New home for 7mm STW

[stagpanther]

Brand spanking new XRS chassis came in today-- I ordered it in Savage CIP 3.850 thinking it would suffice for the 7mm STW (assuming I could fuss with the feed lips to get it to work, normally the AICS 338 LM magazines won't work with the big belted cases). I also ordered an AICS CIP 3.850 from Mile High--which for some reason won't fit in the XRS chassis. Fortunately the magazine from my 338 LM savage 110 does fit--but I only have one and I don't want to alter it. The chassis is otherwise very well made and has a nice wide arca-ready foreend and other adjustable goodies. Going to have to solve the magazine mystery.

Upon closer inspection the savage magazine has a ramp on the tail of the follower--the one made by AI does not. That's stopping the bolt on the MDT XRS--but the magazine itself just won't fit in the well. Oddly enough, it does fit the well of the 110 338 LM.

 

[stagpanther]

Got a few minutes to shoot a few cartridges quickly just to get a feel--in other words no real meaningful "put it through its paces" test--but my initial reaction: "this is great!" The XRS off of bag rests that I shot seems to have a great balanced "stance", I really like the wide fore-end which not only enhances stability but is really nice to grip. I could see the fall of my shots at 350 yds with pretty zippy 7mm STW loads shot with no brake on the muzzle. In a nutshell--the reticle doesn't dance as much as it does on other stocks/chassis. I'll be buying more for future builds.

 

[stagpanther]

Rained all day and night yesterday; but Accuweather radar showed it clearing this afternoon and winds dropping off. I decided to go out and get a few shots in with the labradar to see what I'm actually getting with the 150 gr expansion tips. My second outing since mounting the action on the XRS chassis so I was really excited about that. I loaded up a group again of 150 expansion tips driven by RL 19; except this time I used Quality cartridge's nickle-plated cases. I can't prove it--but it seems the neck consistency is better than the brass only cases, the neck tension feels the same on all cases when I seat the bullets. I seat the bullets with the case mouth right up to the beginning of the cannelure making it just a bit over 3.6"

As my luck would have it--as soon as I got set up clouds rolled in and it started raining and the winds ramped up from the right gusting to 15 mph. So much for the forecast. While I brought the labradar out--I forgot the tripod, drat. Still, I'm loving the new XRS chassis, I can tell my shooting has improved just by dropping the action into the chassis..

The group was shot at 350 yds and the 150 gr expansion tip did a credible job of bucking the wind. The shots were taken in the order shown on the ballistic X pic, shots 3 and 5 I spazzed and pulled, I called them (more like loudly cursed) as field of view jerked to the left. Woulda coulda shoulda.

Just as an aside--I've often noticed that Nosler's load data for "most accurate powder" and "most accurate load" does in fact turn out to be excellent, never a bad place to start when trying out something new.