Catch-22

Can’t answer with regard to a McMillan A5 but one of my Defiance/Eliso tube gun barrels is a 1.35” straight bull barrel that’s 30”. It is extremely heavy. The Eliso chassis is heavy in itself but the barrel makes it very front heavy. The forend tube of the chassis is long and heavy too, but as I mount my over barrel Phoenix/Fortmeier bipod I don’t have any issues. I think the longer forend the better, as it will balance better with a bipod.

Hmm...a new line of products on the horizon perhaps?? For me, shooting a target/PRS type gun, I look for the following in a mod; 1. End of barrel mod vs reflex. Personally i dislike reflex types as I think they affect barrel harmonics more than an end of barrel. Plus reflex leave the barrel hotter for longer 2. Material & construction. Pointless if it’s made of materials that will rust or corrode by gas cutting or carbon/powder residue. I also prefer them to be strippable so I can clean everything now and then. 3. Weight. End of barrel on a 26” barrel will be like a massive counterweight if not careful. Whilst price isn’t a big deal for me, I’d still prefer to sacrifice weight for the sheer cost the Titanium moderators go for. Personally I think they’re silly money.

Nice. Yeah I experienced the same. Same charge, same POI but my ES/SD numbers fell dramatically with Muroms. The CCI450s were total crap, like ES around 45fps and SD around the 20s. With Muroms my ES/SD are now single digits.

As I said before, Lapua brass is the best. Unless you load to max pressure, you’ll get 20x reloads off each price of brass (especially if annealing) before it gets scrapped. Here for £109 per 100 https://www.cdsgltd.co.uk/lapua-brass-65creed-100.html

Definitely one brand, ideally from the same lot (though this second point is more valid for competition shooting). Different brands will have different internal case capacities, thus giving you varying levels of pressure/velocity and consequently consistency. Different brands of brass also have different metallurgical makeups, so they will become work hardened at different rates, all of which affects consistent neck tension. Annealing definitely helps mitigate the work hardening but it’ll still be inconsistent when using different brands of brass Lapua is arguably the best brass, quickly followed by Norma. Hornady is usually soft. S&B is generally a bit ‘thicker’ and so has lower internal capacity.

Be mindful that your friend chooses a scope with a reticle that corresponds to the turret clicks. Eg, a MOA scope with elevation and windage in MOA needs to have a reticle that is also MOA. Same with MIL, MIL reticle must have MIL turrets. Most modern scopes have matching reticles to turrets but some older designs or those at the lower end of the price range still have mismatched values. Vipers are nice, I once had the Gen1 Viper PST 6-24x50 FFP in MIL and was perfectly fine, especially for just starting out. Also worth noting that with FFP you don’t need to place it on max magnification in order to have corresponding clicks to reticle marks. Reticle to turret clicks match at any magnification. If using a SFP scope, when not in max magnification you’ll need to run some conversions to match clicks to reticle hash marks. It’s for this reason why I and a lot of other people prefer FFP.

To me, it looks like there was a manufacturing defect...or perhaps something that damaged the cases during transport etc. They look to have clean cuts in the brass by something sharp (like a cutter or punch) and when you shot them there was gas leakage from the cut into your chamber as the brass was expanding during firing. I’d definitely take a close look in your chamber, if you can, to make sure it’s ok. Are these the only two cases like this? And is there any damage to the box they came in? I would consider contacting PPU’s main U.K. distributor (is it Henry Krank? Or Hanhams?) and show/tell them what you’ve got and provide the lot number.

Stick with the 6.5CM. Use an appropriate bullet (eg the 147gn - 150gn) and an upper charge, and you’ll easily sail past the 1200m mark. I have a big 338Norma Mag boomer. Love it though I do, you’ve got to Factor in the cost of a setup for a new gun; gun, scope, rings, dies, brass, powder, bullets, primers, gun bag/box etc etc. Any new gun is a very, very large investment - increases so as you go up calibre’s. Your 6.5CM will do everything you want on pretty much all U.K. ranges. By saving money on a whole new gun, you could spend that money on the best reloading gear, consumables, multiple barrels and have many tens of thousands of rounds practice down range - all improving your technique and reading the wind skills - all of which is probably a better idea I think. It does obviously lack the big ‘BOOM’ however .😎😂 Just my opinion.

