Tumbled. Check.
Annealed. Check.
Rinsed. Check.
Sized and deprimed. Check.
Trimmed, champfered, deburred, primer pocket cleaned. Check.
Primed. Check.
Just add powder and projectile.
Quality Time at the Bench
Tag: 6.5 Creedmoor
Problem resolved . . .
It (the problem) really is the first thing to check. I’ll fess up at the bottom.
So I went to the range. Got on paper and zeroed at 25 yards. Then went to 100. No. 1 below are the first two, No. 2 is dialed down 4 MOA.
The circle at the lower right is first suppressed shots. I dialed up 2 MOA and shot the orange splatter target on the far left. .432”. I’ll take it. I then locked that in as my zero and did first round hits on the dueling tree paddles at 200 and 300. And went home, where I reinstalled the zero stop shims:
The shims give you a little bit of a fudge factor if you need to dial down your zero on a high DA day. You can see that the actual stop is down about 1.75 MOA.
I just sent thank you notes to Vortex and Ruger. Oh, the problem? Well, wind, temperature, ammo, rifle and scope were perfect. The only remaining variable was the operator. I suspect I started chasing the windage with the dial and got lost. Lesson – do not chase the windage with the dial. Use your scope hash marks to offset. D’oh.
But at least the exercise gave me a positive reality check on the scope and rifle. Life is all about experiencing it, I guess. 🤡
Viva Vortex!
They said it would be here today. And they were right. All cleaned up and tested, plus another cool decal for my range box.
Listen to me on this one – if you are going to work on scopes, you need these tools, both by Wheeler: FAT wrench for torque in inch-pounds, and scope level set.
I’ll demonstrate with pix:
Now, off to the range.
Anxiously Awaiting Article
Since the Vortex Viper is not back yet, I passed some time rolling some home-grown:
Hodgdon 4350, Nosler Custom Competition 140 g. 6.5 Creedmoor bullets.
Ain’t they just beautiful?
Customer service
I sat down last night and sent an email to Vortex. They responded almost immediately with a UPS label and return instructions. Off came the range finder, bubble level and Vortex Viper.
Vortex says its turnaround is 4-5 days. Now to find a shipping box.
Post-Rifleoscopy
The “After” pictures. Remember, if you see blue, it means copper fouling.
Shiny clean lands:
End of chamber, ramping up to lands. Not much throat erosion.
And crown at end of barrel:
3,000 plus rounds. Wipeout for the win.
Scopes. Nope, not that kind.
At a certain age the doc wants to check things under the hood. Well, more like via the tailpipe. Since I’m scheduled for one soon, it got me thinking about scopes. In this case, a borescope.
I hadn’t scoped the 6.5 in a while, so I fired up my Teslong bore scope. No, not Tesla, and if anyone keys any of my stuff . . .
Anyway, I did a quick bore clean so the scope could get a good look. First thing I noticed – lots of copper on the lands. A little copper smooths out imperfections in the rifling, but too much is counterproductive.
Next, check the throat for erosion. Not much at all. What you’re seeing is the end of the chamber, the leade, and the ramping up to the rifling.
Here’s the crown at the end of the barrel:
And the blowout hole in the chamber wall:
So, best tool for the job:
WIPEOUT!!! (The Surfaris?) With Wipeout, you spray the stuff down the barrel and up the breech. It immediately foams out everywhere, which explains the paper towels.
I’m going to let it soak overnight and then do another rifleoscopy. With before and after pix, of course.
Food for Thought
Do you know your point of impact shift from cold barrel to warm to suppressed?
Long Range Reopens
Despite the best efforts of some ne’r do wells, the upper range opened today – I was the first to go up.
I did 6.5 CM and .308 Win. Lot of crosswind and difficult lone spotting, with damp berms. Still, got the 6.5 out to 533 and the .308 out to 750. No time to send the drone dowrange to spot for me. Tomorrow.
Predator Precision Presently
Yesterday at the range, shooting to compare from five years ago:
Center – fouling and sighters, plus one round with damaged meplat Still, .763”.
Upper left – Hornady 140 ELD Match. Cases sorted and bullets weighed. .459”.
Upper right – Nosler Competition 140 HPBT. .281”. Yes, that is three shots.
Lower left – Hornadys, again, but unsorted brass and loaded ages ago. The flyer puts it at 1.033”, but .226” without.
Lower right – My last two Hornady 140 SSTs from the bullet shortage during the Plandemic; they were all I could find at the time. .742”.
I think I’m going to write to Ruger to tell them that this 5 year old rifle, with over 3,000 rounds through it, still shoots well.
KatNap Fever! 