SmallCaliberCentral

Rick, have you had enough time behind your new Cooper rifle to give us a report? If so, how does the accuracy compare with your other rifles? Have you worked up a "Skippy" .223 load that compares with your .204 rounds?
Your Cooper looked "right at home" sitting on the rest, ready for the next shot.

Keith: As so often happens when a new rifle comes home during the peak of varmint season, it's a rush to get the proper seating depth and work up some field loads with reasonable accuracy, as time usually does not permit a dedicated accuracy load to be worked up.

In the case of my new Cooper .223 Rem, I had 250 once-fired Norma cases from an industry PD shoot that fit the neck of the Cooper, so used what has become my "standard" .223 Rem load using the 40gr Nosler BT over H335. The target below was shot in the field in the afternoon wind at 100 yards to get on paper and get a proper zero. Not BR standards by any means, but the flyer in each three shot group is me and most likely not the rifle, which probably shoots one hole groups. Both groups are right around .25" - .3", have not put the caliper on them yet, but it illustrates how my pet load performs in the Cooper.......Minute of Skippy for sure, and not bad for a load not developed specificially for this rifle. This load produces 3,680 fps from a 24" barrel. I was able to hit squirrels at 400 yards, even using the 3.5-10X Tactical scope, and head shots at "peekers" past 250 yards (hitting them in the head while peeking just sucks them right out of their hole).



The bedding is perfect, barrel floated, but after adjusting the trigger, I still want a lighter pull, so will address that issue later. I love "Rosa", she really had her way with Skippy over the past weekend, and has a permenent place in the safe now.

Here she is cooling her barrel in in the shade under my canopy between strings of carnage this past weekend:



The rifle shoots my "standard" load so well, I doubt I'll try to find anything better, at least for now. The 40gr trajectory comes close to my 204's shooting the 39's or 40's, but nothing really matches the laser-like trajectory of a good shooting 204 Ruger. I like to have a nice spread of various calibers for perceived varminting "needs", and I "needed" another bolt gun for the .223 Rem after my last one got converted to "The Silver Princess of Death", my 11 twist Rem M700 204, which is probably my favorite varmint rifle I own.

It's posted in the Swap Meet, but I'll mention that the Leupold M1 3.5-10X Tactical Scope on Rosa is for sale.



One thing is certain: Cooper builds very nice rifles, and the good Colonel was right in his reference: this rifle is interesting!

Rick: Hate to throw you on the spot, but how would you compare the new Cooper to your Sako? Both are obviously fine rifles, so I am anxious to hear your thoughts.

Mike: That's like asking a guy which daughter is his favorite. The only thing I don't like about my Sako 75 Varmint, is the detatchable magazine. I'd like it to be a solid bottom single shot first, or just a standard magazine-fed rifle second over the removable mag. For what I use these rifles for (field bench varmint shooting), I always single load, and the Sako works best in this regard with the entire mag removed, as it causes alot of bumbling when single loading if left in the rifle. It sits too low in the rifle for effective single loading. I hate it, but love the rifle overall.

I even had Charlie at Score High Gunsmithing (maker of single shot BR followers) make me a custom BR follower for the Sako, the first one he'd ever done. His work was perfect, but because of the detatch mag, it just does not work like it should, so I load the rifle from underneath through the open mag well, and it's surprisingly easy and effective, but wierd.

You can see the magazine out of the rifle and in my bench ammo tray in the field...(notice the long loaded length?)



I'm quite fond of both brands, now owning a Cooper and multiple Sako's. If I had to pick a Cooper or Sako in the same varmint caliber, I'd need to see the wood on each rifle, as that would be a tough call. Both are very accurate, of very high quality of materials and workmanship in all regards and are a pleasure to fondle and easy on the eyes. But I wish Sako would bring back their solid bottom single shot L461 Vixen actions. I can dream, right? Good thing we have Cooper in that regard.

Rick in Oregon wrote:Mike: That's like asking a guy which daughter is his favorite.

Rick: Funny you should mention that. I almost asked if it was like picking between your right and left arm.

Glad to hear that both rifles serve your needs well, though I'm not surprised.

If I had my wish, it would be a Cooper in RB/LP configuration.

Rick, I thought that Cooper sent a target with reloading info it used to get the best group? The ones that I have seen had it coated in plastic even. Normally one ragged hole. Are you planning on using the 223 on larger game? I thought that you might go for the 20 VarTarg.

Sidewinderwa wrote:Rick, I thought that Cooper sent a target with reloading info it used to get the best group? The ones that I have seen had it coated in plastic even.

Cooper does send out a test target with each rifle, but I don't believe that it's necessarily the "best" load for each rifle. It's simply the one used to get the group printed on the card.

I should have mentioned that this Cooper is 'new to me', and came from the Nosler Pro Shop rack, barely used, so no box or paperwork came with it, but considering the price I paid, I'm not complaining. No matter what the factory load may have been I still would have used my .223 Rem pet load, as it has worked in six of my 223's over the years, and this one seems to like it too.

When I'm able to make head shots on a squirrel at 300 yards, I have no qualms with the load being used. This one works!

Sidebar: I had about 32 left over rounds of the Barnes 40gr VLC factory ammo (also known here as the "Blue Meanies") loaded in Norma cases with Xterminator powder, WSR's loaded by Black Hills (red box), and the POI was identical to my handloads, and the accuracy seemed to be almost equal as well.......very, very good ammo; the squirrels really hated it. I wish Barnes still made these bullets.



I'm now getting ready to give the 36gr .224" Varmint Grenades a whirl in my Cooper 223, Ruger No.1 223, and my 22 K-Hornet. When that's done, the 26gr .20 cal VG will go downrange through my Kimber 204...we'll see what Skippy thinks.....

Rick in Oregon wrote:we'll see what Skippy thinks.....

Yeah, literally!