200 Yard Surprise

I was working at the range the other day when In walked Roy and Pam.  They are a couple I've known for awhile and they always have interesting rifles.  We chit chatted for a few minute before I got called away to check the line.  A little while later Roy asked me if I wanted to fire his rifle.  He's a lefty and I shoot right and I didn't want him to have to change sides so I politely declined.  After a little coaxing I gave in and said "sure!  Why not."

On the bench sat what I think he said was a Rock River Arms Precision in .223 with a Geissele trigger and Bushnelle Elite scope, and unknown bipod.  We just slid the rifle and rear bag over to the left side and I was ready to go.  He had a series of targets set at the 200 yard line with the lower right one unfired on.  It took me a minute to find the target with the scope set at 25 power and some squirming around to get everything set.  Bang!  A little high and just left of center.  I grinned, told him I was in the bull and was getting up when Roy insisted a make a group of it.  I didn't know what size the target was but I was pretty impressed with where the first bullet landed and not disappointed with the next two.

After Pam retrieved the target I realized just how good that rifle was.  Three shots, .59" center to center at 200 yards!  Holy Cow!  Roy told me to keep the target so here it is.  The best 200 yard shooting I've ever done and with somebody else's rifle.  I'm looking at the AR platform in a whole new light!

Rubber Band Snap Cap!

I was doing a little work on my Savage 93R17 the other day and decided to check the trigger pull.  My trigger pull scale consists of an old milk jug and some string that I hang off the trigger with the action out of the stock.  You simply add or subtract water out of the jug until it just barely breaks the trigger.  Then I weigh the jug of water on my wife's kitchen scale that is accurate to an ounce.  With the trigger adjusted as light as it would go it broke at 3.25 pounds.

Not bad, but what does this have to do with snap caps you ask?  Well, during testing I threw a fired case in the chamber just to make sure nothing bad happened to the firing pin or chamber.  As I was testing, my super-human observation skills noticed the cocking piece on the bolt slamming forward!  Holy cow!  Who would have ever thought?  But, hey, that gave me an idea.  Instead of beating the crap out of an old case with every pin strike, I wrapped a rubber band around the back of the bolt.  When the cocking piece or whatever you call it slams forward it's cushioned by the rubber band.  See the picture below.

The beauty is this can be used on many bolt actions, not just Savages.  Even better, I must have a hundred of these snap caps in my desk drawer!

Keep your stick on the ice.