Official (DTA) SRS, HTI, Covert, Hunter Thread

Spent my day off gathering data on a new load. I think I’ve got it where I want it. 130 ELDM, 37.5 gns Varget, Lapua brass, BR 2 primers. Grouped well under 1 MOA but forgot to get pictures of the group.
 

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So, just signed on to a long range safari in South Africa with John X Safarisin 2023.

Have my 338LM and plenty of practice at distance, out to a mile with good DOPE in variable conditions.

Took a public land 330” Bull Elk at 725yds this past October.

Question is Bullet Selection.
I’m going for plains game.

I have boatloads of prime ammunition 300gr SMK.

Thoughts on SMK for plains game. Practical thoughts. I know everyone likes to drag target rounds, but it sure seemed to drop that elk like a rock. Didn’t walk a single step. Just stoned him.

I’m thinking Eland and smaller. No dangerous game, not giraffe (probably).

How much effort would you put into trying to procure or work up loads. Can’t find primers for a damn so I’d be left to start fresh by pulling bullets, seating something else.

Lathe turned solids? See what ELD hunter stuff I can find over time? Or just go with my guy and drop 300gr doing 2740 to anything within 800yds cleanly?
I've not met any PH's that'll even allow a shot that's over 500m and there's really zero need to pull long shots in Africa. Plenty of game and easy enough to do a stalk to within reasonable distance. .338LM is way too much gun for much under the size of an eland and it's kinda big for an eland. SMK's... I have a decent amount of experience with SMK's in South Africa against plains game from impala up to wildebeest size and I would seriously not go there. Every time it has required a follow up shot and once I lost the animal. A good bonded or A-frame bullet is where I'd put my money. For all the hassle, I'd just use the PH's rifle. It'll have a suppressor in all probability and it'll be in a suitable chambering and you don't have to deal with any of the paperwork hassles.

ANY encounter with SAPS is undesirable. Even just getting permits in the airport. SAPS is notoriously full of illiterate power mongers with little understanding of the actual law and corruption is endemic to every branch of law enforcement and government. If you're going to bring a rifle, definitely use one of the services. As an example of how much you don't want to deal with SAPS, my last encounter had me detained while I tried to explain to the officers that my kudu horns and skull were not rhinoceros parts and it was only luck that an elderly woman gate agent got called in to go over my paperwork and she used the magic words, "It's fine. He can go." and I was allowed to go. The officer was not young but he was functionally illiterate and looking to get me on anything he possibly could just because he could. SAPS are not to be trusted.

Monkeys are a ton of fun and really challenging.

The above said, you do you and enjoy yourself. Africa is f-word awesome.
 
Thanks!
That was my idea; I have my 6.5 creed and 338 LM setups. No set list of species. 8 days hunting. I’ll smoke whatever sentinel baboon I come across in trees. Any recco for a firearm import guy?

I have always gone through Tambo (Johannesburg) and have only used a small company called "Rifle Permits". I have been very pleased.

They will be right there waiting for you once you clear customs. They will have your paperwork and will guide you through the entire process. Makes it super easy.
 
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Hey guys, had a lot of fun with the SRS crowd but decided to simplify my gunsafe and reduce cartridges. Good hanging out and thanks for all the learnings over the years. Got some stuff left if you want it.

 
Do you gents think that the SRS A1s have gone up or down in resale value since they are no longer available? Some seem to prefer the A1s over the A2s.
Just sold one of each. I think the A1s initially dropped when A2 came out. You could get a bare bones A1 for $1500-1700 for a hot minute. I do think that since then they came back up a bit. There still seems to be a premium on a used A2 vs A1, but as was mentioned here many like the A1 trigger. A2 had some good weight changes and that was a big value to me.
 
