usmc1371
05-29-11, 18:23
The gun: Les Baer Super Varmint chamberd in .204 ruger.
Optic: Leupold VX-3 4.5x14 LR
I orderd this rifle in 2005 while I was on my first deployment in Iraq and so far I have been more than happy with it. I bought the LBC for shooting varmints like sage rats, jack rabbits, and coyotes. This is NOT a HD/SD kind of AR, it is very heavy and wears a 26" tube. The two test targets that came with the gun measure .324 and .291 for 5 shot groups shot with factory Hornady 32 grain Vmax.
The fit and finish is outstanding and is holding up very well, just because it was spendy don't mean I baby this thing. I sighted the rifle in with Hornady factory 32 grain loads and off of a good bench I have managed many sub half inch 5 shot groups, some very sub half inch. I like punching paper with this rifle but thats not what I bought it for.
A couple weeks ago a me and a friend of mine (fellow combat engineer) had the chance to put a dent in the sage rat population in Burns Oregon. This is where this rifle really shines. We had premission to shoot rats on a few thousand acres of pasture with tons of rats. We set up on a little rise where we could shoot prone and took turns shooting and using binos to spot. First thing we ranged a few land marks, a fence post at 285, wheel line at 356, and a big ass badger hole/mound at 414.
Starting with a clean rifle and a pile of rounds we set to making pink mist out of sage rats. We started close about 150 yards. In no time we were board with the close rats and they started not showing them selfs after a shot. Moving out to the rats at the 285 fence line made things a little tuffer, we went from 100% hit rate to about 96%. Considering a pretty good right to left full value wind I felt we were doing pretty good.
We were shooting at a rate of about one round every 40 seconds, just long enough for both of us to get on the same rat with the binos and rifle at the same time. Barrle heat was never an issue, it got warm but if it affected accuracy we couldn't tell. About 100 rounds in we started getting cocky and calling head shots, some times the rats won't come all the way out of the dens and just peak their heads out. A sage rat is about the size of coors light can and has a head little bigger than a golf ball.
After two strait hours of shooting the sun and wind was down far enough to turn the scope up past 10X and start really streching out the shots. We moved to the rats around the 356 mark for a few shots and working our way toward the 400 yard line. To say that the LBC hits what you aim at if you do your part is the under statment of the year. Even at 400 it was as easy as putting the cross hair on the rat and squeezing the 1.5 lb trigger and in the blink of an eye the rat popped. There is no recoil in an 11 pound .204 so spoting your own hits is easy.
We ended up shooting 160 rounds in a couple hours with no malfunctions of any kind. Since I have owned the rifle I have had maybe four "malfunctions" and always when shooting reman ammo, the Hornady has run flawless so far. I used to keep the box tops from every box of shells through the rifle but I quit when I had a thousand rounds worth of tops, that was 3 years ago. I was wondering how long the barrle would last but I have given up on that. I had feared that the .204 would burn up the tube but so far so good and I figure I am at about 2,000 rounds. Not bad for a rifle putting bullets out right around 4,250 FPS.
IMHO very spendy rifle but lives up to the company claim of .5moa. Fit and finish is very good. I would post some pics but I don't know how and I screw it up every time.
Optic: Leupold VX-3 4.5x14 LR
I orderd this rifle in 2005 while I was on my first deployment in Iraq and so far I have been more than happy with it. I bought the LBC for shooting varmints like sage rats, jack rabbits, and coyotes. This is NOT a HD/SD kind of AR, it is very heavy and wears a 26" tube. The two test targets that came with the gun measure .324 and .291 for 5 shot groups shot with factory Hornady 32 grain Vmax.
The fit and finish is outstanding and is holding up very well, just because it was spendy don't mean I baby this thing. I sighted the rifle in with Hornady factory 32 grain loads and off of a good bench I have managed many sub half inch 5 shot groups, some very sub half inch. I like punching paper with this rifle but thats not what I bought it for.
A couple weeks ago a me and a friend of mine (fellow combat engineer) had the chance to put a dent in the sage rat population in Burns Oregon. This is where this rifle really shines. We had premission to shoot rats on a few thousand acres of pasture with tons of rats. We set up on a little rise where we could shoot prone and took turns shooting and using binos to spot. First thing we ranged a few land marks, a fence post at 285, wheel line at 356, and a big ass badger hole/mound at 414.
Starting with a clean rifle and a pile of rounds we set to making pink mist out of sage rats. We started close about 150 yards. In no time we were board with the close rats and they started not showing them selfs after a shot. Moving out to the rats at the 285 fence line made things a little tuffer, we went from 100% hit rate to about 96%. Considering a pretty good right to left full value wind I felt we were doing pretty good.
We were shooting at a rate of about one round every 40 seconds, just long enough for both of us to get on the same rat with the binos and rifle at the same time. Barrle heat was never an issue, it got warm but if it affected accuracy we couldn't tell. About 100 rounds in we started getting cocky and calling head shots, some times the rats won't come all the way out of the dens and just peak their heads out. A sage rat is about the size of coors light can and has a head little bigger than a golf ball.
After two strait hours of shooting the sun and wind was down far enough to turn the scope up past 10X and start really streching out the shots. We moved to the rats around the 356 mark for a few shots and working our way toward the 400 yard line. To say that the LBC hits what you aim at if you do your part is the under statment of the year. Even at 400 it was as easy as putting the cross hair on the rat and squeezing the 1.5 lb trigger and in the blink of an eye the rat popped. There is no recoil in an 11 pound .204 so spoting your own hits is easy.
We ended up shooting 160 rounds in a couple hours with no malfunctions of any kind. Since I have owned the rifle I have had maybe four "malfunctions" and always when shooting reman ammo, the Hornady has run flawless so far. I used to keep the box tops from every box of shells through the rifle but I quit when I had a thousand rounds worth of tops, that was 3 years ago. I was wondering how long the barrle would last but I have given up on that. I had feared that the .204 would burn up the tube but so far so good and I figure I am at about 2,000 rounds. Not bad for a rifle putting bullets out right around 4,250 FPS.
IMHO very spendy rifle but lives up to the company claim of .5moa. Fit and finish is very good. I would post some pics but I don't know how and I screw it up every time.