jpistolero02 Wrote:I swapped out my gas block for a SLR Sentry 7 and hit the range this morning. I thought I had a good load ready to go, but it didn't shoot worth a darn. I am not sure if the Sentry 7 changed the harmonics or what, but I will have to hit the drawing board. I did shoot some of the ammo that came in my LaRue goody box and it was on the money with those loads. The rifle shoots much more pleasant now that I can tune the gas block. When shooting suppressed last weekend my rounds were ejecting all over the place. This morning they were being thrown in a neat little pile at my 4.
I gave up on my SST load after I saw it wasn't grouping and decided to fire them as fast as I could and still be accurate. I believe I fired 15-20 rounds in this one group. I lost track when I stopped to reload. You can see it groups ok, but it was nothing like the McCourt ammo or Hornady Black.
Still well under min of deer no matter how you break it down. For SSTs I'd be very happy with that.
I got in my 6.5 upper kit from Larue (for some reason they are shipping the lower separate), I guess they finally got some buffers and boxes in (see my previous post for that story). So I had planned on assembling the upper tonight and putting it on my RRA lower and working on some loads this weekend. I got it all together and the muzzle brake would not thread on. After looking at it for a minute I realized the brake was too big for the threads and then it hit me, the barrel must be the wrong caliber. So I had to pull off the hand guard to look at the barrel for the caliber. Sure enough, it was a 5.56 barrel. I looked at my order and it does state 6.5 Grendel. Now I have to clean loctite off all the threads and wait for the goofballs at Larue to send me the right barrel. I learned the hard way that I should have checked before assembling. Maybe now I can get them to ship out my lower and add the correct barrel to the package.
I go to shoot at the indoor range tomorrow, because I don't know if I can go out Saturday at all. And the indoor range is still 100 yards, so even if it's not longer range, I can test the speed lever a little. Will report back with results, and forensic data logs.
I got my Larue lower in last week. Got everything assembled, hung the suppressor, and mounted the LRTSi. Hit the range with a few boxes of Federal Gold Medal Berger (130 hybrid) and Hornady Black ELD-M factory ammo. Round count is right at 100. So far, it's doing okay. I'm perfectly capable of shooting 1/2MOA with a bolt acton, but I guess there's always a chance I'm just not as proficient with a gas gun yet. I really like the rifle as a whole, and the fact that it's made in my home state of Texas.
Shooting a gas gun for precision requires a firmer hold on the rifle. There is a lot of good info on the net about how to get the most out of your rifle.
I love my new rifle. There were ups and downs, but once everything was situated, viola!, she runs fellas, she runs.
First of all, let me describe the facilities. A tunnel, five lanes wide, at which there are lights on the ceiling at 50, then at 100. If they aren't out. If someone hasn't tried to exceed their capabilities and shot out a light, "accidentally". There used to be cameras at 100 that fed target image back to the firing line of each lane... that too has gone away. The target cradle carries it's paper to 25, 50, and 100 accurately, albeit at about a 20degree left cant by the time it gets down there. This means I had to hang a tall target, and staple my 11" wide Larue target with a MOA high right corner. At 100, it was "sorta" level. The "bench" you shoot from is at an extremely awkward height, just above the belly button; and they provide height-adjustable chairs. They are on wheels... Stable positions, if to be had at all - are had without the chair; and at this awkward angle. The window is on your right shoulder, and it too places the firearm at a slightly uncomfortable angle to shoot. This range is definitely not for long term, comfortable position-building or use. Sight in your rifle, and leave. Make minute adjustments elsewhere. I rented my lane for an hour, and used every bit of my time to get 57 rounds down range.
Next, my equipment. Larue Grendel and trimmings. LRRPF52 has already covered far better than I could the details about this rifle. I would add only that holding one is the only real way to understand how great this rifle is. Holding one that is your own - well, that can't be described in words. Bushnell Elite 6500, 4.5-30x50 Mildot reticle-SFP. Hornady ELD-M 123 which will be my general purpose round of choice for now, and Federal 120 OTM for comparison. I am setting my zero at 200 yards, which should mean just over a two inch high group at 100 if I can do my math right.
