So I just picked up a Howa HCR chambered in 6.5 creedmoor from Buds Guns. On sale for $850 shipped, with an additional ffl cost of $25 at Cal Ranch. I bought this to use in the PRS production class. I topped it with a steel 20 moa picatinny rail made made by Warren. Then I put an older Nightforce NXS 5.5-22×50 C202 on it, with NF UL low rings. To tame the recoil, for spotting shots, I put a Jetblast 6.5 muzzle brake on it. I put an Atlas v8 bipod on it, but didn't like the feel of it, so I replaced it with a Harris 6-9 swivel bipod on it. I like the feel of it much better for some reason. I got the stock adjusted to me perfectly, and bore sighted it as best that I possibly could. I am really pleased with the action. The bolt cycles great. The two stage trigger I really like too. Out of the box it breaks at 3.5 lbs, but it doesn't feel like it. If feels more like 2 lbs. I then picked up 1000 rounds of Hornady 147 eldm bullets, 1000 Cci Br-4 primers, 200 Lapua cases, and 6 pounds of Rl16 (no h4350 to be found). I did a lot of load research, and found 42 grains of rl16 seemed to be a mild, but accurate load. So I loaded up one case at 39.5 gr, one case at 40 gr, one case at 40.5 gr, one case at 41 gr, one case at 41.5 gr, and 5 at 42 gr. These were just for barrel break in purposes. I used 3 rounds to get on at 50 yards, cleaning between shots. I then shot one at 100, which was high, and cleaned again. I put a couple clicks down, and shot too low. I figured it was likely due to me pulling the shot, so I didn't make any adjustments. I then proceeded to shoot the last five shots without any cleaning between shots. They all stacked in beautifully. I didn't get any of these over a chronograph, so I don't have any speeds or es or sd numbers, but they are coming. So far it looks promising. I'm going to do some more load testing obviously, and I'll keep this thread updated. It's raining today, but hopefully I can get loads made today, and get back out there tomorrow.
