[tonyben]

Probably a fluke, but I took someone out for their fist time shooting ever and I had 5 rounds of XM-80 ball left over. I hadn't tried my M25 out yet with the Shooting Sight trigger, so I decided to pull ol' Excalibur from the sheath. She did not disappoint!

First 5 from a cold bore at 100 yards...


I was all out of XM-80 and switched to 175 FGMM to see what I could do. It was a no-go! Groups started wandering all over. The rifle simply hadn't settled in from removing and reinstalling the trigger group. Tried the 10-shot hot dot and failed at shot number 3. Sigh...

And that Shooting Sight trigger!!! Wo Hoo! What a piece of work! I had to have had it dialed way down below 4.5lbs and it shot fantastic! I'm a believer! No doubling at all, even when I had my novice co-worker shooting!

It was a great shooting day!

Tony.

 

[wiz1997]

Well done, sir!!

 

[Killashrub]

Nicely done!

My best fluke was when I was first sighting in my M1A NM. It was a 3 round group at 400 Yards. When I got to the target it was a 3 leaf clover all three rounds touching. An inch or so total size at 400. Best I've done. Ammo I used was Federal GMM 175g.

Ever since then I could only get about .75-1.0 at 100 yards with it. But now that it has been put in an EBR chassis I get a consistent .75 with it and sometimes better. All depending on how the stars are aligning, RNGesus, and all kinds of mythical mumbo jumbo.

My scout has been doing well with Tula lately which is weird.

 

[MemphisMachinists]

If this ever happens again, do not question anything. Simply put her back in the sack and go home.DI5

 

[nf1e]

Good going Tony.
The 10 dot is the real test of rifle ,optics, ammo and the shooter.
I did not have much luck with the trigger you are talking about.
Could never get it to reset properly. I ended up putting the old M1 parts back in the housing. Oh well.

 

[Harpoon1]

I realize your just having fun here, however, I thought when measuring group sizes you measure from the approximate center of the two furthest apart holes, and not the outer edges? Making your "group" technically smaller, and even more remarkable!

Or am I missing something?

BTW: Two thumbs up on your video series Tony, well done! They are a tremendous help in getting ahead of the M1A curve. Thank you!

 

[Capona]

He's already offset his calipers by .30, edge is easier to measure than finding center

I realize your just having fun here, however, I thought when measuring group sizes you measure from the approximate center of the two furthest apart holes, and not the outer edges? Making your "group" technically smaller, and even more remarkable!

Or am I missing something?

BTW: Two thumbs up on your video series Tony, well done! They are a tremendous help in getting ahead of the M1A curve. Thank you!

 

[PA Gun Nut]

or take Tony's measurement and subtract the bullet diameter (.308") for a more accurate Center-to-Center spread.

Great shooting Tony!!

 

[Capona]

My best was with 80 ball as well even though 168 shoot better

 

[tonyben]

I realize your just having fun here, however, I thought when measuring group sizes you measure from the approximate center of the two furthest apart holes, and not the outer edges? Making your "group" technically smaller, and even more remarkable!

Or am I missing something?

BTW: Two thumbs up on your video series Tony, well done! They are a tremendous help in getting ahead of the M1A curve. Thank you!

He's already offset his calipers by .30, edge is easier to measure than finding center

^^^That's exactly what I did. I opened the calipers to measure 0.308" and I hit the zero button. Look at the numerical scale on the main body. It should read 1.187 and that's about where it's at since the lines aren't fine enough to indicate that.

Tony.

 

[Etool]

Great shooting Tony!

 

[tflorman]

Where's your 10 dot hot shot entry Tony? Or your Iron Man... now that we know you've been to the range, you've got no excuse USNA.

 

[gettinolder]

probably a fluke, but i took someone out for their fist time shooting ever and i had 5 rounds of xm-80 ball left over. I hadn't tried my m25 out yet with the shooting sight trigger, so i decided to pull ol' excalibur from the sheath. She did not disappoint!

First 5 from a cold bore at 100 yards...


i was all out of xm-80 and switched to 175 fgmm to see what i could do. It was a no-go! Groups started wandering all over. The rifle simply hadn't settled in from removing and reinstalling the trigger group. Tried the 10-shot hot dot and failed at shot number 3. Sigh...

And that shooting sight trigger!!! Wo hoo! What a piece of work! I had to have had it dialed way down below 4.5lbs and it shot fantastic! I'm a believer! No doubling at all, even when i had my novice co-worker shooting!

It was a great shooting day!

Tony.

holy smokes!!!!

Nice!

 

[mic52]

Nice Tony, and had been looking for someone to write on that trigger too. Hope things are starting to settle down for your Family. Prayers still going up.

 

[tonyben]

Where's your 10 dot hot shot entry Tony? Or your Iron Man... now that we know you've been to the range, you've got no excuse USNA.