7 rounds was my sight in. First shot at 50 was 3.75 inches down, and 6ish inches right of the POA. I came off the gun, and sat for a second and actually tried to re-live the first round... Cliche? No sir. It was for posterity. And it was good. So good, I leaned back down without changing anything at all to re-do it. Here is where it started to make me sweat, and the giddiness began to seep out. The second round was TOUCHING the first. Not close, not maybe, not accidental. TOUCHING. And that was all she wrote. I was so excited at this point, that I could have packed up, and been completely satisfied. I shot the first two rounds of my new gun and they touched each other. As if providence had opened the Heavens, shined light from above my target, and God's hand itself guided the second round to impact. It was that easy. The scope hadn't moved. The FATwrench did it's job, the LT104 held the big heavy glass, and the rifle spit two rounds at the exact same azimuth - twice.
But, alas I had to prove to myself I knew how to operate a firearm at appropriate distance. I moved 6 MOA left. Fired. Bullet same elevation, but EXACTLY 3 inches left. Oh yes, I forgot to double the adjustment since it was half the distance. I am so excited at this point that math evades me, and I move the scope another 8MOA left, cause the impact needs to move another bit to the left. Fired. Bullet hole EXACTLY 4 inches left. But, that was just under an inch too far left. So, now, I know the scope moves laterally perfecty, I move the scope one MOA right, and three MOA (I thought) up. Fired, and was flabergasted, there was no new hole. Hmmmmm, bring target in. OH... well, there was a nice half moon in the bottom edge of the target, EXACTLY three inches down and one inch right from the last POI. OK - I moved the scope down not up, but I'll be damned if the horizontal movement wasn't almost perfect. So, I moved the scope up 7 MOA, and left one single click. Fired, and now POI is one inch low at 50. I run the target out to 100, fire, and BAM! one inch high. Almost perfect, up one MOA and <bang>, done. Seven rounds, and three minutes and for the first time in my life, a rifle setup zeroed like I read about in the books. I'm about to lose it - in a good way.
Now, the Larue targets they so generously provided with my rifle came out, and got stapled to the target with a left-ward lean to correct for the right theta at the end of the range from the track twisting as it meandered the 100 yards to the line. Sent my first target down, loaded 5 rounds of ELD, and took a breath (about 3-4 minutes) to allow things to settle back down inside. I wanted this group to really tell me what I and the rifle together were capable of. Well, this group and the next were the best two 5 round groups I've ever shot. This needs proving! Next target on, and on it's way down the track.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]9848[/ATTACH]
I know, those aren't the 1/2 inch groups I've been seeing all over the forum! I agree, but I could have stopped at 3 rounds too. I wanted to see what I could do, and 5 rounds say so much more than 3. And 10 so much more than 5. Oh, this LT 104 is QD... hmmm wonder what happens if I remove it, and then re-attach it?
[ATTACH=CONFIG]9849[/ATTACH]
The right group was the second fired now, and I held one MIL dot down on the reticle and fired all 10. And at this point I'm about to pee my pants. I can repeat the groups with 10 rounds each, and I know my 100 hold is a dot down. All this considering that my position is getting really unfomfortable, and I now have to start watching the clock on my hour. I'm at about 40 minutes... God forbid I go over... Oh hell... I went and bought another hour. Good investment. Because now I'm curious how my Larue likes the Federal.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]9850[/ATTACH]
Turns out, she likes it. And now, I am actually dribbling a little. Spittle! C'mon fellas, lets keep it clean... I was kinda dissapointed here. I was hoping this ELD-M would group like this. Hmmm... is it me? New target, one more group, this time the remaining 10 rounds of the Federal, and then I'll swab the barrel, let it cool, and do one more group of 10 of the black.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]9851[/ATTACH]
There was one of the 120 I'm going to say was me, but I can't believe it. I know I was holding the same POA, but got a flyer anyway. Must have been me.
