Roskoe

RA - did you ever try those 150 gr. OX bullets that have the NP3 coating on them? I used these in a .30-378 Wby a few years back and was able to safey get over 4K out of them in a 28" Hart barrel. Even at these speeds, the Barnes platform won't blow up! The petals break off, and become secondary missles - but they blow clear through an elk on a broadside rib shot.

RedAllison

Roskoe by "NP3 OX bullets" I suppose you mean the Lazerheads by Lazzeroni? They are ALL I use in the gun! I don't see a need for anything else. This will be my 3rd season with the Lazerheads and they group .5" @ 100yds and 3.5" @ 400yds, the best the 130Xbullets (NP3 plated as well) would do @ 100yds was 1.5". I NEVER blew up a 130 either, I just went too the 150 because of the extra accuracy John Lazzeroni promised me. Some hate the man, many never met him. I have talked on the phone and emailed him several times and he KNOWS his chit, doesnt lie and will tell you the good with the bad. He swears the 150 Lazerhead will out penetrate 180 Nosler Parts, I believe him. They sure wont stay in a whitetail, even at 400+ yds and driven lengthwise! If I were goin elk huntin tomorrow I wouldn't hesitate to take the gun as it sits, with the 150s.

ej, I have the "poorboys" edition Lazz. I bought a first run Sako TRG-S (even has Stoeger on the barrel, before Sako started importin em) and will probably be buried with that rifle! Lazz also built the Sakos in the 7mm Firebird, which is an equally BADAZZ round. Savage built about 500 shortaction Patriot Lazzs. For now the only gun available in standard production is Lazzeroni's own guns, which are now in the $6k range! [:@] I have a friend who has a large lease in KS and he bought an L2000 in the 257 Scramjet for those BRUTES he hunts near Manhattan, KS. He just HAD to have one after seeing my Lazz when I hunted with him a couple years ago out there. Other custom makers offer Lazz calibers as well, reamers are available. On Lazz's website one of his customers even has a custom barrel in his Patriot caliber on a TC Encore! THAT is an interesting thought and would probably be the cheapest way to go about one.

And yeah Roskoe, that NP3 plating is some BAD STUFF!!! It's head and shoulders above other coatings, it works, eliminates fouling and substantially reduces pressures.

Damn all this talk is gettin me ready for fall,
RA

Roskoe

The ones I am talking about are made by Arizona Ammunition. They get Barnes to make up a special undersized XBT bullet, and then send it to Robar for the NP3 coating. I think the Lazerhead bullets came along later but are a very similar projectile. One thing you may wish to consider: barrel life really suffers with the NP3 coated bullets. It isn'tvery good with cartridges of this class anyway, but it might be reduced to 500 rounds with a coating this hard on the bullet. Get a good load developed -fire a few shots each season to confirm zero - fire a few more to fill your tags . . . . should last quite awhile.

RedAllison

Roskoe that's basically what I have always done from day one with this gun. Zeroed it, very slowly, and it just hasn't required anymore shots. From day one I put a Swarovski 6x24x50PVS on it and lastyear switched too Optiloc's after my Burris' were lose when I returned from WY with the gun! I always recheck zero each fall and maybe crank a round or two at long range for practice but typically I don't shoot it that much. I will shoot a box or two each season but that is because I shoot that many does here in west TN with it.

I asked John about barrel life and he told me that if I kept the bore clean didn't overheat it, I could realistically expect at a minimum of 1500rounds and more like 2000 rounds of life in the barrel before any noticable loss of accuracy is experienced. He said under perfect conditions that some Warbirds might go as much as 2500 rounds. That's AMAZING for a 4k fps big game rifle. And if/when I need another barrel it will be sent wherever it needs to go for the best, wont hesitate. When you think about it, over a decade or more the cost of a barrel is cheap! It's Lazzeroni's ammo that is expensive [:@] @ $5 a trigger squeeze THAT is the most expensive aspect of the gun. LOL say I get 2000 rounds out of the barrel, well a $500 barrel is CHEAP compared too the $10k those 2000 rounds cost me! [:'(]

The bullets you are talking about are probably built by the same people that build them for Lazz. His too are undersized on a lathe and brought back up too spec with the NP3. They work GREAT and do a bangup job by keeping down pressure and still flying accurately.

Leter eat,
RA

Roskoe

RA - I don't know about the Lazzeroni barrel life, but the 30-378 Weatherby is normallyabout 1,000 to 1,200 rounds. The NP3 coating, according to the folks at Arizona Ammunition, is going to cut that in half. They are currently looking for an alternative to the NP3, but nothing seems to be so durable and slippery at the same time.

I have sent internal trigger parts from Colt 1911 pistols to Robar in the past for the NP3 coating. Without doing anything else to the gun, the trigger pull will typicallybe reduced byabout 25% after NP3. And the trigger life will be double of what it would be otherwise.

I hope your gun gets better barrel life with these bullets than the .30-378's. But even if it doesn't, sounds like you will get a lot of use out of rifle. Have you ever run the numbers through a good ballistic program (like Exbal)? Amazing trajectory.

RedAllison

Roskoe I have put the "numbers" into every ballistics program I could find and they all basically said the same thing... it's one bad mother. But for me the best "program" is on the range. I know that my gun prints the 150 Lazerheads appx +2.7" @ 100yds (.5" group) and they are then -2.5" @ 400yds (3" groups). With a 24x scope and a steady rest in all my stands (most of my longrange stands are either large ladders or shooting houses) takin "quarter milers +" is childsplay and very effective. It wasn't that easy for me a few years ago when I was doing the same thing with 12x scopes on 7mags!

I think it really hit home for me last fall while in WY. Our mulies were killed under 125yds, but the antelope were over 300yds and my particular buck at 367 with a decent wind perpendicular too us. I didn't have to account for the wind, the bullet was only pushed about 3" right of target when I shot. Had I been doing that with any of my other rifles I would have had several inches of drop to account for as well as at least half a foot of wind drift, if not 10"+. Speed is gooooooood!!!



Goter did,
RA