VarmintGuy:

The Goens was a Mauser, I think. Gorgeous wood.

I shoot a lot with a tight sling, and noticed when doing so with my 416 that it hit 6 inches low at 200 yards. So now I don't care for them too much. I suppose they are okay on a heavy rifle, but I won't have them on a .338, which is what this thing was.

Nice gun. I hope I don't regret passing on it. I passed on a beautiful Hal Hartley rifle in the 80s back when I didn't have 2 quarters to rub together (cause I spent it all on hunting) and regret doing so.

Choices make life interesting. Even if you could buy an unlimited number of rifles, you don't have unlimited time to shoot them.

Your comment about the wind being calm made me wonder about mirage. I used to have a house in MN where I would go to escape the summer heat. Often it would be dead calm in the middle of the day, but the mirage was so damn strong it was hard to even see the target. Arizona, because it is so dry, actually has a lot less mirage than the Midwest. How is it in MT?

AnotherAZWriter: The air here is no where near as cluttered with moisture as the place where I shot all my previous life. I used to shoot at 20' elevation in Seattle, Washington literally between a river and the Puget Sound!Any day of the year and any time of the year could have dancing and troubling water laden heavy air or "mirage"!
My home range now and for the last 6 years sits right at 6,000' elevation and the ground and the range grass is so incredibly dry that I have never been really bothered by mirage here! To tell the truth I would rather deal with the mirage than the winds that are so prevalent here! In the last 9 months I know I have travelled to my range at least 12 times only to have the wind come up and prevent any shooting at all. Wasted trips! And these trips were only made after I went out my front door and wet my finger and held it up to verify the tree limbs were indeed - not moving! Then by the time I load up and travel the 10 miles to my range the wind will start up and ruin my shooting plans. Its always something.
This morning I saw the local weather report for Dillon and at that time the humidity was 26%. I think todays high was forecast to be 81 degrees which is bearable for keeping a cool barrel!
I was using as an aiming point the bright orange 1/2" circle stickers. I could easily "quarter" these dots with the fine Leupold Du-plex reticle today. Usually I put one of these stickers on every target I shoot at. I normally end up shooting at the 1/2" wide and high white box in the official BR target. I then "quarter" this 1/2 box with my reticle and when I get 4 equal squares around the reticle I finish the squeeze. This procedure works best with the low early and late sun though. During the early afternoon when I was shooting today (high sun!) the orange circle gave a sharper image for my sighting.
I made note in my loading log that the conditions were "good" and maybe I should have entered "very good" compared to where I used to shoot!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I happen to agree, that I would prefer a different stock design, rather than the thumbhole. Perhaps just put the single shot action into one of their standard, laminated varmint stocks. Perhaps that will be the next model to be offered?
- mike

I'm up in Front Royal right now for a few weeks until I move permanently to Fernley, NV. Where are you in SW VA that you can shoot so many 'hogs?

Varmint Guy:

Dale, I sure love reading your postings. I still consider you my favorite outdoor writer, even tho you only do it in here.

You can add the enthusiasm of a young boy and add so many peripheral details. Must come from your police officer days.

That new Remington must be to compete with the Savage 40 series I bet.

As far as that stock goes, you can purchase that stock for some of you current Remington rifles. It is made by Boyd's in South Dakota ( boydboys.com). It is available with and without the thumbhole. I am not a thumbhole guy myself.

I did get one to put on the 6mm Remington on a 1917 Enfield action I did for a nephew in Billings when he graduated High School this past june. It turned out excellent. He is off in basic training for the Montana National Guard right now.

Glad to see that some of the major rifle companies are starting to get the idea of the market for a good single shot varmint rifle.

Now if only they would make the action and the stock available so we could chamber it with the caliber and barrel of our choice. But that is too far into Disneyland there.

Fantastic post as always.

Cheers and Good shooting
seafire

VarmintGuy:

Funny...I slept in late just so I could go out and shoot in the wind. But then, I was practicing field shooting and not working up loads, although I did have one load in the box that I hadn't tried and shot it at 400 yards sitting with a tight sling. 4 shots were in about 3 inches. Load was 48 gr RL15 and a 150 Nosler BT in .308 Win.