Do you gents think that the SRS A1s have gone up or down in resale value since they are no longer available? Some seem to prefer the A1s over the A2s.
A1 is a solid rig! Lot of people like it for the trigger. I just sold mine because I own an A2 and don’t see myself using/can’t justify owning 2 like @deersniper aka Burt. I would say the A1 can be bought for more then what they could have when the A2 dropped like @65x55guy said. They were selling for dirt cheap when the A2 came out
 
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Kind of a hunting-ish related question. Does anyone have a pack they like that fits the SRS well? The larger butt pad doesn’t fit in my standard rifle holder on my Mystery Ranch pack. So I am forced to pretty much strap it in as pictured. Not ideal by any means.
 
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Kind of a hunting-ish related question. Does anyone have a pack they like that fits the SRS well? The larger butt pad doesn’t fit in my standard rifle holder on my Mystery Ranch pack. So I am forced to pretty much strap it in as pictured. Not ideal by any means.
Had same issue with another strap on mine and size Of butt on SRS.

I wouldn’t want a strap across my trigger. Especially with the safety off. 😉
 
@bmicek I'm not sure which MR pack you have but there is sort of a load area between the frame and bag (I think hunters use it for meat) that I found you can tuck the SRS down in nicely so its closer to your body. I'll post a picture when able
 
@bmicek I'm not sure which MR pack you have but there is sort of a load area between the frame and bag (I think hunters use it for meat) that I found you can tuck the SRS down in nicely so its closer to your body. I'll post a picture when able
You know, I’ve had my MR Metcalf tightened down to the frame since I got it and hadn’t even thought about using the meat shelf. I’ll have to loosen straps and try that out today. Thanks for the reminder.
 
Kind of a hunting-ish related question. Does anyone have a pack they like that fits the SRS well? The larger butt pad doesn’t fit in my standard rifle holder on my Mystery Ranch pack. So I am forced to pretty much strap it in as pictured. Not ideal by any means.
I have an Eberlestock pack with scabbard. It's been able to hold all of my bulky match rifles. I'll check it against my DT tonight.
 
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Kind of a hunting-ish related question. Does anyone have a pack they like that fits the SRS well? The larger butt pad doesn’t fit in my standard rifle holder on my Mystery Ranch pack. So I am forced to pretty much strap it in as pictured. Not ideal by any means.
I tried mounting it between the frame and bag of my Kuiu. Not a great solution. Ended up doing a patrol carry (barrel down and left) on my sling with my pack on over. Spot an elk, drop back and crawl.
 
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I am in need of some advice.

I have a competition in April that has targets out to 1K yards. Normally, I shoot 6.5 but ammo is getting low. I do have Hornady’s American Gunners 155 BTHP .308 and a 22” barrel.

The competition is in New Mexico so altitude is higher than I normally shoot at. Can I realistically expect the .308 to reach out to 1K yards?

Any advice is appreciated.
 
I am in need of some advice.

I have a competition in April that has targets out to 1K yards. Normally, I shoot 6.5 but ammo is getting low. I do have Hornady’s American Gunners 155 BTHP .308 and a 22” barrel.

The competition is in New Mexico so altitude is higher than I normally shoot at. Can I realistically expect the .308 to reach out to 1K yards?

Any advice is appreciated.
If you know the elevation and some historic or forecasted environmental info you can see for yourself:

In short it should, but the variable will be velocity spread and the size of the targets. AG isn't known for being super low on ES.
 
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I am in need of some advice.

I have a competition in April that has targets out to 1K yards. Normally, I shoot 6.5 but ammo is getting low. I do have Hornady’s American Gunners 155 BTHP .308 and a 22” barrel.

The competition is in New Mexico so altitude is higher than I normally shoot at. Can I realistically expect the .308 to reach out to 1K yards?

Any advice is appreciated.
I did a quick DOPE calc for this, if the MV is 2700 as advertised then you'll go transonic right around 950-1075yrds (I estimated temperature and BP across a window of estimated likely values, thus the spread) so things could get squirrelly at the 1k target but probably won't. My personal bet is that the velocity will probably be closer to 2800fps or more which would make those 155's still fully supersonic (>1200fps) to 1000yrds even if it's relatively cold. The altitude definitely helps, gives 100-200yrds of additional supersonic range depending on the actual conditions. YMMV but I think you're ok with that ammo as far as reach.

