Thank you.Details?.......... Looks Awesome!!!!
Thank you.
As of now factory remington barreled action (26" 1:12 .308)
Silencer Co brake
Timney 510 trigger
Mcree G5 folder chassis
Harris bipod
EGG hd 20 moa base
Seekins rings
Vortex HD Gen 1 5×20
About to order my barrel and going 6.5 creedmoor 8 twist.
For the 2015 season I had Apache Gun Works chamber and threaded a 6.5 Creedmoor X-caliber barrel for my shooting season this year. I installed this on my Stiller Tac-30 AW action and bedded it into the manners stock. The DBM is also Stiller and I am using a Vortex Gen II 3-18x50 with milrad adjustments. After some quick load work up I settled on a 130 grain Berger AR Hybrid bullet, powered by 43.1 grains of H4350 in Hornady brass and CCI primers. This gives me 2881fps with single digit SD's
First match on the new barrel was the Guardian match hosted at MTC near Lake City.
Video courtesy of Michigan-Out-of-Doors TV
https://youtu.be/-qq-j1CeTbM
Unfortunately for me I was recovering from a freak illness that had me running on about 6 hours sleep in a 48 hour period and a triple digit fever that broke about 7 hours before the match started. So my performance was less than stellar. But it was a great match and every one had fun while raising money for a great cause.
6.5 brothers (buddys rifle has the black stock) covered in dust near the close of the Michigan Guardian match. The stiller actions never hiccuped and both were full of dust and sand.
Late summer/early fall found me at BWSA shooting the Precision Rifle Division 2015 Championship Match in Port Huron. Here we engaged targets from 5 yards to 616 yards for 10 stages using field expedient positions. While each stage was different, for support we may have an empty water barrel to use, or a barricade, a roof top simulator, one stage had some loose 1"x 2" boards to build a support and another an old truck.
Target sizes ranged from a 1" hole we had to shot through with out touching the sides to steel plates 6-12" and some of the smallest poppers I have seen, maybe 3" by 7". Those poppers were tough as you were shooting from the roof top simulator and the four targets were between 306-318 yards.
In this pictured stage we were not to use bipods, tripods or any other hard support. Soft support such as a bag could be used. However, 5 sticks were provided as was some buggy cords. We were given 3 minutes to build anything we wanted from the sticks & cord and engage two targets around 370 and 470. Targets were 9" and 12". So after forming a tripod from the sticks and buggy I recalled a video the 6.5 Guys (youtube channel) had made about using sticks for rear support and added the rear stick here. I rested it on my left shoulder and had a much more solid position.
First round hits on those targets, Thanks 6.5 Guys!
Finished up the match and came home with a trophy
Gearing up for Deer hunting I worked up a load at my long distance range.
In an attempt to figure out what rifle I would use this year for Montana mule, I decided to shoot some 140 A-Max for the first time in this barrel using the same load that works well with 139 scenars, 42.7 grains of H4350. And I figured that with a longer bearing surface it might be good to drop it back a couple tenths (42.5) just in case the increased length raised the pressure and put me out of the 139 node. I seated the bullets -.029" back from a hard seat in the lands.
At the range, I hooked up the magnetospeed and fired the four rounds of 42.5... 2796fps SD=1 ES=3, I kind of kicked my self when I saw that as those were the only 4 I had bought.
Moving on to 42.7 I had 2810fps SD=3 ES=8...
So with my remaining rounds of 42.7 I detached the magnetospeed and put a couple rounds down range at 3, 4 and 6 hundred to see if Ballistic AE was tracking with the new data and was rewarded with near center hits. Looked at my predicted drop for 1000 and dialed that in to the scope and started shooting while holding about half a mil of wind.
While watching the impacts I could tell it was going to be a good day and then promptly threw the next shot a touch high. LOL so I sent an extra one just for good measure.
After shooting another rifle I came back to shoot the smaller steel target on the right with the Creedmoor and finished off the remaining 4 rounds.
Minus the high impact the left target has 2.5" of vertical and the 4 on the right target has 2.25" of vertical.
Not a bad day and hunting rifle and load chosen!
First week of November found me in SE Montana. I and my three partners had a good time. All of us filled our tags even though it was about our toughest hunt yet. We saw plenty of deer but the large guys didn't want to be found.
Monday:
The Ranch owner had expressed his displeasure with the amount of coyotes he had this year so first thing Monday morning I went to work. I made a good kneeling shot at about 130 yards with the Creedmoor. 140 Amax made a fist size exit on the off side.
Later, I spotted this nice buck. I was wanting to hold out for a more distant shot so I pointed it out to my partner who connected at about 150
yards.
Strange thing was the above buck was bedded down and did not want to get up out of the sage. I made some noise... nothing. Did a little Indian dance... nothing, finely I decided I would go for a walk off to the side betting that if he couldn't keep both of us in view that may motivate him to get up... and it worked. My partner made a perfect heart/lung shot and he had his tag filled.
Day two, found my new partner (who had not yet filled his tag) and I scouting around. I found another coyote and made the shot at about 90 yards, sorry no picture of that one. But shot #2 of 2 for the creedmoor.
We saw a few little bucks and a lot of doe but nothing worth our time on day two.
Day three:
Rain, wind and fog... what a muddy mess. Saw a few little guys in the morning again and also kicked up a coyote that someone must have educated as it never stopped running and found cover to quickly for me to get a shot at him. Later, in the afternoon, my partner and I found a great spot on a hill where I could see down into a couple large draws and neighboring hills and ridges. After lunch I went back solo hunting in this spot and spent the rest of the day watching a herd of 20+ doe and a dinky little 1.5 year old 2x2 hoping a big guys might move in. But luck was not on my side for a deer. I did however locate two elk sheds to collect on day four. My partner teamed up with the other two guys in our group and took a decent 4x3 for what we had been seeing.
Day four:
This was my last day to hunt, so I decided to head back to the overwatch first thing hoping something big would have moved in. But, as I made my turn off the road and onto the two track I noticed a buck and doe in my path in the upper field leading back to my overwatch spot. The buck was pushing the doe hard and paid no attention to me while I checked him out with binoculars... nor as I slipped out and got my rifle ready. Nor as I laid down and set up on him 91 yards away... Boom.
One shot and a DRT impact at that. Not even a slight step forward. 140 A-max at 2800 strikes again. I figured this was the second biggest buck I laid eyes on this year and I didn't want to chance bypassing him only to find nothing down at the overwatch. Good thing too as only 6 deer were down there and nothing bigger than that same young 2x2.
So after getting some help from my partners loading the deer up in the truck and collecting the two elk sheds downing the valley we were on our way out of the field only to see the biggest buck of the year and two other decent sized guys pushing doe right where I dispatched my deer not one hour ago... Oh well, maybe next year we will meet again.
So in the end I have been very impressed by both the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge and Apache Gun Works machining. Teamed up with Manners, Stiller, Vortex, Berger bullets, and Hornady bullets and brass made for a very successful and fun filled year.