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Old September 16, 2018, 11:18 PM   #1
dakota.potts
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Precision Rifle Expo Recap

Just got back from the 2018 Precision Rifle Expo. This was a 2 day event held at the Arena Training Facility in Blakely, Georgia. The purpose of the event was to bring together the shooting sports community and to help get shooters involved in the long range shooting sport. Obviously, a lot of the equipment is really expensive and not everybody gets a chance to try it.

This thread is to report back with some of the awesome things I saw there. There was a surprising amount of product reveal and other news coming out of the expo, so if there's anything with real interest a new thread can be started but I really don't want to clutter up the forum with new threads.

I'm still processing a lot of videos I have and some articles I'm writing, so this thread will probably be updated over the coming days as I get each of those updated. Only so much time to do it all!

I will start with one of the coolest things that I got to shoot. The Manners stock team was at the show with the rifle that was used to win this year's King of 2 Mile match. It was a McMillan single shot action with a 39" barrel in .416 Barrett. Topped with a Bushnell XRS II scope. Weighing over 40 lbs. and with a monster muzzle brake, it was actually surprisingly comfortable to shoot - but the concussion was incredible for those on the tower waiting their turn to shoot!



We were shooting at a target 2400 yards away, and 25 shooters each day were allowed 2 shots at the target. I didn't connect, but I was able to see both impacts. I favored right edge the first shot and I saw the impact about a tenth of a mil or so off the left edge. So I held just off the right edge of the plate and the wind suddenly died, putting my shot essentially point of aiming and missing barely off the right edge. Such is life at these distances, though. Most shooters made a solid hit and several shooters went 2 for 2.



The barrel got hot with even the comparatively low number of rounds fired. If I remember correctly, the rifle was pushing a 500 grain bullet around 2900 Feet Per Second. Efforts had to be taken to keep the barrel cool. I'm told the cartridges cost about $7 each to load. Also, the barrels cost $2,000 and have a barrel life of roughly 400 rounds - so consider another $5 in barrel wear every shot.

The round, for reference:



You can see a video of my time on the gun here:

https://youtu.be/pVeOgg-e_ig
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Old September 16, 2018, 11:48 PM   #2
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Another really exciting moment for me was getting to meet David Tubb and talk to him a little bit. Very nice guy, obviously very knowledgeable. He was there with his Adaptive Target Rifle, a very interesting platform. I will have to come back with more information about it as I'm doing an in-depth write up and I want to take some time on it. But, it is a very interesting rifle. It features, among other things, a very rigid receiver and a quick-change barrel system using a barrel extension and external thread system. It has a 3-lug bolt which I found to be super smooth in operation. The stock folds and is also highly adjustable for length of pull, cant, cast-off, cheekrest height etc. The one I shot was set up for a right-hander with a much longer range of pull but David did quickly adjust it for me for left-hand cant.







Also at the show, I found out about his new cartridges the 33XC and the 37 XC. They are essentially the same cartridge except that one is necked for a .338 bullet and the other for a .375.



The cartridge is somewhat similar to a .338 Lapua (same case head diameter). It is a longer, higher capacity case with a much shorter shoulder. It is in fact longer than the .375 CheyTac (which I am told has been fired from the ATR but required modifications to reduce the rim size of the brass).



This is a dummy on display at the booth. I fired the 37XC with a chronograph attached. I was told the bullet was 360 grains (perhaps 362?) and solid CNC turned. The chronograph showed velocity of 3068 feet per second with 5.0 SD and David told me the bullets have a ballistic coefficient of .950 G1. He was very kind in showing me a ballistic chart out to 1000 yards at sea level. Although I will fill in specifics in my article, a 100 yard zero had a 17 MOA hold at 1000 yards with .3MOA wind drift at a 10 MPH cross wind.

I fired 3 shots at 1,000 yards under his direction. My total group was 9.5", which I feel is decent but not representative of the rifle's capability. In all fairness on my end, I believe I would have shrunken the groups a little bit if I had been using a left handed rifle that was more suited to my length of pull/eye relief. I heard that there had been 3" groups at that same distance with the rifle over the course of the expo.

You can see a little of my shooting here:
https://youtu.be/pVeOgg-e_ig

This topic is going to deserve a lot more attention. I have some videos from the manufacturer going over the rifle in more detail and some more technical data to write up. But the show just ended today and I'm doing what I can to get it all together.

Hope you guys enjoy the format and content, let me know what you'd like to see more of or what you're curious about. I have a lot more stuff to sort through and edit so I'll try to keep feedback in mind while doing that.
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Old September 17, 2018, 07:48 AM   #3
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Don't worry about "clutter".
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Old September 17, 2018, 06:12 PM   #4
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If this is your idea of clutter...
Then i'm good with that!!!
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Old September 17, 2018, 07:25 PM   #5
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Well by reducing clutter I mean by keeping all of the developments in one thread instead of a new thread for each.

But some topics (like the new Tubb calibers and some of the new product announcements) might warrant their own threads for more specific discussion
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Old September 18, 2018, 09:23 AM   #6
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Very cool. I wish I had been able to go, several of my friends did and I am jealous.
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Old September 23, 2018, 10:22 PM   #7
dakota.potts
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Still working my way through a massive amount of media (over 50 videos and 350 pictures) but I just got up another video from Area 419.

They were showing off their new Arca rail for bipod/tripod attachment, and its function as a barricade clamp. Put the rifle on the barricade, clamp it down, and the rifle basically holds itself in position. Very stable platform. I only took 2 shots, but both were solid hits on steel plates at 400 yards (using a .223 with the Area 419 muzzle brake along with the barricade clamp made recoil pretty much nonexistent).

They also showed off their line of muzzle devices, and some pretty cool precision reloading stuff for us. I'm not a reloader, so I can only guess at the utility, but it seemed like some pretty solid stuff to me.

https://youtu.be/ilF67KUcNCo
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