I got some much needed range time today. I took the 280 AI, 338R, 375R, and 6.5 SAUM.
I was trying to find a load for the 280 AI closer to 3100 fps, well, its not going to happen. My Gun does not like RL-22, and once I got over 3000 with 7828 groups opened up and never closed back down. I'm happy with the 3000 fps with the 150 ABLR, just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something. I will sleep good tonight knowing that I tried anyways :lol:
The 338R I was trying to get my 250 VLD load fine tuned, and I ended up going backwards. At this point I'm leaning towards a bedding issue. Should get that fixed here shortly. I came in second in my fantasy football league and won some money so I'm having Darrin build me another stock like the one on my 6.5 SAUM for the 338R. Should drop a pound on the rifle, and fix my bedding incompetence.
The big surprise of the day was the 375R. I haven't shot it for several years. I had to rob the scope off of it for a while and never really got to excited about getting it set back up. That and I could not find any Ramshot Big Game, it really likes BG with a 260 AB. I had a can of H100V sitting on the shelf, and the #7 Nobler book says that it was the most accurate powder, so I gave it a shot. Started at 79.5 and worked up to 81 with the 260 AB. I was pretty worried when my first fouled shot and my next shot were about 4 inches apart. My third shot I could not locate with the 8x scope. I put a fourth shot down, I had to get my 20x out to find out what was happening. I about fell off the bench when I was able to confirm that I had just put down a .25" group with a 375R and some 260 AB! I shot the fifth shot just for the heck of it and opened up the group a bit, but still impressive.
After that I got the 6.5 SAUM out and played around a bit. All the gongs at the range were pretty shot up but the 800. So I dialed up to 800 and shot a decent 5" group. One of these days I'm going to get some bags out and get really steady. I think the results could be pretty fun.
With all the shooting done at the range and a few hours of day light left I decided to go try to find a coyote. They have been pretty call shy lately so I was looking for a spot and stalk opportunity. I spotted 3 totes about a mile out. I hid the truck and started my stalk. It was a less than ideal as I was looking right into the sun, and my vantage point had to put me right on the skyline. I spotted a light color that didn't look right pulped up the optics, and yep, there she was. She had spotted me, but didn't know what I was. She sat down and started barking her head off. I got set up real quick ranged her @ 635, and dialed up 8.7 minutes. I was really wanting her to turn sideways, but after five minutes of barking I figured I'd just let her have it from the front. I waited until she had just started barking again and let a 140 A Max fly. I recovered just in time to see her flip over backwards, then hear her last bark reach my location. It was pretty cool. That is a new personal record for me, and first blood on the 6.5 SAUM.
I was trying to find a load for the 280 AI closer to 3100 fps, well, its not going to happen. My Gun does not like RL-22, and once I got over 3000 with 7828 groups opened up and never closed back down. I'm happy with the 3000 fps with the 150 ABLR, just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something. I will sleep good tonight knowing that I tried anyways :lol:
The 338R I was trying to get my 250 VLD load fine tuned, and I ended up going backwards. At this point I'm leaning towards a bedding issue. Should get that fixed here shortly. I came in second in my fantasy football league and won some money so I'm having Darrin build me another stock like the one on my 6.5 SAUM for the 338R. Should drop a pound on the rifle, and fix my bedding incompetence.
The big surprise of the day was the 375R. I haven't shot it for several years. I had to rob the scope off of it for a while and never really got to excited about getting it set back up. That and I could not find any Ramshot Big Game, it really likes BG with a 260 AB. I had a can of H100V sitting on the shelf, and the #7 Nobler book says that it was the most accurate powder, so I gave it a shot. Started at 79.5 and worked up to 81 with the 260 AB. I was pretty worried when my first fouled shot and my next shot were about 4 inches apart. My third shot I could not locate with the 8x scope. I put a fourth shot down, I had to get my 20x out to find out what was happening. I about fell off the bench when I was able to confirm that I had just put down a .25" group with a 375R and some 260 AB! I shot the fifth shot just for the heck of it and opened up the group a bit, but still impressive.
After that I got the 6.5 SAUM out and played around a bit. All the gongs at the range were pretty shot up but the 800. So I dialed up to 800 and shot a decent 5" group. One of these days I'm going to get some bags out and get really steady. I think the results could be pretty fun.
With all the shooting done at the range and a few hours of day light left I decided to go try to find a coyote. They have been pretty call shy lately so I was looking for a spot and stalk opportunity. I spotted 3 totes about a mile out. I hid the truck and started my stalk. It was a less than ideal as I was looking right into the sun, and my vantage point had to put me right on the skyline. I spotted a light color that didn't look right pulped up the optics, and yep, there she was. She had spotted me, but didn't know what I was. She sat down and started barking her head off. I got set up real quick ranged her @ 635, and dialed up 8.7 minutes. I was really wanting her to turn sideways, but after five minutes of barking I figured I'd just let her have it from the front. I waited until she had just started barking again and let a 140 A Max fly. I recovered just in time to see her flip over backwards, then hear her last bark reach my location. It was pretty cool. That is a new personal record for me, and first blood on the 6.5 SAUM.
