I thought that I would not get to the range until after the first of the year with Christmas stuff and deer season still on here in Dixie.
However my son has a new/used 20 gauge shotgun and a new scope for his Savage .22 and he was pushing for a range trip. I had a day off today so guess where we went?
While he was sighting in his new scope I took my 25-06 Handi-rifle with an old Leupold 3.5 X 10 Vari X III 50mm out to play. I had a stash of Hornady 117 grain Custom ammo so I figured it would be a good place to start.
From a firm rest under the hinge area I bore sighted and adjusted my scope to impact 2.5 inches high at 100 yards. Then I cleaned the barrel carefully and shot for groups. The first thing I noticed was a tendency to vertical string the groups. I improvised a rubber washer for the forend by cutting the corner off of my truck floor mat and using an old 30-06 empty case I found on the ground as a center punch. After intalling the washer the forend no longer contacted the barrel and the stringing stopped. I cleaned the barrel completely and let it cool down. I fired about 5 groups of four shots each, cleaning and cooling the barrel between each group. In each case the first shot impacted about 2.5 inches high at 100 yards and the next 3 shots formed a tight group at dead center. I ended up with two groups of holes. One group, from the cold, clean barrel, was 2.5 inches high at 100 yards and measured about 2 inches. The second group, from a dirty warm barrel, was at dead center and measured under one inch.
Two main conclusions;
1. This rifle likes a dirty slightly warm barrel for accuracy.
2. With this ammo my first shot from a cold clean barrel (hunting) will be somewhere within 2 inches of my point of aim about 2.5 inches high at 100.
I am thinking that as the barrel gets broken in and slightly more polished the accuracy will improve. No shots on this target would have been far enough off to not kill a deer sized animal provided the distance was not over 150 yards or so. I think I will shoot about 250 or so more rounds thru it for practice and fun and then start doing some tinkering with reloading, distance from rifling, ect. to see if I can get it to shoot a little better from a cold clean barrel. Overall I am pretty happy. The lockup seems great, no ejection problems yet and accuracy, while a little finicky seems good for the first try with factory ammo.
