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Posted: 1/14/2020 10:03:38 PM EDT
[Last Edit: BigJimFish]
As with my previous 2019 and 2018 threads, the purpose of this thread is to provide a catalog of this years reviews and articles, give you a behind the scenes look at what I am working on as it is worked on, and provide a place for your input and comments. Here are this years projects:
Vudoo .22lr's have long been a passion of mine. For years I bugged several action makers about doing a full size .22lr to no effect. I even sent a few of them design concepts for getting the magazine and locking mechanisms to work. Nobody seemed to think there was much market or that they could get the magazines to work though. Then, Mike Bush and the Vudoo guys proved successful in both regards and I had exactly nothing to do with it. I'm still smiling though. I'll be doing a review of a V-22 this year and there will be a good deal of technical data on .22lr ballistics in their as well. Proof My interest in Proof's carbon wrapped barrels harmonics continues. Having spent a good time with the one on my Mesa Precison Arms Crux 6.5CM I will now be looking at their .22lr blank on a Vudoo V-22 action. The idea is to determine if these things have a substantial harmonic advantage on conventional steel barrels and to gather some data on the magnitude of the advantage. The results with the 6.5CM have been promising so far. This will culminate with an article on Proof's carbon wrapped barrels. MDT XRS Crossover rifle stock The last couple years I did reviews on a couple of composite stocks from McMillan and Grayboe. in which I spent a good deal of time talking about composite stock technology and that technologies strengths in general as well as the specific products in each review. I had been thinking of doing a similar thing with a chassis review. There were a few new chassis launched at Shot this year that specifically caught my eye because they added interchangeable grips more involved than just going with an AR15 grip. I think grip fit is tremendously important and very often is not properly addressed so that pretty much made up my mind to do a chassis this year. The MDT XRS is going to be that Chassis. Lapua / Berger / CPG Capstone precision group is now the owner of Berger as well as, sort of, Lapua, SK, and VihtaVuori (all are owed by Nammo and Capstone represents all in the U.S.) They have recently opened a second rimfire test center in the central Ohio area. I'll be doing a little write up of that facility, how to utilize it, and what to expect. I'll also be doing a bit of testing there for the Vudoo and Proof reviews. RCBS Matchmaster At the end of last year RCBS announced a new, higher accuracy (.04gr) and higher speed, Matchmaster powder measure. Along with their new high precision matchmaster dies, this measure is certainly directed at the long range shooting community. I'll be doing a review of these matchmaster products this year. Zero Compromise I still have planned to take a look at the Zero Compromise ZC420 scope. This review was delayed from last year due to scheduling and availability. Athlon Midas TAC 5-25x56 and Sub $1k long range optics The Sub $1k long range optics review series has now been running three years. Today I posted my review of the Athlon Midas TAC 5-25x56. This Brings the total number of reviews to six over a period of three years. The only specific thing I have remaining planned, at this time, is some sort of summary of what went down with the Nikon Black FX1000. This will not be a full review as it does not look like a replacement is forthcoming and it appears Nikon will be discontinuing all rifle scopes anyway. Still, some sort of summary is in order. Despite having no more specific scopes planned at this time, I do expect to continue the theme of Sub $1k long range optics in the future as it think it is an interesting area of development and quite compelling to many shooters. Here are the links to all the Sub $1k long range optics reviews: Sightron SIIISS624X50LRFFP/MH Athlon Midas TAC 6-24x50mm Athlon Ares BTR 4.5-27x50 FFP IR Mil Meopta Optika 6 5-30x56 RD FFP Sightron S-TAC 4-20x50FFPZSIRMH Athlon Midas TAC 5-25x56 Athlon Midas TAC 5-25x56 (background on Kelbly's Atlas rifle) with the Midas TAC 6-24x50 (foreground on Mesa Precision Arms Crux rifle) TriggerTech Another review to make the jump from last year to this is the TriggerTech 2-stage. I have previously done reviews of both the TriggerTech single stage 700 platform stuff and the Bix'n Andy TacSport line of triggers. Grayboe Phoenix Ultralight Stock A few years back I did a review on the Grayboe Ridgeback stock and was pretty pleased with the performance and value it offered. They recently came out with a new, ultralight hunting model called the Phoenix. At 2lbs with a ton of features I was interested and asked them to send one over to take a look at. More Harmonics / Tuning Last years Barrel Tuning Factory Ammo? did not yield the results desired or expected. I'm not done yet with my investigation into harmonics and tuning though. I expect there will be at least one more article this year on the topic. How to quantify precision I have never been satisfied with how precision is quantified within the precision rifle world. The general ideas of a half MOA rifle or MOA rifle are neither sufficiently defined nor particularly statistically meaningful. When we quantify the degree of precision in our velocity using standard deviation we have a good statistical tool and this greatly aids us. Measuring the 2 furthest out rounds in a 5rd