new Oryx bullet, and my old faithful (of only three years of age) Savage Predator, had added our share to the pile of deer going to local food shelves, and to the smoke house for the coming year’s meat. The Savage had taken a pounding from the effects of the late winter big game season and its previous two years of duty in the rear window of my pickup truck. Now the rifle was about to get a face-lift after serving me very well on everything from grass rats, to coyotes, and now both deer and antelope. Modifications froM the factory Because the Savage Predator was
absolutely deadly accurate, and not something to ever send to the trading block, I decided to ask Savage to rebuild my rifle into the newer box magazine- type stock configuration that became standard on later model Predator rifles. My rifle, with the blind magazine, was a very low numbered model. Even the camo pattern was different from the newer Mossy Oak patterns, in that it was a much flatter color, and didn’t rise out of the stock surface with anywhere near the detail of the new Mossy Oak Brush patterns currently coming out of the Savage plant. As first purchased from Savage,
my Predator would print sub-moa five- shot groups all day long, and reduce that figure considerably when only three rounds were sent downrange. However, when the rifle was returned to me from Savage, it had undergone some sort of transformation, in that now a three-shot group was a rough single hole in the paper at 100 yards, and the five-round string measured 0.7 inch. In effect, the newly stocked rifle now shot bug hole groups at 100 yards, with a measurement just inside ¼", and still produced seven-round groups off the machine rest at the Savage test tunnel inside 1/2 moa. From my observation, and after reporting on the 600-yard VHA bench rest matches at Pierre, South Dakota, last summer, I know of bench rifles costing five times the price of my little Savage that can’t do that on even a good day. Ammunition that was used during that test group shooting was Federal 40-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. The ammunition was straight from the factory box. norMa accuracy
Selecting a day without wind in South Dakota is asking for a whole lot.
www.varminthunter.org Page 47
• Stocks • Barrels • Triggers • Trigger Kits • Accessories • Magazines • Scopes • Bipods
(775) 727-0169 (775) 293-0340 (916) 708-2051
Fax: (775) 727-0510
150 S. Hwy 160 #C8-323 • Pahrump, NV 89048
rsbsports@yahoo.com • www.1022racerifl
e.com
That’s why 308s and 243s are popular among many prairie dog hunters out here because the 168-grain Sierra boat- tail, or 100-grain Sierra, can fight wind all day long. I did get my wish, however, after waiting a full week for the right day to run an accuracy test. Shooting from my Big Shooter heavy field bench, and with heavy sandbags, I loaded several rounds of new 55-grain Norma Oryx into the magazine, closed the bolt, and squeezed the trigger. Shooting 100-yard groups on my Birchwood Casey full-size deer target
with a 1/2 moa dot on the heart, I planted a group of three rounds just under an inch hole-to-hole center through the heart. Not world shaking, but I did es- tablish a correct zero, and realized that my newly reworked Predator rifle still liked the 55-grain Oryx bullets. My part- ner Greg Iverson, a local rancher, de- cided to join me for the morning. He was shooting his 22-250 (a vintage 30-year- old custom) and played the game of staying with me on our self-styled group shooting event. The Norma ammo held its own against cowboy-built ranch-use
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212