The wind this am was not blowing hard, but it was switching. I shot a .220 Swift with heavy bullets and the .308 with 180s. Shot mostly at 700 yards, but some at 615 and a few at 500. I guessed the wind right on my first shot at 700, but got sloppy and didn't see a shift and had my third shot hit 18 inches to the left. Been a while since I missed by that much. The wind averaged 2-5 mph, but that calls for 4-15 clicks of windage, so I was constantly taking it off and adding. But it was good practice. I shoot at rocks painted black with a small circle; you get feedback right away - better than a PD shoot. I like shooting in the wind at 700 cuz when you shoot at 500 it seems so much easier.

Like you always say, hold into the wind...

VG: when you lived in seattle, where did you shoot? i had a membership at Paul Bunyan a few years ago but after having my first offspring (2.5 now) i ran out of time and money for such activities. things have settled down now and I intend to do a lot more shooting and was wondering what ranges you like around this area. the only other one i have used is the tacoma sportsman club. me no like it. Paul Bunyan is great but i would like to try a little longer shooting than 200 yards.
Your "disease" sounds all too familiar. Have you ever gone through some of your supplies or extra shooting paraphenalia(spelling?) and found a 20$ set of dies and considered building or purchasing a gun in that cal. just cause you have dies for it? I can see now that you are definately going to own an XR-100. I had to go look at them. If it had a shorter barrel(20-22in. in .223) I would also have had to stoop to the tactics you used in your original post. The puyallup gun show is a very dangerous place for diseased people such as ourselves. I am sure you have had some very weak moments there. Anyhow, keep us posted on that new rem.

Groundhog devastation: No I have never seen those targets! I will keep an eye out for them. Where do you buy them?
No apologies need be made for owning the Tasco! I had one once and it worked well in the spring and summer but its shortcoming was it darkened up considerably when turned up to full 24x! I never used it in harsh conditions or winters as I worried it would not perform well then?
I am of the mind anymore that because of the expense involved in buying top quality scopes I now prefer to buy used and lesser known brands of scopes and MAKE them do the job!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

R. Flowers: I am sorry your American made product did not perform well for you! That is discouraging. I have been there before myself a number of times!
I have one Remington XP-100 single shot pistol myself. It is in caliber 223 Remington and has a Burris 10x pistol scope on it. It is amazinging to me how well this short (relatively) barrelled rig performs at the range! I have owned quite a number of XP-100 pistols but I have only shot this one and several that belong to my friends. The others I owned I just bought and sold for profit or with the other one which I turned it into an extremely accurate Varminter in caliber 6mm Remington Bench Rest.
Yes I also am excited about these new Varminters built on this action and looking forward to seeing one in the flesh!
Also I just got back from my range. It is a very rare middle of the day indeed, here in Dillon, Montana, when the wind does not blow! Today was that day and after working this morning on my new Remington 700 VLS in 204 Ruger I took the new rig to the range. I mounted a Leupold 8.5x25 variable scope on it in the one piece base and medium rings. Then I did a trigger job on it settling for 50 ounces (3 pounds & 2ounces) of pull to safely drop the firing pin. There was (and is) a tiny bit of creep in the VLS's trigger. But it is so slight I think I will leave it as is. I torqued the factory action's allen screws to 50 inch/pounds both front and rear. When I had the action out of the stock doing the trigger job I took out my sharpest Exacto knife and trimmed some burrs off of the inletting of the laminated plywood stock. I also lapped the Leupold rings with my Haydon ring lapping tool. I could not bore sight the Rifle as I have no 20 caliber spud for my collimater! Nor do I have a 17 caliber spud. I need to work on fixing this problem!
The Leupold 8.5x25 variable I used was on another Remington Varminter and I felt like a crumb stealing the scope off that fine shooting rig.
It had to be done!
I had planned on shooting the Remington this evening just before sunset when the wind usually becomes calm. Mostly I wanted to fireform some brass and to break in the barrel. When I noticed the wind at very calm at mid-day and the VarmintWife had headed to town to shop for groceries I jumped in the VarmintMobile with 4 boxes of factory ammo, my Rifle and my cleaning gear. I broke the Rifle in shooting one then cleaning and then when I got up to shooting 3 then cleaning I noticed this Rifle was really stackin' them in there! On my last two batches of 3 shots I cleaned extra carefully and fired an oiler at the iron gongs before each three shot group on the target. The two three shot groups (fired with Hornady 40 gr. factory ammo) really impressed me! The groups measured .330" and .336" center to center! To say I was happy with that Rifle would have been an understatement of the first magnitude!
Normally I shoot 5 shot groups for load testing and development but I was in a bit of a hurry to get home and catch up on honey-do's as the VarmintWife has only been home two days now.
I cleaned the Rifle again once back at home and set my now once fired brass up for reloading of them which may occur even as soon as later tonight.
2 three shot groups is not enough to declare a Rifle a success with but the way it shot during the cleaning regimen that also gave me significant indication that this Rifle is a shooter.
I did not fire any of the 32 gr. Hornady factory ammo today. I have two boxes of it left and my Ruger 77 V/T likes that a touch better than the 40 gr. loads. So I may save it for that Rifle and incidental Varminting.
Well the recent finagling and scheming appears to have paid off for me and my new Rifle. I am just tickled!
I will let you all know how the handloads shoot (in 5 shot groups) maybe even as early as tomorrow!
Also R. Flowers - do not quote me but I am pretty sure the XR-100 was only pictured in the 2,005 catalog with the gray laminated thumbhole stock. I saw no indication any other stock was offered for it?
The Remington VLS also loaded and ejected perfectly and did load from the breech area just as well as when the cartridges were brought up from their stacked positions in the magazine! Good for Remington it looks like I have another "easy to obtain accuracy" Rifle from Big Green!
Off to do chores then do some loading for the new Varminter!
Send scopes!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Bullshooter: Yes I first joined the Washington Arms Collectors Society as I recall in 1967. I was 19 then and the meetings and Gunshows were held in the old Renton High School cafeteria! I am a life member of the WAC and served 3 three year terms as a director. I moved to Montana in 1998 and could no longer have an active role in that fine organization and the various pro-Second Amendment battles they have never shied away from!

