HP Single shot or repeater question
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NewAZShooter
- A Poster
- Posts: 115
- Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:59 pm
- Location: Central Arizona
Ah yes, the famed 6.5 x 47!
That was real experience. Wednesday was the first time I had ever seen a rifle chambered in 6.5 x 47, much less had a chance to shoot one! From what I saw, it lives up to the reputation that is quickly being built around this new Lapua caliber.
Jim was kind enough to let Tim and I shoot a few groups off the bags with his new rifle. And I think we were all totally impressed by the performance of this new caliber, the craftsmanship coming out of Lester Bruno's shop here in the Phoenix area... and let's not forget the quality handloads that Jim worked up for this incredibly accurate shooting iron. The chrono showed the accuracy of his loads, as the variance in FPS between some rounds was measured in single digits, I saw a few that looked like they might have been in the teens in terms of variance, but the way it was shooting I really wasn't keeping score! Jim wrote down the numbers, and I was just checking periodically. But from what I saw his loads were super consistent in velocity.
He had several loads developed for testing that day, and I was lucky enough to get to shoot groups with 3 different bullet weights from 107 to 140 grains. They all shot great. I would guess the largest group I shot to be about 3 inches at the rams, but I didn't drive downrange and measure. 3 shots made a nice triangle-shaped group with that one. Recoil was moderate (down right light compared to my 30.06 I was shooting) with all loads. And the ram I hit offhand with a 140-grainer went down with authority. Jim hit a few more and they all fell over convincinigly as well.
The 140s were the ones that seemed to really hit an accuracy node and shot that nice 3-shot group on the standing pig silhouette that Tim mentioned. The first shot went exactly where I held the crosshairs in gusty wind, leaving a small gray dot on the black animal. The second and third shots were aimed at the same point with no attempt to dope the wind, and they just made that gray dot grow slightly larger each time. I was totally stunned at the accuracy of this rig. By far the most accurate rifle/ammo combination I have ever had the pleasure to shoot.
Congratulations to Jim on an excellent new shooting iron and a fine set of reloads, and kudos to Lester at Bruno's for building a truly incredible rifle. Oh, and my thanks to Jim for letting a couple of fellas he met at the range share in the fun!
Seems like everyone we meet out there is super nice and generous. This sport rocks!
That was real experience. Wednesday was the first time I had ever seen a rifle chambered in 6.5 x 47, much less had a chance to shoot one! From what I saw, it lives up to the reputation that is quickly being built around this new Lapua caliber.
Jim was kind enough to let Tim and I shoot a few groups off the bags with his new rifle. And I think we were all totally impressed by the performance of this new caliber, the craftsmanship coming out of Lester Bruno's shop here in the Phoenix area... and let's not forget the quality handloads that Jim worked up for this incredibly accurate shooting iron. The chrono showed the accuracy of his loads, as the variance in FPS between some rounds was measured in single digits, I saw a few that looked like they might have been in the teens in terms of variance, but the way it was shooting I really wasn't keeping score! Jim wrote down the numbers, and I was just checking periodically. But from what I saw his loads were super consistent in velocity.
He had several loads developed for testing that day, and I was lucky enough to get to shoot groups with 3 different bullet weights from 107 to 140 grains. They all shot great. I would guess the largest group I shot to be about 3 inches at the rams, but I didn't drive downrange and measure. 3 shots made a nice triangle-shaped group with that one. Recoil was moderate (down right light compared to my 30.06 I was shooting) with all loads. And the ram I hit offhand with a 140-grainer went down with authority. Jim hit a few more and they all fell over convincinigly as well.
The 140s were the ones that seemed to really hit an accuracy node and shot that nice 3-shot group on the standing pig silhouette that Tim mentioned. The first shot went exactly where I held the crosshairs in gusty wind, leaving a small gray dot on the black animal. The second and third shots were aimed at the same point with no attempt to dope the wind, and they just made that gray dot grow slightly larger each time. I was totally stunned at the accuracy of this rig. By far the most accurate rifle/ammo combination I have ever had the pleasure to shoot.
Congratulations to Jim on an excellent new shooting iron and a fine set of reloads, and kudos to Lester at Bruno's for building a truly incredible rifle. Oh, and my thanks to Jim for letting a couple of fellas he met at the range share in the fun!
Seems like everyone we meet out there is super nice and generous. This sport rocks!
~JW
Love it when those chickens fly!
CZ 452 Silhouette
Ruger 10/22 W/ Clark Custom Barrel, B&C Anschutz Style Stock
Interarms Mark X 30.06
Browning BuckMark .22LR
T/C .22 LR, .22 Hornet
Ruger GP-100 .357 Mag
Love it when those chickens fly!
CZ 452 Silhouette
Ruger 10/22 W/ Clark Custom Barrel, B&C Anschutz Style Stock
Interarms Mark X 30.06
Browning BuckMark .22LR
T/C .22 LR, .22 Hornet
Ruger GP-100 .357 Mag
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sobrbiker883
- AA Poster
- Posts: 432
- Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:26 pm
- Location: Gilbert AZ
I wouln't put it past Lester to build such a fine shooting gun, seeing as benchrest is his building forte'.
