Just wanted to update everybody on the 338 Edge. I was able to get out and shoot it at the family farm a couple of weekends ago (sorry for the delay) and I am very pleased with the results.
When I arrived at my parents house it was nice a calm a little overcast. My Dad and I went out and hung a target on the 100 yard backstop and I proceeded to confirm the zero and with a cold bore first shot it was a perfect center bull, Nice! Fired a couple more resulting in a three shot group at 1/4 moa.
I then pulled out the chrony and fired a 5 shot string that averaged 2800 fps (shooting a 300 grn Match King)this is a little slower than I thought I would want, but I knew my load is on the lower end of the scale for what this case is capiable of. However I have been VERY happy with the accuracy so far and wanted to test it out at longer ranges.
So I entered all of the ballistic and weather/alltitude data into the exbal software on my Palm and we were off to the field for a little testing at Longer Ranges. Got to a good position spread out the shooting mat dropped the legs on the bipod and placed the rear bag under the buttstock and proceeded to have some fun!!
My first shot was at a rock about as big a soft ball I ranged it with my Swarovski rangefinder at 425 yards checked exbal, made a 26 click adjustment squeezed the trigger and when the bullet struck the rock it exploded! Next was a rock about the same size as the first at 550 yards added 11 more clicks for a total of 37 squeezed the trigger and got the same results as before.
Next was a rock about the size of a soccer ball at 675 yards, with 17 more clicks (54 total) and the squeeze of the trigger we had a lot of gravel (the energy delivery is awesome)!!
Now on to the 800 yard mark, agian on a rock about the size of a soccer ball made 16 more clicks for a total of 70 clicks, adjusted the bag got locked in and "yanked the trigger" (nice move slick! No Excuses! Hey I was having fun!) and hit a couple inches right of the rock in the bank.(not my best moment!) So then I decided to stop with the dumb mistakes and try doing my part by squeezing the trigger and went on to a 4 shot string of 800 yard rock smoking followed by a bunch of rock chips and gravel.
I have to say that Shawn Carlock builds one awesome rifle! I say again his customer service is second to none! I called Shawn to tell him about my results and speak to him about my load and the Chrony results and we had a few laughs about my lack of trigger control on that first 800 yarder! Shawn is just a good guy that loves to shoot is fun to talk to and can build one heck of a rifle!
He told me to go ahead and up my powder charge a bit if I wanted more velocity. However I think am going to take the "If it isn't Broke then don't fix it" approach on this one. With the gun shooting spot on with exbal, and based on the exbal ballistic data telling me that I am getting 168grn 308 muzzle energy @ 1000 yards I think I will leave well enough alone. Next trip I will take more time and put it on paper at the longer ranges and post a picture of the results.
Thanks again Shawn for a great Long Range Hunting Rifle I can't wait till deer season!
Oneshot
