6 new lots of R50 just showed up. The other 4 bricks/lots of RWS Special Match will be here by end of the week. All set for the Shilen 12 twist testing that's up next.
Just upfated my Rimx with a new Foundation stock. It feels awesome.
Tried testing 10 or so new lots of R50 today in my Bartlein/RimX @ 200yd. I shot the first groups with RWS Special Match and it hadnt started raining yet. I was hoping I could beat the rain since it was so calm.. 3-5mph wind....
Well, only that first zeroing and 10shot group of Special Match it was dry. It then started to downpour. I shot every single target below in a complete downpour. I was blown away I was able to hold these tight 10 shot groups @ 200yds in a complete freaking downpour. hahahah. Ill have to continue my testing another day with the rest of the lots... It was coming down so hard I had to call it quits...
But damn, that 1 lot of R50 in complete downpour held 10 shots 200yd sub 1.5"!
Well, only that first zeroing and 10shot group of Special Match it was dry. It then started to downpour. I shot every single target below in a complete downpour. I was blown away I was able to hold these tight 10 shot groups @ 200yds in a complete freaking downpour. hahahah. Ill have to continue my testing another day with the rest of the lots... It was coming down so hard I had to call it quits...
But damn, that 1 lot of R50 in complete downpour held 10 shots 200yd sub 1.5"!
Had an issue with my rimx barreled with a proof research prefit. Mounted in an elite MDT chassis. Mags have JKL 5+ extension. Have about 900 rounds through it. It seems that the round is being stripped off of the mag and loading into the barrel, but it's not being control round feed. More like a push round feed. Had issue last match with every 10-15 rounds it would push feed which won't allow me to close the bolt. Today, I had that same issue with every 3-4 rounds.
A shooter recommended it could be the mag spring. He asked if I stretched it out, but didn't. Prior to the next stage, disassembled it and stretched spring and it still had issues. Another shooter recommended that I push the bolt forward from the shroud so that I was closing the bolt in a more linear manner vs inducing side to side play when using the handle to ride it forward. That did help lessen the frequency of the problem. I did check mag height by running the bolt slowly and it picked up the round each time.
Any other things I should be looking at?
A shooter recommended it could be the mag spring. He asked if I stretched it out, but didn't. Prior to the next stage, disassembled it and stretched spring and it still had issues. Another shooter recommended that I push the bolt forward from the shroud so that I was closing the bolt in a more linear manner vs inducing side to side play when using the handle to ride it forward. That did help lessen the frequency of the problem. I did check mag height by running the bolt slowly and it picked up the round each time.
Any other things I should be looking at?
…. and not damaged from trying to close the bolt with a case in front of it. Check your tensioner as well.
My first thought is your magazine is sitting a little too low, like just on the verge of ok. Check your magazines and chassis for wear on the catch and then confirm they are adjusted correctly. After that check to see if they are rocking any in the chassis causing an alignment issue.
Been in talks with Manzella after getting back into this post. He’s going to spin me up a 22” barrel with the GM blank. I have a 20” GM from Keystone that shoots really well but I want to go just a smidge longer. He’s running a deal right now on them. Other than the extra 2” in length, the two barrels should be identical. Went with the Eachus chamber again. Interested in how they’ll compare.
He was just doing my Shilen and GM 1.2" Straights I talked to him today. Should have them back real soon to test.
Did you go 1.2" straight?
Yeah 1.2” straight no threads. Identical to what I’m currently running but just 2” longer.
Edited to add: his current turnaround time right now is pretty stupid fast.