EDIT: FWIW, Sierra 175gr BTHP match is available at Midwayusa.com right now for a bit over 2 bucks a shot. Not cheap but much better for the use case.
 
Anybody using 22 creedmoor in the SRS? I'm having terrible feeding issues using 53 vmax bullets. It wants to kick them up and left thus jamming the polymer tip into the end of the barrel shank. Is there a fix or is the geometry just wrong with short bullets?
 
Anybody using 22 creedmoor in the SRS? I'm having terrible feeding issues using 53 vmax bullets. It wants to kick them up and left thus jamming the polymer tip into the end of the barrel shank. Is there a fix or is the geometry just wrong with short bullets?
Have you taken the time to actually look at what’s going on while the round is stripped from the mag? Being single stack mags, everything with the srs feeding should be pretty symmetrical so idk where the leftward shift is coming from. Is it the same with every mag? What’s your oal?
 
OAL is 2.54. It may only be happening with 1 mag. Need more data. I've labeled my mags. Here's what's happening.
A bit of video might help in the diagnosis. Looks like the round takes a distinctly nose up attitude. Reminds me of trying to feed an empty case in some of my rifles so bullet protrusion from the case may not be sufficient for reliable feeding.
 
Looks like a problem or short oal and light bullet not weighing the front of the round down. If you have one mag that feeds better I’d measure the width of the feed lips, compare how high the round protrudes from the top and compare feeding between the two back to back.
 
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Figured it out. The good mag sits more proud in the mag well and has a little smoother transition to the feed ramp. But the difference is very small, a few hundredths probably. I've never liked how the mags engage in the mag well. Seems really sloppy.
 
Yup, sloppy magwell engagement has always been an issue for me too. A little too much tilting the front downward and you get feed issues, so much so that for almost 14 years I just shoot mine often with a tiny bit of upward pressure applied from my arm or hand.
 
Here's my hillbilly $0 fix. Drill a hole in the back of the mag where the mag meets the rear of the magwell. Put a punch in the hole and pry to bend the metal out a little bit. This puts pressure on the lower back of the mag and tilts the front of the mag up slightly. All you need is a couple hundredths. If you go too far and the mag sticks tight just push the bump back down a little. Worked perfect in shop testing. Needs some hard field use to confirm.
 

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Here's my hillbilly $0 fix. Drill a hole in the back of the mag where the mag meets the rear of the magwell. Put a punch in the hole and pry to bend the metal out a little bit. This puts pressure on the lower back of the mag and tilts the front of the mag up slightly. All you need is a couple hundredths. If you go too far and the mag sticks tight just push the bump back down a little. Worked perfect in shop testing. Needs some hard field use to confirm.
Why not just superglue a thin piece of plastic instead?
 
Hoping someone here can help. I have a fired case stuck in my 308 SRS A2 (Federal gold medal match). I was trying to troubleshoot a mag issue so I fired it, ejected it, then single loaded the fired brass into the SRS and chambered it with the bolt - everything very nice and smooth. Now the bolt can only go up and down, it can't be pulled back at all. 100% stuck in the closed position.

Any tips on how to get it out? Question #2, why did this happen?
 
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1. Try mortaring it: bolt unlocked, lift rifle above ground (muzzle up), hand on bolt handle, force buttstock quickly into ground (force gets applied to handle). Hopefully momentum helps free the case. The rifle can take the abuse.

2. Carefully use a cleaning rod from the muzzle end to tap on the case. This is less than ideal and unlike the other method, you need to be gentle with this method in order not to damaged the crown of the muzzle.
 
