Eric.

Just have to stress, make sure you start with a good fundamental foundation. The last tjing you want to do is to burn in poor habits i.e. improper/funky shooting form. You'll like the Black Hat course. The range, Mifflin, is a 1050yd range. Perfect for long range shooting. BTW, if anyone talks about long range and less than 500, 600 yd, etc distances...doesnt know long range shooting, lol

If you're new(er) to precision rifle, this series of vids are really good, as far as explaining the basics and fundamentals: There are a bunch of vids, in the series. I would watch all of em. If you are getting into long range/precision rifle shooting, there is a bit of a learning curve, more than most other shooting disciplines. After getting your rifle/optic set up and learning how to use your reticle, I would agree with looking into a shooting course. If you are considering Black HAt, I would recommend it. The beginner/intermediate course is pretty good. Freddy (and crew), who posts here too, delivers a nice program that is educational and fun. I took the beginner/intermediate course and got stuff out of it despite having some experience with long range shooting. In the final test; unknown distance, 10 targets between 200 to 800 yds, I scored 9 out of 10 first round hits. I mentioned this partially as a brag, but also to stress that at my level, i still felt the course was worthwhile (I'm no Chris Kyle, but I can shoot a lil). I mostly went to have instructors observe my fundamentals and technique. As you know, the better you get, the more important fundamentals are. Anyhoo, if you are interested in Black Hat, Freddy can be reached at: [email protected] or here, under bhtc(?)

As mentioned, the onlytools you need are the AR armorers tool/nut wrench, some punches and needlenose pliers. The fsb pins are punched out from left to right. HE suggested to get another upper and I agree. Since you are shooting no more than 100yds, and cq/Hd stuff, I would just buy an economical upper with a chrome lined barrel. Maybe spent a little more on a better bolt/bcg. No need to spend $700 on a Bravo upper. Also, no need for a higher end barrel, as you are not shooting tiny groups.

Thanks, guys. Im gonna try to get out for the Feb match.

Are these matches still going on? Hopefully, rhe Bangers issue doesnt affect things.

I'm late here but... For small frame, mag length cartridges, shooting longer range, I would go with the 6.5g too. You can use the same pills as your 6.5L, which also lets you use your familiarity of its performance i.e. Windage. Personally, I'm now shooting only two rifle rounds: .223 and 6.5C. Basically, with the limited time I have, I wanted to focus on being proficient and shooting more calibers ain't in my cards.

raz-0, I'm with you. By the time I reload 223 brass that comes out of my #3 marked Folgers coffee can/Case storage apparatus, its...done... 23.5 gr of H336 shooting a 68gr pill ain't exactly an "over max pressure" load. I would doubt the OP is getting loose primers, let alone, case failure like that,on a regular basis.

lol... All kidding aside, there is an epic thread about high round count durability and such, on arfcom (as you probably know).

I got a spare Vortex lever in my stash but might consider a trade anyway...

Sale ended

Sale ended

Yeah, I just gotta find the sales. If I see one for around $275, that might work, otherwise I'll just wait. I think you have to buy a membership with Sportsman, to "be in the club"?

is that deal still good?

I should have bought one when they were selling for under $300...

It might be a long time before NFA stuff sits in my toy box.

You beat me to it, Shane. To add, I was gonna say that for home defense, SHTF, inlaws, etc... Try a soft point 223 round. I guarantee the 223 critics will have a different opinion.

What is this "suppressor" you speak of??

As far as Tier 1D, Mike did the work on my custom. He is a fine craftsman and my gun is capable of shooting sub half MOA, if I do my part. Just another recommendation for T1D.

If you're new to precision rifles, are somewhat on a budget, the its a no brainer- get the Ruger. You just cannot get anything else, at that price point, that compares. The Ruger is far from a beginner's PR. In fact, with a few tweaks to the rifle, as your skill grows, you may never need a big dollar custom (unless you get to PRS level shooting). Honestly, its THAT good. *edit- I have a high end custom and my buddy has a Ruger, both in 6.5C. We don't suck too badly at shooting.

I'm late but ...Bobro QD, for the win. I've tried em all and Bobro seems to work best. Of the ones that had a consistent return of zero (Larue, ADM, Bobro), Bobro has the edge due to its design. Bobro has a spring tensioned clamp. Why is that good? Well, I'm no engineer but it seems to help keep even, constant pressure against the rail. You never have to readjust the tension due to, say, the mount wearing into the pic rail. Also, the spring clamp makes it very flexible switching your optic to another rifle. I can literally pop it off my SPR and snap it on my RECCE, make a quick, memorized windage|elevation click adjustment and be zero'd within 3 minutes. Going back is just as easy. Its never off zero. Just one thought, what I just mentioned might not work as well with cheap glass. Not to sound elitist but I only run decent optics i.e. Vortex, Nightforce or S&B, personally.

The 1:10 twist is fast enough. On another note, a 26" barrel is probably too long, for a 308. You could cut off 2-6 inches, easily. A 308 is done burning powder sooner, so the extra inches are just drag on the bullet. with a 10 twist, I'd probably run a 20-22 inch barrel. I'm thinking the extra barrel might be affecting your groups too, due to excessive drag on the bullet. As far as your groups, the only thing I can think of is to mount your gun on a sled and try shooting again. This way, you take out operator error, for the most part.

Marty, If I were to guess, I would say it's an ammo issue. What twist rate are you using? Barrel length? Muzzle velocity? To take a guess without more info, I would say the bullet is not being stabilized enough due to a slower barrel twist rate?

Here's a great online Ballistics program, in case you were looking for one: http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi For the sake of argument, a .035 difference in scope bore height calculation amounts to .1 MOA. At 1000yds, that amounts to about a 1" error. At 100 yds, that is a 1/10th of 1" error. Dont sweat the little things, my man.

With mechanical offset, I'm referring to the difference between line of sight vs line of bore/bullet path. When I mentioned "1/2" ", I was using a rough example (not an exact calculation). What I'm getting at is that if you mis-measure the scope bore height by 1/16" (for example), it might only affect the actual bullet impact by around a 1/2", at 1000 yds(for example). The point Im getting at is that unless you shoot ELR, a 1/16" or less miscalculation of scope bore height will be such a small, samll error in the ballistic program that it doesnt warrant any more thought over it.

The impact of mechanical offset over distance is easily seen with any ballistics program. Im too lazy to verifythe actual numbers but do know from past experience that a miscalculation of, say, 1/16" might equate to about a half inch at 1000yds. *edit- what distance are we talking about? AR shooting 556/223?