With two nuts missing, this squirrel feels impotent….
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Boss Lady wasn’t feeling so great yesterday. Sunday. Mother’s Day. Wrong day to be down.
Still and all, I tried to please her. I asked what she wanted, to which she replied: Just leave me alone. Who am I to argue with such a clear and concise request? So, I gathered my gear and left for the range. Once again, I was On the Road Again… Link
Starting at 7AM, my trusty (rusty?) chariot was loaded in less than 15 minutes. I was at Styx as they opened their doors to receive customers. Magnanimously, they let also me pass in spite of the incident I have not previously documented. Probably because there were no other customers and I had two coins to pay the ferryman, Charon, who now goes by ”Charlie” in keeping with these modern times. Who am I to question this?
Yet, I am not so sure that I should be happy that he was happy to see me… We shall cross that bridge at a future date. Hopefully that date shall be a very distant time in the future. (If you get my drift as we navigate these tricky waters…)
ULTERIOR, EXTERIOR MOTIVES
I can be less than truthful and claim my movies for leaving my dearly b’loved were purely to satisfy her demand. In all honesty, that would be stretching the truth and probably result in a stretched nose, of which I shall have none of it. Nose stretching, that is. I still need my nose, as any sensible person knows. (Count them: Second really bad pun! You did catch the first one before it caught you, Yes?)
The real reason for my sojourn was to upgrade my Savage AXIS II .308. Those who know me can attest that I am able to resist any temptation in which I am not interested. They also state that I am incredibly patient as long as you don’t make me wait for what I want, when I want it. SO, having started this upgrade process in February, both my temptation and patience factors were on overtime and overload. The weather, my health, and my marriage conspired to delay realization after the parts arrived earlier this week. Boss Lady understood that a once-yearly celebration of motherhood was insufficient reason to delay this considerably more important task. After all, I was also sacrificing; I was more than willing to travel into a bad cell zone and miss the customary, annual calls from my kids and forgo the yearly ritual of having them call me “Mother”.
Besides, it was a great opportunity to get outdoors, out of the protection of four walls, a leaking roof, and a creaking floor—into typical Gulf Coast Springtime Weather (rain & wind) and breathe in the “fresh air”. If one can ignore the pollen released by flora freakishly and fastidiously fornicating. It amazes me how people are blissfully unaware of what that greenish-yellow residue on their vehicles really is as they thoughtlessly dust it off with unprotected hands. As they say, to each s/he/it’s own… Who am I to judge? Still, one cannot ignore Rules of the Internet—specifically Rule #42: What has been seen cannot be unseen, especially if it is obscene. The green dust is definitely obscene.
Back to point: It was safe to go outside due to the cleansing (purifying) effect of the prior several days of wind and rain. On the other hand, it might not be the best time to take a dip in the Gulf. You pays your dime and you takes your chance, right? Who am I to naysay you being potentially cross-pollenated? These warnings make me feel as if I am portraying Dr. Schreck of Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors fame. LINK
GOOD THINGS COME IN LARGE BOXES
Disclaimer: IF you have to ask, you can’t afford to buy.
I chose MDT (https://mdttac.com/) parts to accomplish my upgrade for a reason. They ain’t cheap, but they deliver a great product at a price commensurate with the quality and reliability they deliver. Bang per buck applies here in several senses of the phrase. If you are the type to expect overnight delivery of custom-built parts, and if you are the type to expect these parts will be inexpensive as well as of high quality, let me discuss a wonderful opportunity to purchase some Florida swamp land we intend to drain; not to worry because we are importing a bridge from Brooklyn to ensure access in the interim…
Did everything go smoothly? It depends on your definition of smooth. MDT is a Canudian company. (You have to insert a copious number of EH’s when you call them on the phone in order to be understood; you also have to profess an interest in something called “Hockey”, whatever that is.) They ship their product from Canudia to Idaho Falls ID (formerly known as Eagle Rock with the name changed to encourage visits from tourists). Or IFID—as some not so affectionately called it. Some with “fond memories” also affectionately refer to this vista of Mormonism as Idiot Flats. It was my last Navy (active duty) assignment. (Don’t even ask about this if you aren’t willing to believe there were two submarines and one aircraft carrier in the desert outside of town… Honest.) So, I am intimately familiar with Idiot Falls (as the more learned also term this desert paradise). In spite of this familiarity and corresponding indication of poor managerial choices on their part to place a depot here, I still conduct business with MDT. Such is my high regard for their product and their dedication to delivering exceptional customer service.
