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Range pics after barrel re-crown

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  HappyTrails 
#1 ·
As promised I went to the range today and tested the barrel re-crown on the M1A Loaded I bought this year. See earlier post for barrel crown pics.

I hope that some of the performance increase is due to my skill enhancement. The re-crown probably helped greatly when my skills were well executed. Overall I had a very good day! (and uninterrupted four hours of range time)

Here are the details:

Time of day: 8 AM to Noon
Weather: 75-85 F with light or no wind and sunny and very low humidity
Elevation: 3700'
Rifle: SAI M1A Loaded in factory synthetic stock. New 2016
National Match (Iron Sights-no optics)
Eyeballs and bones: New 1953. (63 years old).
Total rounds shot: 105
1 group of 5 at 50yd from bench
12 groups of 5 at 100 yd from bench
4 groups of 5 at 100 yd from standing-tripod supported
2 groups of 10 at 200 yd from standing-tripod supported


I invested $8 and made this tripod I leave at the forest shooting area:



Since I had the brake and front sight off, I did a barrel warm up at 50 yards to make sure I did not whack something way out doing the re-crown job:




Groups 2 and 7 are tighter then my previous range times:




Group 6 was good too, and group 4 was a 5 round mag of Fed XM80. Note the lower hits, but mostly tight. Dang that 5th one.

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Group 9 was a tight four of Hirtenberger with a six o'clock goof.



Went out to the sticks for group 13. Best of the four attempts at 100 yards. My goal is to ditch the bench and improve off the tripod and then go full off-hand with good performance.



I get a better natural point of aim standing. But right now full off-hand is kind of all over the place and a waste of ammo, so I am using the tripod.

Now here's the one I am most pleased with. I shot two groups of 10 from the tripod at 200 yards. This was onto official 200 yard SR-C targets with the 12 inch aiming black. So the scale is all different than the 100 yard pics on the official SR-1C targets with the 6 inch aiming black.



I got on paper 10 of 10 each target. But this one was 10 of 10 in the black. I have shot very little at 200 yards. So I am working my way out there a bit at a time. Here is a zoom of the same target:



Thanks for looking at these. I think the re-crown really helped. But even that can't overcome the limitations of the milsurp ammo I am using.

And as a side note, I am shooting in Stanislaus NF in the burn area of the 2013 Rim Fire that absolutely wrecked over 400 square miles of beautiful forest. Part of me gets very disgusted over the damage every time I see it. It will never see it recover in my lifetime. Started by an illegal campfire left by a bow hunter. I have to always bring a saw with me when I go in because so many burned snags are falling now that the forest road frequently gets blocked. I had to saw my way back out today even.
 
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#4 ·
When I got back home I compared targets to previous outings (I keep most of them to chart improvement). Best I figure that re-crown pulled the groups about 25% tighter, and my skill improvement pulled another 25% improvement on top of that.

Skill and ammo limitations are the cause of the fliers. Tight groupings are the rifle doing its job when properly handled. Seems for the most part.

To do it yourself get an 11 degree crown tool. Only about $80 delivered from Pacific Tool. Easy to use with a power drill. Just make sure you hold it straight and end up with an even face all around. And don't cut to the edge of the barrel or you might have trouble clocking up the castle nut to a notch for the set screw.
 
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