DTA SRS ************ Conversions
I’ve appreciated a lot of the good info & tips from you guys, and although my post count is not nearing 432 billion, I try to post some worthwhile stuff to help reciprocate the favors. This is a brief update and observations for some of the caliber conversions from Bobby Keigans and the guys a Freedom Gunworks (http://www.freedomgunworks.com/desert-ta...ns/prod_39.html). I now have two conversions from them, one in 308 Winchester and one in 260 Remington. I’ve had the 308 for a couple of months and just got the 260.
I had made up my mind when I got the SRS that I was going to get a 308 conversion regardless, but a question for me was whether to get one direct from DTA or get one from Freedom Gunworks. I have had positive experiences with Broughton barrels so far, and after a few e-mails back and fourth with Bobby, I asked him to set me up with a 308 conversion that he had available. I had also decided that this would be kind of a good “test run” as to see whether or not I would order any other of their conversions, as I have a thing for 260 remington and 7mmWSM. As for overall results, I actually recently sent an e-mail to Bobby stating, “Keigans, you f&*ked me!” since in one fell swoop, the conversions have now made a couple very good (and not inexpensive) rifles in my collection somewhat obsolete. I’ll try to detail a few of the reasons below with some pics. Keep in mind that as I described in my previous report of the 338LM (http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...849#Post1377849), with my present time constraints and reduced practice time from days of old I’m really about a 0.75-1MOA shooter overall currently. But for whatever reason, the ergonomics of the SRS tend to help me be more consistent and I have performed better overall with the SRS. So any results in accuracy should be viewed in that light and with the knowledge that in the hands of a better shooter, the results would undoubtably be better (and more reflective of the potential of the both the rifle & the caliber conversions). My setup is the unchanged from prior: DTA SRS with a S&B PM2 5-25 with Gen2 mildot, 1/4MOA CW, in the DTA 40MOA mount with Bobro Bipod with a Triad rear bag shooting off a concrete platform with my Eberlestock mat.
308 Winchester Conversion
Stats on this conversion are 26” Broughton, 1-10” twist, Liberty Pandora brake, 95 Palma match chamber throated 0.50” long to allow better use of the SRS mag length. That twist and chamber was something that Bobby explained was part of their setup, not something that I had specified. I did not ask to have it fluted, in part just to get it in hand faster. But they can arrange to have a barrel spiral fluted. At the time, I needed to order the full conversion package with the bolt and magazine. Everything arrived packed pretty well and in good shape, including the bolt stop from DTA for short actions to shorten the bolt throw. The first thing to mention, even though it’s pretty much stating the obvious, is that the 26” length bbl in the SRS chassis is just plain sweet. All the benefits of the longer barrel with the same short profile. At 26” with this conversion, it makes the OAL of the SRS right about the same as the DTA 338LM barrel. There was no problem whatsoever performing the conversion, just like any of the standard videos of changing calibers on the SRS. Fit & finish of the barrel was solid, and the 308 conversion in the pic below is the one not in the SRS chassis. The 260 is the one installed. Bobby had given me a good reference starting point for load data in our e-mails with 175SMK & varget (with the obligatory caution about variance in powder lots so that I would hopefully not blow myself & the rifle up...always good tips). I promised to “start low, go slow” and didn’t have any Varget on hand anyway, so I was going to need to pretty much do load development with BL-C(2) or TAC from scratch with my preferred bullet, the 178gr A-max.
Being naturally impatient, I wanted to make sure to get her out to the range and since what I had available was FGMM 168g SMK and BH 168g match, that’s what I shot until I was able to do some load workup. The conversion bbl shot EASILY <1MOA, and like I had mentioned before, that’s in my hands. A majority of the 100yd five round groups I shot with it were 3 “ragged hole” touching shots with the others nearby (variable distance nearby depended on whether the yahoo behind the rifle was doing his job). Seemed to like FGMM a little better than the BH, but that is a complete subjective generalization and I did not measure all groups with a micrometer (or pocket change). I have zero doubt that it meets its 1/2MOA guarantee. But the really sweet result was the velocity boost in comparison with using a shorter barrel, which pushed the FGMM at just over 2800fps by my chrony (20 rounds, chrony 10 feet forward, averaged out to 2804fps +/- 8fps, 74 degree weather). So far, with the very limited load workup I’ve been able to do so far, this barrel is slinging 178g A-max’s at 2750fps with single digit variation on a relatively light load of 44.5gr of BL-C(2). The 26” barrel has allowed me to get great performance from loads that are nowhere near pushing limits. I was certainly pleased enough to become a repeat customer and very glad I spent the extra $ and got their conversion...and so I e-mailed Bobby and asked if he’d do a 260 Remington conversion for me.