As long as we are on the subject of deliveries. The MDT Bill of Lading comprised:
- LSS Gen2 Chassis
- SRS Short – Skeleton Rifle Stock Short
- Vertical Grip Premier
- Carbine to Fixed Stock Adapter
- GRND-POD – Bipod (2 each)
- .308/6.5 Creedmoor MDT Polymer AICS Magazine – 10 RND (2 each)
- MDT Bench Mat
You can use your imagination (or calculator) to guess (compute) the number of individual shipments (and boxes), as well as cost that it took to get these to me. True, some of the boxes were misdirected, misplaced, and/or lost for a bit. But one must expect such hiccups when shipments must twice clear customs: Once when crossing the Canadian-US border; and again when leaving Idiot Falls for the good old US of A.
Aside: If you haven’t guessed it, my memories of IFID are not what one deems “fond”.
Consistent with looking for a silver lining to the shipping cloud: The amount of paper used for packaging and boxing these items will considerably reduce the amount of smoke Canudia sends to the USA during this year’s fire season! New York can thank me by recalling the majority of their elected officials.
Be that as it may, the folks at MDT did an excellent job of working with me (while keeping me informed before I had the chance to complain, er um, ask them on a daily basis) as they tracked packages through the intricacies, foibles, and general incompetence of the USPS. They even offered to send duplicate parts delayed in transit with the provision that I return (or pay for) the misdirected item should it show up months late. That is dedication to customer service—especially after I learned they ran a credit check and saw my history of on-time payments (or lack thereof) and the number of maxed-out cards in my name as well as all of the aliases I use! (Need to figure out how they discovered all of these and ensure they don’t tell the IRS.)
To their credit, MDT did advise me of the long lead times for several of the parts before accepting my order. Being impatient when I want something now, I really didn’t anticipate just how long the emotionally subjective time would be for an objective lead time of ten weeks. Even though they delivered ahead of their promised date, it seemed like an eternity or two, which made me glad that I ordered corrosion resistant, metal parts instead of plastic junk with a 50,000-year decay from someone else. Still, suspicious me checked for corrosion because I am truly anal-retentive. The parts passed with flying colors. Take this however you like; I don’t guarantee there are not multiple meanings, but you decide.
Being me, I laid out and inspected just about everything before calling gunsmith “Charlie” to set an appointment for assembly. Kindly take note of the just about everything disclaimer. I didn’t set out the adapter between the stock and chassis. When reviewing the photo, the folks at MDT called me to inquire about this, just to ensure the assembly went smoothly. Another way of looking at this is that they know what a pain (you decide where this might be located) I can be when I am vocal (whining? Or another clue as to the location of the pain I cause) about things going bump in the night. MDT decided to be proactive, maybe? Who can say?
TWO NUTS MISSING?? WT HECK?
To my credit, incredibly, I resisted the urge to assemble the parts so that I could run around the house pretending I was repulsing an invasion of aliens arriving through an interdimensional portal. Yes, I would have first closed the curtains because I am still working to soothe tempers and feelings about not doing that the last time I celebrated my birthday while sporting appropriate attire.
Let me give you a warm welcome, illegal aliens. Stand by as I punch your non-existent, non-resident, phony, alien visa. As if I should ever be so lucky to be the home they select for their locus of embarkation…
Still, maybe I should have assembled the parts. Had I done so, I would have learned that the Vertical Grip was missing the two small nuts necessary to secure and affix the screws. Mixed emotions here, folks. I am not sure which is better: Missing Nuts or Loose Screws. Over my past 70 years, I have been accused of both on many occasions. Probably with good cause.