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1. Try mortaring it: bolt unlocked, lift rifle above ground (muzzle up), hand on bolt handle, force buttstock quickly into ground (force gets applied to handle). Hopefully momentum helps free the case. The rifle can take the abuse.

2. Carefully use a cleaning rod from the muzzle end to tap on the case. This is less than ideal and unlike the other method, you need to be gentle with this method in order not to damaged the crown of the muzzle.
Wouldn't this damage the rifle / bolt / extractor if something is "stuck"? I feel like it's not the case itself that's stuck, because it was just fired and went in smoothly...
 
As long as the bolt is unlocked, any rearward motion on the handle or bolt face shouldn't damage the rifle. I've mortared mine a few times over the past 13ish years, and I've seen people do the cleaning rod trick with other files (.50BMG so keep that in mind).

They're just suggestions. You could also take it to a smith to resolve.

NOTE: the remaining strength of the case rim is probably the failure point for you.
 
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Test fitting stuff in the custom foam I ordered from mycasebuilder. So far it's like a glove for almost everything. The bendy bits are because I'm messing with putting things like bipods and such into alternate locations. Note, the red topped foam does not fit the factory DT hard case. Turns out that the number of assumptions and guesses was a little high and I used the wrong base case. Now I know for sure which is the right base case so I've taken another run at it but had to reduce the total number of barrels it'll support to 3.

Red top supports up to 5 barrels.
casefoamtestfit.jpg


This one will support up to 3 barrels in the factory DT hard case. Still have a lot of verification work to do on it before I order it.
casefoamdtcase.png
 
1. Try mortaring it: bolt unlocked, lift rifle above ground (muzzle up), hand on bolt handle, force buttstock quickly into ground (force gets applied to handle). Hopefully momentum helps free the case. The rifle can take the abuse.

2. Carefully use a cleaning rod from the muzzle end to tap on the case. This is less than ideal and unlike the other method, you need to be gentle with this method in order not to damaged the crown of the muzzle.

As long as the bolt is unlocked, any rearward motion on the handle or bolt face shouldn't damage the rifle. I've mortared mine a few times over the past 13ish years, and I've seen people do the cleaning rod trick with other files (.50BMG so keep that in mind).

They're just suggestions. You could also take it to a smith to resolve.

NOTE: the remaining strength of the case rim is probably the failure point for you.

Got it out with a little bit more force. Good to know that the bolt is GTG once unlocked.
 
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So, I got a little carried away today, called my smith on the way to an estate sale of some gun stuff ( barrels brass powder bullets and scopes) talked with him about doing a 6gt barrel for the DT. He says well i have a 6mm barrel in HV sitting here and it will work. ill double check it and spin it up for you, stop by on your way back. (COOL no shipping or tax for getting a barrel). estate sale has some heavy barrel profiles, 1.30 breach for like 8 inches and grabbed 2, one 6mm 7.3tw and a 30 in 10tw. On the way home ordered a 7mm barrel for a 7 saum ive been holding out on for the DT for a while now. all in all, 4 barrels, a bolt, extension and mag ordered/bought today. :LOL::LOL::LOL: cant wait to get some stuff for the 6gt and run it
 
So, I got a little carried away today, called my smith on the way to an estate sale of some gun stuff ( barrels brass powder bullets and scopes) talked with him about doing a 6gt barrel for the DT. He says well i have a 6mm barrel in HV sitting here and it will work. ill double check it and spin it up for you, stop by on your way back. (COOL no shipping or tax for getting a barrel). estate sale has some heavy barrel profiles, 1.30 breach for like 8 inches and grabbed 2, one 6mm 7.3tw and a 30 in 10tw. On the way home ordered a 7mm barrel for a 7 saum ive been holding out on for the DT for a while now. all in all, 4 barrels, a bolt, extension and mag ordered/bought today. :LOL::LOL::LOL: cant wait to get some stuff for the 6gt and run it
Heads up the 6gt doesn't eject real well. Shoots great but a good ejector spring and quick bolt manipulation will be your best friend
 
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