OUCH! I knew that was coming...ICONEEK

Sorry, I was focused on getting Shawn's rifle up and running. I was hoping to get the 10-shot done yesterday but I ran out of time so my rushed attempts yielded rushed results....

As usual, I'll submit my entries....(after the date has expired...).

Tony.

 

[nf1e]

Where's your 10 dot hot shot entry Tony? Or your Iron Man... now that we know you've been to the range, you've got no excuse USNA.

That sounds like something a real Marine can not avoid.
Show us your stuff Tony.

Semper Fi
Art

 

[shooter86314]

nf1e said:

nf1e said:

The 10 dot is the real test of rifle ,optics, ammo and the

shooter.

I concur. This challenge is making me evaluate all aspects listed above, while it kicks my butt on the firing line. Three weeks left!

 

[Lazerus2000]

IMPRESSIVE ...
but even MORE impressive from a COLD BORE!!

There is a BIG difference between any "BATTLE RIFLE" and a genuine "SNIPER RIFLE". The M14 rifles are BATTLE rifles, and are meant to run HOT, and may get more accurate once they warm up. With a sniper rifle, where the FIRST shot may be the only shot, it is critical that this first shot, [probably through a freshly cleaned and COLD bore ] be consistent for POI.

Tony's SUB-MOA group is good shooting for any M14 type rifle, but especially good when done fresh out of the case,
from a cold bore.

In my massive 1000 rd accuracy test of the BF stocked M14 rifles, I developed some pretty simple tricks to improve five shot groups. Most of these tricks revolved around the simple fact that an M14 style rifle is NOT designed to be absolutely consistent for POI with that first shot, and maybe even for a few more shots after.

1.] FIRST SHOT , hand fed out of the top of the magazine can often be a flier, so shoot that first shot into the butts, and count the next five for group. This is due to feeding the first round into the chamber by hand instead of with the gas action cycle.

2.] LAST round out of an empty magazine can also often be a flier, due to slightly different tension and feed path off of the follower rather than another round, so make sure the last round fired for group is not the last round in the mag.

3.] COLD BORE/CLEAN BORE SHOTS are often fliers .... the bore may still have some slippery stuff in there. A few fowling shots seems to tighten up the following shots.

4.] My best 5 RD 100 yd groups came from rifles that were warmed up with a few shots, and with the gas system a bit dirty.

5.] After re and re of the action from any stock, a few "SEATING" shots, to mate the ACTION and the STOCK together under RECOIL, are advisable.

6.] Different M14 magazines CAN have different POI.

So,
congratulations on an excellent M14 group,
done the hard way.

 

[tonyben]

nf1e said:

I concur. This challenge is making me evaluate all aspects listed above, while it kicks my butt on the firing line. Three weeks left!

Well if there's three weeks left, then I still have a chance! I thought it was ending this weekend.

Tony.

 

[JEFFJP_N_JJ]

Great info!

IMPRESSIVE ...
but even MORE impressive from a COLD BORE!!

There is a BIG difference between any "BATTLE RIFLE" and a genuine "SNIPER RIFLE". The M14 rifles are BATTLE rifles, and are meant to run HOT, and may get more accurate once they warm up. With a sniper rifle, where the FIRST shot may be the only shot, it is critical that this first shot, [probably through a freshly cleaned and COLD bore ] be consistent for POI.

Tony's SUB-MOA group is good shooting for any M14 type rifle, but especially good when done fresh out of the case,
from a cold bore.

In my massive 1000 rd accuracy test of the BF stocked M14 rifles, I developed some pretty simple tricks to improve five shot groups. Most of these tricks revolved around the simple fact that an M14 style rifle is NOT designed to be absolutely consistent for POI with that first shot, and maybe even for a few more shots after.

1.] FIRST SHOT , hand fed out of the top of the magazine can often be a flier, so shoot that first shot into the butts, and count the next five for group. This is due to feeding the first round into the chamber by hand instead of with the gas action cycle.

2.] LAST round out of an empty magazine can also often be a flier, due to slightly different tension and feed path off of the follower rather than another round, so make sure the last round fired for group is not the last round in the mag.

3.] COLD BORE/CLEAN BORE SHOTS are often fliers .... the bore may still have some slippery stuff in there. A few fowling shots seems to tighten up the following shots.

4.] My best 5 RD 100 yd groups came from rifles that were warmed up with a few shots, and with the gas system a bit dirty.

5.] After re and re of the action from any stock, a few "SEATING" shots, to mate the ACTION and the STOCK together under RECOIL, are advisable.

6.] Different M14 magazines CAN have different POI.

So,
congratulations on an excellent M14 group,
done the hard way.

Thanks for this as I have been trying the 'ten dot'... I have been loading 11 and shooting 10. will try 12 and wasting more ammo...
MY rifle does seem to shoot better hot too