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Righto... the ZKK project is FINALLY complete! Now I'm as much a fan of fine walnut on a stock as most here on Nitro Express, but this rifle was built to take hard work in its stride hence the Boyd's Pepper laminate stock and non-traditional finishes Barrelled action back from hot tank blueing by Bob De Vries at Kudu Services (to match my ZKK600 .270) Stock was stippled using a 3mm Dremel tool, then two pack marine sealer applied. Wet sanded and then two coats of satin finish marine urethane sprayed on. Action bedded in Devcon Plastic Steel, with a block just under the fore-end to help stabilise the barrel when using the sling as a support. Tally crossbolts were blued to match the rest of the rifle, in a laminate stock should be very strong. Note the correct length extractor installed... CZ550 9.3x62mm spare part has restored the trademark ZKK action smoothness along with a M98 extractor collar. Feeds anything smoothly! Scope is the now-discontinued 1.8-5.5x38mm Zeiss Conquest... compact, sharp and clear. I decided to try the Alaska Arms QD mounts at $129.99... very happy with them. Superbly finished, a quarter turn has the scope off in seconds and it will return to zero. Need to order the 0.5" height to clear a non-modified ZKK bolt handle and a Euro style quick focus scope ocular. http://www.alaskaarmsllc.com/ Now... the acid test, how does it shoot?! Headed off to the range this morning with one box of Highland 286gr factory rounds, one box of Norma 286gr PP factory, and some reloads. 270gr Speer, 286gr Hornady, 286gr Nosler Partition and the 250gr Nosler Accubond all in front of RL-15 powder. Wind gusting all over the place had my testing shortened a little, I will finish the Noslers next range trip. Got on paper using the Highlands (Privi in the US) but suffered 4 hangfires out of a box of 20 Normally Highland is reasonably good quality but things seem to have suffered recently! Only grouped about 2" at 100m. The Norma 285 PP factory offering was unfortunately very accurate indeed... but at over $70 a box its not really plinking fodder Speer 270gr in front of 58.0gr RL-15 which shoots into one ragged hole in my Sako AV was not that great in the Brno ZKK. Quite tight groups laterally but pronounced vertical stringing not evident with other loads. I'll check this load again next trip shooting more slowly and ensure the barrel cools off properly. The Hornady 286gr again in front of 58.0gr RL-15 showed the most promise with three shots almost clover leafing at 100m and a couple of fliers... that I think I pulled when someone next to me fired a 20" barrelled WSM Anyway... hope you have enjoyed the build, I'm pretty happy with the result. The real test comes very soon, when I'm backpacking into the Victorian Alps chasing Sambar for a week. Hopefully I'll blood it on a decent stag |