Sometimes, my job is very easy.
This Sako Carbonlite in 7mm Rem, paired with a SWAROVSKI Z5 5-25 and running Sako Ammo with the Sierra GameHead projectiles.
Brand new gun. Assumed, bore-sighted with a collimator, one round on the board, quick adjustment and then this three-round group. Adjusted, confirmed. Generated some drop charts, confirmed to 500 and done!
Shooting on bags on the dirt ‘over a pack’, like the owner is likely to do.
Customer rifle was supplied with a DPT Machinists Ltd can on it, as well as a Sako Muzzle brake. Much prefer the can over brake – I would actually say it was milder to shoot – maybe a combination of recoil and noise reduction, as well a bit of weight on the front of the rifle that just helped it sit better on recoil. The brake was also a different metal finish than the Carbonlite barrel – and not machined to fit – so the look with the DPT was nicer as well (IMHO). The gun doesn’t weight much anyhow – so unless this was a dedicated mountain rifle, I would stick with the can. However, the customer wanted to know the difference, so chrono’ed it with both and will supply a scope adjustment, should he prefer to run the brake. On the day, the rifle printed a better group with the suppressor on – but you would need to shoot a lot more to average things out and make a definitive call on that.
I was reminded of how clear Swaro glass is, but also how short the eye box can be, and how little adjustment in the turrets as standard. The rifle really would benefit from higher rings so you could pull the entire scope back, as it was – it was just clearing both the front and back of the scope. The scope was supplied with the ‘MOA’ dial on top of it s well – I am in two minds on this. I like the user-adjustable dials in the higher end Swaros – for hunting, they give a quick reference by colour to distances – and provide ‘enough’ accuracy for a minute of deer. For longer range stuff, I am thinking that X5 or Z8 might be a minimum. Will update on this soon!
In regards to set up – the dials just do what they should. You forget, sometimes, that this isn’t always the case with cheaper scopes.
I am also still struggling with some stocks, shooting left-handed, and trying to bring the rifle into the centre line (under the eye, so less head tilt and angles introduced) – I got there, but it wouldn’t be my first choice in shape (but it is a right-handed rifle). However, fit and finish of the gun is phenomenal. I had some other (quite nice) rifles with me on the day, and they didn’t come close.
The rifle is now set up and good to go – will be supplied with printed charts and information so the client can change things in the future and have the data already.
Want your rifle setup? Need some advice on how to put a system together? Get in touch!