The only ripcord I could find in the shop front (of course I left my .264 at home...) was a .270/6.8. It almost - almost made me worry when I got the ripcord started into the bore and it became hard to pull it through. I managed. Three swabs with some BT Eliminator on the first 1/3 and back to the BLACK, with results as you see.
Overall, I would say that I am one happy camper. My rifle felt like it was made to shoot; smooth, quick, balanced, easily benched, carried, cleared. I had one FTE, an empty wound up rammed between the bolt face upward into the CH, which meant I had to clear the round by using my finger to compress the bolt backward to allow the empty to then fall down out of the mag-well. I took a few pics of that and can post if there is interest, but it was the only hiccup and was easily cleared, after diagnosis. That was round 9/10 of the first 10 round group I shot, making it round number 26 on the day, and that same 10 round mag worked the entire time. I think it could be attributed to how I was holding my mouth. When I walked out of the tunnel up to the shop carrying my rifle I bet I looked a lot like the Jack Nicholson Joker... The same face cramps are coming back now as I write this report...
The fact that I sit here re-living the entire event, and as I write I am reminded of things that make me smile, to the point of cramping my cheeks - to me, says volumes about how nice it was to FINALLY own and shoot my own Larue.
This is no sales pitch, but I wouldn't mind selling products as well made and performing as these. Take whats here for what it's worth, and with a grain of salt, YMMV.
I tend to forget details over time, and most of what I am doing here is recording my experience for posterity and for my own fun.
LRRPF52, your reviews were what convinced me to trade off the UU kit I had bought, and to go ahead and get the complete rifle. Now, I say thank you. For the completely accurate and descriptive reviews. Your descriptions were definitely spot on, and I am glad to say publicly now how happy I am to have taken your experience and run with it. I think Mark may well be a genius for sending you a review at the expense of a gift rifle. I know he is a genius when it comes to building rifles... Thank you both.
Awesome write up and pictures KS!! The more you shoot it the more those groups will continue to settle in. (Has been my experience anyways)
Even your worst groups are good groups, anxious to hear about how you make out when you stretch it out a ways. You won't be able to wipe the grin from your face.
I finally got all my parts in from Larue and it is assembled. The fit between the upper and lower was the tightest I have ever seen on an AR, it was so tight it was hard to get the upper and lower pinned together even with lubrication. I threw a 4-12 power Leupold scope in a Warne one piece mount on it and tested it with the Hornady Black ammo (as well as some hand loads). My three shot group was .19" at 50 yards and it was consistent with the Hornady factory ammo. I didn't have time to move out to 100, I pulled the Leupold scope off after sighting it and mounted my Armasight Vampire night vision scope to get ready to pig hunt this weekend. I had limited time before the range closed last night so I had to get the night vision mounted and sighted in. When I get time I will work on some hand loads and see what groups I can get when I get an optimized load for my rifle.
10-22-2017, 12:33 AM (This post was last modified: 10-22-2017, 12:35 PM by Kswhitetails.)
Second trip on 10-7. So far, rifle has seen 96 123 gr ELD-M, and 20 Federal 120gr OTM. Groups here were me on the right, and a friend from Sweeden who was a Seargant Major in the Swiss Army. We took him shooting as the women folk had all loaded up and went to the local craft fair. The rifle seems to be un-affected by break in, as the groups (this time outside) were about identical to the previous set. I have some 120SMK BLC2 rounds fresh off the Dillon 650 to finish break-in and see what the groups do after another 200 rounds.
After this, I will break out the "special" box of ammo Mark included with the rifle to see what she'll do with ammo loaded specifically for the Larue chamber.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]9997[/ATTACH]
my 13 year old couldn't beat me this time, he was more interested in rapid fire than group size. Sheesh... Although, for a kid to throw 27 rounds down range in less than a minute, holding a 4 inch group? Yea, this thing shoots. And he can take deer, no problem.