260 Remington Conversion
Bobby informed me he had a 6.5mm blank on hand that he could spin up and set up in 260 Remington, and I asked for pretty much an identical setup with a pandora brake. Part of the wait for this conversion was waiting a week or two on the brake, which once it arrived, the conversion was done pretty quickly (total time was <4 weeks). Bobby sent me occasional updates without me asking for them, which was appreciated. He sent me information on the test firing with Corbon match ammo (covered below), which only served to have me pitching a tent in excitement and increasing my anticipation. The one trip up was when he let me know it had shipped and sent me the invoice...about 10 days later I asked for a tracking number since our particular UPS hub has a bit of a track record for “unexplained rescheduling” of deliveries. Bobby e-mailed me back stating that UPS was not to blame, that he was, and that it had not shipped. While disappointed, I appreciated the upfront answer. So it arrived earlier this week and is hella-f&*kin’ balls-to-the-wall impressive. Conversion with no problems, as expected. This conversion came with a 100yd test target showing exactly what this thing is capable of...well <1/2MOA! And it also gives me a laminated reminder of how much work I need to do as a shooter (thanks
).
As DTA has described, there is a different POI for each barrel/caliber, but it is repeatable. The POI for my SRS with the 260 bbl with Corbon Match 139g Scenars was a little lower in comparison with my 308win zero which corrected easily. I did switch the barrels out a couple times and test them just to see that they were repeatable, which they performed exactly as expected/designed. For my setup, if I change from the 308 to the 260, I am able to just dial up 2MOA on my elevation, and be at my 260 zero. I was a dipstick and had forgotten to replace the battery in my chrony, and so as I opened it to put it on the tripod I discovered my lack of battery replacement, called myself a douchebag, and figured to just shoot and come back another day to check velocities.
To say that this 260 conversion is great is an understatement! A couple of 4-shot groups (For the 5 shot group militants, I only had two boxes/40 rounds on hand and wanted to drag out the fun) at our 200yd line once I got POI dialed in are in the pic above next to the Corbon box...obviously not to the full capabilities of the rifle/barrel and was lucky to have pretty much perfect conditions that day, but hey, I’m working on it. One of the guys I knew who had a target/slot on the range at 300yds with some shoot n’ sees (or equivalent) let me take some shots at his target and she put a few extra holes in a group that (based off an estimate from the 6” circle target and viewed at 25x through the PM2 and assuming I didn’t mistake his 30 cal holes with my group) were clustered in less than 1/2 the diameter of the target a little high & right. All my adjustments that brought shots on target were more consistent with an approximate velocity between 2800-2825 using some (very) rough numbers, but I’ll plan to chrono them and post them if anyone is interested. I’d like to work up a good load with a 140g A-max, which will be on the project list.
Overall, the conversion from Freedom Gunworks was definitely worth the wait...and not that just a little over a month is much of a wait to piss and moan about, anyway. The problem it’s left me with is whether to sell my other 260 to use the money to have them do a 7mmWSM conversion. If you are looking at an SRS caliber that DTA doesn’t offer, or just want more horsepower out of a 308 conversion for your SRS, I would strongly recommend checking out the Freedom Gunworks’ setups. For me, the SRS balance and ergonomics have been perfect, and so I would pick to have it over other designs even if I could only have a single caliber...but the ability to switch calibers and have all the advantages of a longer barrel in the same compact, balanced package has iced the cake for me.
