So I found out today that the world lost one of the nicest people I ever met. It made me appreciate being able to see these things quite a bit more.
Tested the Reaper Shooting Platform from Kopfjager Industries today out to one mile.
I found the setup to be very stable as long as you have a quality tripod attached. So stable that I decided to become a dealer.
It’s designed to level itself by tightening a handle which does work. But since my manfrotto tripod is doubling for my spotting scope I just combined the manfrotto trigger and went with it.
Build quality is extremely good. The whole system with tripod is not small, but the advantage of being able to shoot from a standing position with this much stability has to be taken into account.
Entire Setup:
Kopfjager Industries Reaper system
Lloyds Inc. 28 Nosler
Huskemaw 5-30 scope
SilencerCo Omega silencer
Hornady 175 ELD-x bullet
And Bullseye Camera System to give instant proof of impacts at one mile.
So I thought it would be a good idea to try some shot placement with a suppressed 22LR on hogs.
Ivan and Gabe both said they would participate so last night we went at it.
We detected a good heard at about 1700 yards with my Trijicon ReapIR thermal and. drove up to within about 500 yards with red lights in the wagon.
We slithered up to about 40 yards down wind of them and I got the one at the top of the page with a headshot….. and a couple more to encourage a swift demise.
And the good thing.. is we didn’t end up buried up to our axles in a hole at 0200 in the morning.
Next project is with a little breakdown and a single shot.
I’m very happy to announce that we will be starting reloading/shooting classes at Champion Ranch in Brady Texas. Joel and I had been discussing it for a while so he decided to build a multi level multi station building for reloading complete with indoor shooting platforms. We will be able to reload Ammo and literally walk two steps and shoot out to 1200 yards from an air conditioned building. The range also has cameras so you will be able to view hits from a big screen TV. If you would like to test your shotgun skills there is an Olympic certified 5 stand skeet and trap range as well.
In addition to reloading and long range and shotgun sports you will also be able to take part in engagements in very realistic hunting conditions.
Check out the facilities at http://www.championranch.com/
The scope is actually spelled REAP IR, but Reaper sounds more “skeery”. So after stuffing myself with Sable meat last night I decided to go out to see what was moving ar0und. Stumbled on this guy here at 320 yards. The rest is history.
P.S. For all you guys that know me personally, No, I don’t eat coyotes.
Recipe for coyote disaster:
Stiller Action, Proof Research carbon barrel, IR Defense REAP IR Thermal Scope (set at 2x magnification), SilencerCo Omega suppressor, MagPul stock, Timney Calvin Elite trigger, 143gr Hornady ELD-X factory ammo.
Just installed the new Radius rangefinder from SilencerCo on my 6.5 Creedmoor. Co-witnessed with the IR Defense MK3-60 for shooting critters in the dark. As anyone can tell you one of the hardest parts of hunting at night is difficulty ranging. This setup may be just what I needed.
Stand by for updates.
I will be the first to say that I do NOT like super/ultra magnum cartridges. I find them to be more temperamental, and not as consistent as regular say 7mm or 300 winmags. However, when something works it works. And from everything I’m seeing the Nosler works. From now on I will just refer to the 28 Nosler as either “the Nosler” or “Nosler” because I believe it will eventually become one of those ubiquitous terms, like “Cher”.
I originally tested it with the 195 Bergers and it was impressive. Now because I will need to do more common loads for the 9 twist barrel that most are being made with I decided to test some of the new 175 grain ELD-Xs from Hornady. I got some of the bullet, looked at some manuals for a safe load, and made a hypothesis on what it should shoot relatively accurately (took a wild ass guess).
Below are some pictures of my initial test with the new bullets. It is limited, but because the rifle has behaved much the same way with the 195s I see no reason to think I will suddenly decide ” I don’t like these bullets any longer” and start spitting them hither and yon.
Cold fouled bore at 500 yards. About 5mph right to left wind.
Took one shot at 700 yards.
I only loaded five rounds initially to see what it would do.
Last one was at 1000 yards.
I went and loaded some more rounds just to see if it would repeat….. Yep.
This was a pic a friend sent me of a boar He shot. He hit it in the shoulder with one of the 195s and this is where it found it’s way out. He said that gash is about 10″ long and 6″ wide.
