New (to me) double rifle

[rifletuner]

I bought this off the Australian website usedguns.com (kind of the Australian equivalent of Gunbroker. We laughingly call it abusedguns, though there are some really nice rifles on there at times). Its a Fabarm over / under double in 9.3x74 and came with scope mount and a set of simplex dies included. Its a single trigger and the wood is hydro dipped. It comes standard with open sights which includes a fluro front bead. Definitly not a classic double, but it will be very practical for what we want.

I just picked it up from my dealer on the weekend and haven't been able to take it to the range as yet, but Fabarm have a reputation for being a pretty accurate double. I put a Leupold 1.75-6 with a German no 4 reticle on it yesterday, so just need to load some ammo and take it to the range next weekend.

It weighs in at 4kg scoped and feels very handy. It will be seeing fair bit of use in sambar country as soon as the temperature drops enough for us to get out with the dog.

 

[Mekaniks]

Very Nice! Gorgeous looking wood. Hope it shoots well for you.

 

[Rubberhead]

Great gun and cool caliber - I'm jealous.

 

[gillettehunter]

Great wood. Hopefully shoots as good as it looks. Congrats
Bruce

 

[Silvine]

Me like

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

If possible find out exactly what cartridges it was regulated for. Getting in contact previous owner might save you time & money. They can be a very fickle or loving mistress, but what you feed her is very important.

Lon

 

[Bonk]

Very nice! Congratulations.

 

[deewayne2003]

Good looking rifle in a capable caliber, as Lon said finding out the regulation load will save you lots of time and frustration.

Perhaps someone online can tell you what the factory regulation ammo was; and if you can find a box of that ammo and have a chronograph then your in business.

 

[perttime]

https://www.shootinguk.co.uk/reviews/rifle/fabarm-asper-9-3x74r-rifle-review mentions:

"The Asper had been regulated at the factory with RWS 9.3x74R Universal 19g bullets – that's 293 grains to you and me. "

Could that be a factory standard?

 

[rifletuner]

Hi guys. Thanks for all the comments and likes.

Yes, I understand about the reregulation and all the idiosyncrasies that can entail. I did talk to the pervious owner and he told me he was running 232gn Norma's and 270gn Speers - both using AR2208 (Varget in the USA) powder. I am planning to try loads with both AR2208 and also AR2209 (H4350 in the USA).

I am thinking I will mainly run 286gn bullets. I have a small supply of Norma Alaskans and some Woodleigh round nose bullets that I will try. Hopefully the rifle likes something I have. I will report back as soon as I know more.

 

[Canadaboy]

I have the same rifle, but not with the “Triwood” finish yours has. It was supposedly regulated with RWS 9.3x74R Universal 19g which I can’t get in Canada. I got several boxes of RWS Evo 18.8g (285gr), it doesn’t regulate well at all in my rifle so I’ll be using the brass to work up some loads. Im hoping to try Varget and H4350 the same as you, powder is scarce here at the moment but I may have found some of that as well as some 4831sc for my .404.

If you find a load that works please share it, I’d love to know

 

[rifletuner]

Well we managed to get to the range to try some loads last weekend. It was really just to work out some starting loads using data off the ADI website. I loaded up some 250gn Woodleigh RNs, 286gn Norma Alaskans and 286gn Woodleigh RNs. I tried 2208 as that is what the pervious owner of the rifle used, and also 2209 as most people seem to use that in the 9.3x74.

We started off zeroing the scope while we were testing loads and also to just get a feel for the rifle, so we weren't really shooting to find a load that would regulate for both barrels this session. Although we did get a bit of a glimpse of how the barrels shot towards the end of the day once we had the scope set.

We chronographed every load, so built up a bit of preliminary data. With the 286 bullets, around 53/54gn of 2208 was averaging around 2200fps with both the Normas and the Woodleighs, while 61gn of 2209 averaged around 2250fps. Despite similar velocities from the powders, the 2209 loads were consistently shooting higher with the same zero - barrel time / harmonics I guess. Now we have a load window in the rifle, we will take a look at barrel regulation at 50 and 100 next session.

This is my son on some of the zeroing shots, although he also tried it offhand too

The below is some of the last shots on target for the day at 50 meters. The higher shot is a 2209 load. The two almost touching are from each barrel with 53 and 54 gn of 2208 and 286gn Woodleighs.

 

[rifletuner]

Well, just an update on this rifle. After my last post about it, we hit a bit of a roadblock that really delayed us using the new double a lot longer than I expected. We went back to the rifle range a few weeks after my initial post to do some follow up on our load development, but virtually every time we shot the rifle, it double discharged. It took me a little while, but I found a gunsmith to look at it earlier this year and was told the trigger engagement was minimal. I dont know if it came from the factory that way, or the pervious owner screwed around with the trigger.

Due to a lot of other commitments, we only got to resume our load development a few weeks ago. We went out again today to check our zero with the load we settled on from our last trip after getting the triggers adjusted. The below photo is off the bench at 100 meters. The lower shot is the bottom barrel (first shot), and the top shot is the top barrel (second shot). I didnt measure it, but group size is approximately 2".

Once we were done, my son plinked off a lot of our earlier test loads because I couldn't be bothered pulling the ammo that didnt work out.