Re: Remington 700 Police 338 Lapua rifles
<span style="font-weight: bold">Range Report</span>
I took mine out for the first time today. Runs like a champ, I likee!
It was windy today and blowing my target right and left like crazy, so my groups were inconsistent. But in terms of vertical spread, they were all 0.5-1.0 MOA, with most under 0.75. This with various handloads. A couple quick observations:
- The rifle doesn't kick hard at all. I was expecting something big, but it was quite mild. I'll probably leave alone the factory muzzle brake on for now. Other than the dust signature, I see no reason to replace it.
- Ejection of fired brass was weak. Even when I cycled the bolt vigorously, the spent case barely dribbled out. It doesn't do this with A-Zoom snap caps which eject well.
I used two chronographs back-to-back to capture velocities. One was a Shooting Chrony F1, the other was a Competition Electronics ProChrono. The F1 always read about 20-30 fps higher than the ProChrono, except the last group which was only 9 fps higher. Which is right? I believe the ProChrono's numbers more since it's a newer unit and appears better made. Just a guess of course. In the velocities I list below, I give the averages of both chronies.
Here's my velocity results. Conditions: Temp 80 degF, Altitude 1300'. Handload data: New Lapua brass, SMK 300g bullets, CCI 250 primer, Retumbo powder, OAL 3.695". All rounds were checked on a Hornady concentricity gauge (and corrected if necessary) for bullet runout < .0003". Velocities are adjusted from point of chrony (10 yards away) to muzzle velocity.
93.0g Retumbo:
F1 chrony - 2719 avg, 13 SD, 35 ES
ProChrono - 2687 avg, 11 SD, 27 ES
93.5g Retumbo:
F1 chrony - 2738 avg, 30 SD, 67 ES
ProChrono - 2710 avg, 26 SD, 54 ES
94.0g Retumbo:
F1 chrony - 2744 avg, 17 SD, 38 ES
ProChrono - 2722 avg, 14 SD, 33 ES
94.5g Retumbo:
F1 chrony - 2775 avg, 6 SD, 13 ES
ProChrono - 2752 avg, 6 SD, 17 ES
95.0g Retumbo:
F1 chrony - 2760 avg, 8 SD, 19 ES
ProChrono - 2751 avg, 8 SD, 23 ES
I have no idea why the 95.0g load averaged lower than the 94.5g load. In terms of good velocity and consistency, that 94.5g load looks promising. And it produced a nice tight group too.
So far I'm quite happy with this gun (obviously). Now I need to load some more ammo.