Redfoot Ranch
Well-Known Member
I built this rifle with the intent of coyote control rather than a varmint rifle and had an 8t chambered by one of my smith's but it's still in the safe. Long story short, the bbl I'm shooting is a used 9t I found that was supposed to have "~150" rounds down it, shooting moly coated 55's. When I borescoped it, it looked like a war zone so I sent it back to the seller so he and his smith could see it's current condition. It appeared as if it had not been cleaned when he pulled it off a few years back. He sent it back after I agreed to a refund where I only had $50 into it. Either it would shoot or be a tomato stake.
At the time, 6.5x47 was the only brass option available and necking down 60 thou with bushings induced 10+ thou of runout before fire forming. The first 10 shot less than .4 group, so with MV to input the next 3 went to 325, 600 and 728 on steel. After seeing it was capable at distance, I told one of the guy's I was shooting with that day that I would drop the bbl off the next afternoon on my way home from work to have the muzzle thread for a can.
I've shot a wad of woodchucks with a 90% fireforming load to get the brass ironed out. With my load running a 328 yd. PBR on a 3.5" target I put a NV scope on it. After Igor put the reticle I like into Strelok Pro, I have taken it out to 606 yds and it's spot on with reticle hold. I now have 461 rounds down the pipe and call it Lightning. I won't check throat erosion until I see the accuracy falter.
Attached is a pics of the inside and first chuck I shot at 147 yds. while fireforming.
Before returning -
After cleaning, before shot -
Can't find find entry or exit. This is the terminal performance I hoped for.
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