So some might recall that I purchased a STEYR pro hunter 30-06 that was found to be...well...less than accurate / less than consistent (as were other tested STEYR rifles of the same model) and I was given a store credit for my original purchase price.
After a long deliberation and the handling of numerous fire arms including Tikka, M18, Rem 700, etc - I settled on a SAUER 100 in 30/06 - who offer a dedicated 3 shot MOA but more importantly - would apparently shoot that MOA with 180gn projectiles.
The SAUER 100 is under 3kgs and at the lower end of their particular market share (rrp is approx $1200) - but the rifle feels stout and refined. The fore end feels solid - compared to some others like the M18, Steyr - on par I'd say with the tikka.
The rifle was purchased as a walk around rifle, so the barrel is obviously a light weight, mag holds 4+1 in 30/06.
For settling in the rifle - I did some swapping around of scopes and simply bolted on a cheap 3x9 bushnell dusk to dawn I had lying around - they are very lightweight and semi decent for carrying. I needed another rifle to shoot whilst this one cooled down between shots, so I put a LEO VX2 6-18 on my 223 for some testing as well.
I decided to purchase some factory rounds on the way up - some Remington and Federal in both 06 and 223. I did notice that 5 shots in quick succession was approaching my limit for this barrel as in - was getting
very hot to touch - about 6 minutes to cool back down again.
- Setting up SAUER
- Sauer 06.JPG (178.76 KiB) Viewed 7893 times
After sighting in with 4 shots - I cleaned barrel with lightly oiled patches and I moved the bench to 105m mark and immediately noticed that the cross hairs on the bushnell were a fraction to thick and obscuring the black dot in the centre of the target - si I tried to align the same gaps on each side of the target.
Here's shot numbers 5, 6 and 7 with 150's gn factory ammo.
- 150gn at 100m.jpg (125.09 KiB) Viewed 7893 times
- 150s at 100m measured.JPG (107.03 KiB) Viewed 7893 times
Saying I was happy at this point was an understatement but the real test was yet to happen - the 180's.
I shot 2x 180's and couldnt site them in the scope, so just in case - I shot another 2 at the bottom line of the target to ensure they were away from first 2.
- 180gn at 100m.jpg (126.28 KiB) Viewed 7893 times
I then decided to push things a bit and moved back to 190m and fired 5 x 180's.
- 180gn corelokt at 190m.jpg (117.11 KiB) Viewed 7893 times
I'm pretty darn impressed with the accuracy for factory ammo with a $100 scope. I'm now keen to get back into the reloading room. Being that its a hunter - I am not going to go silly...rephrase - I will TRY and not make this something it's not
BUT there is a down side - I must say...I have shot maybe 7 different 30/06s in my time. This thing boots harder than any of those previous offerings. So much so, that at one stage - I thought id broken something on me and I can feel the brusies building up... that being said - I Dont really care. Too much fun. This is what the STEYR SHOULD Have done!!!! Although the entire steyr debacle was a shame and a pain - I am well pleased with the outcome. Where is the ice...
PS - This is the first time ive had a really decent scope on the 223 varmint and it did ok as well
- 223 at 100m 60gn with leo scope.JPG (107.16 KiB) Viewed 7893 times
- 223 at 150m 2 diff projs.jpg (133.8 KiB) Viewed 7893 times