group to quantify precision is not sufficient. I think that an important step the shooting process is to more meaningfully determine the precision of a particular platform. An article on why this is so and what ways are better suited (such as circular error probability CEP or distance root mean square DRMS) will be forthcoming. Making grip build outs from oven harden polymer clay article: This was sort of a surprise bonus article. With my range closed and the whole world hiding in their houses I decided to do an article on making grip build outs from polymer clay since I was making one for the MDT XRS. Of course, the article got a lot more time consuming and in depth than I intended. Par for the course. The end product is good stuff though with respect to both the article and the grip. Now that I have all this written down it seems like a busy year even without a few of the other things I have kicking around in the back of my head in the maybe column. Should be a good time. |
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Originally Posted By BigJimFish:
Lapua / Berger / CPG Capstone precision group is now the owner of Berger as well as, sort of, Lapua, SK, and VihtaVuori (all are owed by Nammo and Capstone represents all in the U.S.) They have recently opened a second rimfire test center in the central Ohio area. I'll be doing a little write up of that facility, how to utilize it, and what to expect. I'll also be doing a bit of testing there for the Vudoo and Proof reviews. View Quote |
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Originally Posted By Rob01: Tony and I will be driving up there on Thursday and testing our Vudoos on Friday at the new facility. Looking forward to seeing how they do. View Quote |
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Originally Posted By BigJimFish: Man, wish I had the day off to drive up again. Ironically, I was there today. Send me the scans for your result printouts as well as the S(a) values (Luke will know what I'm talking about.) I'm looking to build a data set on the Vudoos. View Quote |
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Update 2-20-2020
I have finished up and posted the article on .22lr lot testing at Lapua's new, Ohio, test center location. A good deal of data was analyzed from 10 different rifles for this article so it gives a pretty decent quantitative measure of just how much improvement you should expect to see on average between a random lot purchased off the shelf and a lot selected after substantial testing. Former NCAA all American and U.S. Shooting team member Luke Johnson lot testing an Anne at the new Ohio Lapua rimfire testing facility In other news, the RCBS MatchMaster powder measure arrived yesterday. I prepped the cases to use in this testing a few months ago using the RCBS MatchMaster dies. I'll be doing the first round of testing tomorrow. RCBS MatchMaster powder measure unboxing On the other reviews, I am starting to get some sense of the time frames on some of them. The TriggerTech Diamond 2-stage should be arriving within a month. So, the next three reviews will be those and the RCBS MatchMaster stuff. The harmonics stuff is being done in tandem with the MatchMaster stuff so it should be right after that if the results are worth reporting, ie. what I want to do with the tuning works. If it goes down like the tuning factory ammo testing did last year, there will just be a blurb on this thread with the negative results. The Proof .22lr barrel is expected in at the start of May so I expect the Vudoo stuff to begin a few weeks after that. Not sure if you will see the Proof article first or the Vudoo but they will be one after the other and I expect towards the fall for the actual publication. I don't have a time frame on the Zero Compromise optic. Lastly, I'm not sure exactly when I will do the quantifying accuracy article. One of the key players in this is recovering from surgery at the moment and I don't think all the ducks are in a line yet. There is a little taste of what is to come in the .22lr lot testing article I posted yesterday though. |
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Update 3-29-2020
This week I received an MDT XRS "Crossover rifle stock." Here is a link to the ongoing SH discussion thread on the XRS. The last couple years I did reviews on a couple of composite stocks from McMillan and Grayboe. in which I spent a good deal of time talking about composite stock technology and that technologies strengths in general as well as the specific products in each review. I had been thinking of doing a similar thing with a chassis review. There were a few new chassis launched at Shot this year that specifically caught my eye because they added interchangeable grips more involved than just going with an AR15 grip. I think grip fit is tremendously important and very often is not properly addressed so that pretty much made up my mind to do a chassis this year. I think MDT XRS will make a very interesting subject. It has a number of unique features to it's design and manufacture. MDT XRS unboxing You were expecting the RCBS Matchmaster review by now and I'm afraid it's still going to be a while. Covid-19 has temporarily closed the lab that I will be testing the powder measures accuracy in. Additionally, a particularly long cold with a few unusual symptoms also went through myself and the rest of my family recently that may have been that virus so we are doing our best not to run about in case we could be contagious. I'm not about to be the guy who brings the virus to the good people living at either of the ranges I test at most often. So, unfortunately, the Matchmaster testing is just going to take a bit longer. |
