Backcast88
Beginner
- Sep 15, 2012
- 41
- 54
I've been a diehard 270 Win guy since I took up deer hunting. It's what dad shot, its what I killed my first deer with a rifle with, and it just plain works well on game without beating up the shooter. My buddy bought a Seekins Havak Element in 6.5 PRC last year and I had the chance to shoot a small buck with it. I am not gonna lie, I was smitten and had to have one. The trigger was great, action was smooth a silk, the stock had a palm swell for a lefty (as a lefty, this is great since most rifles don't offer that), and it was a sweet shooter. I found a dealer in NC and they were able to get one on order with a 3-4 month wait time. It took a couple weeks longer than planned to get the rifle but man was it worth it.
I chose the 6.5 PRC also and went with what Seekins calls their Desert Shadow stock option. Its a sharp looking rifle in my opinion. Once I picked up the rifle, I cleaned it, and mounted my VX5 on it and the next day headed to the range. Seekins says you can just start shooting it and no need for a barrel break in. I know it might be controversial for some. But my buddy skipped it since Seekins says you don't have to do it, and his shoots well under 1MOA and in most cases 1/2MOA is common so I figured I would also skip that step.
I took a couple dry fires to get used to the trigger and started sending rounds down range. I fired 3 shots at 50yds to make sure I was on paper, adjusted the scope and fired a 3 shot group. Looked very promising so I ran it out to 100yds. Ammo was factory Hornady 147 ELD-Match. My Magneto Speed has been acting up so I left it at home for this first range trip. Next time I will hopefully have it sorted out and get some velocity readings.
Adjusted the scope some more and started shooting groups. Mostly fired 2 shot groups since it was warm, muggy, and zero wind and keeping the barrel cool was a struggle. Gotta love May in NC! I ended the first box with a 4 shot group that was just over .6 center to center.
Feeling confident I had a winner on my hands I tempted fate and tried 1 last group before some rain rolled in and fired off 3 rounds from the second box (same lot number) and put 3 rounds into a group that measured .27 center to center.
It is safe to say, she's a shooter! Not sure what the handload road holds for this rig but I know if I miss I cannot blame it on the gun.
I do have to be fully transparent. I did have an issue with the hand made carbon fiber mag that came with the gun. Rounds fed easily and reliably into the chamber, my problems came in regards to loading the mag. The spring and/or follower would not compress correctly most of the time and made loading the 2nd and 3rd rounds into the mag very difficult and took several attempts to load or at times the first round would get misaligned and would almost rattle in the mag. I found this odd since the other 2 Seekins rifles my buddies own and I have shot did not have this issue. So I contacted Seekins via their website and within 10 min I had an email stating that it was not correct for the mag to behave like that and they wanted to know my address to send me a new mag. I replied with the necessary information and asked if they needed me to send the other mag back for them to look at and within a few minutes was told, nope I can keep it as a spare. Mind you, this mag is $100 if you order one direct from Seekins and since it was giving me trouble they were just sending me a new one. Talk about good customer service.
I chose the 6.5 PRC also and went with what Seekins calls their Desert Shadow stock option. Its a sharp looking rifle in my opinion. Once I picked up the rifle, I cleaned it, and mounted my VX5 on it and the next day headed to the range. Seekins says you can just start shooting it and no need for a barrel break in. I know it might be controversial for some. But my buddy skipped it since Seekins says you don't have to do it, and his shoots well under 1MOA and in most cases 1/2MOA is common so I figured I would also skip that step.
I took a couple dry fires to get used to the trigger and started sending rounds down range. I fired 3 shots at 50yds to make sure I was on paper, adjusted the scope and fired a 3 shot group. Looked very promising so I ran it out to 100yds. Ammo was factory Hornady 147 ELD-Match. My Magneto Speed has been acting up so I left it at home for this first range trip. Next time I will hopefully have it sorted out and get some velocity readings.
Adjusted the scope some more and started shooting groups. Mostly fired 2 shot groups since it was warm, muggy, and zero wind and keeping the barrel cool was a struggle. Gotta love May in NC! I ended the first box with a 4 shot group that was just over .6 center to center.
Feeling confident I had a winner on my hands I tempted fate and tried 1 last group before some rain rolled in and fired off 3 rounds from the second box (same lot number) and put 3 rounds into a group that measured .27 center to center.
It is safe to say, she's a shooter! Not sure what the handload road holds for this rig but I know if I miss I cannot blame it on the gun.
I do have to be fully transparent. I did have an issue with the hand made carbon fiber mag that came with the gun. Rounds fed easily and reliably into the chamber, my problems came in regards to loading the mag. The spring and/or follower would not compress correctly most of the time and made loading the 2nd and 3rd rounds into the mag very difficult and took several attempts to load or at times the first round would get misaligned and would almost rattle in the mag. I found this odd since the other 2 Seekins rifles my buddies own and I have shot did not have this issue. So I contacted Seekins via their website and within 10 min I had an email stating that it was not correct for the mag to behave like that and they wanted to know my address to send me a new mag. I replied with the necessary information and asked if they needed me to send the other mag back for them to look at and within a few minutes was told, nope I can keep it as a spare. Mind you, this mag is $100 if you order one direct from Seekins and since it was giving me trouble they were just sending me a new one. Talk about good customer service.
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