06-17-2018, 04:10 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-17-2018, 04:14 AM by StoneHendge.)
Bad day for StoneHendge. Being all excited to zero his new Leupold VX6-HD 2-12, he arrives at the range only to see he grabbed 6x45 ammo instead of the 223 he made last night (yes, he grabbed the wrong box even though uses different colored ammo boxes for 223 and 6x45). No worries, take the S'more to 900 and 1k reliably on the first calm wind day in a month (only 10-15 mph but steady). Get back on the saddle of the 6mm Grrrrrr after 2 months only to have it blow up in your face for the second time. Roll with it, drive home and mentally allocate salvageable parts along the way, walk the dog, have lunch, grab the ammo and head back down.
Two shots at 25, one at 50 and the 3rd shot at 100 has the windage perfect and 1/4" high. Start shooting groups and things get wonky. I'm pretty much convinced I either have a mount problem or a scope problem. Shots are moving around considerably. Chasing the zero with adjustments helps and then doesn't. I'm getting ready to pack up and start thinking about which mount to use next trip down to isolate the issue. I share my targets with the caretaker and he noticed the pattern. The barrel has cooled off and i decide to load up a ten round mag and quickly shoot 2 groups. These were done pretty quickly to try and keep the pace up. After groups 1&2 I decided to keep the barrel warm, quickly loaded another mag and shot at the center line 3" above the bullseye for groups 3&4. As you can see, group 2 moved low and then as things really started to get warm, there was a significant shift low and left. The last 2 shots of group 4 were off the paper.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12083[/ATTACH]
I let the barrel cool, had some fun with my 6x45, put up 5 targets and loaded up a 30 round mag. These were shot as quickly as possible but I did have a solid and stable position for each shot. The zero was back where it belonged for the first group.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12084[/ATTACH]
Things really started to go south after 7 shots. Shots 16-20 didn't even get on paper (aside from the one shot that got on group 3's target!).
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12086[/ATTACH]
For group 5 , I shot at the upper right hand corner.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12085[/ATTACH]
Yes folks, 5 shots grouped over 8" from zero at 100 yards. How 3 were touching, I'll never know! Maybe it wasn't possible to get the chamber/barrel any hotter.
I'm really hoping this is the cf handguard insulating the barrel nut and chamber at work. I find it hard to believe that a barrel company dedicated to ARs could last even a week if this is how their product performs under rapid fire. I also hope it's the handguard since I bought it from Brownells so I can easily just ship it back! And I'm going to have to eat a lot of crow for prior praiseif it is the barrel.
In the meantime, I withdraw any comments I might have made about BSF barrels until further notice. Next step is to put the handguard on another rifle and put an aluminum handguard on the BSF and see how it goes.
This also explains why I was having a hard time with the Strike Eagle 1-8 BDC 2 reticle. Kind of hard to find your holdover spots when your zero moves over 8 MOA as things heat up! When I shoot steel at 350-550 I use 10 round mags, but use a quick pace. 8 MOA is almost 4 feet at 550. On a positive note, I'm liking the Leupold.
Two shots at 25, one at 50 and the 3rd shot at 100 has the windage perfect and 1/4" high. Start shooting groups and things get wonky. I'm pretty much convinced I either have a mount problem or a scope problem. Shots are moving around considerably. Chasing the zero with adjustments helps and then doesn't. I'm getting ready to pack up and start thinking about which mount to use next trip down to isolate the issue. I share my targets with the caretaker and he noticed the pattern. The barrel has cooled off and i decide to load up a ten round mag and quickly shoot 2 groups. These were done pretty quickly to try and keep the pace up. After groups 1&2 I decided to keep the barrel warm, quickly loaded another mag and shot at the center line 3" above the bullseye for groups 3&4. As you can see, group 2 moved low and then as things really started to get warm, there was a significant shift low and left. The last 2 shots of group 4 were off the paper.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12083[/ATTACH]
I let the barrel cool, had some fun with my 6x45, put up 5 targets and loaded up a 30 round mag. These were shot as quickly as possible but I did have a solid and stable position for each shot. The zero was back where it belonged for the first group.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12084[/ATTACH]
Things really started to go south after 7 shots. Shots 16-20 didn't even get on paper (aside from the one shot that got on group 3's target!).
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12086[/ATTACH]
For group 5 , I shot at the upper right hand corner.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12085[/ATTACH]
Yes folks, 5 shots grouped over 8" from zero at 100 yards. How 3 were touching, I'll never know! Maybe it wasn't possible to get the chamber/barrel any hotter.
I'm really hoping this is the cf handguard insulating the barrel nut and chamber at work. I find it hard to believe that a barrel company dedicated to ARs could last even a week if this is how their product performs under rapid fire. I also hope it's the handguard since I bought it from Brownells so I can easily just ship it back! And I'm going to have to eat a lot of crow for prior praiseif it is the barrel.
In the meantime, I withdraw any comments I might have made about BSF barrels until further notice. Next step is to put the handguard on another rifle and put an aluminum handguard on the BSF and see how it goes.
This also explains why I was having a hard time with the Strike Eagle 1-8 BDC 2 reticle. Kind of hard to find your holdover spots when your zero moves over 8 MOA as things heat up! When I shoot steel at 350-550 I use 10 round mags, but use a quick pace. 8 MOA is almost 4 feet at 550. On a positive note, I'm liking the Leupold.
Let's go Brandon!