God bless the W.A.C.!

I began and grew my arms affliction at the W.A.C. shows and learned how to sneak guns and goodies into the house while the VarmintWife slept due to the W.A.C.!

I have attended Gunshows in virtually all the western states and that W.A.C. show is about the best MONTHLY show going anywhere!

I was proud that "our gunclub" became the largest arms collectors society west of the Mississippi! I still keep track closely of "our" building fund that "I" and a couple others started so many years ago. Last I heard the fund is enormous and still growing. Soon "we" will have our own site and buildings!

The W.A.C. is one of the few things I miss about the Puget Sound area!

I used to shoot at the Renton Gun Club as well as the Issaquah Gun club but my favorite place to shoot was the Seattle Police Athletic Association range there in south Seattle on the Duwamish (Green) River. During the months of January, February and March on most days the morning air would be ABSOLUTELY still! In fact I could take in a large breath of moist air there at sea level (virtually) and blow it slowly down along a "warm" barrel and I could see the heat distortion in the scope clear away! When I quit blowing it would resume! Yes of those ranges I preferred the S.PA.A. range for load testing and chasing the "one-holers"!. The other two ranges have pretty calm conditions most days but they both only had 200 yard ranges. I highly recommend the S.P.A.A. facility but it might be far for you to drive and old "167" can really be a bitch for traffic congestion anymore!

Yes, on the "having the dies means buying the gun situation"!

I have even BOUGHT dies I do not have a gun for and then several months later I "realize" hey I have got these dies already - I better start looking for a good deal on this caliber gun!

Thanks for the prompt on the memories of the Puyallup (pronounced pew-al-up, which is an old Indian word meaning "sick white men trade guns here"!) Gun Show. I get to about 3 of their shows a year anymore as its 675 miles each way for me now. I heard they are having a show this weekend. Hold onto your wallet!

More later

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

That new varminter (single shot, externally adjustable trigger) sounds like just the ticket! It seems like Remington is listening to the shooting public, and bringing out products people would otherwise have to go custom to get. It makes great sense, if the price of XP-100 actions is skyrocketing, why not bring out something to provide equivalent performance off the rack (give or take a few .1" ). Now if Remington would just listen really carefully and chamber for the .222 Rem, wouldn't that be nice!

Speaking of the 40-X trigger, does anybody know the lowest (safe) setting of this trigger?? Or is this just a M700 trigger with an external adjustment?? (A M700 trigger will normally adjust down to about 2lbs). I know the 40-X models can be ordered with a 2oz trigger, but I doubt that is going to be the one offered for this rifle.
- mike