So it’s said, I don’t work for or get anything from either DTA or Freedom Gunworks for this post, and don’t know Nick Young, Bobby Keigans, or any of the employees for either company. Feel free to PM or e-mail me if there's questions I can answer or be of help. Thanks,
-Aaron
I’ve appreciated a lot of the good info & tips from you guys, and although my post count is not nearing 432 billion, I try to post some worthwhile stuff to help reciprocate the favors. This is a brief update and observations for some of the caliber conversions from Bobby Keigans and the guys a Freedom Gunworks (http://www.freedomgunworks.com/desert-ta...ns/prod_39.html). I now have two conversions from them, one in 308 Winchester and one in 260 Remington. I’ve had the 308 for a couple of months and just got the 260.
I had made up my mind when I got the SRS that I was going to get a 308 conversion regardless, but a question for me was whether to get one direct from DTA or get one from Freedom Gunworks. I have had positive experiences with Broughton barrels so far, and after a few e-mails back and fourth with Bobby, I asked him to set me up with a 308 conversion that he had available. I had also decided that this would be kind of a good “test run” as to see whether or not I would order any other of their conversions, as I have a thing for 260 remington and 7mmWSM. As for overall results, I actually recently sent an e-mail to Bobby stating, “Keigans, you f&*ked me!” since in one fell swoop, the conversions have now made a couple very good (and not inexpensive) rifles in my collection somewhat obsolete. I’ll try to detail a few of the reasons below with some pics. Keep in mind that as I described in my previous report of the 338LM (http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...849#Post1377849), with my present time constraints and reduced practice time from days of old I’m really about a 0.75-1MOA shooter overall currently. But for whatever reason, the ergonomics of the SRS tend to help me be more consistent and I have performed better overall with the SRS. So any results in accuracy should be viewed in that light and with the knowledge that in the hands of a better shooter, the results would undoubtably be better (and more reflective of the potential of the both the rifle & the caliber conversions). My setup is the unchanged from prior: DTA SRS with a S&B PM2 5-25 with Gen2 mildot, 1/4MOA CW, in the DTA 40MOA mount with Bobro Bipod with a Triad rear bag shooting off a concrete platform with my Eberlestock mat.
308 Winchester Conversion
Stats on this conversion are 26” Broughton, 1-10” twist, Liberty Pandora brake, 95 Palma match chamber throated 0.50” long to allow better use of the SRS mag length. That twist and chamber was something that Bobby explained was part of their setup, not something that I had specified. I did not ask to have it fluted, in part just to get it in hand faster. But they can arrange to have a barrel spiral fluted. At the time, I needed to order the full conversion package with the bolt and magazine. Everything arrived packed pretty well and in good shape, including the bolt stop from DTA for short actions to shorten the bolt throw. The first thing to mention, even though it’s pretty much stating the obvious, is that the 26” length bbl in the SRS chassis is just plain sweet. All the benefits of the longer barrel with the same short profile. At 26” with this conversion, it makes the OAL of the SRS right about the same as the DTA 338LM barrel. There was no problem whatsoever performing the conversion, just like any of the standard videos of changing calibers on the SRS. Fit & finish of the barrel was solid, and the 308 conversion in the pic below is the one not in the SRS chassis. The 260 is the one installed. Bobby had given me a good reference starting point for load data in our e-mails with 175SMK & varget (with the obligatory caution about variance in powder lots so that I would hopefully not blow myself & the rifle up...always good tips). I promised to “start low, go slow” and didn’t have any Varget on hand anyway, so I was going to need to pretty much do load development with BL-C(2) or TAC from scratch with my preferred bullet, the 178gr A-max.
Being naturally impatient, I wanted to make sure to get her out to the range and since what I had available was FGMM 168g SMK and BH 168g match, that’s what I shot until I was able to do some load workup. The conversion bbl shot EASILY <1MOA, and like I had mentioned before, that’s in my hands. A majority of the 100yd five round groups I shot with it were 3 “ragged hole” touching shots with the others nearby (variable distance nearby depended on whether the yahoo behind the rifle was doing his job). Seemed to like FGMM a little better than the BH, but that is a complete subjective generalization and I did not measure all groups with a micrometer (or pocket change). I have zero doubt that it meets its 1/2MOA guarantee. But the really sweet result was the velocity boost in comparison with using a shorter barrel, which pushed the FGMM at just over 2800fps by my chrony (20 rounds, chrony 10 feet forward, averaged out to 2804fps +/- 8fps, 74 degree weather). So far, with the very limited load workup I’ve been able to do so far, this barrel is slinging 178g A-max’s at 2750fps with single digit variation on a relatively light load of 44.5gr of BL-C(2). The 26” barrel has allowed me to get great performance from loads that are nowhere near pushing limits. I was certainly pleased enough to become a repeat customer and very glad I spent the extra $ and got their conversion...and so I e-mailed Bobby and asked if he’d do a 260 Remington conversion for me.
