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Range Report 6/28
Hey Guys,
Got a chance to do a little more range testing last week. As I previously mentioned here I had some new equipment to test, (Browning A-bolt Shotgun), had made some changes to the action screws and torque settings on one gun, (Tar-Hunt), and just wanted to test loads on another, (Savage 10ml).
As usual, while I didn?t come to any grand conclusions I did learn a lot of useful info that should make the next trip to the range even more productive.
While I didn?t take many pictures, I do have a few to share. In addition, I have some more chrono info that may be useful to anyone that shoots shotguns. (most of the chrono numbers for the ML loads are so well known and regularly tested I won't bother to publish them unless specifically wants to see them.)
I?ll start with my testing of the Tar-Hunt?20ga Mountaineer, and post info on the other two guns later?..
Tar-Hunt?..
Background:
While removing the stock from the gun last year I removed the front trigger guard screw. Unfortunately, due to the way the stock is designed I later found out that it is best not to remove this screw unless absolutely necessary. Essentially, the screw is molded in the stock and usually needs to be re-epoxied in the fiberglass to hold properly once removed.
After I spoke with Randy Fritz about this matter he suggested that it was minor issue that he could repair for me, or obviously I could just do it myself. (Which I did).
However, after the repair was done I am not certain the trigger guard was bedded exactly in the same place it was originally. The reason I believe this was that shortly after I completed the repair I re-tightened the guard screws, (action screws), to approximately 35 in lbs as I was instructed to do by Randy?.(I should point out that this was the first time I had tightened the screws to this torque as it was about the same time I had purchased the torque driver necessary to measure the settings; and I had just confirmed the factory torque measurements with Randy.) ?.In any case, it quickly became obvious that something was not correct as the bolt would not cycle properly. After adjusting the screws it was apparent that the end of the action screw was now protruding up into the bolt raceway. (ie...the bolt was too long to be tightened to 35 lbs.)
My conclusion was simple, either part of the bedding had shifted slightly and allowed the screw to set a fraction deeper than it originally had, (most likely with the recent change in the trigger guard bedding) , or the screw had never been tightened to the 35lb setting previously, (unlikely based on Tar-Hunts attention to detail.)
After evaluating my options it was clear I had two choices. Send the gun back to Tar-Hunt for an inspection/repair, or address the issue by myself. I decided to address the issue myself doing only minor adjustments that could be readily undone should I be unable to fix the issue and have to send the gun back to Tar-Hunt.
The simple fix here was to file the length of the guard screw down as little as possible in order to allow it to be tightened to specs without protruding into the bolt raceway. Fortunately, should this prove not to correct the problem or cause any other unforeseen issues, all that would be required would be a new guard screw to have the gun back to where I started.
After a little work with a file and some stones the job was completed and the guard screw torqued to the proper specs without issue?.
Now however, I knew the gun was likely to have change POI slightly and I wanted to test the gun with its preferred load at the range.
I finally got a chance to do just that about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, it took a few shots of the gun with its preferred Winchester Partition golds to realize that the gun was shooting way off its previous POI. After shooting about a 5 shells and getting a decent three shot group, I decided to adjust the scope the the guns new apparent POI?.To my dismay, the group quickly shifted again leading me to suspect I had some other issues.
A quick review of the gun identified the problem immediately. One of the QD rings had not been tightened properly after I had last worked on the gun and the scope was ring was lose. While I was comforted to know that the problem was minor I was annoyed that I wasted two boxes of shells and now still needed to re-sight the gun.
As luck would have it, just as I finally go the gun back to shooting near where I wanted it, I ran out the shells?.
The Range:
At this point?some may be wondering what all this has to do with last weeks range shooting? Well the reason I mention it is that I had just received 5 new boxes of 20 ga Hornady SST shells to test. That meant that I would be testing the gun right after I made many changes to it that could effect its POI and would be testing it with a new load that would surely further effect its aim....not exactly an ideal scenario
I started off the morning at the the 50yd line just wanting to confirm that the load would in fact be on the paper. I was happy to see that the first shot of the day, (pic#1) was close to center and about 3.5 inches high at 50yds. I thought this was certainly quite reasonable given the circumstances and the fact that I usually sight in about 2in high at 50yds anyway... Moving the scope down and inch and the target out to 100yds, shot #2, (pic #2), served to increase my hopes that I might have yet another load that shoots well in this gun. (And in the case of this Hornady slug is the cheapest high performance sabot slugs on the market).
After making a few more minor adjustments to the scope, I eventually shot about two boxes of these slugs throughout day. While some shots were shot offhand, and others were shot off of shooting sticks, I did chrono 5 rounds of this 1800fps advertised load and found them very to close to factory numbers especially considering I was shooting a 23? ported barrel.
Chron/Win Partition Golds
1740-1794-1749-1789-1784-fps
At the end of the day, I was pleased to shoot the 3 shot group pictured in (pic#3)....At 100yds this group was only slightly over MOA; an incredible feat in light of the fact that the range temperatures were well above 95 degrees by this point!!