(oops, I am the group on the left of the upside down picture...)
Will update when I've got some more rounds down range and some more time under the sights.
So far I have not been able to find a load that shoots super tight groups in my LaRue set up. Boxed ammo shoots right at 1MOA for 5 shots but 3 will be 1/2 MOA most times. So far its my least Accurate; yet most expensive Grendel. I still enjoy it, just wish I could find a consistent sub MOA load for it.
This rifle, this company, and this gear continue to astound. I just upgraded my phone, so I have no pics, but the groups are at my worst staying the same, at best are half as big. I've never carried a "group" for less than 10 rounds, except the first day with the 10 rounds of 120 Federal of which I made two 5 round groups, and that are pictured above.
I am getting right at MOA - 1.1x" groups (of 10 consecutively fired rounds) minus the .264 = .836 - .926
I am extremely happy with the gun as a whole. Reliably consistent and absolutely accurate, with either my plinker handloads (120 SMK with 27.6gr BLC2, Rem7 1/2, once fired Hornady, 1.205COAL), or the Hornady Black and the already mentioned Federal loads, which are the most consistent. I need to pull one of the Federals apart soon to cobble a reverse engineering job on the specifics of the recipe. Too bad that one is in FC brass...
I really need to try some CFE and some 8208 on the 120s in some Hornady brass and see if I can find a node with either (or both) that works as well as the Fed load with the Rearden barrel. I put together the above hand loads as "polishers" because I can do it for less than wolf steel for now, and I wanted to see what happened to the groups after about 300 solid rounds. I bought 650 of the 120 SMKs for 35.00 bucks on FB, the brass I already have, the 7 1/2s I bought from a guy on arfcom locally for next to nothing - I think 60.00/5k? and the powder I found at a garage sale a while back for 5 bucks unopened. And the LaGrendel eats it all with great gusto. Win-win.
This 6500 Elite is making me look good. The Rifle makes me look even better. It has heads turning and even a guy offering to swap rifles or benches to try each others rifles out. Kind of flattering, but I probably kept a closer eye on them than I should've - don't hurt my Gertrude... He proceded to beat my best group with the Black that day... jerk. LOL He was on a lead sled type rest though, and my popcorn filled pillow cases are the next thing I've got to upgrade; I need to spend some coin on building a better position. I leave the Caldwell AR bags at home any more...
(his 6.5 Creedmore had more kick, more mass, and was much, much heavier.) In the end, he was really interested in this "Larue guy" - He wanted to trade...
So the Larue Grendel and I go to the woods this weekend. My wife came through and procured a nice little cattle ranch of somewhere in the vicinity of 5000 acres for me to go traipse around on for the weekend. Its for my Xmas gift -so Im supposed to go home Thursday night (Ive been working out of town since last year, or so it seems...), pack, and call the head cowboy Friday morning on my way out. Im about to pee in my chair.
I checked the zero with eldms and its 1.5 high with a 1.175 inch 5 round group. Thatll do.
The only reason to check zero was that I had my family all drooling over it during THX, and of course they all wanted to play I dare you to take off the scope. I guess I win. And they all drooled, that wasnt embellishment. Seriously, I had to wipe it off.
Hoping for great success, will report back with the results.
LRRPF52 Wrote:Keep in mind these are all with the Burris on 6x:
Your noob-let-osity is showing Nice groups!
Seriously, we need terminal performance data on that AG stuff. That would make a decent fire and forget woods round if we can get it at the current prices in perpetuity.
Glad to see you getting up and around!
So, I never got a chance to report the results of the woods weekend, but suffice it to say that success was had!