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I just spoke to Mike @ Manzella Precision and here is the current RimX pricing
$485 for GM 1.2" Straight with or without muzzle threads up to 26"
+$50 if you want it cerakoted
This is essentially $100 off his normal pricing
$485 for GM 1.2" Straight with or without muzzle threads up to 26"
+$50 if you want it cerakoted
This is essentially $100 off his normal pricing
He also has 2 Kriegers left in stock at the moment but they don't usually last long
Price of blank ($420) + $300 for completed barrel with or without muzzle threads + shipping/insurance
My Krieger is on its way home to me from Mike Manzella. I am so pumped to get it installed and shooting next week 
I hadn’t shot my 20” Keystone GM barrel (Eachus Match chamber) in a year. Screwed it on and scrubbed it clean. After 25 rounds to foul and about a few more to zero, she was hammering just like in the past this morning. I did a quick 5x5 at 50y and two groups at 100y. When I say quick I mean it. Went shot to shot while paying attention to the MV at the same time. Didn’t take smoke breaks in between each individual shot. MV was 1108 with SD of 8 and ES of 33 (35 rounds).
As far as averages, as-is the 5x5 was 0.2677” at 50. Take away the two fliers on the MV drop it would be 0.1885”.
The 100y groups averaged 1.078”.
I’ll say it again, for the money the Green Mountain blank is hard to beat touched by the right person. I own a Benchmark and Krieger as well and this barrel goes toe to toe with them. I need to find my 200y group shot pic from last year but 7 rounds measured 1.760” with the same barrel and lot of SKLR.
Can’t wait to compare it to the Manzella GM barrel and my Krieger I’m having redone by MCR.
As far as averages, as-is the 5x5 was 0.2677” at 50. Take away the two fliers on the MV drop it would be 0.1885”.
The 100y groups averaged 1.078”.
I’ll say it again, for the money the Green Mountain blank is hard to beat touched by the right person. I own a Benchmark and Krieger as well and this barrel goes toe to toe with them. I need to find my 200y group shot pic from last year but 7 rounds measured 1.760” with the same barrel and lot of SKLR.
Can’t wait to compare it to the Manzella GM barrel and my Krieger I’m having redone by MCR.
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As we all know 1.20-1.25” straight barrels are affectionately called truck axles. But when was the last time you saw a polished truck axle? I’m talking the real thing. I never have. So why not leave the finish all discolored as it is with all the scuffs and whatnot? Hey Mike (Manzella) leave it alone. Don’t polish it. Done. The barrel is headed my way. I should be able to hit the range this weekend for a shakedown.
22” Krieger light Varmint (ain’t nothing light about it!) from Manzella. Hoping to hit the range tomorrow and fall in love all over again.
Group 13 was my first 5 shot group out of the new barrel from Manzella. I believe they were shots 4-8 out of the barrel. Groups 11 and 12 were two groups shot near the end of the range trip with the same lot of SK standard; I’m praying that’s the lot I have 6 bricks of.
Groups 4 and 5 were confirming zero after setting the turrets and the sighter group was my last 10 shots.
After 27 groups the average was 0.4” with an almost perfectly normal distribution. Many of the “big” groups have 4 shots under 0.3” and a 5th round that opens the groups up by double. I sometimes feel a hitch when running the bolt and I’ll be curious to see if I correlate that hitch with the fliers.
Overall for a first trip to the range I couldn’t be happier. Thanks to Padom for sharing his wisdom and helping me select what I wanted.
Groups 4 and 5 were confirming zero after setting the turrets and the sighter group was my last 10 shots.
After 27 groups the average was 0.4” with an almost perfectly normal distribution. Many of the “big” groups have 4 shots under 0.3” and a 5th round that opens the groups up by double. I sometimes feel a hitch when running the bolt and I’ll be curious to see if I correlate that hitch with the fliers.
Overall for a first trip to the range I couldn’t be happier. Thanks to Padom for sharing his wisdom and helping me select what I wanted.
^ Are you running a chrono at the same time? The fliers I’ve seen were 100% due to a small MV change.
I shot a mix of standard and match tonight, that one lot of standard flat out impressed.
I said my group distribution was normal, but that's only because eliminating the 3 smallest and 3 largest group did not change the average. When I actually plotted the data we see a fairly normal distribution centered around 0.35 and then a second cluster of data on the right side that skews the data. My guess is that as the barrel gets some rounds on it, the larger groups will become less frequent and this rifle will settle in to the 0.3's with this ammo.
I am amazed that across 135 shots on a brand new barrel the average group size came in at 0.4", that's a true testament to a great barrel and some decent ammo.
