12/23/10 - Shooting with the Private

Today Private Jake Cox and I did some firing drills upon some exploding targets.  After that fun, I set up a target at the familiar 425 yards for some twilight shooting.  It was muddy, wet and cold, but we still managed to have a little fun.  As you can see, I have 3 sets of groups here.  I used the last few times at this distance as a starting point, dialing 32 clicks of elevation into the scope.  The result was the 3 shot grouping on the right had side of this 12 inch target.  Jake called my shots for me, so I then put to clicks of windage into the scopes which resulted in the upper left two shot grouping.  Then I removed one of the two clicks and recorded the middle grouping of two shots.  I have no idea what caused my point of impact to shift up... still these groupings are 2"-3" apart, meaning sub MOA grouping.  Not terrible when you consider that I haven't taken any shots since the first part of October.

This little video shows how much fun Private Cox and I had.

10/1/2010 - 1000 Yards .5 MOA

You could not have asked for a better night for shooting.  It was 75 degrees at 6:30 p.m. for this little outing.  I set up the target, and then ate an MRE using it's own heater (Lynn gave me some MREs).  Given how my shots were low last time when using 175 gr. Black Hills Match ammo in my Savage .308, I started out with 135 clicks of elevation.  After a couple of shots, it was clear that I was high and right.  So 2 clicks back down, and 3 to the left produced the best grouping yet at 1000 yards.  As you can see there is one shot that is sort of an outlier, but those other 3 shots rival, if not beat the best 3 shots I have taken.  They are .5 MOA at 1K.

To sum up, this took 133 clicks of elevation with Black Hills Match 308, using my Savage 308 with the Vortex Viper Scope.

9/18/10 Eck-plo-shun at 425 and Couple of hits at 1000

Lets cut to the chase.   Today I set up an exploding target at 425 yards, and a paper target at 1K.  Gun: Savage 308.  For the first shot on the exploding target at 425, I used 32 clicks, but that went over the canister.  I took 2 clicks out, but the next shot didn't make any dust.  I figured that meant that I had hit the tree stump and was therefore low.  On my 3rd shot at 425 yards, I used 31 clicks of elevation, and the target went BOOM!

Given that the last 2 times I shot at 1000 yards I had to use different scope settings with these same bullets, I wasn't sure what to dial in.  I used 133 clicks of elevation and as you can see, that wasn't quite enough.  I fired 6 shots, and only 2 of them found their way into the cardboard.  The other 4 were low and sprayed all kinds of debris up onto the target making this an ugly picture.  Next time I should use 135 clicks, if I shoot Black Hills Match 175 gr.

8/13/2010 - Friday the 13th, Soapstone Basin

We went camping up to Soapstone Basin again with Mom and Paul.  This time we were camping by a meadow where I could do some shooting.  The longest shot that I could find, without shooting across a road, came in at 500 yards.   I set up the target early in the afternoon, and scouted out the shooting position.  After dinner, and just before sundown, when the conditions became optimal for shooting, I set out on my hike to the firing position.  I had given Karen one of the two-way radios before leaving so that I could have her go over and call out my shots.   Once I was in position, I checked the firing data for a lower altitude and different conditions, but I figured it was a good starting point.  It suggested 11 MOA, or 44 clicks of elevation.


With the sun setting behind me, I fired my first two shots, and then called Karen on the radio to go over and check it out.  She indicated that I had put one of the shots into the duct tape and the very top of the target (not shown in the photo), and we deduced that the other must have gone barely over since she couldn't see two distinctly disturbed areas of vegetation around.  I dialed back to only 40 clicks (10 MOA) and produced the 4 shots seen here in this photo for 500 yards with the Savage 308 using Black Hills Match 175 gr.  It was a ton of fun!  I asked Karen on the radio if she could see me, or if she knew exacly where I had been shooting from, and she had no idea where I was!  So I sat up on the small ridge where I had been laying down, and she could still see nothing.  She could not see me till I stood up and waved.  That was pretty cool since she obviously knew the general direction the bullets were coming from.  I had been watching her, giving her directions, and asking her questions, all while she didn't know my firing position.  I was wearing a long sleeve camo shirt, my old Denver Bronco's hat, and the old tan Carhartt pants.  Aside from the hat, my clothing was a pretty good match for the grassy hill I was shooting from.  Elevation was approximately 9200 feet, temp approx. 65 degrees.

7/24/2010 - 1000 Yards...it worked once, so why not try again?

Shooting long distances is a funny thing.  It seems that the variables are endless.  Muzzle velocity from shell to shell, ballistic co-efficient, altitude, density altitude, barometric pressure, temperature, wind, thermals, sight elevation, line of sight, point of aim, lead, hold over, data cards, parallax, focal planes, elevation adjustment, clicks, minutes of angle, milli-radians, zeroing, ranging, ballistics, bi-pods, heart-rate, breathing, scopes, recoil, and caliber.  Wait, I have just forgotten what rifle I am shooting!  This morning I made my second attempt to conquer all these variables with mixed results.

