Mountains, Mullets, Merica! Zeroing A New Rifle - MDT Mention

The YouTube Channel “Mountains, Mullets, Merica!” recently posted a video breaking down the process of zeroing and shooting a brand-new bolt-action rifle out to 1,150 yards. The host discusses his custom rifle build, which features an MDT XRS Chassis System, an explanation of his goals to shoot 1,000-plus yards accurately, his zeroing process, and discusses his ballistic application and data inputs.

Starting off, the host gives a brief breakdown of his rifle build. The build includes an MDT XRS Chassis system, a Riton 7 Conquer 3-18 Optic with a PSR reticle, a Timney 533-ST-16 Trigger, a Pristine Action, and a Proof research .308 carbon fiber barrel. For sound suppression, the host uses a Surefire Socom 762 mini suppressor.

308 RESOURCES FROM MDT

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Mountains, Mullets, Merica built a nice rifle using some premium parts.

The next part of the video jumps to the host shooting his rifle at 20 yards to see where the rifle and Riton Optic “wants” to shoot with the .308 Gold Federal Match ammunition he is using. He makes some adjustments and moves to 100 yards to shoot 5 rounds and continue zeroing the rifle. Bullet velocity is measured with a Magneto-speed chronograph for each of the shots in a group, and the host gets a group with an average speed of 2553 FPS. The host then removes his chronograph because it may have a small impact on his zero and shoots 3 more 3-round groups on different aiming points without it. After removing the chronograph, the groups are even tighter, and the host adjusts his Optic to prepare to shoot steel at longer distances.

The MDT XRS is a highly versatile chassis system.

At 510 yards, our host shows how he uses the “Shooter” app on his iPhone to record rifle information, sight height from the center of the bore, and his mil adjustments when zeroing the rifle. The app allows the shooter to create profiles for different rifle setups with different ammunition loadings. Minimum and maximum bullet velocities are recorded, weather information is loaded into the app, and the host ranges his circular 10-inch steel target. The shooter uses the phone-calculated zero adjustments and shoots 5 rounds at the steel target, hitting 3 out of his five shots.

At 835 yards, shots are taken at a 2/3rds size IPSC target using the phone app-provided holdovers. The host adjusts his parallax and explains the importance of obtaining a clear image and limited reticle movement while body and head movements are in play. Six out of ten shots hit the IPSC target. At 1150 yards, the host takes 10 shots at a full-size IPSC steel target with new holdover inputs, maxing the scope out at 18x power. Windage is confirmed with the first 2 shots, and the shooter begins adjusting for elevation. On the third shot, the shooter hits just low and dead-center of the target, and the IPSC silhouette is struck 5 times in the 10-round series of shots.

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