I am amazed that across 135 shots on a brand new barrel the average group size came in at 0.4", that's a true testament to a great barrel and some decent ammo.
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I love gunsmith pics. Fresh from MCR today. Had my Krieger barrel spruced up. It was trimmed to 1.20” and shortened to 20”. Both ends were also redone to his specs. It’s already headed my way. From his quick accuracy test he said my barrel was not picky at all. Lapua Super LR grouped nicely as well as R50. Obviously further lot testing needs to be done on my end.
Two new barrel to test this weekend. Gonna be fun.
Two new barrel to test this weekend. Gonna be fun.
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Sorry about the show and tell pics. The Manzella GM came in yesterday. If you missed my earlier post I instructed Manzella to leave it unfinished. Why? Because truck axle.
I don’t think my MCR Krieger will arrive on time today so I’ll be testing just this for now.
I don’t think my MCR Krieger will arrive on time today so I’ll be testing just this for now.
I will be testing SK LR, Eley (Tenex, Match, Team, Edge, Semi Auto, Club), RWS R50, Norma Tac 22, and CCI SV.
I will do a quick cleaning in between different waxes.
Tried to lot test yesterday but the conditions were NOT favorable. The temp was 105 degrees and humid. Winds were stupid switchy and gusty to about 15-17 mph. I didn’t want to waste any ammo trying. With that said I did manage to shoot just one favorable group before all hell broke loose with the wind conditions. I know the accuracy potential of the barrel is there at least with 50 yards. And yes. I realize it’s just one group. Every barrel can do that at least once. I’ll revisit the range soon when the temps and wind die down to give it a better shake down.
The pic of the temp gauge was the temp of my barrel. This was after a one hour drive home from the range. The rifle was on my back seat and still retained the heat. It was hot out.
The pic of the temp gauge was the temp of my barrel. This was after a one hour drive home from the range. The rifle was on my back seat and still retained the heat. It was hot out.
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I've been waiting for some cooler weather for what feels like forever since receiving the GM bbl back from Mike Manzella. I bought a couple of 1.20" dia straight CM bbls from GM on 10/5/2020, intending to find someone with a CNC lathe to contour them. Set them aside when other projects came up, then finally sent them off to John Scandale at Keystone Accuracy. Had John profile them to his Palma Sport contour, then cut the Rim-X tenon on one, and leave the other with a 4" straight shank. I chambered the one with his tenon with a JGS carbide Win 52D reamer several months ago, then finally sent the other one off to Mike to have him cut the tenon & chamber it with Padom's Eachus reamer. They're both finished at around 23", with an 11* crown.
We finally did get a cool front to push the extreme heat out of here this past Friday, so highs for a couple of days were in the mid-70s, and all I could think about while I was finishing up some field work was getting the Rim-X with the Eachus chambered GM out to put some rounds downrange with it. Today - since it's a Sunday - I finally took an hour or so off to shoot some Norma TAC-22 & Match, three lots of SK Std+, and a couple of lots of SK Rifle Match through the Rim-X. There were other lots of SK & Lapua to try, but it was 87* & breezy, with no clouds to provide any shade, and shooting prone off a bipod put me down on the ground with a lot of mirage degrading what I was seeing through a 5-25x56 Midas TAC. Besides that, the flies were bugging the dickens out of me, so I quit after shooting these 6x5 targets. This barrel shoots the Norma stuff at least as good as any of my other custom barreled CZ457s & Vudoo repeaters & single shots, and if nothing else, shooting it increased the round count in this new barrel. The 1st 6x5 was all TAC-22, while the 2nd one has the 1st four groups with Norma Match, then group 5 & 6 with a really good lot of SK Std+. 3rd 6x5 has groups 1 & 2 with a new lot of Std+ from Good Shooting, groups 3 & 4 with another new lot of Std+ from SFP, and groups 5 & 6 with an older lot of SK Rifle Match from 2017 that's performed pretty well in all my Kriegers. The 4th target has groups 1 & 2 shot with a new lot of SK Rifle Match from SPF that I haven't shot a lot of yet, but this GM/Eachus bbl shot at least as good with this lot as any of the other custom barrels I've tried it in so far. Counting the first 5 rounds I put on steel to get the scope zeroed, I shot 105rds yesterday, with no cleaning between lots/brands of ammo, which is a total of 115rds through this new barrel. If you'd seen what I saw through the scope with all the mirage, and some of my hurry-up shots when my left (support) elbow occasionally touched the burning hot shooting matt instead of resting on a Triad Tactical wedge bag, or a fly crawling around my eyes, I think that would go aways towards explain some of the sloppy groups. I'm looking forward to getting this rifle out again and shooting off front rest & rear bag up off the ground from a portable bench on a cooler day.
