No Excuses
August 28th, 2020Cheap Gun + Determination + Prayer = Sub-MOA
I shot the Savage 93R today, after cutting down the trigger spring to reduce the pull. Things went very well. Eventually. Here is the first target.
As always, I started with the 7 o’clock target and went clockwise. I used 17-grain V-Max cartridges.
As you can see, the first 10 rounds were all over the place. I shot 5 rounds to the left of center, adjusted the windage, and shot 5 more to the right. This would be fine shooting for nailing a groundhog, but it was not inspiring as target shooting goes.
As I moved through the bullseyes, I tried to get it together, and it paid off. The second bulleye was better, and the third and fourth were not much worse than a gun in a vise would shoot, except for a flyer. The fifth group was aimed at the black cross in the center of the target. It’s not as good as the previous two, but it’s better than the first two.
I let the bipod legs out a little at some point, and I think it gave me a more natural position behind the gun. Unfortunately, one leg retracted all by itself. I don’t know if it affected my targets. I fixed it when I saw what had happened.
On the second target, I used 20-grain hollowpoints. I only had 20 with me, and that was fine, because concentration is tiring. The first three groups came out great. Then a weed stood up between me and the impact point on the 4th target. I couldn’t see where every bullet landed. I could see my aim point, however, so I kept shooting.
My worst group was maybe a little over 1 MOA, and the rest were sub-MOA. The point of impact is consistently higher and farther to the right than it was for the lighter bullets.
This gun is wonderful. Clearly, it will shoot sub-MOA almost all the time. It may be that it will do it 100% of the time. I can’t really tell without a vise. It’s so accurate, I can be sure ugly targets are my fault, and I can get information from them and improve.
Man, this is neat. What other caliber will let you shoot that many rounds, that accurately, at that distance, for under eleven dollars?
The trigger is still too heavy. I’m going to keep cutting the spring until it does what I want or fails to function. Triggers always seem light when you test them in your gun room. When you load your gun and shoot it, the pull increases by a factor of 5. It’s imaginary, but it happens.
The scope is too far forward. I’m going to have to knock it back maybe a quarter inch and zero the scope again.
I’m where I wanted to be when I bought this rifle over a decade ago, and there are still things I can adjust to bring improvement. Beautiful.
I feel like throwing my AR-15 in a ditch. Maybe there is still hope for it, though.
Oh; I almost forgot: stay out of my yard.
August 28th, 2020 at 8:56 PM
Let me know which ditch.
August 29th, 2020 at 1:47 PM
If only you had been around to help these untalented guys out. They might have been able to design a workable rifle. http://ace.mu.nu/archives/Eugene%20Stoner%20and%20Mikhail%20Kalashnikov.jpg
August 29th, 2020 at 2:47 PM
Lee Iacocca designs rifles?
August 29th, 2020 at 5:54 PM
Yeah, Lee was a fan of automatic transmissions like me. No Fred Flintstone stick shift mobiles for either one of us.
August 29th, 2020 at 7:32 PM
I would make a remark about the probable connection between inability to drive stick and low testosterone, but my SUV and truck are both automatic. How I have deteriorated.
I remember a really funny remark about standard transmissions. Two guys were in a car, and one said he couldn’t drive standard. The other said, “Maybe your husband can teach you.”
August 29th, 2020 at 8:18 PM
I’ve driven more sticks than I care to remember, including a water truck and a refrigeration truck that didn’t even have synchro’s. I still have a Geo Metro I bought new in 96, of course it hasn’t been out of the spare garage in a dozen years.
August 29th, 2020 at 8:29 PM
Success, I got 500 new/once fired Lake city 556 brass on Monday. 400 are loaded and I just finished prepping the last 100. Life is good. That’s one problem with the Creedmoor, no Lake City brass. Almost all commercial brass sucks compared to military. I hear Lapua and Norma make good brass but it’s a bit pricey for me.
August 29th, 2020 at 8:35 PM
I can drive stick and did so in Deuce and a Halfs and Jeeps, but the efficiency and power curves enabled by 10 speed auto trans are not something I’d want to clutch through.
August 29th, 2020 at 9:39 PM
CK, maybe you can tell me how to make an AR-15 work.
I looked at new 6.5 brass, but I have read some complimentary things about Sellier & Bellot, so I’m thinking I should try shooting my S&B empties before splurging on Starline or Lapua.
Today I found out .17 WSM ammo is about the same price as .17 HMR, and my credit card is straining to get out of my pants.
August 29th, 2020 at 10:09 PM
I’d definitely use the S&B cases. I’ve had nothing but great experiences with S&B. I mixed some Federal in with some Lake City 308 that had already been loaded 20 times and guess what? I probably only got an average of 4 or 5 reloads out of the Federals.. As for making an AR-15 work, I’ve assembled a dozen Palmetto’s in 3 calibers (556,308,762×39) and they all just work, put in mags, pull the trigger. I’ve broken a couple of extractors on my 308’s but other than that it’s been thousands and thousands of rounds of trouble free shooting. A few problems when I started reloading but that was 100% my reloading.
August 30th, 2020 at 11:20 AM
What kind of problems have you been having? FTE is usually gas related. My first and only complete rifle was a DPMS Oracle in 556. It’s never been fed anything but dirt cheap ammo, I think m855 greenies are the only new brass ever shot out of it and it just chugs away.
August 30th, 2020 at 12:49 PM
It’s just not accurate.
August 30th, 2020 at 1:27 PM
Try bigger bullets, I’m pretty sure you have a 1 in 9 twist rate which would support a 62-77 gn bullet. Those little bullets like 1-12 or less. The first AR’s were i-14 to match the 55 gn bullets.