Post by Richard on Aug 26, 2015 20:21:23 GMT -5
Picked up a used NF 8 x 32 x 56 BR scope this past week and mounted it on my Rem/Brux. If Kyle shoots as good as he does with a NF scope, then Richard need a NF! Only problem with it is the reticle. It has some crazy series of lines, tiny dots, different size round circles on the bottom with yardages listed underneath (probably used to judge distances from 300 to 800 yards – for maybe a man size target?) All in all confusing. The main crosshair if you can call it that is also fine with broken lines and dots. The price, however, was right at $700.00……….Actually, I sold it to my friend some five years ago for that price and he agreed to sell it back for the same amount. I would consider a reticle change but NF wants a “NOMINAL” fee of $350.00---------SOMBICH! My other alternative is to get used to it. Part of my problem on Tuesday at the range was the design of my targets on paper with a 1” grid. The lines really get confusing since they are so fine. I will be doing some re-vamping of the targets probably using ¾” orange dots with a felt tip dot in the middle.
You will notice on my targets a dot I was trying out. Also I stapled a couple of 100 yd. benchrest bullseye targets over my regular target……….so there is duplication on the grid targets (in case you were wondering what was going on) So Tuesday was mainly a day of playing with the new scope and adjusting settings and figuring out come-ups (which I hate to do—would rather use additional stadia lines for that and not touch the turrets). Fortunately the audible and felt clicks on the NF scopes is the best I have felt/seen. My 40X Leupold competition scope is very smooth and not easy to judge---which is no problem since we shoot at a fixed distance and are only making slight adjustment for wind by visually watching he crosshair move.
Anyway, I think it will work.
I put 50 shots down range yesterday with a lot of different combinations of not only bullets smooth and FF but used some N-110 for a booster on a couple of groups. All other duplex are Clays and H-4198. Last week I shot a 10/60 duplex behind the 300 BE and it put the first two shots 4” apart at 100? NOT good. This week I softened up the booster to 5 gr. of N-110 and then added 56 gr. of 4198 and I got a ¾” group!
Not a one holer but it showed that the BE does not like to hit real hard. I then shot the same bullet with straight 74 gr. of 4198……..Not quite as good as the duplex but right at .9”---------------------Two groups is not enough to hang ones hat on!
Conversely, I shot the 250 gr. TEZ with the 5/65 N-110/4198 and it put two shots 2” apart at 100! NOT good!..........Went back to 10/60 and it grouped much better. This gives me the impression that they really want to be kicked hard to fatten up quick?
Went to 300 yards with the same 250 TEZ-- 10/60 load with somewhat mixed results. First of all I was using the top of a very fine post down below the normal crosshair and it was difficult to be perfectly exact, but was close. Did not have wind flags and while it looked somewhat calm, we could feel wind coming into our shooting room so something was going on. I only say this since shot #2 went further out to the right than the other five shots (it was a 6 shot group). Horizontally, four of the six shots were had only 1” of vertical and five were within 2 ¼”. Shot #3 that went low? It was a Hammer down and my hammer down rod did not have sufficient clearance for the top on the TEZ so probably some deformation occurred. Just guessing? The low shot in group #7 was also a hammer down? Coincidence? Maybe yes, maybe not?
So now I had a good idea of where POI was with the load and wanted to translate it into “clicks” of elevation from zero at 100. With the rifle tight in the sled I put that top post on the bull and dialed and counted the 1/8” clicks until the crosshair landed on the bullseye. It was 28 clicks……………then I added in the fact the load was already 2” + at 100, so that is an additional 16 clicks! As a result, it seemel like I needed approximately 44 clicks of elevation from 100 to 300 with the 250 TEZ traveling at around 2800 fps. With that setting I put the crosshair on another 300 bull and you can see, it printed just ¾” high right at 6:00……….!
So, pretty satisfied the come up.
Some tweaking has to be done when FF sizing these bullets. I like to get them thru the die twice and hitting the same grove perfectly each time is pretty tricky. I have it close but miss from time to time and that is where the hammer down’s come from. When you put that mark on the base of the bullet with the felt tip pen, it has to line up exactly with the mark on your push rod.
I had indicated last week I put on a Shilen 2 oz trigger?................Too much creep! If I can’t remove the creep, the Jewel that I have on another competition rifle (not being used) will replace it.
