lancetkenyon

I really like Big Heng's in Peoria. On 75th Ave & Peoria, NW corner. Not a high end place, but the staff is super friendly (a family run place), and food is great. Cheap too. We get take out quite a bit, and they always throw in some appetizers for free. For a little nicer place, we used to go to Golden Phoenix, on Camelback I think? Pretty good food there too. NW valley (I-17 & 101), a new place opened up a couple years ago called George & Sons. Pretty good and family run.

Good prices for sure, along with shipping costs. I have never heard of them, however.

Saw this and ran out to check my mail. My wife's tag came too. And my refund checks came yesterday.....

Who is doing the chambering and putting it together?

I vote .25-06 AI too. I have one with a 28" barrel and it shoots lights out and fast. 58.0gr. RL22 pushes a 115 Berger HVLD @ 3400fps .5 MOA. I had a load of 60.0gr. RL22 w. the 115 HVLD at 3610fps too, but it was not as accurate. 60.3gr. RL22 pushes a 100 Barnes TTSX or a 100 SMK @ 3730fps .75MOA. Brass is way easy and cheap to find. Lasts a long time, and the 40° shoulder limits case stretch so trimming is seldom needed. No belt to mess with either. And fire-forming is very mild recoiling, and pretty accurate too at .75 MOA in my gun. 54.8gr. H4831 push a 115 Berger HVLD @ 3180fps in mine. Plus, you can't tell me that is not a sexy cartridge!!!

Great trimmer. This is the one I use too.

Have you ever seen the areas fenced off to keep the browsing ungulates out for a re growth study? Looks to be about the right size. That would be my bet.

2 and a curly half.

So, here is the deal with the Steiner. During my build, I knew I wanted a top tier glass to put on it. I really wanted the Vortex Razor Gen II 4.5-27x56 w. the EBR-2C MIL reticle. Well, they seem to be like unobtainium for the last 6+ months. So I put on e on order (which I am still waiting on), but I was seriously considering the Steiner T5Xi 5-25x56 w. the SCR reticle also. But they had not been released yet, and had been delayed 3 month with their release at the time, with no definite release date set. The initial beta testers had good reviews of them (of course, they would not put out any scopes for testing that were not perfect). Well, it was announced the release date would be Jan. 2015, so I went and put one on pre-order. MSRP is $2300, and it was advertised on another site with a discount for $1999. Well, I figured I was waiting on the Vortex, so I might as well save $500 and go with the Steiner which was due to ship in Jan. So I ordered one up, and got an even nicer surprise when I added it to the cart on a special link page and got it for $1799, no tax, free shipping. So I save $700 over the Vortex! When it was released in January as promised, mine was one of the first 20 shipped out. Again, I am STILL waiting on my Vortex, but I could have gotten it from another supplier already, I just don't want to go through the hassle of cancelling one order that has been on the books since Dec. 2014. When it arrived, I was very pleased with a lot about it. Some of the features are the coolest I have seen. Pros: The low profile, large diameter turrets that change numbers once you dial past 12mil is awesome. Great zero stop that is easy to reset zero. The SCR reticle is really, really good. I love the .2mil holds for windage. The floating X is nice too. Not too busy, but a lot of nice subtensions. It is about 1# lighter than the Vortex, which is great for a hunting rifle. Really good elevation travel available. I could shoot to 2K with my 6.5 and not need holdovers. The 11 position lighted reticle is really nice too. And it has an off position between each brightness setting which is really nice. Here are he items that made me opt for another choice once it came and I had a real chance to mess with it. And I have heard others with similar issues, but not everyone, so I am considering sending it back to have Steiner do a thorough check on it. Maybe I just got a bad one and another would be perfect, I don't know. Cons: While the glass is good, it is not $2K good in my scope. Is it $1700 good? Hmmm....probably not. $1500 good, maybe. $1300 good, this is more in the realm. The edges blur quite a bit, and that is not something I was expecting from a $2K scope. Parallax.....the numbers on the dial are WAY off, not that it matters, as I dial for parallax anyway. When there is no parallax, I could care less what the dial says. Eye relief is quite a bit less than most of my other scopes. Eye box is VERY unforgiving. If you are not exactly behind the scope, sight picture stinks. Optical adjustment takes forever to get correct. I have never had a more finicky scope. Once I finally got everything dialed in, clarity improved some. It just takes forever to get everything correct. Don't get me wrong, clarity compared to lesser scopes is definitely better. It is clearer than my older Leupold Vari-X III. But my $1200 SWFA is just as clear as this scope, but does not have near the features or reticle as the Steiner. It is just not as good as I was expecting. It now sits atop my .25-06 Ackley, and will do just fine for that rifle. But I wanted better for my new 6.5 SLR which I plan to take out to at least 1500, and will probably do some mile+ shooting with it. The Kahles is simply amazing. The reticle is similar to the SCR, but better in my opinion. I love the tiny floating dot in the center for an aim point. It still has .2mil windage subtensions too. Only 1oz of difference between this and the Steiner. A bit shorter than the Steiner too. Eye relief is better, and eye box is fantastic to get behind. Ocular adjustment for reticle clarity was super easy and fast. The only thing I would prefer is a little lower low end magnification. But the difference between 5x & 6x is barely noticeable in anything but a very slight narrowing in FOV. I can see no difference in magnification or FOV between the 24X on the Kahles vs. the 25X on the Steiner at the top end. But the Kahles is brighter and much clearer on 24X than the Steiner on 25X. It also does not have quite as much elevation travel,, but enough to get me to a mile+, and further if I use holdovers. So, once I receive my Vortex Razor Gen II, I will decide whether I want to send the Steiner in for a tune-up or just keep it on my other rifle. Hope this clears up my choice some. I think Steiner tried to hit a home run with this scope being made in the US< and being under the $3500 mark of their M5Xi military scope, with some awesome features. I just think they missed their mark on the glass quality and some QA processes. It is too bad, because if they would correct a few of these issues, they could rule the sub $2K market. Lifetime no questions asked warranty just like Vortex to boot.