Accidents happen, as my first wife was quoted as having said when I came home early and found her… never mind.
As I was saying, accidents happen. I just wish they wouldn’t happen to me with such regularity. This is one, rare instance when I don’t want regularity for my ancient and decrepit body. SO, I set my phone to signal me to call MDT when they opened on–most appropriately–the 13th. (Pogo, bless his heart, would inform that Friday the 13th came early this month. My call was answered before the 5th ring—which is a response considerably faster than Boss Lady usually accomplishes. They were sufficiently apologetic, though it gets old when their answering CSR cries when realizing it is me. Heck—see how I attempt to keep this G-Rated?—they even offered me… SNAP! The NDA for not calling again prohibits me from discussing this. If it comes to trial, Justice Juan Merchan will instruct the jury to disregard the fact that they read this and direct you to not be influenced by this exposure to non-admissible evidence permitted to be presented by the prosecution even though Merchan specifically enjoined all parties to not do so at the beginning of the trial, in order to ensure fairness and impartiality.
Regardless of how, this squirrel has been promised his missing nuts will magically appear before the end of the week. The only uncertainty involved is how long it will take the package to pass through customs at Idiot Flats. I anticipate a customary delay. At least promises are not being made, given the uncertainty of the situation, which is not what you customarily get when dealing with customer service.
WEATHER OR NOT IT HAPPENS
I was originally going to the range last Tuesday. Life conspired to prevent this. The weatherman predicted rain and wind >30MPH for Wednesday through Saturday. Except for an unfortunate and random event—Mother’s Day—being poorly and inappropriately scheduled for Sunday, the range trip would have been the following Tuesday (tomorrow). Thus, we have a strong review of the past week. One is ever so thankful for Boss Lady’s words happily sending me to the range.
Unfortunately, I should have asked whether or not the weather was going to let this happen. As luck would have it, the clear skies (no rainbows predicted with a guarantee of absent unicorns) with low wind was off on two counts. The skies were not clear. It was raining. And, the low wind was actually no wind, except for the 10MPH gusts. (In retrospect, I gust you could call it wind…) I could live with this. What else can one expect when journeying to Styx to meet with Charon? Unicorns? How uncouth and inappropriate of you to mix mythologies…
It was wet. Granted that rain is sub optimal, but it was more a light drizzle than real rain. Kind of like a .22 is almost a real big-game hunting rifle well suited for targeting elephants and Kodiak Bear instead of plinking aluminum cans. Yes, it only lightly drizzled when I was walking out to hang targets. Predictably, it started as I took my first step and stopped as I returned to the barn. Yes, the rain stopped when I entered the barn, but the raindrops continued down my wet hair and down my collar. Even if they really didn’t, it only felt like raindrops keep falling on my head. LINK No shock here, folks: It was quite nice after I was inside and sheltered, though not so nice as I braved the weather during my exposure outside. Thankfully it wasn’t my birthday and my outsides were not exposed.image
To ice the cake, McArthur: I was the only shooter there this early on Mother’s Day. It was RANGE FREE and I could go HOT/COLD to my heart’s content. IF only the rain down my back didn’t put a chill on the situation. At least it wasn’t due to malaria.
Regardless: It was finally happening.
NO-GAME GAME PLAN: NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED
The plan was simple: Shoot 5 rounds @ 100- and 200-yards for two different loads. After getting this baseline, see what Charlie’s magical fingers can do with the upgrades, then return to the range and fire another 5 rounds @ 100- and 200-yards with the two different loads. Revel in the tremendous improvement.
…mutters something about simple plans of mice and men going astray.
Rain wasn’t something included in these simple plans, but it was definitely surmountable at tremendous personal sacrifice because my bath wasn’t due for another two days. And, I was supposed to do this without complaint or harm. Though one could take exception to the obviously erroneous position that walking (exercise) is good for one’s health. Still, in spite of the hardship(s), two targets were successfully hung on each of the 100- and 200-yard backstops. All quite appropriately splatters—targets and rain, that is. An oval to the left with a five-box square sighting to the right. Their edges pretty much touching each other except for the gap(s) between them.
