M96 target

[in2anity]

That is a pretty rifle! Had a shoot with it yet?

Not yet
50 meter indoor shooting range probably no good for this baby
Waiting to my friend’s farm for 100/200m

If it’s St Mary’s - it’s a sh1t sight picture because some genius printed a billion shiny ink targets that a floodlight throws on to, and now they are stuck with them. Best thing you can do there is make you own targets, that don’t reflect. Kids finger paint in squares work a treat - great for a service rifle sight picture.

[Vince24]

That was my target

Well I agree it's a bit disappointing somehow, this is 92/100 and I have done much better with other rifles.
this was a front blade and S&B factory ammo.

Since then, I have replaced the front blade with a circular insert.
And I have a load development in mind:
41 to 43 grains of 2209 with a Lapua 136gn projectile.

We will see if it gets better!

Sorry - wasn't an attack, I'm sure you can shoot well. If the group doesn't come in substantially with such handloads and front globe, i'd be considering the condition of the barrel and/or peharps the bedding. By all accounts a swede should be sub 2 moa off the bench, even for x10 or more, over factory irons. They are renowned for their accuracy. Good luck and keep us posted!! PS with a blade, if you are going purely for groups,try a 6o'clock hold...

Don't worry, I am not easily offended;)

We all do what we can with what skills we have!

I would just say that there is a big gap between the accuracy that a rifle can theoritically achieve with a scope on a 3 shot group, and the accuracy that you get in real life on a 10 shots group, with iron sights, barreal heating and shooter's fatigue! I often see people showing off their 3 shots groups, but pics of 10 shots groups are less often seen

With experience I realise that trigger is also a very key element of accuracy and on that specific swede the trigger was quite inconsistent, someone had worked on it in the past... have had to change the trigger to an original military trigger (because it did not pass the Border Force trigger test when I imported the rifle ), it is heavier but consistent now.

[in2anity]

With enough practice, most sight pictures can be learned, so long as your eyesight is healthy, and you repeat the activity A LOT.

Not my shooting, but here is a recent 1.41moa 10 shot group from 200m, using a No4-223 + rear peep sight. A No4 fractory blade, with a gehmann 530-579-0 rear peep for astigmatism correction:

No4 223 + Gehmann 530-579-0

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And here is a double-bagged group from my No4-223 + central-No4:

No4 223 + Central No4

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So yar. As you can see, irons can be shot almost as well as scopes... so long as the sight picture is repeatable, as is your cycle.

About the trigger, again, pretty much any trigger can be learned. If you observe what happens on a digital trainer, a heavy two stage service trigger will often jump off to the right at the moment it breaks, but this is ok ... so long as you repeat this technique, from hundreds or thousands of repetitions. Dry fire is key.

[No1_49er]

The swede sure is a good shooter.
This is a ten-shot group when doing some load developement - M96, as issued open sights.
The 44mm group would comfortably fit inside the 50mm ten ring - a bit of sight adjustment coming up. I prefer a fairly fine 6 o/c hold.
Forgot to say - that's at 100 mtr.

[in2anity]

The swede sure is a good shooter.
This is a ten-shot group when doing some load developement - M96, as issued open sights.
The 44mm group would comfortably fit inside the 50mm ten ring - a bit of sight adjustment coming up. I prefer a fairly fine 6 o/c hold.

Bingo, that's what to expect from a factory Swede. Nicely done No1. And they pretty much all do that, idicating how well made they were. Less of a gamble when you buy one. And what an absolute dream of a feeder, they are so smooth and reliable.

A Swede snagged 2nd overall aggregate in the recent NSWRA SR Championship Std A - the cheeky bugger snuck the silver from me on day two, after a couple of bad rim jams (from deliberatly shorter flat base OALs loads DOH!) running my p14 ... rimmed cartridges are always riskier

[Vince24]

Nice 10 shots group!!

Interesting to see that it was obtained with a light projectile (107gr?)

I occasionnaly get awsome groups of 7 or 8 shots, but with 2 or 3 bad flyers. Or a superb group of 10, but off center. So I don't keep them, I only keep the targets with the best score. Average score of my collection, 89.7 /100 (I am working to improve that ) With iron sights It's just so hard to have at the same time the perfect group, no flyer, and dead center!!

One of my problems (other than poor shooting skills ) is that i have a lage collection of rifles, I try to shoot them all, but I shoot only once a month, so I don't spend much time with each of them. It's gonna be easier when kids leave or when I retire;) but then my eyes will be dead for good

Anyway, the important thing is that we love and enjoy our oldies and take good care of them for future generations!!

I'll conclude with a nice pic of an M96:

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