Update 3-20-2025
Did a range day with the 350L, new Nosler 180 grain whitetail country ammunition, and a number of handloads. The wind was downright atrocious, super gusty and variable between 0 and 30mph. It was so strong that two targets blew off the board and the rocking of the target board may have added as much as 5/8 inch in vertical movement. Still, it was one of the first sunny warm spring days and the first that I have had the day off on. So, I was going to enjoy it and I sure did. It felt great to be outside at the range.
Out shooting for the first time this year with the PurePrecision / Proof 350L rifle, Noslers new 180gr whitetail country ammunition, and some handloads.
To be frank, I thought it pretty likely that all my groups today would just suck and I might not learn anything because of the wind. If it hadn’t been my first nice warm chance to be out and I wasn’t so pumped I probably would have stayed home. My calculator said I could see as much as 4” of horizontal from the wind and I could see the 5/8” of vertical from the target flopping as well. I was not overwhelmed with confidence looking through the scope and watching the target flopping up and down more than half an inch. Big groups on a day like today just don’t tell you a whole lot about how your ammo is performing. Much to my surprise, the groups weren't uniformly bad though. I got some pretty decent performance with some Hornady 165gr FTX handloads. I seem to be in a range of seating depths that this bullet is OK with and I may be nearing an end point with what I think I can get with it. I expect I will be able to put together a set of groups that average better than 1” before too long.
Handload groups with the Hornady 165gr FTX bullet and VV N-110 powder (not a load recommendation)
I also shot a box of the new, hot off the presses, Nosler 180gr whitetail country ammo. This ammo got the worst of the wind conditions. Both of the targets that blew off the board did so while I was testing this ammo. Fortunately, this target wasn’t one of the liberated ones and a few of the groups came out pretty decent. I won’t be surprised if I can actually average better than 1” groups with this Nosler. It’s SD was also pretty reasonable at 12.9fps. As for the one giant group, I’m surprised more groups didn’t get blown open today.
The first groups shooting the new Nosler 180gr whitetail country ammo
Anyhow, I hope to have the video version of the Vectronix review up soon and perhaps do a company site visit in the next couple weeks.