The ammunition of choice? Tried and true Federal Black Box 150 grain and something I never before shot: PSA’s AAC 150 grain. The ACC is the blue box (right side) for those of you having issues deciding which box of the two isn’t black…
The no-game game plan: Send one downrange into the oval target to check zero (accuracy), then send five into the boxes to check grouping (precision). I know that means six rounds, not five. I really can count—just don’t count on me in a crisis. I only planned on counting the five-shot groups. I thought this would be less confusing than explaining why there were six shots in total, but only five shots in the groups. But it really wasn’t a simplification and I had to explain it anyhow. SO SHOOT ME, WHY DON’T YOU?
Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite as planned. Why? I was also testing an unopened, Caldwell bipod I found in a box of spare parts. I wanted to see just how much improvement in performance that spiffy, new MDT bipod would afford over less expensive parts—because I could afford to pay for this upgrade. Suffice it to say that the cheap Caldwell bipod didn’t afford a performance improvement over other stabilizers I used in the past. There was significant degradation when compared with sandbags, shaped bags, and different benchrests or sleds. The performance was so bad that I folded the legs and set up on sandbags. Two thumbs down with an extended middle finger. Though the bipod’s brother is well suited for my low-recoil AR15, this poor sister isn’t ready for the big-time recoil of a .308. I am considering adding it to my Ruger 10/22.
How bad was it emotionally? Well, in point of fact, it was considerably worse than the Avant Guard play my mom dragged me to when I was in first grade. Did I mention that the play was in German and French with someone annoyingly strumming an inappropriatly off-tuned guitar (phony Spanish Flamenco) in the background while accompanied by bongos? Let’s not mention the draped, sequined, pastel-rainbow costumes of torn cloth with hellish lighting, lest this trigger another PTSD episode with weeks of nightmares.
Emotions are one thing, actual, measurable results are another thing. See for yourself how bad it was.
These were 100-yard shots. Start with the oval at the left (above). I fired two black-box Federals at the left dot and failed to achieve sub-moa. This never happens to me. I then fired two AAC at the right dot with similar worst-than-unimpressive results. The second round’s POI is indicated by the red square between the two targets. How far off was this? Who cares with results this bad?
So, I folded (in shame) the legs of the Caldwell bipod and set up four sandbags. I steadied the .308 on these and shot (shooted?) five rounds at the squares on the sighting target shown upper right. The federals were marginally acceptable, but the AAC were another embarrassment. Some of this was due to my low blood sugar level triggered by the stress (read this as anger) because of the poor performance caused by the Caldwell bipod. My monitor sounded an audible alarm—as if I needed more stress and aggravation. In the three minutes it took to fold the pod legs and set up the sandbags, I had dropped from mid-90 to the high-60s. This is enough to give me the shakes. I ate something and continued shooting at 200-yards. I wanted to see how the shakes would shake things up, if at all. Can we say BIG MISTAKE, boys and girls?
I know the drop a .308 suffers when stretching another 100 yards and dialed this correction into my scope. Interesting data was gathered. Not great results were obtained, but interesting data was gathered.
The two Federals shot at the oval’s left dot were about what I expected when factoring my shakes; I was also probably anticipating recoil and jerking the trigger. However, the five AAC rounds produced unexpected results. I targeted the oval’s right dot with the ACC. For the life of me, I cannot explain why I could only locate four-of-five. But, you say, you only see two. The third is at the edge of the sighting target. The fourth is somewhere in the Federal’s group in the left-side red square of the sighting target. Don’t ask which one. It was a miracle because we obtained six-of-five results, eh? The last one is probably in Spain. (Watch Surf Ninjas if you want to understand.)
