Fitch
Well-Known Member
Since the last post I went ahead and fire lapped it just to see what might happen. This is no longer a collector rifle, if it ever was, and I can rebarrel it myself if I want to, so it seemed like a fun experiment. It seemed to shoot a little better, cleaned up a lot easier, and the throat was moved about 0.035" out. Looking at it with the borescope, the lapping had the most effect in the throat and beyond tapering off around mid bore.
I want to hunt whitetail with it again next week (PA senior season) so I took it out of the safe, transferred the Leupold VX-II with LR duplex reticle to it from another rifle, sighted it in shooting 3 rounds of 150g Hornady SST seated 0.020" off the lands (Win brass, 59.9g H4350, WLR, if it matters).
Adjust the scope one last time (one click right, 3 clicks up, tapped it vigorously with the rubber handle of the Wheeler screwdriver), let it sit for 45 minutes while I played with some other rifles, then shot this 3 shot group:
Analyzing the data, it's pretty clear that serendipity is alive, well, and flourishing around this rifle/scope/ammo combination. Notice that Group 2 is centered 1.636" high - not that I did anything to make that happen, it's just where I ended up and "about" where I thought it should be based on nothing more than intuition. According to QuickTarget Unlimited that's a 210 yard zero. This works well with the LR Duplex Reticle I have in the 3-9x40 Leupold VX-II that's on that rifle. Comparing the Bullet Drop Correction in my ballistic reticle to QTU's plot of MOA correction to zero vs distance I find:
300 yard dot is 2.19 MOA, QTU says I need 1.97 MOA. i.e. less than a click at 300 yards using the scope aiming dot. The error is in the right direction, BC may be a trifle optimistic so the scope over correcting by about a click might be just right.
400 yard dot is 4.80 MOA, QTU says I need 4.55 MOA. So the scope correction would be 1 click (~1") too much at 400 yards which isn't a problem on a dinner plate sized vital zone, and is an error in the right direction.
500 yard mark (post top) is 7.82 MOA, QTU says I need 7.58 MOA. Scope correction would be just over one click (~1.4") too much, again in the right direction and not a problem on a dinner plate sized vital zone.
Measured MV was 2, 995 fps, ES of 19 fps. QuickLoad predicts 2,995 fps. Did I mention I love it when that happens?400 yard dot is 4.80 MOA, QTU says I need 4.55 MOA. So the scope correction would be 1 click (~1") too much at 400 yards which isn't a problem on a dinner plate sized vital zone, and is an error in the right direction.
500 yard mark (post top) is 7.82 MOA, QTU says I need 7.58 MOA. Scope correction would be just over one click (~1.4") too much, again in the right direction and not a problem on a dinner plate sized vital zone.
I think this will get 'er done if I see something worth shooting during my excursions into the woods next week (senior season is Thurs, Fri, Sat next week), or any time for that matter.
I'm almost dissapointed that I don't need to rebarrel it. I rebarreled a sporterized '03 springfield last winter and figured if I could do that one with square threads, this one would be a piece of cake. But unless something changes I think I'm done tinkering with this rifle. I'll leave this scope on it because it is "ready to go" as is.
I'm really happy with the way it shoots now, I'm loving the recoil pad I added to it and I know my Dad (a total true believer Winchester guy) would have loved to have it shoot like this. I'm just sorry he isn't around to see it.
Fitch
