cliveward
14-09-2008, 08:51 PM
Hi All,
Just thought I'd post a bit of info about this now I've had a chance to have a fanny about on the range with it.
I was after a gun to use both on the range and for in the field and I was on the look out for a Steyr Scout but the cost was high as a package and I was advised that to be any use on the range it would need a brake or moderator to make it comfortable to shoot for an extended period of time. I then had a look at a Tikka T3 Tactical 20" as that didn't seem to be overly heavy and had a brake. I didn't particlularly care for the Tikka's felxible stock and the other thing that put me off slightly was that a few other guys in the club have got them and I like something a bit 'different', even though the shop were offering a serious deal on the rifle.
Anyway to cut a long story short, Chris (cnshoot on here) had an SSG for sale so I went for a gander and could see it was a 'quality' rifle and not too heavy. I got the rifle, scope, mounts, case, etc. and some ammunition for more or less the same price as the Tikka would have been and had a good natter, coffee and catch up with Chris into the bargain.
If you're not familiar with it, the SSG was developed as a modern sniper weapon system in 1969 and is current issue with many armies and police forces around the world. The rifle I got from Chris is the full 'package'. Rifle, mounts (serialised to rifle), Swarovski military scope with picket post reticle and BDC turret, sling, manual and hard case.
The stock is a hard green plastic and plastics have been used in the mag well/trigger guard and magazine, very 70's retro :). Some people find this an offence to the senses due to the general hollow plasticyness of it with mold flashing to boot. Personally I don't care. It's unlikely to break or warp and is extremely lightweight.
All of the external metalwork of the rifle is green phosphated and all of the internal surfaces, bore, chamber and crown are like mirrors! The barrel is particularly nice in the fact that it is hammer forged and I think the spiralled hammer marks are quite pleasing.
The other thing that pleases me about this rifle is the fact that it has a 2 stage trigger.
I had a quick zero at 100m a few days ago to get the Swarovski ZFM 6X42 Z scope set up and the groups were .5 - 1 MOA which was fine considering I wasn't being particularly careful about it.
Today I had a morning on the range to really test the rifle out. The club had booked the 600m range with the AMS system. the AMS system displays your bullet impact on a monitor at the firing point with useful data such as x/y coordinates from centre for each round, group size and mean POI all in mm.
Firstly at 200m I set the BDC of the scope to 2 and fired the first round which hit POA give or take a gnats which was good enough for me. The second round hit just 12mm from the first which showed promise but it went a bit to pot on the 3rd round because my position wasn't that great. Shooting at 200m is now a requirement of the MOD to ensure that unzeroed rifles are not used at the longer ranges where there is more of a danger for bullets to escape the safety area.
We went back to 600m prone off the bipod and I set the BDC to 6. The first round hit high and slightly to the left and I finished a group of three to get my adjustments. I adjusted 1 MIL down and .4 MIL right for the very slight breeze. For the next group I stuffed a spare shirt under the rear of the stock to get a very stable position. I fired a three shot group at 89mm and it was as closely centred on the target as the scope adjustments would allow.
That's just a whisker over .5 MOA at 600m! using a 6x scope with a picket post reticle. Apparently this can't be done with a 6x scope :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D I was happy to say the least that the rifle was a good-un.
I got through 150 rounds and all the groups at 600m were good. In fact in the next series the second shot was only 38mm from the first but the pressure got to me lol and I pulled the next and after that I struggled to get the fine accuracy I had achieved.
I noticed the problem when I got home to clean the rifle. The bipod adapter in the accessory rail had slid forward causing the bipod to push on the front swivel which then was in contact with the barrel.
Shooting the rifle was very comfortable, even though it's a medium weight rifle with only a tiny thin bit of rubber to cap off the LOP spacers on the stock. One of the other guys had a few rounds with it and thought it was a bit 'fierce but very nice to shoot' but that was compared to a .308 AR straight pull with heavy barrel and brake. At the end of the day I think it's the same with all rifles, if it fits and you hold it right it won't hurt.
It was a great day and I got a load of data for the rifle. The ammunition used was the 155grn RG match stuff.