I took a breath and shifted to the sighting target, then sent an additional ten rounds downrange to see how badly I would perform. (Did the ground shake when you read those words from me?) Understand that it takes about 20 minutes for my blood sugar level to rise to safe/normal ranges after eating a standard PayDay candy bar. Adding glucose tablets, which I did, doesn’t speed this recovery, in case you were wondering. I was only halfway through my recovery. During this round of shooting, I was now in the low-60 and doing my best Ray Miland The Lost Weekend imitation. LINK (Such high drama, yes?)
Digression: Not something I would normally attempt due to safety concerns. However, they have a large berm behind the targets and I was the only shooter at the range. The rifle was on two bags, which prevented it from shooting over the berm or wide right/left. I felt that this information might be good to know should there ever be a zombie apocalypse and I have need to snipe at range while physically distressed. Though not one-shot kills, they are still debilitating and/or incapacating to the intended target.
The Federal ammo (shot at the left-side square) still kind of grouped—if you can call a 3-moa spread a group. I am completely befuddled by the ACC, which were shot at the right-side square.
Was I happy with this? No. I found the Federal performed within the diminished capability of the shooter. I am not sure how to explain the AAC results to non-shooters. My best guess is that this .308 configuration just doesn’t like this ammo. The results are probably not indicative of bad ammo and/or a bad shooter. They are most likely an incompatibility between the ammo and the rifle. This is just the way of shooting. Still: Sux to have purchased 100 rounds.
BREAK TIME BEFORE I BROKE SOMETHING
It was time to call it quits and take a break before I broke something. More specifically: Before I broke myself. I was honestly worried about breaking me, which would be bad. I dropped the magazine, flagged open the bolt/chamber, zipped my toy in its soft case, and walked to the office.
As luck would have it, it rained during the walk.
I paid Charon Charlie as I handed over my .308 and then sat down for a bit as I waited for him to perform his magic.
Some of the regulars are also diabetics. They know and understand my medical condition. Because of this, they immediately recognized my low blood sugar condition and offered me donuts, which I declined because of the prior PayDay and glucose tablet consumption. (Was there lightning in addition to the earthquake with these words?) As bad as low blood sugar is, consuming too much sugar produces overshoots (spikes). If you aren’t careful, this sometimes messes you up for days as you balance diet, medicine, exercise, sleep, and other factors. But, damn, that donut was calling my name… Being educated, none of the regulars suggested I take a shot of insulin to help correct my diabetic situation.
Contrary to the Hollywood myth, when your blood sugar is low, injecting insulin is the worst thing you can do because insulin lowers your blood sugar levels. These injections are how the ignorant though well-intended kill people. For purposes of identification and additional clarification, you can also call them Biden-voters.
When Charlie appeared a while later, he uttered several words I didn’t want to hear. Heart-stopping words. Those horrific, anal-puckering words: I am really sorry about this. Remember that heading referencing squirrels and nuts? I don’t feel a need to rehash this old story except to reiterate that MDT apologized for the error and has already sent the missing nuts. Call me nutz, but, being squirrelly, I believe them.
This doesn’t mean my baby was not functional. It only means that shooting the current configuration is a bit more challenging than it otherwise could be. (For the purists and faint of heart in the audience: Apologies for dangling my participle in front of your delicate sensibles.) When could I ever resist a challenge?
THE REVEAL—REVEL IN IT
Freekin’ Awesome!
At first glance, you don’t notice the missing grip, do you? You are overwhelmed—and more than a bit jealous of the owner of this piece of magnificent hardware. In all honesty, so was I. I was so taken that, for a few seconds, I was jealous of the owner because I didn’t recognize my baby. That is how much of an ugly duckling transformation this was. I didn’t recognize the rifle after the upgrade.
I deployed the MDT bipod and set this beast on the benchrest. I then spent a few minutes kind of adjusting LOP (Length of Pull), cheek height, and butt pad position. I wasn’t too concerned with fine tuning because my hand position will change after the grip is installed.
The first change is the rapidity with which I properly obtain eye relief. No more scope shadow. Rapid acquisition. Instantaneous perfection without head bobbing. Along with a need to install some padding.