I was skunked Friday evening, and then again Saturday morning, probably due to the fact that I have very little experience hunting pasture lowlands and never got very well concealed. I'm sure the deer were looking at me laughing at my feeble attempts to locate and design a good shooting position... Oh well, I learned some good lessons about what I should look for in so far as lay of the land is concerned. In my defense I'd never been to this place until about 1PM Friday afternoon, and what scouting I could do in two or so hours would have to do for that night and the next morning's hunts. Needless to say, it wasn't enough time, even with the ride through the lead cowboy offered. It was a perfect ride around the property lines, and across the bluff feeding the cows and heifers he wanted to get to along the way. If it wasn't a 3.5 mile hike, I would have pitched a tent up there and probably had my pick of rather amazing shooting lanes(in any direction). But I am older than I was the last time I walked that far across open terrain, and the 23 degree wind chill that was coming after the sun was down wasn't on my side. The 19 degrees that was coming for the following morning was even more unsettling as I do not at this point have enough good quality gear for that kind of weather. The pack I had would mean I was more limited to the general location of the camper where I was to stay the night. So, not to be deterred - I "hunted" my selected spots.
That evenings hunt spot was a wooded dam containing a stock pond of a pasture that had been freshly liberated of the group of cows calling it home. It was visible from the bluff above and I had decided that given the wind, the terrain, and the ability to conceal in one of several cedar trees I had imagined that the deer would have been moving in for water that evening or even feeding on the grasses down from the bluff. Neither was true. I had placed myself right, with the wind in my face, the trails all on the far side of the pond leading down. It just wasn't to be. I ranged the trees around the pond at 75-125 yards, the foot of the bluff at 270, and the pasture left and right in the 300s. I whipped out my phone, looked up the drops for ELD-M in my Ballistics-AE and decided that anything beyond 250 would get a simple two mill hold. At less than 400, that means 5" target impact zone, if my calculations are correct, and my assumptions are still clean. I went to bed surprised that I hadn't even heard a grunt, much less seeing anything. (I blame it on my bleat call, as it is about 7 years old, and probably has less use than your VCR does in that same span...) Seriously though, I will go back there. There were tracks all over the pond, I looked via headlamp after sunset, still thinking that I'd scare something up. Never happened.
That morning I was up and out of the camper at 4. The moon was out, and it looked like daylight. It was horrendously bright. Bad news. Any moving Mr and Mrs deer were doing was going on whilst the world slept, and would long since be over when the "legal shooting hours" would begin. Here in KS, that is 30 mins prior to sunrise and after sunset. Sunrise was scheduled for somewhere around 0620. At 5 I was climbing the hill in the Sun-Moonlight into a rather stiff oncoming COLD wind that made my eyes water like the fountain free. I could see fine as bright as it was, I even left the headlamp in the camper and took my flashlight along in a pocket just in case I found myself in the shadows of the three trees that were in the area I was headed. I think it's still in my jacket, I need to go get that thing before it gets lost and replaced - again... The sunrise was absolutely amazing, folks. There is something about Kansas sunrises and sunsets - you can see them from left to right as far as the eye can see - at eye level. There are places in western OK, and western TX that I have seen sunrises similar, but none as beautiful as the ones you see when you're at home. There must be something to that I recon. I digress. The wind was good ol' Kansas prairie cleaner wind. Dust bowl wind. Cold, dry, and steady; and gusting - it's always gusty. Not a good way to find yourself on top of a hill, with little cover, and with your belly on a rock that when you laid on it an hour ago was non-existent. I never found that rock, but dang did it eat a hole in my breast bone... The morning hunt was wickedly and immediately interrupted by nature when it came calling at the back door with a hammer at 830. Which was actually fine because I was tired of seeing nothing but leaf-less tree branches move in the wind. Wherever the deer had gone, they were down and out before I arrived.