Good news for ODRC shooters. It seems that range dates are soon to be published. Ranges being requested include Sennybridge J2 and J3 and Rogiet Moor (though these are seemingly more tricky). Awaiting news from Warminster IR2. Kingsbury is sadly still shut. Hopefully I’ll get a shoot in this year! 👍

I’d say that it doesn’t look like your usual ejector swipe as such, as most of the case head looks ‘swiped’. I guess that could happen as the bolt is rotated to unlock and the case head is scraping against the face of the action perhaps?? But if you look carefully at the ‘P’ in the middle picture and the ‘ree’ in the bottom picture, that looks more clearly like the ejector swipe, as it looks more distinctly round. The primers don’t look flattened though.

I’ll take this please! PM how you’d like to be paid. Cheers

I have long thought there’s a potential market to hire out particular bits of equipment to help you try before buying. Anything like rifle mounts, bipods, drag bags, shooting bags, range finders, Reloading presses etc. Possibly even scopes, dies, chronys etc. With suitable hire costs ranging from a week to a few weeks, P&P and insurance included, you could rent bits of kit to see if you want to take the plunge on a new one. Buying new then selling 2nd hand usually means you loose a tonne of cash. A small rental fee would be tiny in comparison! Btw, I’m patenting/copywriting the idea if anyone starts such a business! 😋

Get a Magneto. Results are very very similar to the Labradar but is easier to carry around and setup. If you have a picatinny rail on the fore-end of the rifle, you can use a 3rd party mount by M&K machining to run the Magneto on the gun without strapping it to the barrel, which can alter POI.

Yeah definitely go up a charge. If 44.9gn is as good as or similar to 44.3gn and 44.6gn, then you’re on a good node and 44.6gn will be the middle of that node. Being in the middle, you have at least 0.3gn of flexibility either side of 44.6gn, meaning as conditions change (hotter weather induces higher velocity, even if just a smidge) or as your barrel speeds up or slows down, you are still in a central node of harmonic stability. That’s the benefit of the OCW approach. When you choose your load and play with seating depth, I would consider starting at touching lands and go all the way out to 0.80” jump, loading 3x rounds at each 0.10” interval. You could load 5x rounds for each interval, but I think your shooting shows enough consistency to only require 3x rounds per interval. But up to you. You’ll then be on the sweet spot. Heres an interesting read on some research done about bullet jump and how in all instances, a longer jump was more beneficial than loading to the lands. https://precisionrifleblog.com/2020/04/28/bullet-jump-research-and-load-development-tips/ Good luck!

Did you see any pressure signs at 44.6gn? What I mean; hard extraction, shiny spot underside case rim from ejector, flattened/cratered/pierced primer, gas leak from around primer? If not, then I try a charge at 44.9gn. Your loads at 44.3gn and 44.6gn look to have nice low vertical. They also look to shoot a consistent POI. If 44.9gn shows similar low vertical, same POI and tight groups, then I would argue that 44.6gn will be your ‘middle OCW node’. From there, load more 44.6gn but with a variety of seating depths (don’t be afraid of huge jump, even 0.50” to 0.80”) to find what your bullet likes. Seating depth will really tighten things up. But so far, I’d say you’re on the right track and putting in some good groups. A chrony will be a must though, to determine your ballistic solution if you want to shoot further out.

The Kestrel is supposed to be spun around by its lanyard for 10-15 seconds to help reset the thermometer. Ultimately you asked the question if you needed a Kestrel or not. If you feel the watch gives you everything you need for Strelock to give you an accurate firing solution then go for it! I have no idea how far you’re shooting - if it’s out to hunting distances (eg 300m) then you don’t. But I’d argue for 600m+, especially on ranges where the wind is often variable or if you’re shooting unknown distances, I think a Kestrel will help you get 1st round hits. But give it a go and test to see if using the watch works for you. If it works then happy days, no need for a kestrel. Measuring the wind at the firing point may sound pointless, but bullet deflection due to wind at the muzzle increases exponentially down range. Agreed, wind down range is highly variable but it does at least gives you a starting point from which to work. If you have trees near the firing point and the end target, then you can measure what the wind is at the firing point and use that as a comparison or baseline against what you think the trees near the target are doing. Some MOD ranges don’t have anything to easily guesstimate what the wind is doing (areas of Salisbury Plain) and so I’d rather have something in my pocket to help get me in the ball park than not. But if you’re the Ray Mears type...then good for you!

