So the whole objective of this weekend's trip to the range was to determine if I needed to call Sig back about my rifle shooting poorly. Long story short, Sig said the rifle shoots to spec, but there's no odd sound patching it now, so if they did something or not, I can't say, except that it seems different (subjective observation#1!). I also wanted to (within the realm of my ability) try to determine 'what shoots well' out of my rifle, and what if any, were the benefits to heavier weight bullets. I wanted accuracy of course, but consistancy, good or bad, was ultimately what I hoped to see. Of course ymmv, and I'm the first to say I Need Practice (INP), so this is pretty informal but might be helpful for someone trying to decide what ammo to buy.
So on to the range after I get the rifle back. 35degrees or so, clear and sunny with 5-10mph winds from the NW (left of the targets). I'd picked up some 68gr and 75gr ammo, and some 55 "just to see" after reading some posts on lighter bullets in a 556.
68gr Black Hills hpbt. (bought with the rifle)
75gr Black Hills hpbt. (received from BH after the case failure)
75gr Privi Partisan hpbt. (Cause I want to shoot zombie hogs!)
55gr Black Hills fmj ( box of 50 to see what a 55gr is like)
55gr Remington UMC fmj (impulse buy of 20 when I got the 4x16 scope)
Fired 5rds per mag from a bench with sandbag front rest, and I fiddled with a bag to rest the stock on; however, the stock design, bench length, winter coat, all combined to make things a chore to keep my eye in the box. Hence the 'rest f/b*' note. For subsequent trips I'll be resting the front and shouldering the rifle so I can get a good comfortable position for practice. Then again, I may lug the 25lb rest with me once, for kicks.
Scope is a 4-16x40mm Center Point, zero'd at 50yrds. Fired with 4x @50yrds, and 10x @100yrds. Higher power I'll work on as I practice etc. I used 20rd Pmags and no issues with the ammo/mags at all.
A few things off the bat zero'ing the rifle (zero'd with
[email protected]), the rifle shoots better now then before it went to Sig, no question in my mind about that. I knew I'd be changing the elevation for different weights and ranges, and the turrets on the scope worked as advertised.
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First, Black Hills 75grain @100 yrds 15 rounds. Last 5 rounds I dialed down(elevation adjustment, power was 10x or 4x as noted) 2minutes and got them on, even if the group is pretty ugly... The scope works!
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Now the Privi 75gr @100yrds. I didn't want to use a lot of this ammunition since it's 'the good stuff' (as far as I figured prior to shooting). If not for the 3 fliers, I'd be very pleased with this group. Subjective observation #2, the Privi ammunition shot smoother then the BH. I like the Privi over the Black Hills so far.... And yes, there are 15 holes there.
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Next, Black Hills 68gr @100yrds + 5rounds of Black Hills 55gr. The 68gr seemed to group to the right... but I'm not confident with my own skill to say "It does". But it did group consistently to the right (except the way left flier) so maybe it was the wind.... :roll: . The cool thing about the mil dot reticle is the 55gr was sighted with the mil dots on the target black dots for the indicated POA. The 55gr group did seem to open up a bit as expected, all things considered.
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Dialed it down and fired Black Hills 68gr @50yrds. This clearly illustrated that any errors are me, not the scope, not the rifle. I'm tempted to go with 68gr over the 75s.... Maybe I'll pick up 200rds of 69gr privi....
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Next was the box of Remington 55gr fmj and BH 55gr fmj. The bullet time in the barrel that Ullie explained I think is pretty clearly illustrated here. No change in elevation from the BH 68gr @50yards. The 55gr definately had a different feel recoil-wise, the 2inches left though... hard to say :roll: . But it's consistent. Maybe it's windage drifting in the scope? I'll have to shoot more to be certain, but I'm probably consistently jerking the trigger. The remington group on the bottom is twice the number of the BH, since I wanted to shoot some 55gr at 100yrds to try and get some comparison, and I was running out of time to the next target change.
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So at least for me, I do prefer the privi 75 grain for consistency over the Black Hills 75 or 68grain ammunition. Also, the 55grain isn't by any means, 'inaccurate' at all, and I'll be getting more for practice. While I stockpile brass from practice, I think I'll check the ballistics on a 69gr bullet and see the velocities, then decide between 69/75 for hand loading. And the higher power scope setting really shows you how important good breathing is!