I adjusted parallax and sighted on the 200-yard targets. I unsuccessfully tried making my rifle (note the pride in those words) wobble in an attempt to move the POA from the bullseye. Didn’t happen. The bipod seemed to be worth every penny—actually dollar—I paid for it. No regrets except eating a PayDay instead of a Snickers. (Just wait, it will creep up on you in a few seconds.)
But, does it work as anticipated?
TEST OF FIRE-ing
One old expression goes: the proof of the pudding is in the eating; another is used to direct those you don’t like to pound sand, with the destination generally understood without being specified. A wise man first recommends you never substitute pudding for sand, then continues by recommending you do not pound this into your rifle. Being a follower of wise guy advice, I cleared my rifle and prepared to shoot.
Technique is everything when shooting, if you can ignore all the other stuff. In this situation (a missing grip) it is impossible to attain perfect technique. I anticipated an error of 1-2 moa and was willing to work with this. But was this a realistic estimate?
Give it a few paragraphs and see for yourself.
I sighted the 100-yard oval target and fired a round. It was 4.5 moa high and about 1.5 moa right. This was more than a bit unexpected. How did this happen? Well, the upgrades added weight and changed geometry. They also changed the harmonics of the weapon.
I wanted to see the net impact of these changes. This is why I stressed not removing the scope from the barrel during the upgrade: I wanted to see how much the changes would affect POA/POI. I anticipated up to a 2 moa differential, with best guess of maybe 1 moa. This really shocked me. I was happy that it was upward deflection, not downward. If you don’t understand, I really can’t explain. Just believe.
I shot a few rounds of the Federal to zero the scope, then shot for accuracy and precision with incredible results. The results weren’t exceptional because I didn’t take exception to them.
I first targeted the left-side, center intersection of the red box and the yellow line. This is actually six shots comprising three groups of two shots each: Federal Blue Box 150 grain; Federal Red Box 150 grain; generic Monarch 150 grain. Four shots key-holed. Incredibly, the three groups of different ammo had a sub-moa spread, center-to-center.
I then targeted the right-side intersection of the red square and yellow line with another Monarch to great impact. (Oh, gawd was that a bad pun.)
I followed this with a shot to the upper right corner of the yellow square.
For those who have forgotten, these shots were made without the benefit of a grip. I was using the skeleton support sans grip, but with no packed sans. Yes, I was supporting the buttstock with a rear sandbag, but that still left my hand with a lot of wiggle room. If you can’t handle this, you don’t have a firm grasp of the subject at hand.
And I had originally though up to a 2-moa differential. Right. Silly Me, doubting my awesomeness…
SO, WAS THE UPGRADE WORTH THE PRICE?
You’re damned right it was. It was so worth it I am not upset about the cost of the remaining ACC ammo I won’t be using. Unless someone makes rude comments about me (or my equipment) and challenges me to a shootout. Boy, are they in for a shock!
WHAT ELSE?
For the sake of completeness, I didn’t do a one step zero when sighting. I hung a standard sighting target at 100 yards and shot at it. I didn’t want overshoot and only dialed down about 3 moa.
The results checked tracking on the scope. I was still about 1.5 moa high and right, as expected. Note that these holes, once again (or before) came from the three different rounds previously mentioned when shooting the groups. After obtaining these results, I dialed down and left about 1.5 moa. After accomplishing this task, I shifted attention to the splatter target and shot the groups previously discussed.
Yes, JEJiii, I reset ZERO on my turrets after sighting and zeroing the scope.
AMMO COUNT
How did the upgrade change what was going on with the AAC Ammo? Well, not much. The AAC issues probably result from the barrel’s preferences; it just doesn’t like this ammo. All told, I shot 20 rounds of ACC ammo—a full box. It wasn’t wasted, but it was expensive.
Besides the AAC, I shot (all 150 grain):
- Remington Core-Lokt @10
- Federal Black Box @ 20
- Federal Blue Box @ 10
- Federal Red Box @ 10
- Monarch @ 10
Expensive? Sure. But you know what, I sure had a lot of fun.