ronlaughlin

This rifle was purchased about a year ago from Chet. It didn't shoot very good. It was decided to glass bed it. That didn't go perfectly. The intention was to full length bed it, and to completely lock the recoil lug in place by surrounding it with bedding. Some of the bedding didn't stick very good out near the end of the stock. The loose material was removed by cutting a straight cut across about 5" from the end. The lug is mostly locked in place, but i wished i woulda done a better job. Kinda hard to get bedding in front of the lug what with the space needed for the ram rod. Bedding was done quite some time ago, and the rifle fired many times since. It shot gooder, but not as good as i had hoped for.

When i had the rifle apart, i played with trigger adjustment, and the trigger pull sure got nice. Zero creep, and very very light. Never measured the pull, but one doesn't touch the trigger at all, unless one wants the rifle to fire. Seems it is less than a pound, but who knows.

Started trying a new load and scope about a week ago. This morning i wanted to shoot at 300 yard, but i got a late start, and there was quite a breeze out there, so i settled for 200 yard. The poor old target frame won't be able to stand very many more hits due to the wind pushing bullets over.









The first shot was pushed left by the breeze. Then the breeze quit. What i mean is the breeze quit. Three more shots were taken, and they looked good. A decision was made to go home, because by now it was 70*.

This rifle now has a 3-9 ultra-light scope, modified to utilize a cds dial. The nfpj breech plug i purchased from Knight with the brazed vent liner. Removing the vent liner wasn't easy. Now the plug carries a vent liner made from a Holo-Krome screw. I wish Knight would sell breech plugs without a vent liner. The load now being tried in the rifle is 300g 44 caliber XTP, 110g BH, smooth green Harvester sabot, W209 primer. Antelope hunting starts in a month; this combination may get a shot.

Bein's how the rifle was shooting so good, and there was no breeze, i decided to give 300 yard another try. Up there, the breeze wasn't too bad, and was steady. The first 2 shots were an inch apart, so i decided to try a third. Heartbeat was very evident in the sight picture, and things weren't rock steady. At the trigger pull, i called the crosshair to the right. By now it felt really hot, so i quit.

1874sharpsshooter

That ought to do a number on the antelope
I am planning on using my Knight disc 45 cal 1:20 twist. It is glass bedded and ready . I just need to take it out one more time to make sure. I've seen quite a few antelope lately . The only problem will be catching them on property I can hunt and not on Tribal
Good luck on your hunt .

ronlaughlin

My primary will also be a 45. Omega shooting 200g sst. Your rifle should work great.

Last week-end i drove 300 mile looking for huntable pronghorn. Many many square mile of government land; every goat i saw was on deeded land.

Good luck on your hunt.

cayugad

That is some very good shooting. It would be a hard decision as to what rifle to use.

ronlaughlin

The choice isn't as hard as it may seem, because of the wind out on the open prairie. The 200g sst has a muzzle speed near 2300 fps. The 300g xtp has a muzzle speed near 1950 fps. The sst has a higher BC than the xtp.

The better choice for shooting in the wind is the sst.