Happy Christmas to me too!

[mag41uk]

AE3 in 260 Remington with pistol grip in flat dark earth.
26inch Heavy barrel with 1 in 8.5 twist.
20moa rail with Zeiss Conquest 6.5-20 x 50 sat in Warne steel tactical rings.
One 5 round mag and one 10 round mag.
Round count so far 182.
Tony

[Christel]

Well done you. With that twist, what are you going to feed it with?

[ovenpaa]

What a cracking rifle, what are you shooting through it, the 139 Scenars?

[mag41uk]

I am using 139 and 123 scenars with N160 in new Lapua cases.
A friend ran it through Quickload and resultant charge weight is much higher than on Vihts website.
I am about 2 to 3 gns over Viht max but I see no evidence of pressure signs.Have miked the cases etc.
The day after I got the rifle I put the scope on and went to the Zero range to "in theory" condition the bore and roughly zero the scope.
Following day was F range at Sennybridge and was OK to 400 ish but struggled at 600. Had a go at the Fig12 on the tank at 650ish,could see the rounds hitting the tank but unfortunately, not the target! The RO got in the foxhole with me to try and plot the shots on the tuffbook but they were to far out for the sensor to pick the rounds up.
Was at SSiberia at 200 yards last sat and was able to properly zero the scope and found it was shooting high and right.
I ran various bullet and charge weights through it and the groups were all pretty much the same at about 1.5 inches.
The 123`s were about 2.5 inches higher. I think they are about 200fps faster than the 139`s.
The next step is to chrono the rounds. Took it with me last sat but SS at 200 is a pain to set it up.
I am amazed at how little recoil there is.
As ever with a new rifle lots of dabbling!
I am sure the rifle will bed in and improve.
Tony

[ovenpaa]

Are you seeing any copper when cleaning? I have a 26" Border 6,5x47 on my AI and the absolute lack of copper is remarkable, better than any barrel I have shot in the past.

[meles meles]

*envious green glow*

[20series]

*envious green glow*

+ 1 from me

Enjoy your new toy
I could never get on with the old AI thumbhole stock, id like to have a go with this style to see how much better it is.

Alan

[User702]

It does look very nice... How upright is the pistol grip? I'm finding that I prefer a more vertical pistol grip these days (compared to the more laid back "sporter" style on a conventional stock).

[mag41uk]

No real copper fouling David to speak of. Patches are black with powder like residue.
I would like to try Ramshot Hunter and see that Kranks now list it. Have emailed them to find out if they have it.
I went for the pistol grip as I too dont like the AI thumbhole stock.
For me this pistol grip feels quite natural.
I will be at at Bisley with it most first saturdays of the month if fancy a fondle!
Tony

[Sim G]

A friend ran it through Quickload and resultant charge weight is much higher than on Vihts website.
I am about 2 to 3 gns over Viht max but I see no evidence of pressure signs.Have miked the cases etc.

Nice rifle Tony! Eventually, when it comes to rebarreling my RPA, .260 Rem is high on the list...

I'm just going to throw my two pennies in here...

Quickload is a theoretical program. The author goes to great lengths to emphasise this. He includes the warning that Quickload should be used in conjunction with manufacturers published data and their data shouldn't be exceeded. I compared a couple of hundred published loads with Quickload, my findings had me come to the conclusion that Quickload is a great toy, but it is not for serious load development. That's why I sold my copy...

2 to 3 grains over the manufacturers publish data puts you into dangerous territory. "Visible" signs of pressure are unreliable and inaccurate and on top of which, come summer and the results could be completely different.

It would be a shame to spoil such a nice rifle...