2 weeks ago I had the opportunity to take my Xtreme out with an optic on her to see how she shoots.
Here is a pic of the upper:
My 1st experience shooting was a miserable failure due to the fact that I couldn’t hold a group at all. I figured it out after going thru a box of ammo.
I did a quick break in & all I could hit was the mountain backstop. When closing the lense caps, I noticed that the optic slid around in the mount.
Once home,off came the flip up caps & the rubber protective boot. The screws that hold the rings together were loose and allowed the Aimpoint to move in the mount.
When I mounted the Aimpoint M3 in the Larue mount,the instructions said to use the blue Loctite on the threads but I knew better & didn’t.
I remounted the optic and followed the instructions by using Loctite on the ring screws. So far no more ring loosening.
This was 5 shots @ 25 yards : Aimpoint M3 no magnification : Hornady 110gr V-MAXX lot#3060657
You might want to try some different ammunition. While Hornady usually produces some of the best ammunition available, the 110 grain Hornady V-MAX ammunition that I tested left a lot to be desired. The first target shown below shows a 10-shot group fired from 100 yards using hand-loaded 115 grain Sierra MatchKings, to demonstrate the capability of the barrel being used.
The next group shows the best 10-shot group that I was able to obtain using the 110 grain V-MAX factory load from the same barrel.
Did you try a bunch of difference loads w/ the vmax’s? I know your load work and
that group is terrible. I only have shot 5 shot groups w/ them and have gotten
groups under an 1" with H322. I knew that 10 shot groups would grow, but wow.
My above post referred to the Hornady factory loading of the 110 grain V-MAX only. I spent very little time working with hand-loads of the 110 grain V-MAX as the 115 grain SMK results were much more promising.
Also, remember that 5-shot groups are statistically insignificant for evaluating the accuracy level of a barrel/ammunition combination, as the examples below illustrate.
Well, I will not argue your logic on groups, only to say that if I got a 5 shot group or .39 ( as in your example ) I would probably continue to test it with 10 shot groups. But if I had a 5 shot group of 2.5" I would move on to another load.
And trust me Vmax’s will shoot… Hornady factory loads … maybe not so much.
The day will come when I will start loading my own for the 6.8 but right now my time is limited(but I save all my brass)
I have to get up to the range when I can have it to myself & kick it out to yards to really see what she’s got. I will take some 10 shot groups and update.
You guys are shooting some fine groups there, what are you using for optics?
Here’s a target and carbine that I just built for my buddy:
It’s 18" woa Wilson blank with YHM Diamond FF on Spikes:
The target was shot during functional testing at both 25 yards and 50 yards(dime) with a scope using factory SSA Prohunter ammo. I know that the group will tighten further with some development load. I didn’t dial it since it was my scope that we were using.
This is a 200yrd group with Sierra Prohunters shot with a 16" WOA barrel. Spotter is 1"
I usually shoot 5 rounds initially, but only had 4 at this powder charge.
