It was chilly and windy this afternoon, but I have been itching to shoot this rifle. I have had some concern about the crown on this rifle, it was not very well done, and I think I may have it recrowned. Ignition was perfect with all loads, but I ran into a small problem with my favorite primers using 125 grain loads.
I eyeball bore sighted it prior to shooting, it actually was only 2-1/4" to the right and 1-3/4" high with a light 80 grain load of Blackhorn 209. After that shot I moved it back 9 clicks to the left and decided to leave the elevation where it was. I then loaded 120 grains of Blackhorn 209 and the 200 grain SST and shot again. That load printed 4" high and 1/2" to the left. I then turned it down 12 clicks to hopefully move the impact down 3" to be 1" high.
Next I shot the group in the lower right of the target. 120 gr BH209, 200 gr SST's, Win W209 primers, for a first group of 2.29". I wasn't real happy with this group because I thought I held better than that.
The next group was in the top left of the target. 110 gr BH209, 200 gr SST's, Win W209 primers, this group measured a more respectable 1.62".
I was saving the lower left for some heavy lead, I wasn't sure if the 1:30 twist would stabilize these bullets, and the first shot answered that question, without a doubt. No, not with 80 grain of powder anyway. I was aiming at the lower left bull on the target and the bullet struck near the upper right bull, going sideways through the target. This made a near perfect profile of that bullet.
80 gr BH209, 350 gr White Power Star saboted bullet, Win W209 primer, terminated that experiment after one shot.
So after that, I deceided to shoot one last group at the untouched lower left bull. My impact was 1" to 2" high where I like it, but it was averaging 1/2" left so I deceided to move the scope back 2 clicks to the right. This scope is the Leupold Ultimate Slam, so I am going to have to get used to sighting in right on the money, then checking the longer range dots for accuracy. My powder measure only goes to 125 grains, so I opened it all the way up to 125. 125 gr BH209, 200 gr SST, and this time I deceided to use my favorite Fed 209 primers. The group measured right at 1" exactly, but all three Fed 209A primers would not drop out of the NFPJ bolt extension. This is a minor annoyance, just need to recock and dry fire, and they all dropped right out after the dry fire. This knocks the primer back into the battery cup and allows them to fall out. I was pleased with this group.
After the last group my fingers were numb, so I packed it up for the day. I will probably shoot more later in the week, before I deceide whether I want to do the recrown, but it looks as if it may be needed. This was a new NFPJ conversion I bought just for this rifle, ignition was perfect, but it does allow a lot more soot/blowback into the bolt area. The one I have for my Disc Extreme lets very little pass by the primers. I think a little mod is in order for one of these plugs.