After I posted this reply yesterday, I realized that I hadn't included a photo of my Rim-X, and went looking for one in my photo files - but never found one. So here's a quicky shot of it in the shade of the house late this afternoon, in its scorched earth camo PRS1T stock, Hawkins DBM, & Athlon Midas TAC 5-25x56. Since it's CM instead of SS, I expect that I'd better get that GM bbl CeraKoted before it starts showing any rust...
We finally did get a cool front to push the extreme heat out of here this past Friday, so highs for a couple of days were in the mid-70s, and all I could think about while I was finishing up some field work was getting the Rim-X with the Eachus chambered GM out to put some rounds downrange with it. Today - since it's a Sunday - I finally took an hour or so off to shoot some Norma TAC-22 & Match, three lots of SK Std+, and a couple of lots of SK Rifle Match through the Rim-X. There were other lots of SK & Lapua to try, but it was 87* & breezy, with no clouds to provide any shade, and shooting prone off a bipod put me down on the ground with a lot of mirage degrading what I was seeing through a 5-25x56 Midas TAC. Besides that, the flies were bugging the dickens out of me, so I quit after shooting these 6x5 targets. This barrel shoots the Norma stuff at least as good as any of my other custom barreled CZ457s & Vudoo repeaters & single shots, and if nothing else, shooting it increased the round count in this new barrel. The 1st 6x5 was all TAC-22, while the 2nd one has the 1st four groups with Norma Match, then group 5 & 6 with a really good lot of SK Std+. 3rd 6x5 has groups 1 & 2 with a new lot of Std+ from Good Shooting, groups 3 & 4 with another new lot of Std+ from SFP, and groups 5 & 6 with an older lot of SK Rifle Match from 2017 that's performed pretty well in all my Kriegers. The 4th target has groups 1 & 2 shot with a new lot of SK Rifle Match from SPF that I haven't shot a lot of yet, but this GM/Eachus bbl shot at least as good with this lot as any of the other custom barrels I've tried it in so far. Counting the first 5 rounds I put on steel to get the scope zeroed, I shot 105rds yesterday, with no cleaning between lots/brands of ammo, which is a total of 115rds through this new barrel. If you'd seen what I saw through the scope with all the mirage, and some of my hurry-up shots when my left (support) elbow occasionally touched the burning hot shooting matt instead of resting on a Triad Tactical wedge bag, or a fly crawling around my eyes, I think that would go aways towards explain some of the sloppy groups. I'm looking forward to getting this rifle out again and shooting off front rest & rear bag up off the ground from a portable bench on a cooler day.
After I posted this reply yesterday, I realized that I hadn't included a photo of my Rim-X, and went looking for one in my photo files - but never found one. So here's a quicky shot of it in the shade of the house late this afternoon, in its scorched earth camo PRS1T stock, Hawkins DBM, & Athlon Midas TAC 5-25x56. Since it's CM instead of SS, I expect that I'd better get that GM bbl CeraKoted before it starts showing any rust...
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Nice set up
what arca rail are you using? Also will a 1.25 barrel ft tube XRS chassis? Thanks Dave
The arca rail is an XRS model specific from Sawtooth Rifles and yes, the XRS will fit a 1.25” straight tube.Nice set up
) with an average of 0.46”. When I can get the random large group to go away, this rifle is going to be super impressive. Similar threads
