Range Report, LMT MWS .308 20" SS

[JasonB]

Sat was a disappointing day to say the least... shot a lot of FMJ break in rounds, then moved on to 168 and 175gn FGMM FGMM (was 1.x- 2.x moa) ... Very poor groups IMO ... Even my hand loads were poor results using NATO RA 60/61 Head Stamp cases, 42,42.5,43 gn varget were suck, 43.5 and 44 showed promise... That brass came from American Ballistics M118LR Ammo from my first bolt gun back in the day ... Took it to Brian Sanders and Annealed it few weeks ago in preperation.

My recent lack of accuracy with Muzzle Brakes on my bolt rifle left me wondering how it would perform without the PWS Brake ... So took off the brake and Cleaned the MWS

Made up some new rounds using the NATO Brass and Lapua brass ... also wanted to compare my FGMM results.

1st 5 Rounds were LC Ball to dirty the barrel ... 3" Group

Groups Measured Cen - Cen

FGMM 168
Group 1 - 1"
Group 2 - 1.45" ( If you toss out the flyer ie my bad shooting it is 1" )

FGMM 175
.87"

Reloads ( .334 Neck Bushing, 1.623 Shoulder, 2.220 Length to Ogive )

NATO Brass
43.5gn Varget
1.1"

44gn Varget
1.2"

Lapua Brass
43.5 Varget
.85"

44gn Varget
.5"







I will say that I was so disappointed with my LMT Sat after my Bro Vu shot his new GAP10 next to me... with his hand loads that thing was a tac driver... it just seemed to group

He blue falconed me saying my glock shot better at 100 than my LMT... which it did... had two touching at 100

 

[JasonB]

Obviously I need to make up some more 44gn w/ Lapua Brass to see if it will hold that kind of group for more than 5 rounds. Thankfully it grouped today, I was going to spear chuck it down the range.

 

[Kilmore]

I put some Speer 168 Gold Dot through a 20 inch barreled LMT MWS and got sub 1/2 moa out of it. The FGMM 175 was stringing and shot just under 1 moa. I think the 20 inch barrel prefers the 168 grain bullets. The 16 inch barreled LMT MWS we tested clearly shot better with the 175 SMK. I will have an Elite Iron suppressor next week to screw to the barrels and do it all over again to see what happens.

 

[elfster1234]

pic of your LMT rifle set up?

 

[Kilmore]

Please send over an email and I will fire you over some photos of the rifles. I have no idea how to post photos on this site since my photo sharing site crashed.

 

[elfster1234]

I would try some reloads from brass that was fired out the LMT with maybe .003 bump from that fired brass. I know my LMT has a much more forgiving chamber in comparison to my friend's bolt action .308. Brass out of my LMT is usually right at 1.631, maybe 1.632ish... I usually bump mine back .003 to .004 with a datum measurement of 1.627ish. maybe 1.628. I wouldn't discount anything until you have had a chance to reload the brass ejected out of the LMT.

I've also noticed a big time improvement using a 6-9" harris bipod in comparison to my larger 9-13" harris bipod.

This sounds like BM11 round#2. I hope you get it figured out. Just wondering, is this your first semi-auto in a .308 cal? Getting a .308 cal semi-auto shooting sub-moa, regardless of the manufacture, can be a frustrating event. Trust me on this.

http://www.snipershide.com/[email protected]

 

[JasonB]

Yeah, my fired brass is 1.632 to the shoulder ... I don't reload semi brass from .308s ... Neck has marks on it from feed ramps and a dent in the case from brass deflector...

 

[elfster1234]

marks on the necks are not a big deal... as for the dent in the side of the body from the brass deflector = pc of Velcro (fuzzy side) on brass deflector will cure this issue... I would have and never had any problems with reloads from brass ejected out my semi-auto 308's.

Yeah, my fired brass is 1.632 to the shoulder ... I don't reload semi brass from .308s ... Neck has marks on it from feed ramps and a dent in the case from brass deflector...

 

[elfster1234]

btw, I don't think your first initial groups are actually that bad, especially for your first initial groups with no load development what so ever & I wouldn't be so hard on yourself.... i'm not talking about you here, but for those that expect 1/2" groups on every single group "all day long" out of a .308 semi-auto are kidding themselves. As for me, anything sub-moa out of a semi-auto .308 is icing on the cake. IMO, any .308 semi-auto, regardless of manufacture, is about a 1moa or tad bit better (.9 to .8ish) on average consistenly with your average joe here on sniper's hide... anyone else that claims to shoot .5moa all day long out of their .308 SEMI-AUTO is usually full of BS and are more welcome to post their groups on my shootout threads.

 

[NorCal Vu]

You should of seen Jason go crazy on the Saturday before he got this decent group. I was sure he was going to fire sale that thing and order a GAP 10, but the week is still young.....

 

[JasonB]

btw, I don't think your first initial groups are actually that bad, especially for your first initial groups with no load development what so ever & I wouldn't be so hard on yourself.... i'm not talking about you here, but for those that expect 1/2" groups on every single group "all day long" out of a .308 semi-auto are kidding themselves. As for me, anything sub-moa out of a semi-auto .308 is icing on the cake. IMO, any .308 semi-auto, regardless of manufacture, is about a 1moa or tad bit better (.9 to .8ish) on average consistenly with your average joe here on sniper's hide... anyone else that claims to shoot .5moa all day long out of their .308 SEMI-AUTO is usually full of BS and are more welcome to post their groups on my shootout threads.

I never posted groups from sat ... All these pics groups are from yesterday (mon) ... Sat groups were 1-2moa with factory ammo...

These pics are with same factory ammo but with brake removed ... And hand loads ... I would have been perfectly happy with 1moa factory ammo on sat. And then working up some reloads

Anyways good to go... Time to stretch her legs out to 1k

 

[JasonB]

You should of seen Jason go crazy on the Saturday before he got this decent group. I was sure he was going to fire sale that thing and order a GAP 10, but the week is still young.....

-www.jasonsfiresale.com-

Still might

Can't bring the rain with 2 moa factory ammo !

 

[BCP]

Those groups look like what my M1A makes. I bet with practice and some tuning it'll get better though.

Yeah, my fired brass is 1.632 to the shoulder ... I don't reload semi brass from .308s ... Neck has marks on it from feed ramps and a dent in the case from brass deflector...

PFFT that's nothing reload em til they show signs of impending separation. Those scratches and nicks from feeding and ejection are generally not a problem although watch for the occasional split neck.