SPF.

Sold

If you want to paint the scope, go for it! The rifle looks awesome. Personally, I would do a single color that matches though.

Ask yourself what effects accuracy the most. Cold bore? Clean or fouled. Clean bore? Cleaned of all carbon and copper, light oil patch chased by 3-5 dry patches. Dirty bore? Of course not like dropped in the mud of full of spiderwebs, but fouled, maybe even 100+ (or more) rounds without any cleaning. Let's say, across the board, factory and custom barreled rifles. Not a junk rifle that wouldn't hit the dirt if you dropped it, but any number of factory or custom rifles. How much difference can any of these conditions (clean, dirty, cold bore) cause for a gun that normally shoots MOA or better? How do you take a rifle into the woods for hunting season? Clean? Dirty? I have always tested this with my rifles, with factory and high quality barrels. I tested it this weekend with my new 6.5 SLR. After 107 rounds for load development, and misc. shooting, I had 3 very accurate loads worked up for various activities. 1. Target shooting at steel/paper. 140 Berger HVLD @ 2780fps. 2. Hunting. 140 Berger HVLD @ 2900fps. 3. Misc. 142 SMK @ 2880fps. (I was testing them against the Bergers) All 3 loads impact in the exact spot at 100 (1.5" high) & 200 yards (0"). I can dial back .3mils on the scope to get me 1/2" high at 100 yards. All of these rounds shoot amazing. So after 107 rounds, I thoroughly cleaned my rifle in preparation for a lot of shooting and hopefully some hunting too. Took every bit of carbon and copper out of the barrel (which there was very little copper that came out of the Bartlein that I noticed. Once several patches came out completely clean with Shooter's Choice MC#7 bore cleaner, and also with Shooter's Choice copper remover, I ran an oiled patch down followed by 3 dry patches as I have always done. Well, this weekend, I got to the range to sight in my new scope (Kahles K624i=amazing). I started off with 50 rounds of .223 to warm up so as not to induce "cold shooter" error as much as possible. I had bore sighted it at home, and again at the range, and first shot had me dead on elevation @ 100 yards, and about 5" left. made the correction and started my test to see what, if any, difference a clean bore would make to my accuracy. The results might surprise you.......I will post group photos later this week, in order of shot number. Let's see what you all think. Take the poll please.

I just wish I had an antelope tag this fall to use this gun on........ Maybe Taylor will use it for her elk hunt in November. There is still a chance for a deer tag in October.

Leather Birkenstocks?

The Badger Thruster can be turned down to match barrel contour also. As far as negative effects to accuracy....I don't think so. That is 3 shots. They probably help, because you do not get recoil shy and can shoot more comfortably.

I have/had a few different rifles with brakes. My older daughter shot my .270WIN with a KDF brake for elk when she was 11 years old and very petite. My younger daughter (also very petite) shot my .300RUM last year for her elk with a KDF brake. My 6.5 SLR wears a Badger Thruster, and it barely kicks more than my .223. I prefer a brake that does not have ports on the bottom like 8OWHUNT247 stated. The KDF does, and it works great, but eating sand and gravel sucks. As for gunsmiths, I suggest Phoenix Custom Rifles. KDF brake Badger Thruster brake

Here were my groups after a total cleaning. All were shot at 100 yards. 1st shot was a sighter (and not shown), then I adjusted accordingly and started shooting to see what groups would look like. I adjusted a bit between groups until I was satisfied. Shots 2-5 Shots 6-10 (winds kicked up from left to right a bit, but were fairly consistent) Shots 11-13 (winds kicked up a bit more) Shots 14-16 (adjusted left .2mil) Shots 17-19 (adjusted up .2mil,, right .1mil) Shots 20-22 (adjusted down .1mil and winds slowed) Shots 23-25 Shots 26-28 Shots 29-31 (This is the best group I have ever shot) Here is the last group without the "on target" marks to see the elongated hole better.

Here is a photo of how my rifle shot prior to the thorough cleaning and testing. 3 shots at 200 yards. Granted, I am not sure if I can always shoot this well, but it shows what the rifle is capable of. I am usually in the .4-.6s @ 200.

Good results so far, keep them coming.

How many shots is "fouled" after a thorough cleaning?

Absolutely, even though I have had a lot of great hunts, was last year with my 12 year old daughter doing the bull elk hunting. I have never had more pressure on my to put someone on game, and the months building up were amazing. Topped it off with a great bull elk on a tough hunt.

I need to make one clarification. In the poll, if it states "does ______ effect accuracy", I mean in a negative or detrimental way. Of course it is going to effect it one way or the other......