Just for curiosity's sake may I ask which Jim?
BTW, you guys are killing me.......my SB hunter doesn't have all the parts at Evelio's yet, and now I'm thinking custom HP hunter. I doubt if it'll happen anytime soon, but a Semi custom throw together by myself may be in the cards in the next month or so.......
Just for curiosity's sake may I ask which Jim?
BTW, you guys are killing me.......my SB hunter doesn't have all the parts at Evelio's yet, and now I'm thinking custom HP hunter. I doubt if it'll happen anytime soon, but a Semi custom throw together by myself may be in the cards in the next month or so.......
Usually shooting scores right in class, too bad its the class below my classification!
Steve E
Steve E
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Jim Beckley
- Master Poster
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- Location: Cave Creek, Arizona
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Varn
- A Poster
- Posts: 197
- Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:46 pm
sobrbiker883,
Before you spend the $ to build a semi custom HPHR consider buying a Tikka T3 or whitetail hunter in 6.5x55. There is one in the marketplace now. It will let you get your feet wet in HPHR for a nominal expense and then you can decide whether you need a custom rig or not. Factory 1-8 twist and the ballistic equivalent of a .260 Rem. I have two whitetail hunters in this caliber and have worked with three more whitetails. I have three friends who have this caliber in a T3 and all eight Tikka's have been very accurate out of the box. The T3's need some weight added to them to bring them up to 9# but this is easily added with lead in the barrel channel and in the butt. You can balance it to suit yourself this way. The triggers are excellent and easily adjusted to 2#. Load development is a cinch. They have all performed well with the same loads, never varying by more than a grain. Ram performance has been superb. My first year shooting HPHR (2003) I kept track of ram performance. I hit in excess of 135 that year and lost two. That was with a 139 Lapua Scenar and 40 grains of Varget. Chrono was 2710 fps. Short range loads were either 107 Sierra with 39 grains of H4895 or my favorite was 123 lapua Scenar with 36 grains of Benchmark. Recoil was mild in that size case and was sub MOA in my guns. No bedding, no tricks. A factory 6.5x55 has an extremely long throat. You will never be able to reach the rifling and have adequate neck tension. Not to worry. It doesn't seem to matter in these guns. Just buy yourself some 6.5x55 Lapua brass, load the above loads with the bullet/boatail junction seated at the case neck/shoulder junction and shoot it. Eight different Tikka rifles all shot well with these loads. As always start low and work up with these loads in your rifle. People will say that you have to touch the rifling and that benchmark is too fast for this application and so on. Try these loads in a 6.5x55 Tikka and let the target tell you what works.
Before you spend the $ to build a semi custom HPHR consider buying a Tikka T3 or whitetail hunter in 6.5x55. There is one in the marketplace now. It will let you get your feet wet in HPHR for a nominal expense and then you can decide whether you need a custom rig or not. Factory 1-8 twist and the ballistic equivalent of a .260 Rem. I have two whitetail hunters in this caliber and have worked with three more whitetails. I have three friends who have this caliber in a T3 and all eight Tikka's have been very accurate out of the box. The T3's need some weight added to them to bring them up to 9# but this is easily added with lead in the barrel channel and in the butt. You can balance it to suit yourself this way. The triggers are excellent and easily adjusted to 2#. Load development is a cinch. They have all performed well with the same loads, never varying by more than a grain. Ram performance has been superb. My first year shooting HPHR (2003) I kept track of ram performance. I hit in excess of 135 that year and lost two. That was with a 139 Lapua Scenar and 40 grains of Varget. Chrono was 2710 fps. Short range loads were either 107 Sierra with 39 grains of H4895 or my favorite was 123 lapua Scenar with 36 grains of Benchmark. Recoil was mild in that size case and was sub MOA in my guns. No bedding, no tricks. A factory 6.5x55 has an extremely long throat. You will never be able to reach the rifling and have adequate neck tension. Not to worry. It doesn't seem to matter in these guns. Just buy yourself some 6.5x55 Lapua brass, load the above loads with the bullet/boatail junction seated at the case neck/shoulder junction and shoot it. Eight different Tikka rifles all shot well with these loads. As always start low and work up with these loads in your rifle. People will say that you have to touch the rifling and that benchmark is too fast for this application and so on. Try these loads in a 6.5x55 Tikka and let the target tell you what works.
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sobrbiker883
- AA Poster
- Posts: 432
- Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:26 pm
- Location: Gilbert AZ
I did not know that. I thought I read something about Lester 'smithing in "Precision Shooting" but I must have been thinking of someone else.......Jim Beckley wrote:That rifle might have came out of Bruno's shop, but Gary Ocock is the smith there, as far as I know. Lester just sells the stuff and Gary (another Benchrest guy) puts them together. Bob Brackney is another smith (Benchrest guy) that puts them together in this area.
Still good stuff though. I saw quarter sized 200yd groups (10 shot) from the gun referred to today though.
Usually shooting scores right in class, too bad its the class below my classification!
Steve E
Steve E