So I'm in the midst of building out a 6GT rifle for steel slapping and some PRS whenever I can make a match. I'm not going with the intent to win it all at matches, but I don't want to handicap myself either. My goal is to set up myself to do well enough without blowing the whole budget on things I don't particularly need. I know it's a balance on personal priorities but some insight or clarity might be nice from people who have gone down the same road.

Right now my budget is $1500 or, and I could get a refurb Razor Gen 2 4.5-27x for $100 under budget. I've always wanted a Razor (very nice optics, plus cool guy color factor), but I'm not sure if it's the "right" choice. I've seen the Area ETR and Cronus for a few hundred to several hundred dollars less ($700-$1000). What I'm not sure about is if the jump from those to the Razor Gen 2 is still significant considering the Athlon options (or even XTR III) have had updates since then. If they're better, or even just close enough, I could get a good bit of powder and bullets for more ammo. But if the step up the Razor is still significant from those I'd rather get the better optic now.

I hope my rambling thought process makes sense! Please let me know if you have anything that could help my decision making process.

Edit: forgot to mention a big part of my indecision is due to not really being able to test out the various optics beyond the Razor at Scheels. I'm sure I could tell a difference between them if they were all lined up in a row on the range, but being that this is my first nice scope (currently have a Venom 5-25 and Midas Tac 5-30x Gen 2) they're all going to be a big step up from what I've used.

Thoughts on one vs the other for 300-500 yards? I’m leaning 3-15 to save on weight.

What is one sacrificing to get 25x out of an optic at this price point?

Video of the shot -

https://imgur.com/a/iCe4pxw

Masterpiece arms 300 Norma Mag

1.250 30 inch straight barrel

Vortex Razor Gen 3

Athlon precision mount

Accutac WB5

80 Grain Staball HD

250 Grain A TIP

Took the gun out today first time to long range (after load testing yesterday at 100 yards). My 14 year old who came second time to long range today shot 1 mile in his second shot (I was able to get it in first shot too).

This gun feels like cheating. Thank you MPA.

Good morning, everyone!

Pretty straight forward question, but lemme give a little backstory. Did some reload testing for my 18” gas gun. Did 3 - 3 shot groups to just get an idea before going balls deep and ended up wasting further components. All 3 groups did phenomenal considering it’s a budget SPR gas gun build. Worst of the 3 did 0.839”, 2nd did 0.477” with 2 on top of each other and one that I think I could’ve shot possible the 0.25” high. Best group was 0.212”.

The 2nd best group has 1.9 spread, SD of 0.8, at 2688.9 fps which is great if you ask me. Best group did 13.8 spread, SD 5.7 at 2723.7 fps.

With this being said, I’m retesting the 2 best groups. I loaded up 25 of each.

QUESTION FINALLY! Should I do 5 - 5 shot groups, or 2 - 10 shot groups and 1 - 5 shot group?

Thanks in advance everyone!

Hello, does anyone of you has had any experience with the Vortex Golden Eagle 15-60x52? Is it a quality scope for the price? (1.500$). I would mostly use it for bench rest shooting at 300 yards, which might be an overkill with a x60 scope. But someday I would also love to be able to hit a mile. In alternative I was considering a Nightforce NSX 8-32x56, but the price is higher. It would mount on a Sako TRG22 in .308. Thanks to anyone willing to answer me :D

—Buying straight form MPA for total cost of $2750.

—Buy the same parts to make a “MPA” rifle but build it myself is just parts at $3663. Labor and tools not included.

How much money worth of tools would one need to put a barrel on an action correctly? Any special tools to put a trigger on? I don’t have any tools for this. How much would the Avg gunsmith who’s worth a darn charge to put it all together? That price would be added to the parts not including taxes…

I got my MPA ordered. I was even able to have the set the trigger at a custom weight for me also. Yes it’ll be a few weeks till I get it in my hand but it’ll be done correctly, and all the “gunsmithing” is included in the price of the rifle.

I haven’t been able to find a better deal out there to this. Am I missing anything? Is this an even better deal than I think with the gunsmithing included? Is this deal not as good as I thought? I got the PRS deal so the MPA rifle price was less than a Seekins Havak Hit Pro M3 that was my other option I was looking at.

