Slow weekend at the gunshow in Corpus Chriti, Tx. All I picked up on Saturday was a beater Savage .22 bolt action, single shot rifle for 25 bucks. Couldn't give anything away, much less sell it. Sunday was better. Guy came in with the Ruger after lunch at 5 bills. It had a nice Leupold 3X9X50 mounted on it. Also had a Harris bipod & leather sling on it. Owner said he had over 5 in it cause of the scope. He had to give up his hunting lease and no use for it now. Told the guy I could only do half that even though I really wanted to get the scope for another riflle I have. He msde another pass around the show at 4 bills. He came back with no offers. Said he would go down to 350. I offered 3, taje it or leave it. He took it. The rig is still in like new condition. Will probably take the scope off for a Remmy 700 BDL and put a Simmons 3X9X40 on the Ruger for field use. Prbably wull shoot it on my range Thursday if the rain clears up. Already have some 139gr. Hornadyballistic tip ammo handloaded for another rifle that will work.
Put my bore sighter on this gun Monday. Appeared to be ai the right place on the grid for rifles in 7mm, but a couple of inches higher than I like. Probably set for a 300 yard zero. Made the elevation adjustment for 150. Went out back on Tuesday cause the sun came out. My usual Pancho el Cheapo pizza box target at 25 yards to start. 2 rounds of the 139 gr. Hornady ballistic tip handloads went 1.5'' low to my mark. Just about right to move out to 100 yards. Still haven't swapped the Weaver scope out yet. Gonna see if this rifle is something I might like to keep. I like Rugers & have more of those than anything ejse. However, I have never kept one of the polymer stocked rifles of any brand for very long. Most have been as good as any of the wood stocked rifles that I own. They just don't look as nice. First impressions; The rifle is light, but the added weight of the bipod helps with felt recoil. The 7-08 does not recoil much to begin with. The 3 lug bolt is a bit hard to cock on the upstroke of the bolt handle. The extracter claw does not ride over the case head as easy as it should. Bolt has to be operared with some force to lock the claw over the case head. This may get better with use. Extraction was smooth and positive. Feeding was smooth from the rotary, detachable box magazine. Loading the mag was a bit of a chore, mostly starting the first round. It was better with the rest. The stock's length of pull was a little long for me. So, the eye relief to the scope was not right. I had to stretch my neck to get a full field of view. Scope & rings are all the way back already & cutting the plastic stock is not an option. Gotta stretch the neck & live with it. More later. Sorry, no pics.
Had this gun out Tuesday with the Marlin .308 for a hundred yad check. All I had to shoot was reloads at about factory velocity. The bullets I was using are the Hornady bullets that were found to be distorting the polymer tips when in flight. I was not shoting all that far, so I could not ssay accuracy was going to be good or bad based on that. And I was only gonna shoot 2 rounds without changing the scope elevation till Tueda opr later. The Marlin was 8"l left of center when I got it and low a few nches .this gun was almost right. Perfectr on windage, but a bit higher than I like my zero for 300 yads. That is the longest distance I would be shooting here or the other rancho we have. Not really shooting for accuracy, just elevation check mostly as the wndage appeared to be just right at 50 yds. Gun was set 3 inches high as both rounds were @ that high and o.k. on windage. Will make appropriate elevatin adjustmenmts and shoot agan Tues. or later.Won't miss anything with it set like it is anyway. Got some more of those distorting bullets to reload anyway. Don't think Hornady will give me a refund on them. And I am still not sure if I will be keeping this one anyway. I already have a 7-08 in a Winchester Mod 70 Featherweight, but it doesn't go anywhere except to the range. Not exactly for dragging through the brush at the rancho.
