FNAR Review - First Range Test

On Saturday, I finally got the chance to go to the range.  It was by no means an ideal day for shooting.  Temperatures were about 52 degrees F, winds somewhere between 10 and 15 mph, and the relative humidity had to be in the 90% range with a threat of showers at any moment.  Also, the range was muddy and they made you park farther out to keep from messing up the road.  I decided to include the photo below to give you a better idea of the weather (notice the flag... it was very windy).

The first order of business was to shoot on the 50 yard range to make sure I was on the paper and then dial in the point of impact of my bullet to be 1/2" high based on a 200 yard zero and the ballistics data for my setup.  Also, this was my first opportunity to actually fire the rifle and get a feel for the recoil and trigger pull.

My first impression of the trigger was that it was good.  It actually surprised me when the rifle fired.  As far as recoil goes, it didn't seem to stand out as having any perceived kick.  The muzzle did jump when I fired, but it did not seem to have a great recoil.  I think I'm going to put the shim in place that will make the stock more in-line with the barrel.

I was surprised after my first shot because I was not on the paper.  I was on the card board, but not where I wanted to be.  My first shot fell off the paper to the left.  I thought that the laser boresighter I used would have gotten me a little closer and I'm going to update that review after I figure out if there is anything I can do to adjust the accuracy of the boresighter.  Since there were more shots on the cardboard other than my first, I did a quick visual inventory of the shots and then made another.  That accounts for the two shots off the paper that are 6 to 7 inches left of the bulls eye.  I thought no big deal.  I started adjusting my windage to the right and then took a couple of more shots.  Again I'm now about 3 inches to the right.  So again I thought I would adjust the rest of the way to zero based on my target turret markings.  To my surprise, I ran out of travel on my right windage adjustment.  Now I'm thinking, what the heck.  I screwed it to the left and then the right again.  It went to the same location.  Since it was adjusted all the way over to the right, I decided to take a few more shots.  You can see below how far I was from being able to zero the scope.  It was off a little over two inches at 50 yards.  Now I was really puzzled. 

When you look at the groups below, keep in mind that I was shooting 147 grain PMC (plinking) ammo at 50 yards with my target jumping around like a frog on a hot skillet due to the wind gusts that day.  I should have taken a photo of the target setup.  The range had three metal T-posts driven in the ground with two strings running between them.  You clamped your cardboard to the strings at the top and bottom.  Like a dufus, I put my target in the middle of the posts, which allowed it to jump around the most in the wind.  Considering all this, I'm very optimistic on the accuracy of the rifle when shooting it with better ammo and a better target setup.

The next thing I did was remove the scope and rings and reinstall the rings flipped 180 degrees.  If it was a rings issue, it should have been shooting to the right instead of the left.  I adjusted the scope back to what I thought may be close to a zero position again.  My next 2 shots were not on the paper or card board.  I had the guy next to me at the range watch me and he could see where I was hitting in the dirt to the left.  I adjusted to the right a bunch of clicks and shot the third hole off the paper but in the card board (see below).  After seeing this, I adjusted it all the way to the right and took another shot.  Basically, this final shot put me in the same location as before.  Thus, it was not an issue with the rings.  I took the scope off again and looked really carefully down the rail and barrel and in my mind I could see that they were not in alignment.  That's when I called it a day and decided to do the rest of my investigation at my house.

 

I tried several methods to make the issue visible and take some type of measurement of misalignment.  The following two images show what I finally discovered. The final method was to put a carpenter's square against the rail on both sides and compare were the square was at the tip of the square in relationship to the barrel.  As you can see, the barrel was pointing to the left when compared to the rail and this is exactly what I was seeing at the range.  Now knowing that it was not some type of optical illusion, when I looked down the rail and compared this to the barrel, it was clearly evident that there was misalignment.

All this was done on Saturday and that day I finally decided that this was a FNH issue to resolve.  I typed out an email and attached a PowerPoint file showing the problem and sent it to FNH on 3/13.

3/15 Monday - At noon, I got a call from the FNH Service Center.  I spoke with the representative at FNH Customer Support and he reassured me that FNH was going to take care of the issue. That afternoon, he sent me a prepaid postage UPS label for me to send the rifle to their Service Department in Arnold, Missouri.  Also, that afternoon I rushed home from work, boxed it up and got the rifle to a UPS drop off center by the 5:30 pm deadline so it would go out immediately.  While talking with him, he said they have never seen this type of issue on this rifle and they were anxious to get their hands on it so they could understand the problem.  He said there was a good chance they would reissue me another rifle.  We will soon see.

