I returned to the range the day following the 6/21 trip because I was unhappy with the performance of the Frontier 75gr ammunition. My purpose was to see if PMC X-TAC 55 would work better. I get to the range, post a target, set up my rifle and send one round at the “zero target”. Low . . . so I reach for the elevation turret to adjust . . . and the scope “wiggled”. Excuse me???? So, I grab the scope and try to move it around – and I can do this easily. Closer examination showed that the scope was firmly attached to the rail . . . but the rail was NOT firmly attached to the rifle. Heavy sigh. As all good instructors claim – “Why I been shootin’ guns since I was a little kid!!!” Well, I have been – got my first scoped .22 when I was 12. Used all types of rifles in the ensuing 61 years. And I have NEVER seen a rail on a rifle lose. So, retrieved my target, packed my gear, and headed to the office.
I disconnected the scope rings from the rail and removed the rail mounting screws. I applied a bit of Blue Loctite to each screw and then tightened them to the recommended 15 inch-pounds of torque. I tightened the 4 crews back, front, 2nd back and 2nd front. Then I ran through the sequence one more time and remounted the scope rings to the rail and tightened them to 15 inch-pounds as well. I let things set overnight and then headed to the range the next day.
The course of fire today was to be 5 rounds per target, 20 targets, 5 targets per sheet with the first to confirm zero. My goal was all rounds within the 3” targets and a group size average of 2MOA. I posted one sheet with 5 targets at a time then changed out the sheet and evaluated the target I removed.
Sheet #1 I dropped 3 rounds and had an average group size of 2.14 MOA.
Sheet #2 I dropped 2 rounds and had an average group size
of 2.17 MOA.
Sheet #3 I dropped 5 rounds and had an average group size
of 2.3 MOA. 4 of the dropped rounds happened on Target #4 of the sheet. No idea what happened but I regained my focus
for the next sheet. It was obviously a
shooter issue and not a rifle or ammunition issue.
Sheet #4 I dropped 2 rounds and had an average group size
of 2.18 MOA. I also had by best target
of the trip – and the last target of the day.
My 5-round group size was .74 MOA.
It was a very nice way to end the range trip.
As you can see from the photo of the rifle and targets, I
was using an Armageddon Gear “Game Changer” front bag and a regular rear
squeeze bag. It provided a very stable
shooting platform.
Moving forward I will probably reduce my round count to 50 rounds per trip with the 5.56 ammo with one trip per month. I’ll probably run the same with the Savage 110 .308 that I chose as my DM rifle. The high-volume work will continue to be done with the Ruger American 22LR or the Ruger Precision 22LR to maintain the fundamental skill set.
It was a good range trip today. I was reasonably happy with by final result - an 87.4% on accuracy and an average group size of 2.2 MOA on precision. A fine time was had by all!
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