Rise of the "Pink Panther"...(formerly 'gay disco nightmare')

[rardoin]

So.... I posted about my color scheme gone horribly wrong on a McMillan Kestro-ZR stock.  Since it was to be an LSU color scheme and was to be called 'Tiger' my gunsmith dubbed it the 'Pink Panther'....keeping the feline theme intact...in a weird way .  I'll refresh your memory:






Well, I have been doing some load development in new cases (I need to form about 400) so I plan on shooting them in matches to get my required number and not just burn barrel time.  I have about 170rds down the tube shooting Berger 184gr Hybrids at the upper 2700's / low 2800's.  I was getting some really good 1" 5 shot groups at 300yds on one charge then .2gr up or down might be 3" with no discernible pattern!  WTF!?!?   After getting the bore settled and what I felt should be a very satisfactory load/seating depth the next day, or even later that day in the same conditions, the load would go to crap.
5 shots at 100yds... In business, right?



WRONG..  300yds same day:




 The March scope I had on it was not battle tested and I thought I might have had it do something funky a few weeks back on another rifle so I put a known rock solid March on it and same result .  Different lot of RL-23...same $hi+ .  Finally, although I had some slight concerns before I ever put a round down the tube, I checked to see if the bottom of the barrel was touching a cross brace on the fore rails; it seemed really close when deflecting the 31" long 1.25" diameter barrel downward while in the rest.  I could not see any witness marks on the aluminum brace with slight magnification but I put a light coat of Prussian blue on the underside of the barrel and shot a group (a mighty crappy group I might add) and voila!!!  Definite transfer of the Prussian blue onto the cross brace...FRICK!.  A quick call to my gunsmith who was monitoring the load development and shocked that the rifle could shoot great then fall apart in a moments notice and he said to bring it on by.  We removed the mortised/epoxied cross brace and cut a new one that was bolted to the underside of the rail:





I ran back to the loading room and back to the range...again...for the sixth time in 48hrs!  This time the Pink Panther strikes!  Three .3 MOA 5 shot groups at 300yds over .4gr powder charge spread.  Whew...  I was at the go/no go point for either shooting the Pink Panther .284 vs old reliable, but ballistically under gunned, 6.5 x55 BJAI (Oddball) in the Mississippi Long Range Championships this weekend.  I know which one I'll shoot now.  I know it will get a bit better once I am shooting fired cases with a properly developed load/ testing other powders/primers/seating depths:





Robin

[sportacus]

Robin,
Very impressive shooting.  Break: The Pink Panther has my vote.  A friend, asked my friend Jim to do a stock job with pink and gray for his daughter.  Jim's stocks are practical for hunters and can be kinda artsy, but that one did not make the grade.  All the evidence has been destroyed. 
Wayne

[gman47564]

robin what kind of case fill are you getting with the re 23 ? I still like the color ...lol

[rardoin]

Grant, I'm getting near 100% with the 184 Berger seated 0.008" OTL.  A charged case, using a medium length drop tube (8"), is filled just past midway up the shoulder.  I suspect the bullet base is just touching, or very close to, the top of powder column.  I have a 2 day match this weekend which should nearly finish the first firing on 400 cases.  I'll then test H4350, H4831sc (maybe), and ReLoder-16 (if H4350 looks better than Reloder-23).  I'll probably put a lot of miles on this first barrel to find a go to charge but I have two other blanks ready to chamber so this one will be my sacrificial virgin of sorts .

[DHuffman]

I like the color too, tell her to stick to makin' sammichs and you'll handle the rifle builds! ?

[rardoin]

Dave, my wife is a funeral director and embalmer....with many friends that own crematories.   They would never find my body!  On the bright side there will be several rifles/gear up for sale at great prices if she sells it based on what she thinks I paid for it  .

[jvw2008]

Sounds like the "Hart of Dixie" down there Robin!!

Just teasing. ?

[rardoin]

It keeps me on my toes, Jerry  !

[DHuffman]

Robin I hear you, my wife walks past the gun room then the reloading room and talks about big garage sale she's having someday.

[rardoin]

I am going to retest minor seating depth changes this pm to see if I can tighten up the groups a little on the vertical side although I have been working on getting this rifle to glide better in the rest/bag.  The slick fabric in my bags grips the aluminum fore end rails and the gelcoat on the butt causing a bit of friction.  I reduced the amount of sand in the side bags on the rest and in the ears on the rear bag and, although it does not glide nearly as easily as my wood stock it is much better than before.  Just that alone my help the most...we'll see this p.m..

[rardoin]

Robin I hear you, my wife walks past the gun room then the reloading room and talks about big garage sale she's having someday.

My wife values her, in my opinion, ridiculous collection of shoes and matching purses too much; a garage sale would be quid pro quo.  It would be mutually assured destruction!!!

[jvw2008]

Robin
The new Wheeler/McMillain stocks use aluminum fore end rails and an aluminum stock rudder. I read somewhere a while back that Alex believes that aluminum and 3M slick material don't play well together. He recommends the Cordova material instead. In preparation for the Wheeler stock I'm waiting on I've geared up with new Cordova bags front and back. No experience with them yet so I can't document.

As you know I machined front and back riders for one of my chassis rifles out of aluminum and they are polished to a true mirror finish. It's for sure they run better in Cordova than slick cloth. I don't know for sure but I thick if the aluminum surfaces were finished with clear coat, it would solve the problem, and might be a better solution than going back to Cordova.

[rardoin]

I hear ya' Jerry.  I put the gun in a Seb NEO that had microfiber cloth front bags and a rear bag with Cordura and it definitely slid more freely.  When I put it in my own front rest and the Cordura rear bag it bound up making me suspect the front rest was an issue.  I removed a little sand from the side bags up front and it did improve somewhat.  I ordered a microfiber 3 piece front bag and a Protecktor Dr. Cordura flat top rear bag yesterday to see if it improves things.  I was told that regardless of the bag material it will 'wear in' and run smoother after use.  I'm still hedging that bet with the above purchases .

[jvw2008]

When they say "wear in and improve" that can only be due to a slow polish of the aluminum surface. My experience says even that doesn't come up to the slipperiness of the slick cloth/clear coat combo. The problem is the aluminum and it will accept clear coat as well as wood. As I get further in to this I will definitely be looking at coating the aluminum instead of letting it "wear in". ?

[rardoin]

I'm thinking the same...that the smoothed Al will not play as well as wax over urethane finished or clear coated wood.  One thing I will try is an automotive 'nano' coating.  I've had a couple of vehicles coated with multiple layers of the stuff and it is very slick (like a fresh waxed surface) and durable.  Clear coating would also likely keep me under the width limit on the fore end.