standing. Parallax is adjusted by a side parallax dial. My criticisms of the scope are very minor. I found it tricky to spin the elevation knob one click at a time. On the other hand, the dial is easy to read and the tactile feedback is great. Normally, my biggest criticism of target/tactical knobs is that the set screws ultimately come loose and then get “mushy” – making you unsure if you just clicked or didn’t – you only know the knob turned. The only scope I have used thus far that didn’t exhibit this tendency is Nightforce. So far the March scope has not exhibited this irri- tating trait, but time will tell if it remains perfect in that regard. I mounted the March scope using
March scopes have a series of offset bars to count rotations. This, plus the zero stop feature, make it very easy to come to zero for long-range shots.
not an issue with the X-Bolt; the maga- zine of the X-Bolt will allow the same OAL as my Remington Model Seven. On the other hand, you can accidentally leave a detachable magazine at home, which is exactly what I did during one of my range trips. I fi tted the rifl e with a new scope
on the market that has made quite a splash in the long-range shooting world, a scope called March. Kelby’s is the current U.S. distributor for this scope. I mounted a tactical 2.5-25x42 scope on the .308 Varmint Stalker. You read that right: this scope has a 10x zoom ratio. These scopes are not cheap and seem designed to compete with the Night- force brand. Unlike the Nightforce, they are short, compact, and not nearly as heavy. In fact, when I fi rst opened the box, I thought this scope was just another ho-hum Japanese scope. The small size fooled me. The price made me think twice. The March Tactical models come
with adjustable turrets that are marked in MOA for two complete revolutions
(the second set of MOA labels is above the first). The rotation counters are marked with colored bars, so it is easy to see how many revolutions you have come up above your base zero. But even better, the elevation turret has a zero stop feature. After zeroing, turning a slot counter-clockwise until it stops will prevent the elevation knob from being turned lower. The tube is 30 millimeters (34 in higher magnifi cations) and has a whopping 100 MOA windage and elevation adjustment. Eye relief is 89-95 millimeters at 25 power. Weight is 1.6 pounds. The reticle on my scope is the MTR-1. This reticle has a series of hash marks that are spaced 2 MOA apart when the scope is set at 20x. One great feature of this scope is that the magni- fi cation is true magnifi cation; when the scope says 2.5x, it is 2.5, not 3.2. This means that cranking the scope to 25x means the 2 MOA hash marks subtend 25% less. So at 600 yards, they subtend 12 inches when set at 20x and 9.6 inches at 25x (12 multiplied by 20/25). The quality of the glass is out-
Table 1: Initial Groups Fired with the Browning X-Bolt Brand of Bullet Hornady
Weight / Load 150 GMX, factory
Hornady Hornady Hornady Hornady Hornady
Page 76
165 SST, 46 Varget 180 SST, 45 Varget 180 SST, 46 BLC2 165 SST, 48 BLC2 165 BTSP, factory
October — December 2011
Group Size 1.032"
0.642" 0.244" 0.648" 1.150" 0.184"
3 3 3 3 3
rings supplied by Browning (the rifl e does not come with them). The X-Bolt is so named because the pattern of screws on the receiver forms an “X.” I think this is a bit of marketing hyperbole, but what is true is that it uses eight screws to at- tach the rings without a separate base between the rings and the receiver and that makes it as strong as any system I can imagine, including a Picatinny rail. After mounting the scope, I loaded
up some new brass. I chose to start with 165- and 180-grain Hornady SSTs, principally because I have a lot of them, thanks to Steve Johnson (who recently left) at Hornady. I took new Winchester brass, deburred and standardized the flash holes, and then ran the cases through a full length Redding sizing die. I then loaded an extruded powder as well as a spherical powder. In my opinion, Varget is a tough powder to beat when it comes to moderate capac- ity cases. My .220 Swift loves 33 grains of Varget under a 75-grain Hornady A- Max. My .300 SAUM loves 59.0 grains of Varget under a 150-grain Hornady SST. I even launch 400-grain Swift bul- lets with Varget in my .416! A long time ago Bruce Hodgdon
Shots 5
began to sell a spherical powder he named BL-C(2). This powder, along with H335 and H322, are bread and butter powders for varmint hunters. BL- C(2), like H335, also works quite well in moderate sized cases like the .243 and .308 Win., and like all spherical pow- ders, it meters quite well. My Ruger No. 1 in .204 shoots like a house afi re with measured charges of BL-C(2). I decided to use this powder for my initial loads. I also took some factory ammo
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