After the frustration with the last AAC barrel, I broke down and ordered me a blank from ThirdGen and started hunting a local 'smith that I could trust to not fuck it up. I have to say, David Sink is outstanding to deal with and had my barreled action back to me in 3 weeks and was on vacation for the first week it was there. He answered his phone when I called, was in no hurry to hang up, and called to make sure of every detail before final assembly. There's zero doubt in my mind who my next project will go to when the time comes.
Ended up with a Benchmark 1/8.5 twist AMU contour, finished at 26". I'm not a long barrel type, but the blank came in at 29" and I figure I can always whack some off if I decide I liked the rifle better at 20". So far I'm not planning on chopping it since I won't be hunting with it any longer, we'll see if that changes after a couple of matches. I'm hoping to get it out to the next individual match at Woodys in September and see how it handles with 6" more barrel than it had last time I was up there.
I ran a few rounds yesterday off the rickety benches at the range just to get some chrono readings and do some initial testing. They suck for shooting groups as they move if you do, but my chrono setup isn't able to be used from prone. I need a Magnetospeed
I fired 3 rounds to get a rough zero then had a dud primer on one round of the first test group, which is why it's missing a hole. Yes I'm aware that 5 rounds are minimum for groups, just trying to get something in the ballpark without blowing through a bunch of components that aren't real easy to come by.
130 VLD's jumping .030", pushed by R17, lit off by CCI200's
42.4 and 42.8 hit a flat spot in velocity, both loads averaged 2945fps. 44gr had an average of 3009fps, but the groups were growing the higher I went and one round at 44gr produced a slightly sticky bolt. I think on the next trip I'll work around between 42.4 and 42.8 and see what happens. Both of those came in under .6",so it's already out shooting the old barrel with loads that were just thrown together right quick to get it to the range.
Ended up with a Benchmark 1/8.5 twist AMU contour, finished at 26". I'm not a long barrel type, but the blank came in at 29" and I figure I can always whack some off if I decide I liked the rifle better at 20". So far I'm not planning on chopping it since I won't be hunting with it any longer, we'll see if that changes after a couple of matches. I'm hoping to get it out to the next individual match at Woodys in September and see how it handles with 6" more barrel than it had last time I was up there.
I ran a few rounds yesterday off the rickety benches at the range just to get some chrono readings and do some initial testing. They suck for shooting groups as they move if you do, but my chrono setup isn't able to be used from prone. I need a Magnetospeed
I fired 3 rounds to get a rough zero then had a dud primer on one round of the first test group, which is why it's missing a hole. Yes I'm aware that 5 rounds are minimum for groups, just trying to get something in the ballpark without blowing through a bunch of components that aren't real easy to come by.
130 VLD's jumping .030", pushed by R17, lit off by CCI200's
42.4 and 42.8 hit a flat spot in velocity, both loads averaged 2945fps. 44gr had an average of 3009fps, but the groups were growing the higher I went and one round at 44gr produced a slightly sticky bolt. I think on the next trip I'll work around between 42.4 and 42.8 and see what happens. Both of those came in under .6",so it's already out shooting the old barrel with loads that were just thrown together right quick to get it to the range.
