quad
Anyhow I recieved the rifle last Friday and due to a bunch of goofy stuff happening I did not get a chance to shoot it until this evening. The last thing that stopped me was that my powder scale quit me last night as I was preparing to go to a 1,000 yard range today. Well that did not happen obviously so I went and purchased a new scale and got home ASAP. Fortunately We have several hundred acres we live on and I felt that we would be able to at least set up a 100 yard target so I could play with it for a little bit.
Well I got home, loaded some ammo and then set up a makeshift target (4'x4' piece of board with targets tape to it) and a pretty poor shooting table. I had about 10 minutes to get set up and shoot before my light was gone. Now my bench was just an old ragged table with 2 bags in front and 1 in the rear. Not bad but, not 100% desirable to see what a new gun would do.
To start with I decided to get my zero at 100 yard. This took all of 2 shots (Good Job Shawn!). Next I decided to shoot a 3 shot group at 100 yards. Now keep in mind I was shooting pretty quickly because I was running out of time. Well I did not measure the next 3 shots but, it was 1 ragged hole!
Well this got me pretty pumped up. I have many guns that shoot a ragged hole but, they are all much smaller calibers so I was really excited to try this thing at some range. Even though the sun was down we decided to run the target out to 500 yards (well 496 to be exact). I just had to do it.
With light fading quickly I set up to shoot a 5 shot group if I could get it done in time. Luckily there was Zero wind to be measured on the Kestrel! I looked at my chart and dialed in 8.25 MOA and off I went. The light was good enough to see the target but, the glow from the sunset on the western horizon made it pretty tough. I took as much time as I could and touched off 5 rounds without much cooling time. I felt good about all 5 rounds but, I was skeptical since this was the 5th-10th round I had ever fired from this rifle.
Well I about fell out of our Ranger when we pulled up to the target. The bullseye was about 1/2 dollar size and there were 2 holes inside of it. The other 3 were very close as well. I normally do not measure groups as I hunt with these rifles and do mot punch paper but, I could not resist. Now I am not sure I did it 100% correct but, the furthest shots were 3.657 center to center. You could easily lay a piece of 4"x4" paper over all 5 holes to cover them up.
I was simply amazed and excited.
After that we were pumped up enough to find enough room that we should be able to get at least 1000 yards tomorrow so I can start stretching this babies legs.
I have seen others results and I was somewhat skeptical thinking maybe they were just phenominal shots or something else was up. I am here to tell you that I am a very average shooter. I get to shoot a lot but, I have never entered a match and for the most part I never really shoot paper. This thing seems to basically shoot itself!
I am one very satisfied customer and want to give a lot of thanks to Shawn! He has went above and beyond and answered all of my dumb questions. He has a been a pleasure to work with and everything has went as planned. I am excited to recieve my other 2 rifles he is building me and I am sure there will plenty of other rifles in teh near future!
Tomorrow I plan to shoot earlier and I will try to take some pictures of the targets.
Also before you guys ask the gun is as follows:
Rem 700 action
Jewel Trigger
30" Hart with Defensive Edge Brake (also this thing DOES NOT have any recoil!)
HS Precision Stock (like the PSS)
HS Precision Bottom Metal and Box Magazine
Nightforce 8-32 NP-R2
AIC Cosine Cosine Indicator
All Work was done by Shawn Carlock at Defensive Edge.
Hope this helps resolve any skeptisism about this cartridge or Shawns smithwork!
Quad