Re: Desert Tactical SRS Range Report
My first impressions with 338 Lapua DTA were: "wow- now this is small and well balanced little b*****d!"
First accuracy tests werent too fair, only available ammo was loaded to short COL and topped with Lapua 250gr LockBase. Bullet is tad light for 10" twist, and usually shoots best with light groove touch. Now COL wasnt even close for contact.
Still, about 15 shots break-in and then 7x5shots at 100meters gave promising results.
Funny thing was that it shooted 2 separated "groups" = 2 shots to 2 o´clock and 3 to 7 o´clock- or vice versa. Both me and rifle owner shooted same-looking paranormal patterns.
Those "mini-groups" were about 1.5" separated each time. Go figure.
Checked scope and barrel locking with torq wrench but everything seemed to be ok.
Only available scope was Leupy 3.5-10x -recently fixed and checked. Might have been that too.
Anyways ,during shooting, strange phenomenon seemed to fade away. Dont know for sure, we kida ran out of ammo- it was thet fun... Best group during trip was my last, nice 0.66MOA.
For comparsion, my TRG42 with new Sako barrel wasnt any better- but after load tweaking went sub-MOA easily. I cant see why DTA wouldnt be able to do same.
Dont know if are barrels hand-lapped or not, but in any case it doesent seem to foul easily. No visible signs of copper afterwards- 35shots.
Trigger is good for a bullpup, but not so good compared to f.e. TRG.
Still, I´d say its well good enough for practical long range usage - high-end BR rifle shooters might disagree tho. After some 30shots I got perfectly used to it- but, honestly, first shots after years of using 2-stage TRG trigger didnt feel too promising. Partly because of missing stage, no doubt.
Another thing was recoil. With no break or can, recoil doesent feel bad at all. Softer, longer push than TRG42 without break or similar smoke restrainer. Might be weight difference- hard to say since I dont know which one is actually lighter.
I´d imagine it has something to do with crutch -like essence, recoil comes directly backwards in middle of shoulder. Kinda same feeling when comparing M4 and Steyr AUG "recoils" -just in way bigger scale.
Buttplate material seem to be well-thought as well.
Recoil and follow-ups were substantially better to handle when shooting prone on ground with bipods, BR table w/ same harris pods caused rifle to jump up and right quite a bit.
Way more than TRG with longer "lever arm" acting as resisting mass.
But who wants to use sissy tables anyway? Not me!
Works well in purpose it was build- and brake/can would surely tame it a lot.
Altoghether, I liked rifle a lot. Thumbs up!
EDIT
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Fredo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Federal 215M primer, New Lapua Brass, VV N560, 16.2 g /250 gr Secnar, 3.75 OAL
88 grains = 2,927 FPS Average. 34 FPS Deviation
90 grains = 3,026 FPS " 16 FPS Deviation
92 grains = 3,088 FPS " 12 FPS Deviation
93 grains = 3,140 FPS " 14 FPS Deviation
94 grains = 3,178 FPS " *** 3 FPS Deviation ***
95 grains = 3,216 FPS " 40 FPS Deviation
</div></div>
Like N560 too, have been using only it for years. 88grs about same MV, tad faster.
BTW, Fed 215 primers are only way to go, IMHO. Works in arctic enviroment too.
