Evening all,
Am writing a review of the following video tutorial by Nathan Foster, rented for £9 odd with a three month viewing period (about an hour and a quarter long)
vimeo.com
So, seeing that one of the offerings from the once great 'Big Green' will be in my future, I decided to learn up from one of the internet's 'long-range' gun guru's from NZ, Nathan Foster.
I'll start by saying that the man has put a decent amount of effort into filming this, video quality and editing are done to a good but not excellent standard. You can see details but not to the extent that I would like.
So what does he actually show you in this video? I won't give a blow by blow account but here is a brief summary.
1- Look at the rifle, say that it is a great platform, yet barrels can be hit and miss, trigger needs replaced and the factory stock either needs bedding work or for a heavy recoiling rifle a direct replacement. Rifle in the video is a 7mm Remington Magnum.
2- Say that the muzzle threading was not necessary, show a nick in the barrel which is attributed to poor factory finish. 'Checks' locking lug contact with a felt tip, says it's OK with no further demo. Shows how to grease bolt lugs with his method (not what I would do).
3- Check the bedding job, which looks OK at a glance but clearly isn't right, stock has flexed during bedding which means the action screws don't come up high enough anymore. Blame is put onto operator error (owner bedded the stock beforehand, supposedly put too much pressure on action), no consideration for the fact that epoxy curing is exothermic and a full bedding job with the entire inlet filled could have warped the stock.
4- Move the scope forwards (away from shooter). What he fails to mention is that the scope in question in a second focal plane scope with generous eye relief that allows for this, as it would not be possible with an FFP scope with tighter eyebox. Talk about scope mounting for a bit, but again no demo.
5- Recommend replacing factory trigger with an aftermarket one, then big disclaimer, do not adjust the factory X-Mark Pro trigger as I am about to demonstrate. No disassembly and stoning etc. just adjusting a few screws...
6- Time to shoot, fires a shot then goes through some clean then shoot then clean again voodoo. Spray this in the barrel then patch it out then shoot again then scrub with this then shoot again check for copper fouling etc. Basically his opinion on barrel break in, no comparison of say just dumping 20 or more rounds through then one through clean vs. his method. Much talk about how the barrel is being smoothed out and massaged by these efforts. Some abrasive methods used which look questionable. Not borescope shots for before/after, real wasted opportunity!
7- Rifle still not shooting up to his standards (it looks around the 1-1.5 MOA mark), cut to rifle coming back with new trigger, new stock and some handloads (no detailed demonstration of any of this, just a cursory explanation that the client wanted to upgrade). Shoots a few 3-shot groups, then after one touching group, WOW we have found a node! Job done! (No follow up verification groups or checking for barrel stringing, drop and drift at distance etc)
Ends with, remember everyone, this is just a reference guide, for more details please buy all of my books! (which of course come in a set, all of which cost over $100)
No thanks mate, if I had been given the chance to choose the price I paid for the video I would say £5. I watched this to see if it would be worth paying for the books, but not convinced now,
Overall not too impressed, maybe picked up one thing in total from the watch and felt that the medium of video meant an opportunity had been missed to visually demonstrate the techniques he talks about, instead of just referring to his books for more details. Had higher hopes after some praised him for showing the world some secret knowledge, but I didn't see much of it here!
Am writing a review of the following video tutorial by Nathan Foster, rented for £9 odd with a three month viewing period (about an hour and a quarter long)
Watch Troubleshooting The Remington M700 Rifle Online | Vimeo On Demand
How to turn a rough factory rifle into a long range tack driver. In this video, Nathan Foster helps a client within a DIY setting to turn a very badly behaving…
vimeo.com
So, seeing that one of the offerings from the once great 'Big Green' will be in my future, I decided to learn up from one of the internet's 'long-range' gun guru's from NZ, Nathan Foster.
I'll start by saying that the man has put a decent amount of effort into filming this, video quality and editing are done to a good but not excellent standard. You can see details but not to the extent that I would like.
So what does he actually show you in this video? I won't give a blow by blow account but here is a brief summary.
1- Look at the rifle, say that it is a great platform, yet barrels can be hit and miss, trigger needs replaced and the factory stock either needs bedding work or for a heavy recoiling rifle a direct replacement. Rifle in the video is a 7mm Remington Magnum.
2- Say that the muzzle threading was not necessary, show a nick in the barrel which is attributed to poor factory finish. 'Checks' locking lug contact with a felt tip, says it's OK with no further demo. Shows how to grease bolt lugs with his method (not what I would do).
3- Check the bedding job, which looks OK at a glance but clearly isn't right, stock has flexed during bedding which means the action screws don't come up high enough anymore. Blame is put onto operator error (owner bedded the stock beforehand, supposedly put too much pressure on action), no consideration for the fact that epoxy curing is exothermic and a full bedding job with the entire inlet filled could have warped the stock.
4- Move the scope forwards (away from shooter). What he fails to mention is that the scope in question in a second focal plane scope with generous eye relief that allows for this, as it would not be possible with an FFP scope with tighter eyebox. Talk about scope mounting for a bit, but again no demo.
5- Recommend replacing factory trigger with an aftermarket one, then big disclaimer, do not adjust the factory X-Mark Pro trigger as I am about to demonstrate. No disassembly and stoning etc. just adjusting a few screws...
6- Time to shoot, fires a shot then goes through some clean then shoot then clean again voodoo. Spray this in the barrel then patch it out then shoot again then scrub with this then shoot again check for copper fouling etc. Basically his opinion on barrel break in, no comparison of say just dumping 20 or more rounds through then one through clean vs. his method. Much talk about how the barrel is being smoothed out and massaged by these efforts. Some abrasive methods used which look questionable. Not borescope shots for before/after, real wasted opportunity!
7- Rifle still not shooting up to his standards (it looks around the 1-1.5 MOA mark), cut to rifle coming back with new trigger, new stock and some handloads (no detailed demonstration of any of this, just a cursory explanation that the client wanted to upgrade). Shoots a few 3-shot groups, then after one touching group, WOW we have found a node! Job done! (No follow up verification groups or checking for barrel stringing, drop and drift at distance etc)
Ends with, remember everyone, this is just a reference guide, for more details please buy all of my books! (which of course come in a set, all of which cost over $100)
No thanks mate, if I had been given the chance to choose the price I paid for the video I would say £5. I watched this to see if it would be worth paying for the books, but not convinced now,
Overall not too impressed, maybe picked up one thing in total from the watch and felt that the medium of video meant an opportunity had been missed to visually demonstrate the techniques he talks about, instead of just referring to his books for more details. Had higher hopes after some praised him for showing the world some secret knowledge, but I didn't see much of it here!