Cheers
Clive
Just thought I'd post a bit of info about this now I've had a chance to have a fanny about on the range with it.
I was after a gun to use both on the range and for in the field and I was on the look out for a Steyr Scout but the cost was high as a package and I was advised that to be any use on the range it would need a brake or moderator to make it comfortable to shoot for an extended period of time. I then had a look at a Tikka T3 Tactical 20" as that didn't seem to be overly heavy and had a brake. I didn't particlularly care for the Tikka's felxible stock and the other thing that put me off slightly was that a few other guys in the club have got them and I like something a bit 'different', even though the shop were offering a serious deal on the rifle.
Anyway to cut a long story short, Chris (cnshoot on here) had an SSG for sale so I went for a gander and could see it was a 'quality' rifle and not too heavy. I got the rifle, scope, mounts, case, etc. and some ammunition for more or less the same price as the Tikka would have been and had a good natter, coffee and catch up with Chris into the bargain.
If you're not familiar with it, the SSG was developed as a modern sniper weapon system in 1969 and is current issue with many armies and police forces around the world. The rifle I got from Chris is the full 'package'. Rifle, mounts (serialised to rifle), Swarovski military scope with picket post reticle and BDC turret, sling, manual and hard case.
The stock is a hard green plastic and plastics have been used in the mag well/trigger guard and magazine, very 70's retro :). Some people find this an offence to the senses due to the general hollow plasticyness of it with mold flashing to boot. Personally I don't care. It's unlikely to break or warp and is extremely lightweight.
All of the external metalwork of the rifle is green phosphated and all of the internal surfaces, bore, chamber and crown are like mirrors! The barrel is particularly nice in the fact that it is hammer forged and I think the spiralled hammer marks are quite pleasing.
The other thing that pleases me about this rifle is the fact that it has a 2 stage trigger.
I had a quick zero at 100m a few days ago to get the Swarovski ZFM 6X42 Z scope set up and the groups were .5 - 1 MOA which was fine considering I wasn't being particularly careful about it.
Today I had a morning on the range to really test the rifle out. The club had booked the 600m range with the AMS system. the AMS system displays your bullet impact on a monitor at the firing point with useful data such as x/y coordinates from centre for each round, group size and mean POI all in mm.
Firstly at 200m I set the BDC of the scope to 2 and fired the first round which hit POA give or take a gnats which was good enough for me. The second round hit just 12mm from the first which showed promise but it went a bit to pot on the 3rd round because my position wasn't that great. Shooting at 200m is now a requirement of the MOD to ensure that unzeroed rifles are not used at the longer ranges where there is more of a danger for bullets to escape the safety area.
We went back to 600m prone off the bipod and I set the BDC to 6. The first round hit high and slightly to the left and I finished a group of three to get my adjustments. I adjusted 1 MIL down and .4 MIL right for the very slight breeze. For the next group I stuffed a spare shirt under the rear of the stock to get a very stable position. I fired a three shot group at 89mm and it was as closely centred on the target as the scope adjustments would allow.
That's just a whisker over .5 MOA at 600m! using a 6x scope with a picket post reticle. Apparently this can't be done with a 6x scope :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D I was happy to say the least that the rifle was a good-un.
I got through 150 rounds and all the groups at 600m were good. In fact in the next series the second shot was only 38mm from the first but the pressure got to me lol and I pulled the next and after that I struggled to get the fine accuracy I had achieved.
I noticed the problem when I got home to clean the rifle. The bipod adapter in the accessory rail had slid forward causing the bipod to push on the front swivel which then was in contact with the barrel.
Shooting the rifle was very comfortable, even though it's a medium weight rifle with only a tiny thin bit of rubber to cap off the LOP spacers on the stock. One of the other guys had a few rounds with it and thought it was a bit 'fierce but very nice to shoot' but that was compared to a .308 AR straight pull with heavy barrel and brake. At the end of the day I think it's the same with all rifles, if it fits and you hold it right it won't hurt.
It was a great day and I got a load of data for the rifle. The ammunition used was the 155grn RG match stuff.
Cheers
Clive