Be mindful of things like temp off watches. Often their thermometers are affected by your body heat of your wrist. And I doubt wind speed AND direction on the watch will also be as accurate as an impeller in the wind. But hey, give it a try and see.

List of Kestrel models - the 2500 is the most basic you should go IMHO. https://r-p-r.co.uk/kestrel/kestrel.php

Fancier Kestrels do the ballistic solving for you. But the most basic Kestrel is fine to input details into Strelock etc.Just make sure you get a Kestrel that gives you Temperature, Wind Speed, Barometric pressure and Altitude. I previously owned the Kestrel 2500 and used the details along with Lapua 6DOF solver and TRASOL solver and was able to easily make hits out to 1000m.

Polyethylene plastic pellets. You can get various weights, sizes, shapes etc. Don’t get the pellets that easy mould or change shape when heated to low temps. Most should be ok but you don’t want to find your rear bag has turned into a plastic puddle if left out in the sun on a hot day 😎 https://www.poliplasticpellets.com/

I too have used Murom KVB-223m (magnums) in several 6.5x47 rifles over the years. Have used several thousand (have many many more stocked up in the cupboard) and never had a problem. I too have found them to be a ‘tight’ Fit in the primer pockets. No signs of gas leakage, even on very high loads. IMO, they’re definitely much much better than CCI450s...they were a bag of crap and gave shocking ES/SD. A simple switch to Muroms with no other change and ES/SD in single digits.

Terry - thank you for the helpful reply. Ive yet to collect the rifle from my RFD, so cant check the ‘crush’ fit, but I believe I’ve got the right sized o rings as they’re only 1mm cross section and essentially emulates the size of the rim. Once I collect the gun, I shall try with the extractor as you note and see if that works. I assume that with the o rings in place, you can’t use the stripper clips but rather single feed? Thanks again!

I’ve recently acquired my first .303, a early LE No.4 MK 1* Longbranch. Ive read previously that when fire forming the brass, to use some little rubber/nitrile O rings to prevent brass stretching too far. Ive sourced the O rings but my question is; do I need to remove the extractor from the bolt to work with the O rings? Or can I leave the extractor in? Thanks!

Some of the best oils for protecting the bore against rusting is either CorosionX or Eezox. Ive read & seen on YouTube several different tests by numerous people and these two oils consistently come out on top. I like CorosionX because it’s all natural ingredients, so isn’t harmful to your skin etc. I’ve used CorosionX for years and think it’s an excellent product. Smells nice too! https://www.6mmbr.com/corrosiontest.html

Having imported both entire rifles and various rifle components to be built from the US, I would possibly rethink the choice. If the price is $2k, that’ll work out the same in £. Then factor shipping, handling, cost of the US Export License, UK VAT and import duty, UK proofing, etc etc. I suspect the $2k will end up costing close to £3.5k by the time it arrives at your door. Absolutely no disrespect, but given that it’s likely going to cost £3.5k I would look at something with a better action, one that doesn’t have a pinned recoil lug or rail (less to come loose or go wrong). One of my rifles is a Defiance Mutant (tube gun action) and they’re nice. I also have an Impact Precision 737r...which is very very nice. I ordered 4-5 spare pre-chambered barrels for each gun in the various calibre’s I wanted. Tonnes of other stuff too. When deciding what to import, I went with the max I could afford knowing the cost and effort makes it more worthwhile. But again, for the cost, time and effort, I would either save some more pennies and spend on higher end spec to import to the UK (it is a hassle...so buy once and cry once) or possibly look at higher spec 2nd gun here in the UK. Plenty of AI’s kicking about. Just my opinion!