3/17 Wednesday 10:26 AM -Rifle was signed for at FNA Service Center in Arnold, Missouri.

3/18 Thursday About 4:00 PM - I called the customer service representative at the FNA Service Center and he was out, so I left a message to have him call me because I was very curious on what they determined was the problem with the rifle.

3/19 Friday About 1:00 PM - The customer service representative called back and said they were going to exchange the rifle and there was already a new rifle on the way.  He provided a tracking number and said I should receive the rifle on Monday.  Now that's what I call Customer Service!  He was not able to give me any details on what they found to be the actual problem (which is what I expected to happen).  They replaced the rifle with a new one and have the old one to study and see if there are any improvements that could be made to their processes which would prevent this in the future.  Overall, I'm pleased to see the commitment that they have to their customers.

3/22 Monday About 10:30 AM - My new FNAR rifle arrived just as they said.  Just as soon as I took it out of the box, I looked down the rail and barrel and they look in line.  I'm still shocked that they were able to turn this around in one week.  Again, great job FNH.

What did I learn from this experience?

1. If you ever purchase a rifle with a rail already installed, do everything you can to study the alignment of the rail and barrel before you become the proud owner of a potential problem.  I should really expand this to any rifle that has a scope mount should be checked against the barrel.
2. When running into problems like this at the range, be patient.  Since I was on paper, I could have shot some groups at 100 yards to get a good idea on accuracy of the rifle.  At minimum, I could have moved my target closer to a post and shot a 50 yard group.
3. If you purchase a rifle from FNH, they are going to take care of you and stand behind their products!

You can see all of my posts on my FNAR rifle by going to my Summary Page.

Pacific Outdoors Foldable Canoe Carrier Review

Canoe Review, Canoe Carrier Review
Recently I purchased a Mad River Passage 16 Canoe for my son's birthday.  You can see the canoe review by going to this link or clicking on the label in the right column.  We have lake access in our neighborhood, but our house doesn't back up to the lake, so we have an issue with getting the canoe to the lake.  That's why we purchased the Pacific Outdoors Foldable Canoe Carrier.  We ended up getting it from Amazon.com for $83.95 and we got free shipping.  You may need to search on "Canoe Carrier" to find it.

This is what Pacific Outdoors lists as the features of this product:

•Rugged construction – Excellent durability and easy transport for up to 300 lbs of cargo

•Heavy duty tires – Provides easy rolling over rough terrain
•Adjustable hull supports contour to the size of your vessel
•Spring-loaded kickstand – Allows for easier boat loading
•Quick-release wheels – Folds in seconds
•Air pump, tie down straps and patch kit included – Essential accessories keep you on the move

Before I continue with the review, I want to give you a better understanding of how we are going to use the carrier.  The photo below shows our path to the lake.  It is 0.73 miles of paved road (shown in blue) and 0.26 miles (460 yards) down the trail to the lake (shown in red).  That is a total of about 1 mile, one way. Since we were going to have so much road travel, I wanted to make sure whatever I got would handle the road well.  That's why I went with bicycle type tires.  The path down to the lake is a hard trail, so again, bicycle tires should work well.

What's in the box?  The basic frame, two tires, one strap, tire pump, patch kit, instructions, and a product registration card.

Since the basic frame comes preassembled so there is very little assembly required.  All you need to do is pump up the tires and mount the tire on the inside pivoting arm.  The rest is just a matter of adjusting the position of the padded cradle rest and unfolding the tire when ready to mount the canoe.

These next couple of photos show the carrier from different perspectives so you can see a little more detail.

You can see below how to adjust the padded cradle rests to three different positions based on the bottom of your canoe or boat.  When you pull the pin, the rest will can pivot in to two more positions.  I thought this was a little odd that you pivot in instead of out.  Pivoting out would give you more support to prevent the wheels from getting out of alignment.  Later I may try swapping the rests from one side to the other and trying pivoting them out.  For my canoe, the most vertical position seems to work best.  If I rotate it in, and the the rest gets in the groove on the bottom of my canoe, the tire will touch the bottom of the canoe.  At vertical, it is no problem.

The next couple of photos show the carrier in the folded position.

With the kick stand down, it was not very hard to get the canoe balanced on top of the carrier.  Notice that the tie down strap is not in place.

Next we strapped the canoe to the carrier.  The engineer in me was saying that this single strap would not be enough for any bumpy trails and later I was proven correct.