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Update 5-20-2020
I posted the article on making grip build outs from polymer oven harden clay today. I think this is some of my best work. I hope you guys find it interesting. Oven bake polymer clay grip build outs on four of my rifles In other news, the TriggerTech 2-stages are on their way for review. Having seen the images of these with the sides off I am quite interested to see how they feel. They are a big departure from the single stages in design and fit an astounding number of both passive and active safety catches. Really interesting stuff. I also expect the Proof .22lr barrel to be heading to Vudoo any day now so the articles associated with those parts should be taking a step forward soon as well. The RCBS MatchMaster review continues to be quarantined in Wuhan virus stasis much to my annoyance. Hopefully, the folks at the lab will let me in sometime soon to get the testing on lab grade analytical balances I need to do done so I can finish that up. What I have been able to do at home with my legacy beam balance has gone well but I really need access to the big boy to do it right. Old school analog beam balances are very precise, but not necessarily particularly accurate. My ranges have now re-opened so finishing up the MDT XRS stock review shouldn't be too far out. |
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Interested in seeing how the Matchmaster performs.
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Update 6-15-2020
I have just posted the RCBS MatchMaster dies and powder dispenser review. In addition to reviewing both of those products, I also spend a good deal of time in the review discussing, and quantifying the relationship between variance in charge weight and vertical spread down range so if your interested in just how much vertical spread you get from .1gr in variation, you should check it out. The powder dispenser actually outperformed it's spec and I'll admit to loving the dies. I think they are pretty significant new product offerings. Starting some fresh test loads with the RCBS MatchMaster dies and powder measure In other news, the MDT XRS stock review and TriggerTech two stage review are coming along well. Really, they are almost done. I should also have the Proof barreled Vudoo V-22 next week as the Vudoo guys just spun up the barrel last week and are just finishing up the cerakote and such so things are about to get rolling on that. I love .22lr's so I'm pretty excited to start hammering away with it. |
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Update 7-12-2020
The MDT XRS review is up. I found it an interesting product both from it's combination of Chassis construction and traditional stock geometry and feel, (I might add the original AI AICS stuff also did this), and also because of the industrial design aspects of it's modular construction. MDT has made maximum use of the materials and manufacturing processes in this stock to produce something quite solid with substantially reduced manufacturing costs. I also think this stock plays into a trend we are seeing for stocks that allow some adjustment or replacement of the firing hand grip to get decent fit. I think this is a pretty important development. Next up I should have the TriggerTech 2-stage review. I think I will try to time this up for it's official release on July 24. That would be a novelty wouldn't it. A timely review. |
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Update 8-4-2020
The TriggerTech 700 platform two-stage trigger review is up. Quite an interesting trigger. It is very significant departure from their single-stage in terms of design. As you might expect, it feels excellent. These triggers (Diamond and Special models) will be officially released this Friday (Aug 7th) making this perhaps the only well timed review I have ever done. |
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Update 9-7-2020
The Zero Compromise ZC420 scope review is up. Really impressed with this scope. Tremendous attention to detail as well as QC. I also really like the optical design choices. Zero Compromise ZC420 during mechanical testing |
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Update 10-8-2020
The Proof carbon rifle barrels review is up. This review analyzes the behavior of both a Proof carbon barrel in 6.5CM and one in .22lr in order to understand how Proof's carbon wrapped barrels differ from conventional steel barrels with respect to harmonics and cooling. Of course it also talks about the weight advantages and how the barrels shoot in general. Testing the Cooling Rate of the Proof Carbon Fiber Barreled Vudoo V-22 at the Lapua Test Center For this year all that is left in the way of reviews is the Vudoo V-22. I'm just about done with this. So far it includes data from seven different Vudoo rifles. I'm going to try to add an 8th, a 1-9 twist. as well as add some more data from some more lower cost practice type ammo. It should be up around this time next month. As for next year, Minox is interested in me doing a review on the new 5-25x56 LR and I may try to bring in a Burris XTR III and perhaps one of the many ~$2k LOW OEM'd scopes to make a nice ~$2k test set. I expect to also have a look at Grayboe's new super lightweight Phoenix crossover stock. There are a few other things on my plate as well in a less advanced state of discussion |
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Very cool.
