AN AFTERNOON AT THE RANGE WITH THE NITRO 46

I am the happy owner of a Barnes Nitro 46 rifle.

When I received my rifle about 10 years ago, it was extemely accurate and would hold one and a half minutes of angle at 100 yards.

I enjoy shooting firearms in a number of other events, both handgun and rifle and because time was limited I worked with the Nitro less often.

Over the last five years I have had the rifle to the range much less often and experienced some accuracy problems. I suspected the problems were with me and not with the rifle but did not take the time to really diagnose and hammer the isssues out.

I corresponded with Gary on a couple of occasions and as usual his thoughts and observations were spot on. All of my accuracy problems were simply the sum of a number of small things.

Following are some suggestions:

1- Shoot off bags, a Bulls Bag or similar placed foreward of the receiver and positioned consistently. A small bag under the rear of the stock, adjusted carefully by squeeze.

2- Wooden shooting bench. Don’t even think about concrete. It just will not work.

3- Cast slugs from soft lead with a little tin for fill out. Size slugs large.

4- Consistent pressure. I attached my tank through a regulator that maintains 3000 psi.

5- Make sure optics well aligned and appropriately tightened.

6- Make sure all fasteners on rifle are snug but not over torqued.

7- Good marksmanship. Consistent hold. Good cheek weld. Good breathing control. Good trigger finger placement and trigger control (pretty easy with set trigger on Nitro).

8- These rifles have a pretty long “lock time” so the time between trigger press and slug away is longer than most modern firearms. Attention to follow through is critical.

So with all these matters thought through and attended to I was able to achieve good results once more! All shooting was done with 450 grain Barnes K8 slugs. Muzzle velocity about 850 fps.



3 shots at 50 yds



3 more shots at 100 yds



5 shots at 100 yds with 3 touching



Looking over rifle at 100 yd disc



Looking through scope at 100 yd disc



3 shots on 100 yd disc



Glam Shot!

These rifles are capable of more than most of us can do. If you are a lucky owner of a Barnes rifle, get it out to the range and let your friends take some shots, too!

It is irresistible.

Thanks to Gary for his genius and skill!

Hugh Hagan

Great post H
It’s been great weather for shooting here but I’ve been ( as we all say ) too busy to get out . I’ve always loved the nitro too . Good to see someone getting Air time !

Thanks
Kurt

Nice shooting!
A beautiful rifle!
And, great suggestions!

Thanks for sharing.

Scott

Hugh,

Nice story. Nice range.

Were you at the NC shoot?

Lon

Dear Scott andLon,
If you are referring to the shoot down in Eden some 10 years ago I was indeed there! Nothing recently though. Thanks for the nice comments.
Hugh

So, I'm thinking...



No?

BTW, what scope do you have mounted on the gun?
Lon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2020 03:37PM by Bigbore.

Lon ... you’re worse then a spy satellite. I don’t know if that’s him, but .... surely you recall the infamous “HH” from the Jason Bourne legends. And to out the guy in the only known pic .... Ooooops!!! Nutz ... now look ...

You must have an instantly indexed server of every person who’s ever been near one of my Airguns. . “No ... you can’t prove that’s me” ... or .... can you ...? Lon never handed you a water glass at the Cuppa Joe Festival ... did he



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2020 09:12PM by barnespneumatic.

That could be me. He kinda looks like me. A younger me. A MUCH younger me!! Thanks for a trip through the way back machine!!⏰

Howdy, Lon,

The rifle scope is a Nikko Nighteater. Not Leupold but not bad for this application. Holds a zero well.
Mil dots make it easy. Zero at 50 yards and mil dots and fractions of mild dots for hold over so no elevation adjustment once zero is found at 50. Windage on this rifle stays true out to about 125 yards. It would take a gale to throw this ridiculous slug off course within that range.

Hugh

PS- That's me!!

Hello Hugh,

What a wonderful experience to find your post. What a joy to see our discussions yielded good results.

I did the math. 722. I did it again. 722. 722? I did it again. I haven’t figured muzzle energy from velocity and slug weight for some time. I distrusted my memory. Velocity in fps squared, times weight in grains, divided by the constant 450240. 722. GOOD GRIEF!!! The target velocity for the Barnes Nitro Express is 500 fpe. 722 fpe per trigger pull ... Expectation Exceeded. And one more factor in the list of items to be “managed”, with each shot. Recoil. Or more accurately ... RECOIL!!!. It’s Physics. Equal and Opposite Reaction ... That much lead being moved from dead stop to 850 fps, is a very real factor to control while the slug is in transit down the barrel. You have to manage that each time ... identically.

Your post is so encouraging. Seeing the work I spent so much care building, in use ... and enjoyed; is the way for me to build more. Thank You Hugh. Sincerely.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2020 02:22PM by barnespneumatic.

I cannot over express how encouraging a post like this one is. It’s been 24 years now, of making these Airguns for people to enjoy.

Did I ever tell you the main reason I switched from full time Knife making to 75% Airguns / 25% Knives, in 1996. Feedback. Customer expressed enjoyment of product. At that time, I already had 22 years in making knives. I thought there had to be more.

Thanks again Hugh for Correspondence and Application. Thanks to the others who have done the same. It always makes my day and encourages me.

Blessings
Gary