First post. By way of introduction, my name is Sean. I live in central Texas and am a former active duty Naval Officer that spent most of my time deployed between 1990 and 1994. I have learned much from this board over the years while lurking anonymously. You have my gratitude. Given how difficult it was to find actual user data on the Noreen 338 Bad News prior to my own recent purchase, I thought I'd post some personal observations in hopes members here might find them useful. FWIW, I've got no past/current or expected future economic interest/relationship with any of the companies/component manufacturers mentioned below. Onto the range report.
I purchased the Noreen Bad News 338 Lapua from US Autoweapons in Scottsdale AZ in late June 2012. Factory new.
For physical comparison's sake here's a picture of the Noreen Bad News 338 between one of my M82A1s and M110s (apologies for picture quality, I studied Engineering, not photography):
Here's the view from the rear:
I fired a total of nine three shot groups for record with the Bad News at a local 100 yd Indoor Range. All shot using a RW Hart Varmint Pedestal Front Rest, a Caldwell front bag, and a Protektor Rabbit Ear rear bag. The bench set up was solid and did much to eliminate any user error from me. The first three groups I shot were with Tactical Ammunition's 300g Scenar loads on fresh PCU brass. Those grouped 1.81 inches, 2.27 inches, and 2.41 inches at 100 yards. Across 12 shots fired (the other 3 were to sight in the scope), there were two failures to eject. Thinking something might be wrong with my scope or ammo, I returned home and changed from a Nightforce NXS 12-42x56 to a Swarovski 6-24x56. I also switched to Lapua factory ammo in 300 Scenar. Returned to the indoor range and the next 12 rounds using the same set-up and only had one FTE. The three shot groups were 1.51 inches, 0.90 inches, and 1.80 inches. Just to be sure, I returned home and made a final scope change to a Leupold MK4 4.5-14x50 M1 TMR (pictured). All three times, the scopes were mounted on Leupold MK4 30mm steel rings verified tightened down. The final trip to the indoor range using the same Lapua factory ammunition produced groups of 1.62, 1.89 and a final two shot group of 1.44 inches. It was a two shot group because the intended third shot came early as the result of a slam fire and went off paper a few inches above the target. It also failed to eject. Upon collecting the brass and examining the area around the head stamps, I find myself worried that I may have narrowly avoided an out of battery discharge on the last shot. Factory fresh 338 Lapua brass tends to run ~0.582 inches at the head. After firing, most of the brass coming out of the Noreen Bad News was ~0.585 inches above the headstamp. Here's a picture of that final brass casing measured at the same place post slam fire:
Here is a picture of some brass from the last two firings. All of it's only been fired once, but there are two deep ejector marks on each. I'm left wondering if it's picking up the first ejector mark when the bolt/carrier strips it off the magazine (hopefully this comes through in the pictures):
Here's an attempt at a close up of the PCU brass from the first firings. It has the same deep circular double markings. I tumbled this brass in hopes it would show up better (these also show a deep extractor mark):
As a side note, all of this brass ejected into my Dillon range bag, before settling on the wooden bench in front of my right elbow. Brass ejection from a Noreen Bad News 338 is slightly forward (as opposed to the rear in the M110 or M82A1). It would be interesting to take a high speed video of the ejection to see where the neck deformations are happening:
Some other observations: The trigger on the Bad News breaks much like a Barrett M82's. It's a contrast to the M110's factory trigger that breaks very cleanly at 4-5 lbs. My trigger pull gauge is on loan, but I'd guess my Noreen is closer to twice that much. Recoil on the Noreen is surprisingly light. On par with an un-suppressed M-110's. The rifle is also lighter than you might expect when first picking it up. The 10 round magazine is a single stack which makes it pretty tall. I typically have my left hand curled around and gripping the buttstock or rear bag when I'm shooting prone or from the bench. Keeping the rifle level to the ground, resting on the magazine leaves the bottom of the buttstock 3.4 inches off the ground (see below):
Perhaps a monopod right about here in the rear like DTA introduced would be useful?
That's all for now. Thanks gents.
I purchased the Noreen Bad News 338 Lapua from US Autoweapons in Scottsdale AZ in late June 2012. Factory new.
For physical comparison's sake here's a picture of the Noreen Bad News 338 between one of my M82A1s and M110s (apologies for picture quality, I studied Engineering, not photography):
Here's the view from the rear:
I fired a total of nine three shot groups for record with the Bad News at a local 100 yd Indoor Range. All shot using a RW Hart Varmint Pedestal Front Rest, a Caldwell front bag, and a Protektor Rabbit Ear rear bag. The bench set up was solid and did much to eliminate any user error from me. The first three groups I shot were with Tactical Ammunition's 300g Scenar loads on fresh PCU brass. Those grouped 1.81 inches, 2.27 inches, and 2.41 inches at 100 yards. Across 12 shots fired (the other 3 were to sight in the scope), there were two failures to eject. Thinking something might be wrong with my scope or ammo, I returned home and changed from a Nightforce NXS 12-42x56 to a Swarovski 6-24x56. I also switched to Lapua factory ammo in 300 Scenar. Returned to the indoor range and the next 12 rounds using the same set-up and only had one FTE. The three shot groups were 1.51 inches, 0.90 inches, and 1.80 inches. Just to be sure, I returned home and made a final scope change to a Leupold MK4 4.5-14x50 M1 TMR (pictured). All three times, the scopes were mounted on Leupold MK4 30mm steel rings verified tightened down. The final trip to the indoor range using the same Lapua factory ammunition produced groups of 1.62, 1.89 and a final two shot group of 1.44 inches. It was a two shot group because the intended third shot came early as the result of a slam fire and went off paper a few inches above the target. It also failed to eject. Upon collecting the brass and examining the area around the head stamps, I find myself worried that I may have narrowly avoided an out of battery discharge on the last shot. Factory fresh 338 Lapua brass tends to run ~0.582 inches at the head. After firing, most of the brass coming out of the Noreen Bad News was ~0.585 inches above the headstamp. Here's a picture of that final brass casing measured at the same place post slam fire:
Here is a picture of some brass from the last two firings. All of it's only been fired once, but there are two deep ejector marks on each. I'm left wondering if it's picking up the first ejector mark when the bolt/carrier strips it off the magazine (hopefully this comes through in the pictures):
Here's an attempt at a close up of the PCU brass from the first firings. It has the same deep circular double markings. I tumbled this brass in hopes it would show up better (these also show a deep extractor mark):
As a side note, all of this brass ejected into my Dillon range bag, before settling on the wooden bench in front of my right elbow. Brass ejection from a Noreen Bad News 338 is slightly forward (as opposed to the rear in the M110 or M82A1). It would be interesting to take a high speed video of the ejection to see where the neck deformations are happening:
Some other observations: The trigger on the Bad News breaks much like a Barrett M82's. It's a contrast to the M110's factory trigger that breaks very cleanly at 4-5 lbs. My trigger pull gauge is on loan, but I'd guess my Noreen is closer to twice that much. Recoil on the Noreen is surprisingly light. On par with an un-suppressed M-110's. The rifle is also lighter than you might expect when first picking it up. The 10 round magazine is a single stack which makes it pretty tall. I typically have my left hand curled around and gripping the buttstock or rear bag when I'm shooting prone or from the bench. Keeping the rifle level to the ground, resting on the magazine leaves the bottom of the buttstock 3.4 inches off the ground (see below):
Perhaps a monopod right about here in the rear like DTA introduced would be useful?
That's all for now. Thanks gents.