That meant that after answering nature's morning ritualistic visit, I had some time to really scout. Yeah, right. 5000 acres, and still fairly clueless about the terrain? I need to go back next spring and summer and spend some time with my eldest son crawling around looking for sheds and picking ticks. Anyhoo... I took off with my rifle and a bottle of water and started south. With the wind. I figured if I could scare something up, being pasture ground, I could reach a ways when they stopped to sniff... I sound so overconfident... I stopped about 600 yards south of the camper, bedded myself down, and looked East across the creekbed, and let loose on the doe-P to watch downwind for sign of movement or sounds of earnest bachelors. Neither was to occur. I've never had success "winding" deer into the open. But, I figured that since I didn't have enough time to make a better plan... two hours of this and I was done. Being noon, I was ready to get up and move. I went back to the camper and hopped in the truck, Larue riding shotgun and ready. If I saw a hustler in the open I could dive out, range, and decide. Better yet, if Mr Coyote made the mistake of being out and about... Upon my travels, I stumbled upon a set of round bails, about 200 or so, in three lines at an old homestead that was now more of a "stead". The trees made a rectangle around what was obviously at one time where a house sat, and was being used now as a sickle bar and disc parking lot. Perfect. Bails meant more concealment, and they just so happened to be adjacent to a feed plot of new wheat. I was confident I'd found my evening spot. I don't know why, (the cowboy had told me to try this place if I had no luck anywhere else...) but I was confident it would bear fruit.
This was somewhere in the vicinity of 2 in the afternoon, and the plan was to be back in hiding in ambush by 4. I headed back to the camper to strip some layers as it had warmed considerably and the cold wind was now a rather warm one and had increased in it's gusto. I laid there taking off two outer layers, and became a little comfortable on the couch. Mistake. I woke with a start at 3:45 and was still without boots, and a layer too far stripped if I was going to be tooth-clatter free an hour before sunset. I hurriedly put on my Carhahrt duck bibs, forgot the camo, threw on the heavy coat, and ran out to Larue sitting there in shotgun laughing at me. Shutup I said and got in and tore off down the road to the bails. I got settled, made sure there were no rocks on the ground, cleaned several shooting lanes, and planted myself behind and between several round bails. It was then that I had an idea. "Hey, lets cover these four bails with doe-P and that will cover my scent!" Folks, if you've ever smelled the cat box when it's too full - yea. I made my little wind-free zone between the bails so full of urine odor that my eyes had a new reason to water. I tell you, sometimes I have some REALLY good ideas...
It worked though. At about 5:10, (10 mins before official sunset) two does walked out from behind the hay bales I am hiding behind 20 yards from me. I was caught so off guard that I just had to sit still and watch them take a few steps, bend down, feed a bit, and move on another 10 yards or so. I was flabbergasted, and at some point I decided that it was so amazing that I had to just watch them, who cared about hunting, this was cool! They are beautiful animals. Their coats had a sheen in the sun, amost as if they were part of the prairie themselves. They had absolutely no idea I was there, watching them both with the fear and infatuation of a cave man watching his first woman. Then, when they got to about 50 yards from me, the reason for the hunting season returned, sanity followed, and I was inclined to realize that sunset was quickly approaching and they were headed behind another group of bales! I started inching my way as quietly as I could, (I move as quietly as a dump truck, with the steady thunder of a bull in a china shop) get my knees under me and get into a kneeling position supporting on the bale adjacent to my position. And of course I was made. DAMN! I got up on my knees, they darted behind the bales, and I put the rifle up just in time to see doe number one parade out from behind the obstruction and stop! I shot when the reticle said go, and immediately was surprised that I saw her jump, turn and run away slightly right toward the tree line that made up the perimeter of the equipment lay down.
12-16-2017, 03:54 AM (This post was last modified: 12-16-2017, 04:10 AM by Kswhitetails.)
My first shot was at 150ish, taking the first doe in the front chest because she was facing me. I don't like frontal shots as that usually results in a gut-hole and that's never ideal, but when that's what you've got, you take what you get. Doe number two ran about 60 yards to the left, and away from me about another 20 yards on the other side of the bales in the pasture, her stopped position resulting in a 170 yard shot of perfection, upper heart broadside, fatal. I watched her run about 15 steps and stop, then lay down. The first doe came back out from behind the hay bales and stood looking at me broadside so I shot her again praising God for the luck of seeing her again as I thought I had missed low with the first round. She now had two holes in her boiler house either of which would have been quickly fatal. She plowed about 10 yards into the tree row and out of my sight. I wasn't worried, I just assumed I'd find her on the other side of the row.
