A quick trip to the range
So thanks to the first real cold front of the season, the weather in Texas has finally cooled off. With the winds subsiding to a gentle 0-5 mph, this made it a near-perfect day to make a quick trip to the firing range. I packed up my Howa 6mm Creedmoor bolt-action and headed off to the Bandera Gun Club for some quick shooting practice.
Since deer season for Texas is approaching, and with the first cool weather of the fall, I expected the range to be full of people sighting in their fired-once-a-year-rifles (nothing wrong with that) in preparation for that trophy buck haunting their dreams. Fortunately for me, there was hardly anyone there and I practically had the whole 100-yard range to myself. Isn’t it great when you can shoot when you like, and go downrange when you like, not having to cease fire and step away every 15 minutes when someone new needs to hang their target? Yes, very nice indeed.
So after checking my Athlon scope elevation and windage settings with a few 5-shot groups it was time to try out some PRS style practice shooting. I filled the 10-shot magazine, started my stopwatch, and fired all ten shots, starting with a cold barrel, in less than two minutes; both conditions are what one would encounter in a typical local PRS stage. Depending on the stage, you get two minutes for 10 shots, and you start with a cold barrel since you have been waiting for your turn long enough for your rifle to cool down.
All of this resulted in the 10-shot group shown below. Note the flyer in the upper right corner… This was the first shot which seems to be typical for this rifle (cold barrel). I think it may be a good idea to hold slightly under for the first shot to tighten up the group a bit. At any rate, not too shabby for a ‘cheap’ rifle shooting factory ammo at a moderate rate of fire.
Details:
100 yards to target
Howa 1500 6mm Creedmoor (rifle assembled by me)
Hornady 108gr ELD Match ammo
Oryx Chassis
Athlon Ares BTR Scope
JAMER Rear Bag Rider (bag rest)
Harris Bipod
MDT metal short-action magazine
10-shots in two minutes, magazine fed.
