XS-28 at 50 yards

[ptpalpha]

Had a banner day today.  Not only did I shoot my best groups yet at 50 yards, but then took the boat out for one more evening before winterizing it, and caught my best largemouth of the year.
I'm smiling.   
Set up my new shooting bench (really just a Workmate with a plywood top for shooting) and tried out my new roller-rest.  The roller is a foam paint roller, wrapped in pipe insulation, then electrical tape, then black felt; mounted in a Caldwell Rock rest.  Figured out quickly that the rifle prefers my cheek to just barely touch the stock, with the roller-rest at the rifle's balance point.  Wind was intermittant...I tried to time my shots between gusts.
Details:
Pellets were JSB 18.1's, scope is a Simmons Pro-Air 6-18x40AO in Accushot rings.  Home-made anti-cant device.  OEM spring with 2 coils removed, custom Delrin spring guide and tophat, Apex seal, fully lube-tuned, buttoned piston, barrel chopped and crowned.  Stock tape-bedded, refinished and stippled, Mike Mellick 2-screw trigger mod, 4oz of lead added to buttstock.  5 shot groups.
Here's the bench set-up (need a better chair):

The target--the upper left and center groups were shot after adjusting the scope:

And the XS-28:


Really enjoy this rifle, especially now that I'm figuring out what it likes.  I'm hoping that I can continue to improve these groups to the point where I can shoot 10 shots into one ragged hole at 50yds.
Thanks for looking,
Paul

[chet]

 Nice shooting!!! can you tell me or do you have any pics of your home built anti cant device.

    Chet

[ptpalpha]

It's a bubble leve vial from a torpedo level, epoxied into two end caps (can't remember what those are from), the caps are epoxied to a piece of 1/8" steel plate, which is bolted to the bottom half of a scope ring.
I'll snap a pic when I get home tonight.  It's much simpler than it sounds.
The one on the rifle now is my "generation 2" model, lol....gen 1 lasted 3 shots.  That's when I switched from Krazy Glue to two-part epoxy.

[stevemag]

very nice shooting, i'd like to see a pic of your roller rest.

[ptpalpha]

Photobucket isn't working on my mobile device right now...have to wait until I get home from work.

[ptpalpha]

Allright, let's try attaching some pics:
This is the first time I've tried this new app...looks like the pic quality is pretty bad.  I'll keep playing with it to see if I can get better resolution.

[stevemag]

very interesting, i'm gonna have to re-think the roller rest idea i have in my head

[ptpalpha]

I didn't get good results until I added the black felt.  Until then I was ready to give up on the idea.  Now I'm a believer.
As for the anti-cant level, I don't think at springer ranges (less than 70 yards) you get any benefit from the geometry aspect of not canting a scoped rifle, but I think the benefit comes from holding the rifle exactly the same way every time.