I got up, lit a cigar, and walked the 5 yards to the road, the 70 yards West to the truck, and smoked in the satisfaction of a hunt well done. I called my dad to report, because, well, that's what you do. You call the guy you want most in the world to tell you just got your first double! I am fortunate to still have my dad, as tumultuous as our relationship is I still called him first without even thinking about it. I then called the wife, who had made the arrangements for me to hunt here through her friend who she runs marathons with. These ladies are insane, and I figured if I didn't report the success I'd get run over, literally. After reporting, and about 20 minutes had passed, I set out to cross the road and start finding the carcasses. The deer I shot second I walked straight to, she had an entry and exit just behind both shoulders about 5 inches from the breast bone. The other lady was more of a challenge. I crossed the tree line, and began sweeping with my head lamp as it had long since been dark, and to my dismay I found that inside the tree enclosed lay down, the grass had not been mowed all year. It was a mess. I looked about 10 mins and never found any blood. I was worried at this point and had to say a little prayer as the adrenaline was beginning to rise again. Now what? Shouldn't have worried. Turned out that she had hugged a tree and was probably dead before she even hit it.
Shot one entered the bottom of the sternum, rose and took out the bottom of the heart, exited through the gut, and broke her left rear leg just above the knee. Shot two on deer two was through and through getting the top of the heart, and both lungs involved. It was surprisingly in tact, probably because she never really ran anywhere, and I let her expire without exciting her. The third shot went through and through perforating both lungs of the first deer, though as I stated earlier she was probably already mostly bled out. The spot where she was standing when I shot her the second time was covered in copious amounts of blood spatter, she probably would have laid down right there and expired had I not felt the need to shoot her again.
All in all the Larue 6.5 Grendel was flawless. It functioned, fed, fired, and performed as well as I hoped it would. The only complaint I have is that my optic choice, while completely worthy, is rather heavy, making a mid weight rifle heavier than I was wishing it was by the end of any real trekking in waist high prairie grass and basketball sized rocks. I need to lighten the package, the Harris 9-13 bi-pod and Larue mount are heavier than they should be too probably. I had an E-Lander 10 round mag with 6 rounds of Hornady Black ELD-M at the ready, and at the risk of bragging about it, I probably only needed two.
I am glad to have bought the rifle, the bi-pod mount, the extra magazines, the key-mod QD, the extra 5.56 barrel cartridge and bolt, the Tranquillo 7.62 suppressor, and the targets. I will buy more stuff from Mark. So far, not only am I impressed with this rifle's quality, accuracy, and durability; but as well as with the accessories function and form as a system. From the Scope base to the smooth articulation to the beautiful FDE CeraKote, it is superfluously obvious that much thought and design and time has gone into the process from ideas to enacted reality in the field.
It was too dark to take any real pictures, and as I was alone for the duration of my excursion, taking selfies with deer sticking their tongues out at me isn't my idea of a good time...
![[Image: 36619006223_01d1e9bf0d_c.jpg]](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4484/36619006223_01d1e9bf0d_c.jpg)
![[Image: 37437917415_088dcc37bd_c.jpg]](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4494/37437917415_088dcc37bd_c.jpg)
![[Image: 20171125_172039_zpskacuvewt.jpg]](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j422/LRRPF52/65%20Grendel%20Reloading/20171125_172039_zpskacuvewt.jpg)
![[Image: 20171127_100016_zpsi0uizaoa.jpg]](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j422/LRRPF52/65%20Grendel%20Reloading/20171127_100016_zpsi0uizaoa.jpg)
![[Image: 2017-11-262010.56.28_zpsnlsfyzrp.jpg]](http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j422/LRRPF52/65%20Grendel%20Reloading/2017-11-262010.56.28_zpsnlsfyzrp.jpg)
Nice groups!