[Native Hunter]

Hello all. When I first bought my FNAR I was on this forum quite a bit, but this is my first visit in quite some time. I hadn't been shooting much until recently but finally got some time to work up a handload. Actually, after I bought the FNAR I also purchased a TC Icon 308 bolt action and wanted to work up a load for both rifles at the same time - hoping for a load that would work in both rifles. I'm posting the information below for informational purposes and also hope to get some feedback from some of the more experienced shooters here. My main question is would you continue looking for more accurate loads or would you be satisfied with what I have done so far?

• I wanted to shoot 150 grain hunting type bullets. I will be using the guns for long range deer, coyotes, groundhogs, etc. I chose the 150 grain Hornady SST.
• My reloading skills and methods are just basic. I weigh each powder charge carefully, but don't sort bullets by weight, turn case necks, ream primer holes, spin bullets or use any of the specialty techniques.
• I started with Varget powder, but neither gun responded well. When I changed to IMR 4064, both guns liked it. I worked up to 46.0 grains with no pressure signs. My chrony showed the FNAR shooting 2700 fps and the Icon at 2800 fps. I expected that due to the shorter barrel of the FNAR and the semi auto action.
• Maximum overall shell length = 2.80. This was fairly short of touching the rifling on both guns. The FNAR is longer throated than the Icon.
• Two Different 4 shot groups from the FNAR measured to hole centers = .700 and .720 inches at taped 100 yds from bench. (nice triangular shape)
• Two Different 4 shot groups from the Icon measured to hole centers = .765 and .770 inches
• I gave both guns a little cooling time between shots, but not enough to completely cool down.
• Both guns have 4 x 12 Leupold scopes.

As I said earlier, I'm looking for some feedback from those with more knowledge than me. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance....

 

[Native Hunter]

PS: Experimented and found that bullet seating depth had no affect on groups. Settled for 2.80 since that is the published Max OL for 308.

 

[bulwnkl]

That's well more than 'good enough' for big game hunting. Great job!
Long range hunting is an oxymoron, so I can't help you with that part.

 

[Jeff9329]

Those groups are very good for the FNAR. If you can do that consistently, you have a winner.

I would load up at least 20 rounds and shoot some follow-up groups. If you can either chronograph some or shoot some at longer range, say 300 yards, you can establish your dope for later.

 

[Whitesheep]

+1 to what Jeff9329 said. I would also be extremely happy with this type of group especially as it is with 150 grain bullets. Good job and congratulations. You have a shooter and a load to feed it.

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I agree that some follow up testing is needed to verify. I think that will go well, because as I worked up to the 46.0 grains, I had excellent accuracy with other lighter powder charges. Generally that is a good sign.

I may continue to tinker a little as time permits, but pretty happy with this for the moment. I'm also going to run a few Hornady Superformance rounds through both of these guns sometime just to see how it works compared to the handload. I've been told it is very accurate factory ammo.

 

[Jeff9329]

Native: I shot a lot of different ammo brands through my FNAR. Mine only liked the Hornday 168 Match #8097. The Superperformance was not as accurate. Every FNAR is different, so your results will vary. Please post back what you find.

In general, my FNAR never turned out to be a 1 MOA (or better) shooter like yours seems to be. However, I never did work up any loads for it, only shot factory ammo.

 

[Native Hunter]

Jeff, when I first got my gun I tried 5 or 6 factory loads. I got sub MOA out of two of them. One was not a surprise - Federal GMM, but the other one did surprise me - it was Plain Jane Winchester 150 grain power point. As for the shells the gun didn't like, I had some groups as large as 1.7 MOA. I bought up a bunch of the Winchester shells, because I found them marked down. A nearby K-mart was going out of the ammo business and had a good discount, so I bought them out.

One thing I noticed about my gun was that it shot more accurate for the first 20 or so shots after cleaning the bore, and firing just a couple of fowling shots. That isn't true of all guns I shoot but seems to be true of this one. Below is typical of my GMM groups in the FNAR. The Icon won't do this with GMM:

 

[Native Hunter]

PS: I'm having trouble with both of my computers posting to this site. One of them won't paste a pic from Photobucket, and both of them seem to hang up as I type the text in the message. Anyone know what might be causing this? I'm not having any problem on any other board I post to.

 

[Jeff9329]

Native:

You clearly have one of the GOOD FNARs. A good rifle will shoot multiple ammo with good accuracy, not just one. And of course there is always some ammo a gun will not like.

I also noticed that mine was more accurate after cleaning and a fouler shot or two.

I sure wish I knew what makes a good FNAR shoot. Im not sure the factory even knows.

Great going on have an excellent example of a FNAR. That thing shoots great! It's probably in the top 5 best shooters of all FNARs targets I have seen.

Jeff

 

[choclabs]

Native: I shot a lot of different ammo brands through my FNAR. Mine only liked the Hornday 168 Match #8097. The Superperformance was not as accurate. Every FNAR is different, so your results will vary. Please post back what you find.

In general, my FNAR never turned out to be a 1 MOA (or better) shooter like yours seems to be. However, I never did work up any loads for it, only shot factory ammo. View attachment 33774 View attachment 33775

Jeff - Mine is like yours, not quite impressive. I have noticed that some of the reloaders are bragging about recipes and tight groups. But like you there do not seem to be many actual pictures of all the tight groups that these "GOOD FNARS" are producing. I do not doubt that many other FNAR owners may have accurate rifles, but mine shoots very similar to yours and most of these happy FNAR owners are not posting pictures of tight groups they brag about. I plan to take mine back out to the range and see what it wil shoot like after a good bore cleaning. Maybe my barrel is finally getting broken in and I just do not yet know it because I have not cleaned the copper out of it? I thought that one of the advantages of a chrome lined barrel is less prone to copper fouling?

 

[ranger56528]

Thanks for the info,I need to empty more brass so I can start checking out differant loads and bullet weights.

 

[Jeff9329]

Jeff - Mine is like yours, not quite impressive. I have noticed that some of the reloaders are bragging about recipes and tight groups. But like you there do not seem to be many actual pictures of all the tight groups that these "GOOD FNARS" are producing. I do not doubt that many other FNAR owners may have accurate rifles, but mine shoots very similar to yours and most of these happy FNAR owners are not posting pictures of tight groups they brag about. I plan to take mine back out to the range and see what it wil shoot like after a good bore cleaning. Maybe my barrel is finally getting broken in and I just do not yet know it because I have not cleaned the copper out of it? I thought that one of the advantages of a chrome lined barrel is less prone to copper fouling?

Choco:

Im not seeing any copper fouling in mine, but it does seem to get very dirty after shooting 20 to 40 rounds. I have a borescope and the bore looks good, just a lot of ridges/steps like many factory barrels.

I shot mine again on 4-2-2015 after getting the barrel threaded and the trigger job. The results were mixed as I tried different ammo and muzzle breaks. But generally the results were 1.5 to 2 MOA which is pretty poor IMO.

Im going to keep shooting it for now to try to get to a consistent 1 to 1.5 MOA and be done with it. I will also shoot it with a suppressor soon to see how that affects it. The muzzle brake threw the point of aim off by 3.5 MOA (down and left).

Later

 

[ranger56528]

When I get out I'll post some pics of what my 16" FNAR does with Prvi 165 however I will be reloading for this when I get enough brass through it.

 

[ranger56528]

Don't mind the mini 30 that was a opps pic add on.

 

[SONYtec]

Nice!!!