10-04-2012, 03:41 AM
I just got back from being at the range all day. I took the 123gr AMAX Hornady box ammo, and some 10-round batches of ladder tests with 129gr SST on top of CFE. I also shot some Precision Firearms 123gr Lapua Moly Scenar box ammo, which I love.
I did all my shooting at 200yds after confirming my zero at 50yds with 3 rounds. 123gr AMAX did great from my 16" AA button ER Shaw pipe. I got one 1.695" 4-round group at 200, and the rest were just over 2", with one rapid-fire group at 3.4", so I basically confirmed that the little 16" carbine is a great, lightweight hunting platform that will put the bullet on the money in the vital zone on-command, even when you throttle-up on the trigger.
That's funny about the 123gr SST because I was thinking, they need to make a 123gr SST for the Grendel. The 129gr SST eats too much case capacity, even loaded at 2.300".
My ladder tests with the 129 SST didn't show anything spectacular or striking to me, but the groups weren't terrible either. I got one at 4". one at 4.75", and one at 5.6". I think the 4" group was the heavier charges of 29.5gr-30.3gr. 29.9, 30.1, and 30.3gr were all compressed, even at 2.290" COAL.
My opinion on the 129gr SST is that it likes speed, so it will likely end up being loaded for my .260 Rem, which is a more appropriate case capacity for the 129gr SST profile all day long. I'll sling it at around 2800fps from the AR10 and use it as a target bullet, since I bought 600 of them.
I did all my shooting at 200yds after confirming my zero at 50yds with 3 rounds. 123gr AMAX did great from my 16" AA button ER Shaw pipe. I got one 1.695" 4-round group at 200, and the rest were just over 2", with one rapid-fire group at 3.4", so I basically confirmed that the little 16" carbine is a great, lightweight hunting platform that will put the bullet on the money in the vital zone on-command, even when you throttle-up on the trigger.
That's funny about the 123gr SST because I was thinking, they need to make a 123gr SST for the Grendel. The 129gr SST eats too much case capacity, even loaded at 2.300".
My ladder tests with the 129 SST didn't show anything spectacular or striking to me, but the groups weren't terrible either. I got one at 4". one at 4.75", and one at 5.6". I think the 4" group was the heavier charges of 29.5gr-30.3gr. 29.9, 30.1, and 30.3gr were all compressed, even at 2.290" COAL.
My opinion on the 129gr SST is that it likes speed, so it will likely end up being loaded for my .260 Rem, which is a more appropriate case capacity for the 129gr SST profile all day long. I'll sling it at around 2800fps from the AR10 and use it as a target bullet, since I bought 600 of them.
