Still waiting for Cody & Cory to figure out a time to hang out sometime THIS YEAR…. ahem.

The .308 is finally getting the muzzle brake on it that I’ve been wanting to put on from day 1. In the process I’m cutting the barrel down 6 inches. I can hear the screams now haha… Researched it plenty and I’m sure FOR MY NEEDS/WANTS I’ll be much happier with the bull barrel cut to 18″ with the rifle length gas system. Then I’ll start dialing in the load, zero, and DOPE again with the brake and short barrel. If guys are hitting 1k with 16 and 18′s then I think I’ll be just fine…

Scope off and barrel measured and marked:

This wasn’t a speed drill so relax… just a little fun.
Close Call:

Headed to Reveille Peak Ranch tomorrow hopefully with Clay to ride those beautiful trails and revisit the Super D in anticipation of their March race.

Yesteday’s ride:

On to the pics and write up… Shot 3 shot groups of different Varget loads ranging from 42.0-45.5 and some factory Zombie Max rounds as well for testing. The Zombie Max rounds are actually 168gr Hornady Match Grade A-Max rounds that this rifle loves so I’ll always have a round I can feed through it but handloads are cheaper and eventually will be dialed in to be more accurate.

Found that it liked the 42gr range a lot, as the pictures below will show, so I’m going to experiment with some .1gr increments around 41.8-42.8 to see if I can find a sweet spot down there. This picture is NOT my group but shows a 41.7gr varget load with same bullet as me that is grouping nicely.

Thought 44gr would be the sweet spot (it may well eventually be) as I’d seen tons of load info with that but for now I’ll dabble a little lower.

Not all of the orange dots below are 1 inch dots.  I used some 2inch and maybe even some 3 inch ones as well.

How I measured:

Zero’d my calipers at .308 by using one of my A-Max Bullets:

That would allow me to measure the groups edge to edge and automatically take out .308 so it registers as measuring center to center. No excuses! but I’ll be interested to see how well some of these loads group after i get a better rear rest setup or go to a different range where I’m more comfortable on the bench with my current gear.

The groups:

All loads were identical except for the amount of powder. Used brass from Hornady Match Ammo, 168gr A-Max bullet, CCI #34 primers and all were crimped using the Lee crimping die.

42gr of Varget

42.5gr of Varget

43.5gr of Varget

44gr of Varget

45.5 of Varget

Factory 168gr Hornady Match Ammo aka ZOMBIE MAX!

7 rapid fire shots of the Zombie Max

As you can see by the targets posted by others (below), I’m expecting some high accuracy levels once this thing is dialed as long as I do my part. Once that’s complete, hopefully I can get a chrono average on my load so I can plug that info into my trajectory app. I’m already banging 250 and 500 everytime but my guess is that once I try out 750 and 1000 I’m going to have to be more detail oriented. Not planning on spending a lot of time at those ranges but definitely want to try them out. All hunting situations I forsee will be 300 yards and in.

So… I’ll be following up with some pictures and review of the gun and loads if I can remember to stop for a minute and take note of things in postable format and not pencil scribble in my notepad I keep with the gun!

Targets of others below. Often times these are “best group of the day” posts so we’ll see how my load finding shots and eventual consistent average groups of that load do compared to these:

VIDEO:

From Ranger

CLICK ME:

as I’ve found it to be much more convenient as of late in the country with my phone and I’ll be busy with:

and

and

Luckily the 2nd fridge is getting stocked with the essentials:

Been getting the bikes ready lately.. the Avent is transforming more into 4x/slalom mode as I’m planning on racing in CO some over the Summer. Seems better than 100degree 8 hours in the sun to race 2 laps BMX State racing (although I’m sure I’ll make a couple of those… especially if the Florence track actually gets started).

Hardtail has knobbier tires back on it and the front brake is going on this week.  Need to look at changing shifters to something I can use thumb only as my right wrist is still jacked and upshifting with the index finger sucks.

The felt is getting more changes as it’s quickly becoming an awesome all around ride… going to put my XT 180s on it since i’m running 1×9 and that may help with mashing the hills some.  Need to decide on what rear tire I’m going to through on there. Got a 2.0 fast fred on there right now since I had a sidewall tear and needed something fast to ride at Reveille Ranch.  Likely putting a 2.35 single ply Minion on there but may go back to a single ply 2.1 Kenda SB8 or try and beef it up with an old school dual ply DH casing 2.35 Lopes Bling.  All depends on if I decide to stay tubeless with the Stans or go back to tubes.

One of the best investments ever in all of my bike parts is sitting on the Felt now.  Riding all mountain type stuff, this thing comes into constant use.