The information here is just what I found with my rifle. It may or may not work as well in yours or it may work even better since my groups can sure use improvement after seeing some of the good shooters at the Challenge. It was also safe in my rifle but might not be in yours? And remember, not everyone’s rifle is being used strictly off the bench. One cannot expect a light hunting rifle to be competitive with some of the guns that were at the challenge.
windows 7 screenshot
image hosting over 10mb
You will notice on my targets a dot I was trying out. Also I stapled a couple of 100 yd. benchrest bullseye targets over my regular target……….so there is duplication on the grid targets (in case you were wondering what was going on) So Tuesday was mainly a day of playing with the new scope and adjusting settings and figuring out come-ups (which I hate to do—would rather use additional stadia lines for that and not touch the turrets). Fortunately the audible and felt clicks on the NF scopes is the best I have felt/seen. My 40X Leupold competition scope is very smooth and not easy to judge---which is no problem since we shoot at a fixed distance and are only making slight adjustment for wind by visually watching he crosshair move.
Anyway, I think it will work.
I put 50 shots down range yesterday with a lot of different combinations of not only bullets smooth and FF but used some N-110 for a booster on a couple of groups. All other duplex are Clays and H-4198. Last week I shot a 10/60 duplex behind the 300 BE and it put the first two shots 4” apart at 100? NOT good. This week I softened up the booster to 5 gr. of N-110 and then added 56 gr. of 4198 and I got a ¾” group!
Not a one holer but it showed that the BE does not like to hit real hard. I then shot the same bullet with straight 74 gr. of 4198……..Not quite as good as the duplex but right at .9”---------------------Two groups is not enough to hang ones hat on!
Conversely, I shot the 250 gr. TEZ with the 5/65 N-110/4198 and it put two shots 2” apart at 100! NOT good!..........Went back to 10/60 and it grouped much better. This gives me the impression that they really want to be kicked hard to fatten up quick?
Went to 300 yards with the same 250 TEZ-- 10/60 load with somewhat mixed results. First of all I was using the top of a very fine post down below the normal crosshair and it was difficult to be perfectly exact, but was close. Did not have wind flags and while it looked somewhat calm, we could feel wind coming into our shooting room so something was going on. I only say this since shot #2 went further out to the right than the other five shots (it was a 6 shot group). Horizontally, four of the six shots were had only 1” of vertical and five were within 2 ¼”. Shot #3 that went low? It was a Hammer down and my hammer down rod did not have sufficient clearance for the top on the TEZ so probably some deformation occurred. Just guessing? The low shot in group #7 was also a hammer down? Coincidence? Maybe yes, maybe not?
So now I had a good idea of where POI was with the load and wanted to translate it into “clicks” of elevation from zero at 100. With the rifle tight in the sled I put that top post on the bull and dialed and counted the 1/8” clicks until the crosshair landed on the bullseye. It was 28 clicks……………then I added in the fact the load was already 2” + at 100, so that is an additional 16 clicks! As a result, it seemel like I needed approximately 44 clicks of elevation from 100 to 300 with the 250 TEZ traveling at around 2800 fps. With that setting I put the crosshair on another 300 bull and you can see, it printed just ¾” high right at 6:00……….!
So, pretty satisfied the come up.
Some tweaking has to be done when FF sizing these bullets. I like to get them thru the die twice and hitting the same grove perfectly each time is pretty tricky. I have it close but miss from time to time and that is where the hammer down’s come from. When you put that mark on the base of the bullet with the felt tip pen, it has to line up exactly with the mark on your push rod.
I had indicated last week I put on a Shilen 2 oz trigger?................Too much creep! If I can’t remove the creep, the Jewel that I have on another competition rifle (not being used) will replace it.
The information here is just what I found with my rifle. It may or may not work as well in yours or it may work even better since my groups can sure use improvement after seeing some of the good shooters at the Challenge. It was also safe in my rifle but might not be in yours? And remember, not everyone’s rifle is being used strictly off the bench. One cannot expect a light hunting rifle to be competitive with some of the guns that were at the challenge.
windows 7 screenshot
image hosting over 10mb
That $350 for a reticule change is down right outrageous! So that will take some pondering? The trigger is a no brainer, I just have to get the other gun out of the safe and do the switch. Its a Jewel 1.5 oz. BR model. Now the smooth vs. FF. The smooth is the easier way to go for sure. I think with the Parkers as Kyle and Jeff have proven, they will be hard to beat smooth sized. I was encouraged by the fact the somewhat "softer" duplex did work with them and look to do more testing/tweaking or maybe just go with straight charges? On the other hand, I see the solid coppers definitely liking a hard hit in the butt to get them fattened up.
