Michael Eichele
Well-Known Member
I just got one of my rifles back from the smith yesterday. 28" Brux, fluted, 7mm, 9x four groove. I cleaned the copper and powder fouling out from the single test shot from the smith. Took it to the range and fired one shot for a foul/sighter after bore sighting it. With where it landed I adjusted. I fired one 3 shot group with 58.0 of RETUMBO under 162 AMAXs lit by BR2 primers wrapped up in Nosler 280AI cases. It shot a nice and tidy triangle group. Not real tight but not real big. For the first group though, it was very promising. Then I shot another group with 59.0 grains (after a more fine tuned adjustment) and shot a beautiful clover leaf. I actually haven't measured it but its probably .38-.410ish. Then it got very interesting. I decided to do a velocity work up starting with a single round at 59.0, then 59.5 and so on all the way up to 63.0 grains. There were nine shots total in this work up in .5 grain increments spanned over 4 grains. These carved a hole at 108 yards that measured .591" center to center. All I can say is wow and holy crap. The first five or six carved out in the .4MOA area. The first three was sub .375". 63.0 has me at 2920'sec. The Hodgdon site shows 2831'sec for 63.0 with the 168 SMK in a 24" barrel. Add roughly 80'sec for the extra 4" I have and it is right in line. Should be able to run a hair faster with a 162 AMAX. What do you think? 2950-2970? First time playing with a 280AI. Not sure what to expect for velocity.
I decided not to do a formal break in. Time is a premium in my life right now and life is too short for shoot one, clean one. Barrels are too expensive for shoot one, clean one. Powder and bullets aren't cheap either and they can be hard to find at times. Why waste them? I've done it both ways and I just don't see any difference.
THANK YOU BRUX!!
Regards,
M
I decided not to do a formal break in. Time is a premium in my life right now and life is too short for shoot one, clean one. Barrels are too expensive for shoot one, clean one. Powder and bullets aren't cheap either and they can be hard to find at times. Why waste them? I've done it both ways and I just don't see any difference.
THANK YOU BRUX!!
Regards,
M