With the canoe balanced and on pavement, this carrier works like a champ.  You can see my son moving it around with one finger.  You can steer the canoe with so much ease that even a small child could move it around.  At this point, we called it a day due to winds and decided we would wait until the next day to do our real test run.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos on our first test run.  It wasn't that I didn't take the camera, it was that I (the dufus) didn't take the memory card.  I had some great photos, they just never got stored.  Anyway, I decided that instead of starting out with a single strap that I would go ahead and put a double strap over the canoe.  I really didn't think one in the middle was enough, so I put one on each end of the carrier.  We cranked the 4-wheeler up and had my wife drop us off at the trail.  I held the end of the canoe while we pulled it the 3/4 miles to the trail.  It worked fabulous.  Next my son and I started down the trail.  There were some areas with ruts and we had to go around trees, but it worked fairly well.  We had to stop once to tighten the straps more, but it definitely needed double straps because you could tell the wheels would try to get out of alignment with the canoe.  Still no big deal and we were happy.  About half way down, I decided to guide it by myself.  I was on the front and as we kept going, it felt like that end was getting heavier and heavier.  Sure enough, the wheels were working themselves farther back on the canoe.  That's when we regrouped and decided to run one of the straps under the seat.  This configuration worked great and that's what we did for the way back home.

On our next test run the following weekend, I got a longer strap out of the basement and decided to do the double strap method and loop under the seat like last time.  Pay close attention to how the strap loops around the carrier.  This way it helps keep the straps separated.

At the end of the second trip to the lake, the carrier had shifted as shown below.  Honestly, this was not a big deal because the added weight I was feeling was still a lot less than carrying half of the canoe.  On our trip back out, I looped both the front and rear sides of the strap under the seat and it slid very little all the way home.

Bottom Line: 

The Pacific Outdoors Foldable Canoe Carrier definitely rolls good and make canoe transport much easier.  I wish they would have either put two straps in the package or made the single strap longer so that you can strap it down in the front and back of the carrier.  Straps are cheap and if you have a canoe, most likely you have an extra strap somewhere.  I think the big challenge is strapping the carrier to the canoe in a way to prevent the carrier from slipping down the canoe. Granted, I feel like my trail may have been a little more rugged than the average, so maybe this isn't a problem for where you may need to take your boat.  Overall, we are pleased and I believe that strapping the boat down is the critical step for any carrier and you need to study your boat and carrier to determine the best way.  I would definitely recommend this product.

Mad River Passage 16 Canoe Review

Mad River Review, Mad River Passage Review, Mad River Adventure Review, Mad River Canoe Review
A couple of weeks ago, my son got a canoe for his 15th birthday.  Our neighborhood backs up to Lake Allatoona in an area that does not get a lot of boat traffic since it is relatively shallow and we thought this would give him and the family lots of good weather fun.

We purchased the canoe from Dick's Sporting Goods and got a fair price.  It is a Mad River Passage 16 Canoe.  Now this is where there is a little confusion.  It seems that this canoe may be made special for some retailers, because this canoe can not be found at the Mad River web site.  What you can find is the Adventure 16.  Also, Dick's Sporting Goods had a canoe on the floor that was called the Adventure 16, but didn't look like the one at the Mad River Site.  Now for even more confusion, the Dick's site says this Passage 16 is only 32.75" wide and a couple of weeks ago they were calling it a kayak.  Just to set the record straight.  The canoe being reviewed is a Mad River Passage 16 with the following specifications from the manufacturer.

These are the specifications from Dick's website and I have verified and corrected in green and what I believe is wrong in red.

Mad River® Passage 16 Canoe

Model Number: 96717071
Polyethylene construction is durable and requires little maintenance
Center seat with padded seat back (there is not a padded seat back on the center seat)
Padded handles
Molded-in cup holders (6)
Dimensions: W 32.75"  37", but actually measured 34.75"x L 16' x H 14.75"
Weight: 81 lbs (soon to be verified)
Weight Capacity: 925 lbs (taking their word on it, this is also close to the Adventure 16 rating)

The next couple of photos give you the overall shots of the canoe.

Just to keep everyone honest, I went ahead and measured the length and width.  I came up with 15' 11.5" long and 34.75" wide.  See the photos below.  The 1/2" difference in length doesn't really matter, but the 2.25" difference in width is important.  If you are looking for a true 37" width, this canoe does not measure up.  I don't know how Mad River officially measures the width of a canoe, but the widest point is not 37".

