Range report- after working on rifle

[oldsmellhound]

Okay,

So I spent some time in the past 2 months working on accurizing my New Frontier Cascade Magnum .45 cal. I've had it for 2 years, and just was never happy with the accuracy I was getting. Average 100 yard groups were in the 6" range, although I did shoot some 4" groups along the way. With the help of some wise people from this site I made some improvements.

First I used a file to remove excess stock material up to the first lug to free-float the barrel.

[oldsmellhound]

Then I used a glass bedding kit I got at midwayusa to bed the action. I might have gotten a little carried away with the bedding compound, but it seems to be okay.

[oldsmellhound]

Here's a pic of an average group I was shooting last fall before I did all this:

[oldsmellhound]

Here's a 5 shot, 100 yard group I shot yesterday. The load was:

195 grain .357 Dead Center
100 grains FFFG 777
Fed. 209A primer





This was the first time I've tried out Dead Centers, and I was pleasantly surprised. I had heard some stories from others about bad accuracy, but they seemed to shoot really well out of my rifle - a good hot, flat-shooting load, and they seemed to be very consistent.

[oldsmellhound]

Another load that seemed to shoot very well was:

10mm 200 grain XTP
Harvestor sabot
95 grains FFFG 777
Fed. 209A primer

[oldsmellhound]

I like shooting 5 shot groups, but I wanted to experiment some, so I didn't have time to shoot 5 times with each load. One disapointment I had was with the Variflame system. I bought it on sale hoping that also would increase accuracy. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's made by Precision Rifle (same company that makes Dead Centers) and it's basically a brass cup that is shaped like a 209 primer and holds a small rifle or small pistol primer. It promises better accuracy and less fouling. The less fouling part is true, but I'm not sure about the accuracy.

I fired 10 rounds with it, and out of 10 I had 2 misfires. Out of the 8 times it fired, at least 2 of those 8 had noticealbe lag times between the "pop" of the primer and the "BOOM" of the shot. This probably caused me to flinch a bit and might have messed up the group I shot with them.



Personally, 2 misfires out of 10 is not acceptable to me. I'll give up a little in accuracy to know that the rifle is going BOOM every time I pull the trigger. So after that, I switched over to the Federal 209's for the rest of the session.

[Semisane]

Looking good Smelly, amazing what a little tweaking will do.

[oldsmellhound]

Overall, I've seen a huge improvement in accuracy. I think that if I had more time to tweak some of the loads, I could have dialed it in even more. I'll have to wait until next time..... Also, I doubt that if the rifle was capable of shooting 1" 100 yard groups that I could shoot that well. I've never been able to shoot better than 1.5" - 2" groups at 100 yards with any rifle. It's mostly due to a mild case of flinchitis I developed after too many years of shooting full-power 12 gauge slugs out of a lightweight gun for deer hunting. My range sessions back then usually went:

5 shots
3 Tylenol
1 badly bruised shoulder for the next week

I've been working on it, but I still sometimes flinch a bit when shooting. I'm so happy I've gotten into ML's - they are truly addictive, especially now that I'm happy with how mine is shooting. As Mr. Whelen said "only accurate rifles are interesting".

Thanks to everyone on this site that has given me good advice! I can't wait to get out again and tinker some more!

[Semisane]

Yeah, those hard kickers will teach you some bad habits. Whenever I'm shooting hot loads I always bring along a .22 rimfire or my .22 Hornet. After a few rounds with a big kicker, I shoot a few rounds with the .22 to settle my technique down and get the trigger squeeze smooth again.

[falcon]

Hey, you did a real good bedding job on that gun.Made it a good shooter too.