After messing around for years with .308, I went to 6.5 Creedmoor in a couple of Remington actions with Bartlein barrels. I put these in Manners stocks and shot ok with them but it was nothing that I considered outstanding. Between me and the rifle and the factory ammo, I figured there was enough error that I'd never get the groups that I see some people post. I ended up reloading for rifle cartridges and played around a little and groups shrank but I still figured that I should probably bed the things even though they were in mini-chassis but, never having bedded a rifle, I never got around to it. Ended up getting rid of the Remington barreled actions and was going to have someone build something for me on a custom action and send them one of my stocks and have it bedded to see what would happen. A wild hair took over and I said, "Screw it, I've always wanted an AI so I'll go ahead and fork out the money for one". Got it in, not without a bit of buyer's remorse, I don't mind saying, and mounted a S&B in a Spuhr mount on it (LOVE the Spuhr mount, by the way). Finally took it to the range today...
At 100 yards (100 meters, where applicable for the scope) I sighted in a few hunting rifles that had new scopes or had scopes changed around or that had never yet been sighted in before wheeling in the case containing the AI. I could feel the stares as I took it out, put the bolt in, folded out the stock and the Atlas bipod legs and placed it on the bench. I was worried that it wouldn't be very accurate (not just as a general fear but because some ass on the Hide had said in a thread that he'd heard that AIs were durable but not particularly accurate) and that I would have a HUGE attack of buyer's remorse. Anyway, I began shooting for a group to dial things in. Turns out that boresighting had done a great job of getting it on-target and I punched a hole perfectly on the intersection of the two lines that I was aiming at with my fifth shot. The weight of the rifle and the excellent trigger made the shooting a breeze and quite pleasurable. I had only a single sight-in target that I was working off of for this, which was the fourth rifle that I had sighted in with said target, and I shifted aim to a hole made by a .300 Win Mag high on the target where I'd mistakenly cranked the elevation dial in the wrong direction while zeroing that rifle. I shot and couldn't believe that I saw no hole appear! No way could I have missed so far that I couldn't see where I shot! I checked to make sure that the scope or mount hadn't somehow come loose and then fired another shot. Another miss?!?! The idea that I was shooting THROUGH the hole came into my head and I said, "Not a chance this thing groups THAT well, especially not with me shooting it and with no time behind a rifle for more than a year". I shifted my aim slightly to the outside edge of the hole and fired again and saw the hole enlarge! Amazing! I fired another round AT the hole and again saw no evidence of a bullet hole appearing OR the hole enlarging. Sure enough, this rifle was putting factory 140gr 6.5 Creedmoor through a .30 caliber bullet hole at 100 meters! NO buyer's remorse at this point. This thing is amazing. I guess it should be at the price point of it and the scope but I never thought that it would be THAT good. I'd had a little remorse at the news of the AIAT and it's price point but not a lot. NOW, with seeing how this thing shoots, I have no remorse at all. Now I just have to get to a range that lets me stretch it out.
Absolutely in love with this rifle!
At 100 yards (100 meters, where applicable for the scope) I sighted in a few hunting rifles that had new scopes or had scopes changed around or that had never yet been sighted in before wheeling in the case containing the AI. I could feel the stares as I took it out, put the bolt in, folded out the stock and the Atlas bipod legs and placed it on the bench. I was worried that it wouldn't be very accurate (not just as a general fear but because some ass on the Hide had said in a thread that he'd heard that AIs were durable but not particularly accurate) and that I would have a HUGE attack of buyer's remorse. Anyway, I began shooting for a group to dial things in. Turns out that boresighting had done a great job of getting it on-target and I punched a hole perfectly on the intersection of the two lines that I was aiming at with my fifth shot. The weight of the rifle and the excellent trigger made the shooting a breeze and quite pleasurable. I had only a single sight-in target that I was working off of for this, which was the fourth rifle that I had sighted in with said target, and I shifted aim to a hole made by a .300 Win Mag high on the target where I'd mistakenly cranked the elevation dial in the wrong direction while zeroing that rifle. I shot and couldn't believe that I saw no hole appear! No way could I have missed so far that I couldn't see where I shot! I checked to make sure that the scope or mount hadn't somehow come loose and then fired another shot. Another miss?!?! The idea that I was shooting THROUGH the hole came into my head and I said, "Not a chance this thing groups THAT well, especially not with me shooting it and with no time behind a rifle for more than a year". I shifted my aim slightly to the outside edge of the hole and fired again and saw the hole enlarge! Amazing! I fired another round AT the hole and again saw no evidence of a bullet hole appearing OR the hole enlarging. Sure enough, this rifle was putting factory 140gr 6.5 Creedmoor through a .30 caliber bullet hole at 100 meters! NO buyer's remorse at this point. This thing is amazing. I guess it should be at the price point of it and the scope but I never thought that it would be THAT good. I'd had a little remorse at the news of the AIAT and it's price point but not a lot. NOW, with seeing how this thing shoots, I have no remorse at all. Now I just have to get to a range that lets me stretch it out.
Absolutely in love with this rifle!
