A Promising .458

[TheWhitetailNut]

My much anticipated custom R8 barrel arrived right in the middle of the whitetail rut so I had not sighted it until now. It's a Kreiger blank 23" (although I may have preferred 21' and damn the velocity). Skip fluted around the Talley barrel band and no sights. I find sights distracting in low power variable scopes so we skipped them on this one. My daughter and I were loading up the truck and I thought she grabbed the shooting sticks, turned out we didn't have them. I dug a post hole digger and a glove out of the barn for a rest and it worked ok. Shot nearly a box of 500gr. Partitions quite comfortably. Here is a pic of my last group, I saw the second shot break an inch to the right messing up the 1/2" ish group. All of the accuracy was similar, except I only shot 2 between adjustments.

My only disappointments are it looks like the gunsmith let a kid beat the barrel band swivel stud on with a ball peen hammer and its beat to hell. Also, the cerekote is already pretty knicked up and I haven't hardly used it yet. Not sure what that is about as I have rifles over 20 years old with no damage.

All in all, I'm pretty stoked to chase Buffalo.

 

[bruce moulds]

either your target was on an angle,
or you have a stability problem.
bruce.

 

[nztimb]

Very good makeshift rest . With accuracy like that you are well and truly ready for a buff.

 

[bruce moulds]

if they are unstable they could well tumble on a buff and have very little penetration, and that could be in any direction.
if the target was upright it would be wise to check the twist.
bruce.

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

if they are unstable they could well tumble on a buff and have very little penetration, and that could be in any direction.
if the target was upright it would be wise to check the twist.
bruce.

Its a 1" group off a wobbly post hole digger at 100 yards with a 1x scope. Nonetheless, I've got about 182 rounds left of my stockpile and may do a wet newspaper test because I saw a Partition detractor somewhere,

 

[Graham Hunter]

Excellent. Go get your Buff. Good idea for a makeshift rest.

 

[bruce moulds]

Its a 1" group off a wobbly post hole digger at 100 yards with a 1x scope. Nonetheless, I've got about 182 rounds left of my stockpile and may do a wet newspaper test because I saw a Partition detractor somewhere,

there are 2 issues here.
1. the bullet holes are not round, in fact far from it.
a reason for this could be a stability problem, and the twist should be checked.
2, one group doth not an accurate rifle make.
you need to shoot more.
bruce.

 

[TTundra]

I think Bruce is saying you may have a bullet not flying straight, or not impacting straight. The marks on the target at the holes look like you may have been shooting on an angle vs the target.

 

[Dr. Crack]

My much anticipated custom R8 barrel arrived right in the middle of the whitetail rut so I had not sighted it until now. It's a Kreiger blank 23" (although I may have preferred 21' and damn the velocity). Skip fluted around the Talley barrel band and no sights. I find sights distracting in low power variable scopes so we skipped them on this one. My daughter and I were loading up the truck and I thought she grabbed the shooting sticks, turned out we didn't have them. I dug a post hole digger and a glove out of the barn for a rest and it worked ok. Shot nearly a box of 500gr. Partitions quite comfortably. Here is a pic of my last group, I saw the second shot break an inch to the right messing up the 1/2" ish group. All of the accuracy was similar, except I only shot 2 between adjustments.

My only disappointments are it looks like the gunsmith let a kid beat the barrel band swivel stud on with a ball peen hammer and its beat to hell. Also, the cerekote is already pretty knicked up and I haven't hardly used it yet. Not sure what that is about as I have rifles over 20 years old with no damage.

All in all, I'm pretty stoked to chase Buffalo.

View attachment 379340View attachment 379345View attachment 379346

Great rifle! Great rest! Great shooting!

 

[BeeMaa]

Beautiful rifle, barrel and scope.
Why not give the SAF, Barnes TSX and Norma Oryx a chance.
I'm not a big fan of a non-bonded bullet for DG.
And as at @bruce moulds said, check the twist rate.

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

there are 2 issues here.
1. the bullet holes are not round, in fact far from it.
a reason for this could be a stability problem, and the twist should be checked.
2, one group doth not an accurate rifle make.
you need to shoot more.
bruce.

1. The wind was blowing the cardboard, bottom toward me. Varying degrees of angle.

2. I get that. There are 5 touching pairs on the same cardboard, But shoot more I will!

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

Beautiful rifle, barrel and scope.
Why not give the SAF, Barnes TSX and Norma Oryx a chance.
I'm not a big fan of a non-bonded bullet for DG.
And as at @bruce moulds said, check the twist rate.

I would like to try the Swift, and Trophy Bonded. But I have a couple hundred more rounds of Nosler Factory Partitions and Solids to shoot first.

It's a 1-14"

 

[Graham Hunter]

Your twist rate is good for what your doing. Just make sure your Buffs not on tilt from a strong wind! Any one should be happy with groups like yours.