I have had my V22 for a few months now. Amazing rifle. |
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“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying all the wrong remedies.” G. Marx
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Originally Posted By BigJimFish: Update 6-15-2020 I have just posted the RCBS MatchMaster dies and powder dispenser review. In addition to reviewing both of those products, I also spend a good deal of time in the review discussing, and quantifying the relationship between variance in charge weight and vertical spread down range so if your interested in just how much vertical spread you get from .1gr in variation, you should check it out. The powder dispenser actually outperformed it's spec and I'll admit to loving the dies. I think they are pretty significant new product offerings. http://u.cubeupload.com/BigJimFish/202069loadingwithmat.jpg Starting some fresh test loads with the RCBS MatchMaster dies and powder measure In other news, the MDT XRS stock review and TriggerTech two stage review are coming along well. Really, they are almost done. I should also have the Proof barreled Vudoo V-22 next week as the Vudoo guys just spun up the barrel last week and are just finishing up the cerakote and such so things are about to get rolling on that. I love .22lr's so I'm pretty excited to start hammering away with it. View Quote Someone's a prepper. hehe. |
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Update 11-13-2020
The Vudoo Gun Works V-22 review is finished and posted. A lot of folks were instrumental in helping this review come to pass. In addition to the folks at Vudoo, Lapua, and Proof quite a few members of SnipersHide helped me with photos of their Vudoos or 40x's or provided me with their lot testing data print outs. Thank you all for your part in making this a better article. In all likelihood, this will be the last 2020 review as I expect the Grayboe Phoenix one will probably land in 2021. At that point I will make up a new blog thread for 2021 that will include that stock, the Minox 5-25x56 LR and some of it's competitors, the quantifying precision article that did not get finished this year, and maybe a piece on 700's in general that I have been mulling over. Image illustrating the key engineering differences between a Vudoo V-22 and a Remington 40x action. |
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Update 1-10-2021
First off, I just posted a review of the new Grayboe Phoenix ultralight, adjustable, hunting stock. I would have made that the first post for the 2021 review and article blog but I feel like I have too much floating up in the air with the $2k scopes to be ready to start that yet. When I actually start getting some product in hand I'll get that thread started. The holiday / trade show season is always hard to get much accomplished in when it comes getting your ducks in a row and unsurprisingly the whole Covid mess has made that worse, not better. As for the stuff on the list for 2020 that did not get done: more on harmonics / tuning and how to quantify precision. The harmonics / tuning article is probably never going to happen. I feel like I am just chasing my tail with this one. Just as soon as I think I have something figured out I start to get some contrary test results. Bottom line, I thought I was getting somewhere and had something to say but I wasn't and don't. I could talk out my ass a while but there are plenty of options on youtube to do that for you if your so inclined. As for the how to quantify precision article, I think it will happen eventually. I don't want to do it until I have a good cheap, easy to use, tool for you and there is some following up I need to do with folks regarding that. Maybe this next year, depends on how busy I get with some home improvement stuff I need to get to or the wife is going to skin me. Lastly, I'll be ditching my twitter account. I'm sure you'll all be heartbroken to miss out on my 2-3 tweets a year. 144 characters wasn't really my thing. I know that surprises you all. Of course, I'm canceling twitter because of censorship, whereas I merely neglected it because it was a shitty platform and I hated it. |
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