7mm PDW

We've been having a discussion about PDWs here:

I am just quickly posting my proposal, which is to use the Belgium VBR PDW with a cartridge that is a .460 Rowland necked down and shortened to accept this bullet: 7mm PDW

Which gives me these ballistics at 305 MPa pressure. Decent chance to hit somebody @ 150m and supersonic suppressive fire out to ~350m

 Tabular trajectory data at Std.ICAO Atmosphere
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 Gun / Ammunition : 7 mm PDW - 45 Rowland
 Bullet           : 7 mm PDW
 Bullet weight    : 73 grains or 4.73 Grams
 Muzzle velocity  : 631 m/s
 Crosswind speed  : 4 m/s
 Ballistic Coefficient(s) (G1):
 C1=0.250@V>680 m/s;
 C2=0.240@V>510 m/s;
 C3=0.230@V>340 m/s;
 C4=0.180@V>170 m/s;
 C5=0.160@V>0 m/s;


 Optimum trajectory information :
 Optimum sight-in range (X) = 102 m
 with max. ordinate above LOS at range (M)= 63 m
 and max. point blank range (P)= 117 m.
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 Sight-in clicks, 1 click = 1.0 cm/100 m or 0.394 in/100 m
 Height of sight above bore axis = 3.175 cm or 1.25 inch
 Gun is zeroed-in at 100 m,
 by sighting-in at level firing
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 Range  Velo Time of  Energy   Path    Deflection    Total  Sight correction  Target
        city  flight            to    at crosswind    drop   for setting new   lead
                                LOS    of 4.5 m/s              zero range     10 m/s
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
·Meter   m/s     s    Joule     cm     cm      MOA     cm    Clicks     MOA      m  ·
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    0   631  0.0000    941    -3.2    0.0   -----     0.0   ------    -----    0.00
|   25   604  0.0400    863    +0.3    0.2    0.25     0.8     -1.3    -0.43    0.40
|   50   578  0.0819    790    +2.2    1.2    0.81     3.2     -4.3    -1.49    0.82
M   62   566  0.1029    756    +2.4    2.1    1.16     5.0     -3.9    -1.33    1.03
|   75   552  0.1264    722    +2.1    3.4    1.54     7.5     -2.8    -0.97    1.26
X  100   528  0.1733    660     0.0    6.6    2.27    13.9      0.0     0.00    1.73
P  116   513  0.2044    622    -2.5    9.2    2.72    19.1     +2.2    +0.75    2.04
|  125   504  0.2223    601    -4.4   10.8    2.97    22.5     +3.5    +1.20    2.22
|  150   481  0.2732    546   -11.1   15.8    3.63    33.5     +7.4    +2.54    2.73
|  175   458  0.3260    495   -20.3   21.7    4.27    46.9    +11.6    +3.98    3.26
|  200   436  0.3815    450   -32.4   28.8    4.96    63.3    +16.2    +5.57    3.82
|  225   416  0.4405    409   -48.0   37.5    5.73    83.2    +21.3    +7.33    4.41
|  250   397  0.5022    373   -67.2   47.4    6.51   106.6    +26.9    +9.24    5.02
|  275   380  0.5664    341   -90.1   58.4    7.30   133.8    +32.8   +11.26    5.66
|  300   364  0.6337    313  -117.4   70.7    8.11   165.4    +39.1   +13.46    6.34
|  325   350  0.7038    290  -149.4   84.3    8.92   201.7    +46.0   +15.81    7.04
|  350   337  0.7766    269  -186.4   99.2    9.74   242.9    +53.3   +18.31    7.77
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M = Peak vs. L.O.S, X = Set Zero, P = Max. Point Blank Range
Elevation above Angle of Site (0.0 deg.)  = 0.0977 deg.

Technique, technique, technique, technique

I spent several hours today with a friend working on zeroing the scope again and again and working on my technique. Several things i have learned over the last few days:

• start where the scope is too close and move backwards
• have your head upright - if need be, bring your chin down on the stock and then move downwards
• find the brightest spot with no shades at all. The two above techniques are basically just helps with that

I have also finally sanded down the part of the stcok where the barrel was touching on the left hand side, so now it is finally free. I managed to get some nice groups today, so I am beginning to feels mildly optimistic about my shooting. I definitely feel less adrift. I ended the day on a group of three around the Bull's Eye - covering maybe the area of a 0.5€ coin.

Accutrigger adjustment

I finally disassembled the gun for the first time just now and had a look at adjusting the trigger pull downwards. Again this is an incredibly primitive assembly. One supposedly needs a specialised tool but a small screwdriver did the job nicely (one needs to turn a spring in a thread). I keep being amazed how Savage get such precision with such primitive means. But it explains why they are affordable.

The trigger pull is now way down and I am looking forward to trying it out.

Instructions can be found here

Shotgun!

My club had a second hand left hand semi auto Remington for sale which I took out for a test drive and could not resist. So I have put down money on it and will be very slowly acquiring it. This is waay cheaper than i foresaw acquiring a decent semi auto shotgun, which is what I wanted.

On scoping again

Well, I thought I had understood it - I hadn't. Today I think I finally got a clue. My score improving by 30 points would seem to be an indicator.

Here is what I learned:

Find the spot in the distance from the scope where you have a clear picture. No back rim of haze around the image, plain clear image. This is more straightforward than one thinks. Where I fell down is that I did not realize that if one goes too far forward things will start to haze up again. I used to keep a bit of a haze around the image because I thought that allowed me to keep things centred. Well, it didn't. keep a clear image in the scope. If it is too dull, go back, if it has rims, go forward.

I should now be able to, with a bit more practice, reliably shoot and 8 or higher. at 50m that is a 1" circle, good enough for shooting bunnies as I am told. Also I am a bit shocked. German hunters claim that 'a beermat with 3 shots at 100m' is good enough. I'd prefer the 1€ coin, thanks a lot. After all we want to reliably kill.

The Savage has been fixed.

Oh and boy does she shoot. As to the problem: turns out that the extractor consists of cheap pressed pieces. A mechanical wizard friend of mine got her working in two hours and now she extracts without any major problems. I fired ~180 rounds last Sunday and had to maybe repeat again for 5 of them and had to extract one with the knife. This is very acceptable.

She is also by now proudly wearing a moderator and a guns sling. I'll post a piccie shortly.

I also had gotten confused about how to use a scope properly which got explained to me last Sunday and wohei all of a sudden my scores are improving majorly :D

I have also gotten an invite to go after rabbits in Wexford and am working on shooting permissions at a colleague's family's neighbour. Chuffed I am.

Experiences with my Savage

I received my Savage in June. I absolutely love it. I shoot better with it than with the club's benchrest rifles. I have not used it much, mostly because the extractor doesn't work, which results in pulling 90% of cartridges fired from the barrel with a screwdriver. I have a kit sitting at home to replace that and then we will see.

I am told that that is a not uncommon problem with Savage. I am willing to accept that for the overall precision, unbeatable trigger.

I have not yet bought a moderator as I don't have a hunting opportunity yet.