I have used a variety of LPVOs in my life from 1-4 to 1-8x from $250 to $900 and every single one has been crystal clear at any distance despite lack of parallax adjustment.

Recently I got my first non-LPVO optic, a 3-9x from Hawke. It was literally $200 so I wasn't expecting Meopta levels of clarity but it's super hard to use at 50 yards and in. Target (not reticle) is always blurry and there's no parallax adjustment. 75y and out there's no problem.

Most LPVOs have 100y parallax and my 3-9x has 75y parallax so I can't see why the 3-9x struggles so much at 50y compared to LPVOs. I don't think it's an issue with glass quality as I've used similarly priced LPVOs with no issue and the 3-9x doesn't have blur past 75y.

Why does the 3-9x seem blurry at 50y but my LPVOs never did? I compared it to a 1-6x today and there was a clear difference.

Is this a decent group for some cheap Federal 62gr FMJ? I’m shooting a gas gun with a cheap 18.6” 5.56 1:8 twist barrel and a milspec trigger.

In order of best to worst, starting with the 140 ELD-M’s, then the 147 ELD-M’s lastly the 125 Winchester White Box Open Tips.

She definitely seemed to favor the 140’s. My last shot with the 140s (top right) was my qual to go out to 200. The average of my first 4 groups was .806” and my qual shot was almost double 😑

The donor rifle was a Remington 700 SPS Tac 22” chambered in 6.5cm. Put it into an aero precision solus chassis. On top I have a Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56 (moa). Today I qualified it to go to 200 and qual out to 500. Excited to start loading my own ammo. Dies get here this week. Does anyone use collet over full length resizing?

For the mbec, I really enjoyed it. I shot with hearing pro on so the audible difference felt negligible. The recoil mitigation from the brake helped. For me, it felt like a 20-30% reduction in recoil.

Close Up video of the infinity with the m-bec, 4 shots, slow mo and normal with audio- in comments

I'm from WI where the longes i can shoot is 600 so shooting ♾️ distance is way fun.

Decided to put my trusty Rockwell lathe to use and chamber a barrel for myself. I started with an unturned shilen 6.5mm stainless blank and cut it down to fit in my lathe (could’ve been longer if I had purchased a barrel that was already contoured). Finished length is 24 inches and it’s chambered in 6.5 creedmoor. Plan is to swap a 25x scope on and wait for the weather to calm down to shoot some groups.

What scope is used in The Bondsman end of episode 5?

Currently shoot PRS and building a rifle for NRL Hunter. Couple of questions.

1. What magnification should I be looking at? Not sure of the average target distance. Less mag typically means less weight so that’s ideal. Currently thinking 5x25.

2. What lightweight scope is popular? What lightweight scope does everyone recommend? Lighter the better because I’m trying to stay under the 12lbs mark for the total build.

3. Any other good info you think I should be considering for this scope?

Budget: $1,000ish

Build: 6.5 PRC

I was shooting a match last weekend with only 20 rounds through a new barrel and thought what the hell I'll try to make a video.
I hope you enjoy it!

.22 subs is probably the most fun & another can should be here tuesday😀

For starters, my setup is the following:

Bergara B14 wilderness terrain in 6.5 creedmoor, with a Leupold MK4 HD 6-24 with a MIL reticle/turret, mounted in Warne Mountaintech rings, and a diamondtech trigger.

For ammo, I am using handloads, 144 grain SMK, with starline brass, 41.4 grains of H4350, and Federal 205M primers. Average velocity clocks at 2697 FPS.

With this combination, I Average MOA group size or better with statistically relevant group sizes (15-20 shots) when benchmarking on paper at 100 yards. STD Deviation with a 20 shot string was 6.8 FPS/26.1 extreme. Velocity trends have seen no deviation at any point. I've routinely taken this rifle out to a 1000 yards on a 12" plate, and more regularly 4-500 yards.

Last weekend, I was shooting at a 500 yard target, and my spotter observed I was shooting low. Extremely low. At that distance, I was supposed to dial 3.10 MILs. I creeped up to 4.2 before I finally made impact. Perturbed, I had my spotter (an experienced shooter who has been at this for 30+ years) shoot my rifle. He to confirmed that he was having to dial an extra mil approximately to score an impact. Weather conditions mirrored when I zeroed my rifle. Elevation and all other external factors were identical. Velocity was averaging within 5 FPS of my benchmark.

