Its been a very very long wait but I got it back this year. A lot of the decisions I made were influenced from this thread, so my first custom rifle was a leap of faith but the advice here paid off.
Since last time I have been learning to handload, I wasted no time on this one. I built this rifle around the 127HHT bullet, custom throated to optimize case volume for velocity. I wound up with a 26in 7twist Ackely Improved chamber Douglass barrel, blued and fluted, custom throated for the 127gn Hammer. Bedded and floated to the original wood stock I refinished myself, sealed inside and out with tung oil.
I settled the new barrel in on some old factory ammo, plus 50rds of new virgin 25-06 Norma brass fireformed with some spare cup and core bullets I had acquired. It was fun watching that virgin brass come out as an ackley...
I ran up to 60 grains of H1000 and found pressure with some ejector marks. I backed off to 58.5 and running 3111fps average for a .3moa group at 100yds. Ive never owned a rifle that shot this good, Ive never shot a sub half inch group before. I was hoping for at least 3200fps but I cant complain...
The 127HHT has an advertised G7.262 and a .275 sectional density, at 3100fps this puts it on par ballistically with larger traditional calibers using (close to) the same bullet weight. This is a win and I look forward to getting to know the new rifles potential. A special thank you to
@ButterBean ,
@B-LOT Banga , and
@FEENIX for the confidence in advice and offers to help.
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