DD78
Well-Known Fanatic
So just wanted to give an update on the upper since it has been built, tuned, and tested.
The first time I took it out, it wouldn't cycle no matter how much I opened up the gas block. Brought it over to the gunsmith and he took the gas block off and checked the gas port. He found that the gas port wasn't fully reamed so he touched that up, and then cleaned up the area around and under the gas block and then sealed it up. I then took the rifle back out to the range, tested it, and could only get it to hold open when the gas block was wide open. Went back, and he reamed out the port a few thousandths, and I ordered an Odin adjustable gas block. He installed everything, and then when I went out to test it again, I only had to open the gas block up a few clicks and it was holding open.
About a week later, I went out to my club and was doing some mag dumps, along with one round at a time to make sure that it held open each time. I also allowed the rifle to cool off completely, which isn't hard to do given the fact that I'm way up north and the day I did it was pretty damn cold. It still held open shooting just one round after the rifle completely cooled off. After that, I went over to the 50 yard range to start getting the optic zero'd in.
Next steps are to work up new loads for the various bullets I use. Once I find a long range load that works really well, I'll zero the rifle to that load, and then see how far off of center the hoser loads are, and also what 75 grain Hornady's do and input all that into Strelok. I'll run the final loads over the chronograph as well so that I have that data.
After all that's done, then it's time to start practicing with the rifle a lot. There are a few areas I've found watching video that add time onto each stage that I need to eliminate. Low ready isn't too bad, but port arms is horrible for me, and it's something that's easily fixed at home rather than out on the range. Coming into position with the rifle already up and on target is something that's plagued me with all three guns. I can shoot pretty good on the move, but running across a bay into another position is where I start adding unnecessary time. I can see in video's that I'm coming into the position, setting my feet, and only then bringing the rifle, pistol, or shotgun up. After watching videos of people that are way better than me, I can see that the gun is up before they get into the position. This is something that I can practice both at home, and by setting up some mock stages at my club.
The tough part is determining what a good par time is for whatever drill I want to do. With pistol it's easier because I have the Stoeger books which have par times, however with rifle and shotgun, no such books exist currently so I guess it's just a matter of me continually writing down and beating myself. I believe the first match I'll shoot in next season is at the beginning of April so I'll have about 3 months to practice. I also need to lose weight so exercise needs to be worked into the equation.
Forgot to add: the rifle shoots great. It's a hell of a lot lighter than what I was using, swings really nice, and the Razor HD is fantastic. I haven't even started drilling out the gas ports on the Armalite brake and it barely recoils. I probably won't start messing with the brake until it gets warmer out and will just keep practicing with the rifle to get used to it. It's amazing how much of a difference a lightened system is when compared to what I used this season, which was basically nothing lightened lol. I have a feeling this season will be a lot more fun now that I have an idea of how to improve and understand the game a lot more. Next upgrade is going to be the pistol, but that might not be until the end of the season unless I close a huge deal.
The first time I took it out, it wouldn't cycle no matter how much I opened up the gas block. Brought it over to the gunsmith and he took the gas block off and checked the gas port. He found that the gas port wasn't fully reamed so he touched that up, and then cleaned up the area around and under the gas block and then sealed it up. I then took the rifle back out to the range, tested it, and could only get it to hold open when the gas block was wide open. Went back, and he reamed out the port a few thousandths, and I ordered an Odin adjustable gas block. He installed everything, and then when I went out to test it again, I only had to open the gas block up a few clicks and it was holding open.
About a week later, I went out to my club and was doing some mag dumps, along with one round at a time to make sure that it held open each time. I also allowed the rifle to cool off completely, which isn't hard to do given the fact that I'm way up north and the day I did it was pretty damn cold. It still held open shooting just one round after the rifle completely cooled off. After that, I went over to the 50 yard range to start getting the optic zero'd in.
Next steps are to work up new loads for the various bullets I use. Once I find a long range load that works really well, I'll zero the rifle to that load, and then see how far off of center the hoser loads are, and also what 75 grain Hornady's do and input all that into Strelok. I'll run the final loads over the chronograph as well so that I have that data.
After all that's done, then it's time to start practicing with the rifle a lot. There are a few areas I've found watching video that add time onto each stage that I need to eliminate. Low ready isn't too bad, but port arms is horrible for me, and it's something that's easily fixed at home rather than out on the range. Coming into position with the rifle already up and on target is something that's plagued me with all three guns. I can shoot pretty good on the move, but running across a bay into another position is where I start adding unnecessary time. I can see in video's that I'm coming into the position, setting my feet, and only then bringing the rifle, pistol, or shotgun up. After watching videos of people that are way better than me, I can see that the gun is up before they get into the position. This is something that I can practice both at home, and by setting up some mock stages at my club.
The tough part is determining what a good par time is for whatever drill I want to do. With pistol it's easier because I have the Stoeger books which have par times, however with rifle and shotgun, no such books exist currently so I guess it's just a matter of me continually writing down and beating myself. I believe the first match I'll shoot in next season is at the beginning of April so I'll have about 3 months to practice. I also need to lose weight so exercise needs to be worked into the equation.
Forgot to add: the rifle shoots great. It's a hell of a lot lighter than what I was using, swings really nice, and the Razor HD is fantastic. I haven't even started drilling out the gas ports on the Armalite brake and it barely recoils. I probably won't start messing with the brake until it gets warmer out and will just keep practicing with the rifle to get used to it. It's amazing how much of a difference a lightened system is when compared to what I used this season, which was basically nothing lightened lol. I have a feeling this season will be a lot more fun now that I have an idea of how to improve and understand the game a lot more. Next upgrade is going to be the pistol, but that might not be until the end of the season unless I close a huge deal.