260 Remington Conversion
Bobby informed me he had a 6.5mm blank on hand that he could spin up and set up in 260 Remington, and I asked for pretty much an identical setup with a pandora brake. Part of the wait for this conversion was waiting a week or two on the brake, which once it arrived, the conversion was done pretty quickly (total time was <4 weeks). Bobby sent me occasional updates without me asking for them, which was appreciated. He sent me information on the test firing with Corbon match ammo (covered below), which only served to have me pitching a tent in excitement and increasing my anticipation. The one trip up was when he let me know it had shipped and sent me the invoice...about 10 days later I asked for a tracking number since our particular UPS hub has a bit of a track record for “unexplained rescheduling” of deliveries. Bobby e-mailed me back stating that UPS was not to blame, that he was, and that it had not shipped. While disappointed, I appreciated the upfront answer. So it arrived earlier this week and is hella-f&*kin’ balls-to-the-wall impressive. Conversion with no problems, as expected. This conversion came with a 100yd test target showing exactly what this thing is capable of...well <1/2MOA! And it also gives me a laminated reminder of how much work I need to do as a shooter (thanks
As DTA has described, there is a different POI for each barrel/caliber, but it is repeatable. The POI for my SRS with the 260 bbl with Corbon Match 139g Scenars was a little lower in comparison with my 308win zero which corrected easily. I did switch the barrels out a couple times and test them just to see that they were repeatable, which they performed exactly as expected/designed. For my setup, if I change from the 308 to the 260, I am able to just dial up 2MOA on my elevation, and be at my 260 zero. I was a dipstick and had forgotten to replace the battery in my chrony, and so as I opened it to put it on the tripod I discovered my lack of battery replacement, called myself a douchebag, and figured to just shoot and come back another day to check velocities.
To say that this 260 conversion is great is an understatement! A couple of 4-shot groups (For the 5 shot group militants, I only had two boxes/40 rounds on hand and wanted to drag out the fun) at our 200yd line once I got POI dialed in are in the pic above next to the Corbon box...obviously not to the full capabilities of the rifle/barrel and was lucky to have pretty much perfect conditions that day, but hey, I’m working on it. One of the guys I knew who had a target/slot on the range at 300yds with some shoot n’ sees (or equivalent) let me take some shots at his target and she put a few extra holes in a group that (based off an estimate from the 6” circle target and viewed at 25x through the PM2 and assuming I didn’t mistake his 30 cal holes with my group) were clustered in less than 1/2 the diameter of the target a little high & right. All my adjustments that brought shots on target were more consistent with an approximate velocity between 2800-2825 using some (very) rough numbers, but I’ll plan to chrono them and post them if anyone is interested. I’d like to work up a good load with a 140g A-max, which will be on the project list.
Overall, the conversion from Freedom Gunworks was definitely worth the wait...and not that just a little over a month is much of a wait to piss and moan about, anyway. The problem it’s left me with is whether to sell my other 260 to use the money to have them do a 7mmWSM conversion. If you are looking at an SRS caliber that DTA doesn’t offer, or just want more horsepower out of a 308 conversion for your SRS, I would strongly recommend checking out the Freedom Gunworks’ setups. For me, the SRS balance and ergonomics have been perfect, and so I would pick to have it over other designs even if I could only have a single caliber...but the ability to switch calibers and have all the advantages of a longer barrel in the same compact, balanced package has iced the cake for me.
So it’s said, I don’t work for or get anything from either DTA or Freedom Gunworks for this post, and don’t know Nick Young, Bobby Keigans, or any of the employees for either company. Feel free to PM or e-mail me if there's questions I can answer or be of help. Thanks,
-Aaron