Pic #1
Pic #2
Pic #3
Hey Guys,
Got a chance to do a little more range testing last week. As I previously mentioned here I had some new equipment to test, (Browning A-bolt Shotgun), had made some changes to the action screws and torque settings on one gun, (Tar-Hunt), and just wanted to test loads on another, (Savage 10ml).
As usual, while I didn?t come to any grand conclusions I did learn a lot of useful info that should make the next trip to the range even more productive.
While I didn?t take many pictures, I do have a few to share. In addition, I have some more chrono info that may be useful to anyone that shoots shotguns. (most of the chrono numbers for the ML loads are so well known and regularly tested I won't bother to publish them unless specifically wants to see them.)
I?ll start with my testing of the Tar-Hunt?20ga Mountaineer, and post info on the other two guns later?..
Tar-Hunt?..
Background:
While removing the stock from the gun last year I removed the front trigger guard screw. Unfortunately, due to the way the stock is designed I later found out that it is best not to remove this screw unless absolutely necessary. Essentially, the screw is molded in the stock and usually needs to be re-epoxied in the fiberglass to hold properly once removed.
After I spoke with Randy Fritz about this matter he suggested that it was minor issue that he could repair for me, or obviously I could just do it myself. (Which I did).
However, after the repair was done I am not certain the trigger guard was bedded exactly in the same place it was originally. The reason I believe this was that shortly after I completed the repair I re-tightened the guard screws, (action screws), to approximately 35 in lbs as I was instructed to do by Randy?.(I should point out that this was the first time I had tightened the screws to this torque as it was about the same time I had purchased the torque driver necessary to measure the settings; and I had just confirmed the factory torque measurements with Randy.) ?.In any case, it quickly became obvious that something was not correct as the bolt would not cycle properly. After adjusting the screws it was apparent that the end of the action screw was now protruding up into the bolt raceway. (ie...the bolt was too long to be tightened to 35 lbs.)
My conclusion was simple, either part of the bedding had shifted slightly and allowed the screw to set a fraction deeper than it originally had, (most likely with the recent change in the trigger guard bedding) , or the screw had never been tightened to the 35lb setting previously, (unlikely based on Tar-Hunts attention to detail.)
After evaluating my options it was clear I had two choices. Send the gun back to Tar-Hunt for an inspection/repair, or address the issue by myself. I decided to address the issue myself doing only minor adjustments that could be readily undone should I be unable to fix the issue and have to send the gun back to Tar-Hunt.
The simple fix here was to file the length of the guard screw down as little as possible in order to allow it to be tightened to specs without protruding into the bolt raceway. Fortunately, should this prove not to correct the problem or cause any other unforeseen issues, all that would be required would be a new guard screw to have the gun back to where I started.
After a little work with a file and some stones the job was completed and the guard screw torqued to the proper specs without issue?.
Now however, I knew the gun was likely to have change POI slightly and I wanted to test the gun with its preferred load at the range.
I finally got a chance to do just that about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, it took a few shots of the gun with its preferred Winchester Partition golds to realize that the gun was shooting way off its previous POI. After shooting about a 5 shells and getting a decent three shot group, I decided to adjust the scope the the guns new apparent POI?.To my dismay, the group quickly shifted again leading me to suspect I had some other issues.
A quick review of the gun identified the problem immediately. One of the QD rings had not been tightened properly after I had last worked on the gun and the scope was ring was lose. While I was comforted to know that the problem was minor I was annoyed that I wasted two boxes of shells and now still needed to re-sight the gun.
As luck would have it, just as I finally go the gun back to shooting near where I wanted it, I ran out the shells?.
The Range:
At this point?some may be wondering what all this has to do with last weeks range shooting? Well the reason I mention it is that I had just received 5 new boxes of 20 ga Hornady SST shells to test. That meant that I would be testing the gun right after I made many changes to it that could effect its POI and would be testing it with a new load that would surely further effect its aim....not exactly an ideal scenario
I started off the morning at the the 50yd line just wanting to confirm that the load would in fact be on the paper. I was happy to see that the first shot of the day, (pic#1) was close to center and about 3.5 inches high at 50yds. I thought this was certainly quite reasonable given the circumstances and the fact that I usually sight in about 2in high at 50yds anyway... Moving the scope down and inch and the target out to 100yds, shot #2, (pic #2), served to increase my hopes that I might have yet another load that shoots well in this gun. (And in the case of this Hornady slug is the cheapest high performance sabot slugs on the market).
After making a few more minor adjustments to the scope, I eventually shot about two boxes of these slugs throughout day. While some shots were shot offhand, and others were shot off of shooting sticks, I did chrono 5 rounds of this 1800fps advertised load and found them very to close to factory numbers especially considering I was shooting a 23? ported barrel.
Chron/Win Partition Golds
1740-1794-1749-1789-1784-fps
At the end of the day, I was pleased to shoot the 3 shot group pictured in (pic#3)....At 100yds this group was only slightly over MOA; an incredible feat in light of the fact that the range temperatures were well above 95 degrees by this point!!
Pic #1
Pic #2
Pic #3
