700 223, thats a sharp looking set up you got there. I'm surprised you had to file the action screw down considering the H.S. stock is slimmer than the B & C stock. I figured I may have to do a little fitting to get mine to lock up tight but it was a perfect fit right out of the box.
I finally took the rifle to the range today to test 4 different handloads I put together. The rifle fit well but the shape of the stock made it hard to use ear muffs because I had the scope mounted low. The rifle rested well on my rest but because the benches at the range are so high and the chairs are so short using the rest put the rifle to high to comfortably shoot. I ended up turning my rest sideways and resting the rifle on the frame so I could comfortably shoulder and shoot the rifle. Overall the stock really added a lot of stability to the rifle and would work perfectly with a bench and chair set at the proper height.
Now for the range report. Well I mounted a Burris FFII 3-9X40 scope on the gun to use to test loads until I get the proper scope for it. It was a beautiful day here today and there was just a small breeze when I left the house to drive the 30 minutes to the range. When I got to the range the wind was gusting and swirling in all directions at speeds between 20 and 30 mph. I was a little pi$$ed but oh well I could still get an idea of what kind of accuracy potential the rifle had. I unloaded the truck and started setting everything up; that's when I noticed the benches were too high and the chairs were too low, oh well I figure something out. So I put the rifle on my rest and removed the bolt and lined the bore up with an orange dot down at the 100yd mark, then I looked through the crosshairs and starting turning the knobs until the crosshairs were on the orange dot also, I looked through the bore again to make sure it was still on the orange dot and then I put the caps back on and got settled to shoot. I fired a few shots to get the scope zeroed and then I let the barrel cool.
I didn't clean the barrel between shots or groups, I simply fired a 5 shot group, let the barrel cool, and then fired another 5 shot group. I tried 4 different hand loads all of them were in new Remington brass using CCI large rifle primers, and 140 grain spitzer bullets I got from midway, COL was 2.781" for all loads.
Group 1: 44 grains Big Game
First 3 shot measured 0.56", shots 4 & 5 opened it up to 1.29"
Group 2: 44 grains IMR 4350
measured 1.47"
Group 3: 46 grains Big Game
measured 1.83"
Group 4: 46 grains IMR 4350
measured 1.41"
Given the circumstances I am very pleased with the rifles accuracy with all the loads tried and I'm really looking forward to putting together and testing more loads in this rifle. I'm gonna load up some 162 grain A-Max bullets and try them out soon, I really hope this rifle likes them.
I'll try to get some pics posted tonight.
Ken