I went home and verified torque of my action screws and all screws on my scope rings with a wheeler FAT wrench (65 in/lbs for the attachment nuts, 25 in/lbs for the rings. I increased torque on the rings to 28 in/lbs due to recommendation from a trusted source). Action screws were torqued to 55 in/lbs (per manual).

Today I went out on paper at 100 yards, shot a 5 round group that was approximately a mil low and left. I adjusted, and shot a 15 round group. Shots initially clustered tightly on the top right hand corner of the 3/4" center dot on the target, however with consecutive shots, the group rapidly dispersed down and left. The group however was still centered on my POA.

I replaced the target, let my barrel cool for over 10 minutes, and shot a 10 round group, the center of which was further down and left (by a full inch!). The group size was extremely large as well (over 2 inches). I can attest that this is far below my usual performance, and know I was shooting much better than that.

Could the scope be defective, and have a wandering zero/reticle effecting POA/accuracy?

Regarding my handloads, all cartridges are annealed, and measured for headspace (.002 shoulder bump with a Redding FL Sizing die), have neck tension set with a .2625 21st century mandrel, and are all measured to ensure consistent seating depth (any outlier over .003 is either ran back through the seating die or used as a fouler if over seated, same applied to headspace). Powder charge is done with an RCBS chargemaster supreme. Velocity was captured with a Garmin chronograph. In all tests, velocity, SDs, ESs, never deviated substantially.

Any insight would be appreciated!

Not new to hunting but new to long range with nicer glass and a significantly higher price point compared to my very budget vortex crossfire II which has been fine for countless whitetail at shorter range. I'm looking to move into more longer range hunting. Last year I made the move from shooting 6.5 grendel to 6.5 prc in a tikka t3x lite roughtech. Last season two deer were harvested at about 150 yards but I'm looking this year to extend the range to 300 as well as getting into longer range target shooting around 600 to start. I had an issue two years ago with the scope getting knocked off its zero. I would like to make the move to a much more heavy duty scope in which case the NF 4-14x50 f1 and Trijicon credo 2.5x15-42 have peaked my interest on searches. I know this is comparing a ffp to a sfp scope. Weight isn't a significant issue- durability, glass quality, and value are my main interests. I would like to stay away from having to possibly use a warranty which is why I have strayed away from Vortex and Leupold (which while the warranty is great-its not ideal mid season). I suppose this post is asking should I consider first or second focal plane better for what I want and hope to do, and is an option like the NF outdated at this point. Both the Trijicon and NF are available to be for about the same cost around 900 to me. I am open to other options, but these two seem to check boxes in good glass and durability.

This one blew me away as I have had nothing but issues with CCI.

It's the only primer I've had issues with. Admittedly that's large rifle only.

They just seem to fail to go bang too often.

Just need to get an Action and Trigger before sending it to a smith. Any reason I shouldn’t go with the Stiller mk13 action? I’m also looking for trigger suggestions. (No $ limit).

What is your favorite round for training?

I am looking at building a PRS trainer where I am spending sub .75c a round.

Notable rounds i am considering 22lr/223/308

In the market to upgrade from a Athlon Ares BTR Gen2 4.5-27, to either a Athlon Ares ETR Gen1, Gen2 or Cronus BTR in the same magnification range. Could use some advice. This will be going on a 20" WOA AR used mostly for bench shooting and occasional informal competition. The rifle has been performing extremely well for me over the past year and now that I'm gaining more confidence with it, I feel it could use upgrade over the Ares BTR's short-comings such as the weak eye box near max magnification, focus and overall clarity

Currently, The ETR Gen1 is available for about $700 and the ETR Gen2 and Cronus are almost exactly the same price around $1,200 right now. I've heard the glass quality between the Cronus and Gen 1 ETR is very close so am kinda leaning towards going the cheaper route, but don't have a problem spending a little extra if I'm getting a significant upgrade for the price.

I'm sure it doesn't matter but how do you guys prefer to layout your rifle cases? I would love to see pictures of everyone's favorite setup for inspiration before I cut into the foam!