The canoe has two main seats and a third seat in the middle. Each seat has a double cup holder in front.  This is a total of 6 possible drinks that can be accommodated in a three person (max) canoe.  Either this was done to keep the mold symmetric during fabrication or was done to target towards a beer drinking group of owners.

Each front and rear seat has a backrest that can be adjusted to support your back at different angles by the straps on each side of the seat.  I actually found this very comfortable.  Notice that beside the front seat there are some shallow indents to prevent items from rolling off and falling in the bottom of the canoe.

Front Seat

Middle Seat

Rear Seat

The back rests can be folded down so that they will not get damaged during storage and transportation.  Also there is a bungee strap on the back of the back rest that can be used to hold the back rest in the up position.

Foam is under the front and rear seats to keep the canoe at the top of the water in case you tip.  When it gets warmer, we will see how high it sits when full of water and I will update the review then.

There are generous areas in both the front and back were you can store gear.  The photo below is in the front of the boat.

The area behind the back seat is shown below.

Carry handles are located on both the front and rear of the boat.  At the rear, there is a drain plug so you can drain the water that may get trapped in the end of the boat after washing. Since there is a lip around the inside of the canoe, flipping it will not get all the water out.  The photo below is on the rear right side of the canoe.  The indented area is where the serial number is engraved.  Also notice that the color of this canoe is camo.  I'm not sure why they call it that other than areas like what you see below where the dark shows through the speckled greenish/blueish color.

The shot below is of the waterfalls in our neighborhood and that's my wife and youngest daughter looking so cool. This was actually our second trip on the canoe.  I took the camera on my first trip, but I forgot (what a dufus) to put the memory card back inside the camera before we headed out, so I don't have any photos of my son on it's maiden voyage.

On the first trip, my son and I did a 4 mile trip to the waterfalls and up the river.  Since the canoe was his birthday present, I gave him the honors of the rear seat for the first half of the trip.  It has been a couple of years since we were canoeing, and I must be honest, it took a while before we (I) was comfortable that we were not going to tip the canoe.  I read several comments at various websites about the Adventure 16 and some were very critical on this tipping issue.  After a 4 mile trip on still water with two people in the boat (me 225 lbs, him 155 lbs), we were both very comfortable and the tippy sensation was gone.

The next trip was with my wife, daughter and myself.  In my opinion, we really had the canoe loaded, although this was well below the rated capacity (925 lbs) of the canoe.  Also this time it had been even longer since my wife and daughter had been in a canoe, and that whole tippy felling returned to me.  I'm not sure what was giving the tippy feeling.  Actually, we never even came close to tipping.  I think that feeling comes more from confidence (or the lack there of) in your canoe partners.  After a short 1.5 mile trip to the waterfalls, we (I) were already feeling much better on the stability of the canoe and I was gaining confidence in nearly everyone in the boat.

Bottom Line:  So far we are happy with the canoe.  The front and rear seats are comfortable and the back rest is a very nice feature.  It is a canoe and that tippy feeling will exist based on the experience level of those in the canoe.  I don't think that it is any worse than other canoes of this type.  If you are really looking for maximum stability, you need to pay attention to the width of the canoe when purchasing and verify (measure) yourself that you are purchasing the maximum width possible.  If you are wanting stability and not speed, buy a Jon boat.

4/3/10 Update:  After three trips, stability is not an issue and we are pleased with the canoe.

5/3/10 Update:  I spoke with a representative for Mad River and he said the “Passage 16” is a special version of a Mad River Canoe “Adventure 16” created exclusively for Dick’s Sporting Goods and it should not be confused with the current “Adventure 16” square back, offered by specialty dealers.

Harris Bipods Series S Model 25C Review

Harris Bipod Review, Harris Review
It wasn't until recently that I recognized the value of a bipod on a rifle.  It started with me getting an inexpensive bipod for Christmas last year.  This was also the time I was tricking out my AR-15.  It was not long before I recognized that a bipod is extremely useful.  First of all, when tinkering or cleaning your rifle, a bipod will keep the rifle in a good position and maintain stability while it is sitting on the work bench.  Then, it's greatest value is when shooting your rifle.  For those of you who have already owned one for years, you are probably thinking I'm a dufus.  Maybe I am, but that is another review.  The reason I never recognized the value was that whenever I hunted, I always paid extra attention to make sure I have a rest for my rifle when taking longer shots.  Therefore I didn't feel that I had the need for a bipod and thus never purchased one.  I'm not saying that it will be on my rifle every time I go to the deer stand, but I am saying there is a time and a place for nearly everything.

