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Alright, here we go with the pics.
Nice shot of the whole set-up, not too pretty, but very rugged looking.


Next we have the ring set-up


And the other side


The bolt handle clearance


And the groups. Top group of three was from a barrel that was relatively cool at 100 yds, and the bottom three were from a warmer barrel and aiming two inches below center. I wanted the zero to be about 2" high at 100 yds with the 150 grain bullets so i can aim true out to farther distances.


The wind caught that last shot and carried it to the left a bit, otherwise it would have grouped about 1"

Holy-moly! I just took my ATR .270 that I bought last November out to the range. It came with that mossberg labeled scope on a weaver rail, which I tested for accuracy last December. I could only group about a 3" diameter group at 100 yards, so I was not too impressed. But a couple of days ago I decided to take the "spend as much on your scope as you did on the rifle" comment seriously, so i bought a Leupold VX-1 scope for $250 out the door at academy. It is the 3-9x40 mounted on Leupold STD low rings and base (the rem 700 RF), which I mounted myself. I had to reverse both the front and back base to make it fit properly, but it rides super close to the barrel and fits securely. After sighting in the scope from academy's boresighting job I was able to hit paper right away. Took me a good number of rounds to break it in properly ( I had fired only 20 rds previously), but I had some cheap monarch rounds to get the job done.

It was quite a windy day today, 15mph from the south, but with patience waiting for the wind to die down and a 20 minute cooled barrel I grouped all three rounds touching in a line from 100 yards at exactly 2MOA above center, which is exactly where I wanted my 150 grains placed for 200+ yard shots. I took a second 3 shot group to see if I could get it on bullseye by aiming 2MOA below center, it was pretty close to the same precision, but the last shot moved left from the wind.

Lessons learned:
1. Cheap scopes are for toys, you need a real precision instrument to perform well.
2. Tighten the hex bolts on the bottom of the ATR to make it more secure, first shots were a little wild before i tightened them down.
3. A cheap rifle can perform sub MOA groups even on a windy day if you are patient and get good optics.
4. Wear a recoil absorbing pad if you are going to be shooting 50 rounds from sandbags, either that or get a good shooting vise, OUCH!

I WILL POST PICTURES LATER TODAY WHEN I GET HOME!!!