Since I already had a smaller cheaper bipod, my main reason for getting a new bipod was to allow me to shoot from a sitting position.  I have many coyotes on my property and am stricken with a beaver plague in my lake.  In my mind, a taller bipod would allow me to be on the move and setup quickly for a sitting stable shot that will most likely be greater than 100 yards.  When I started searching for a bipod that would meet this height requirement, I ended up focusing on the Harris Bipod Series S Model 25C.

I'm not trying to knock Harris, but if you clicked on the link above, you would have seen that their description "Extends 13 1/2" to 27" Three Piece Standard Legs, "S" Series (Swivels)" and photo (below) didn't seem like the amount of information my engineering mind wanted for a bipod that has a "discounted" price of over $110.  I'm hoping I can fill in a few gaps with this review.

What's in the bag?  Not much other than the bipod, instructions and a promotional flyer showing other Harris products.  The bipod comes as a single assembly and is fully assembled.

Owner's Manual

When Harris says "Three Piece Standard Legs", they are referring to the number of sections in each leg (three) and that the bottom leg will extend to only one position (full out).  The two photos below show the legs fully collapsed and then one leg with all pieces full extended.  When each leg reaches it's fully extended position, it locks firmly in that position.

To collapse the leg from it's fully extended position, you would press on the spring loaded locks.  I'm calling the lock the bent piece of metal on each leg.  Each section that extends has it's own lock.  WARNING:  If you press the lock, the leg is spring loaded to retract.  If your hand is in the right place when this happens, you will end up with a serious pinch.  This usually only happens once and then you are aware in the future (at least I am).  The middle section is infinitely adjustable by tightening the round knob which will lock the middle position in the upper section.  This knob also has a roll pin that contacts the edge of the lock housing to prevent it from being screwed out and lost.

"Extends 13.5" to 27" - Harris measures these positions (fully retracted and fully extended) from the top of the tripod (bottom of the forearm) to the bottom of the feet when the tripod legs are folded down.  I would consider there to be two other standard positions.  The first is with the second section extended and the third section retracted.  The second is with the second section retracted and the third extended.  This gives you two other standard heights of 19.13" and 20.75", respectively.  Actually, I find that these two intermediate heights may be the best for a quick sitting on the ground shot, depending on your height.  All four standard positions are shown below.

13.5"

19.13"

20.75"

27"

"Swivel Series" - This feature allows you to level your rifle (make your horizontal crosshair actually horizontal) in places where you don't have a level ground to setup for the shot.  If the ground is extremely unlevel, you can use the infinity adjustment feature to level your rifle.  You can see how much of an angle you can correct with the swivel feature by looking at the photo below which has the rifle swiveled all the way to one side.  It can also swivel the same angle in the other direction.

The swivel feature is spring loaded by a leaf spring on each side to bring it back to the vertical position.  You can see this in the photo below and the spring is under the area that attaches to the rifle.  You can adjust the ease at which the system will pivot by tightening the knurled knob on the pivot bolt.  If you tighten it down hard, it can nearly become a fixed joint (if you are man enough).  Also notice the sling swivel stud below the knob.  You can still use a normal sling on your rifle even with the bipod installed.  Finally, notice the dense rubber pad that is intended to contact your rifle when installed.

Your rifle attaches by positioning the grab bars up through the slot in the upper attachment plate so that the sling stud will fit between the grab bars and the pins on each bar slide inside the hole in the sling stud as shown below.

As you tighten the knurled knob on the bottom of the attachment area, it will pull the grab bars down into the attachment plate which will secure the bipod on your rifle.  Honestly, in the beginning, I thought this was a "Mickey Mouse" way to be attaching a bipod.  After checking it out, this ends up being a very secure method to attach a bipod and most hunting rifles will have a sling stud (eventually).

Bottom Line: 
I believe that Harris puts out a quality bipod product.  Their overall costs seems high, but when you consider the complexity of the product and number of parts, it is probably about the right.  The bipod seems very secure on the rifle and all the components functioned flawlessly.  The only thing I struggle with is that when compared to a picitanny rail bipod, this one take longer to take on or off because of the issue of feeding the grab bars up through the attachment plate and hooking them on the sling stud, which in the end may be only 15 seconds of fiddling.  So, I don't have any major issues with the Harris bipod and do believe it is a very nice product.