I left the house at 5:35 a.m. hoping to beat the wind.  That was almost successful.  After unloading the 4-wheeler and riding over to set up the target, and get back, there was a slight left to right breeze.   I really took my time setting up the tarp, and the rifle, hoping that the wind would die down for a moment.  After about 10 minutes, I figured that it might not get any better than it was right at that moment.  By now, it was about 6:15 a.m. and light enough to make the shot without any problem.  Using last week as a guide, I entered 135 clicks into the scope.  I didn't dial wind-age because last time I zeroed the wind-age dial after making my hits.

The first shot was clearly high and left, missing the target completely.  This is becoming a trend as of late.  I can't really say that I was surprised about hitting left because I did have wind pushing me that way, but how far that wind continued downrange, I couldn't tell.  This being the case, my plan was to shoot one shot, and then make an assessment as to how much of a correction to enter into the scope.   Two clicks to the right, and two more shots still seemed to be hitting high.  Up to that point, I had not touched the elevation knob, since the conditions seemed almost identical to last week (65-70 degrees and 25.40 on the pressure) when 135 clicks seemed to be exactly the formula for good hits.   I could not argue with the dust though, so I backed it down to 133 clicks of elevation.  The next two shots punched the cardboard.  As shown in the picture, I needed another click or two, toward the right to counteract the wind.  I think I'll use this target again once I get dialed back in with the next batch of bullets (I'm all out of the Black Hills Match 308, 175 gr).  The re-loads I have are not as fast as the Black Hills Match, so I don't know how they will perform out at these distances.  This is not to mention that they are 168 gr bullets with lower BC values to boot.

7/17/2010 - 1000 YARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday is over.  Today I am a new man.  One of my goals this year was to accomplish the 1K shot.  Today was my first ever attempt at 1000 yards, and I am not disappointed.  Earlier in the week, I shot at 800 yards, which were longest shots I had ever attempted up to that point.  That was then, this is now.  I am in a new world.

Last night I started my research, playing with the numbers with my online ballistics calculator (http://www.biggameinfo.com/BalCalcAdv.aspx).  Taking the results from Wednesday's outing into consideration, I tried to work the numbers to match up with those results at 800 yards.  I hoped that if I could get the math to work at 800 yards, it would get me close at 1K.  It did.  The data card was showing that I would need 137 clicks to reach the 1K mark, but I had a suspicion that it wouldn't take quite that much.

Promptly at 6 a.m., I set out for the range, having loaded the truck completely the night before.  Once at the range, I used the 4-wheeler to drive over, and climb the hill to where I would set up my first ever attempt at the ominous distance.  Strangely, my shots earlier in the week at 800 didn't seem that far (relative to other shots I have taken), and my mindset this morning was optimistic.  I really didn't have any reason to be overly confident, and I wasn't.  Still, I had an underlying optimism that can't really be put into words.  Once back at the truck, I started my usual ritual to set up the gun, scope, and overall position.  I closed my eyes after putting the ear plugs in, and concentrated on my breathing for a few moments, attempting to slow my heart-rate in preparation of the task ahead.   No wind, perfect conditions at about 75 degrees, and 25.37 on the pressure.

Without trying to analyze things too much, and without giving any thought to the distance my target was from the muzzle, I took aim.  I think that subconsciously my mind was fooled into thinking that the target appeared small in the cross-hairs, only because the magnification in the scope was on a lower setting than usual.  Strangely enough, I was not intimidated.  My first shot was no surprise to me at all: clearly high and left.  One of the funnest parts about shooting at these distances is that you have time to re-acquire the target in the scope before the bullet's impact.  It takes a little over 1.5 seconds to reach the target at 1K.  Suspecting this might be the case, given what happened to me earlier in the week, I took 2 clicks of elevation back out of the scope, and gave myself 1 wind-age click to the right.  What followed that decision was magic.  Although I could tell that the next 4 shots were landing closer, the distance was too great to see the bullets making marks in the paper.  By watching the dust kick up, I was realistically expecting to find one, if not two of my shots having found their mark in the target.

After the long drive over to, and up the hill, I stepped off of that 4-wheeler a new person.  After making the initial scope adjustment, the 4 shots that followed had all found their mark.  At 6:45 in the morning, I let out a yell that could be heard for miles.  Words cannot describe the satisfaction welling up inside of me.  Shooting was over for today.  Time to go home and record the results.

In summary, it took 135 clicks of elevation to paint this picture using a 1000 yard paintbrush (and a Savage 308 with 175 grain Black Hills Match ammo).  Let it be known that on July 17th 2010, I broke the 1000 yard barrier. Yesterday is over.  This is a new day.

7/14/2010 - Longest Yet - The Big 800

Today at about 8 p.m. I decided that I was going to take advantage of the calm summer night and do some shooting. I through some stuff in the truck (including the 4-wheeler) and took off. When I got out there I jumped on the 4-wheeler with the GPS and the target and started off. I didn't really have a distance in mind when I set out, but as I rode over to the various distances that I had previously plotted, 800 seemed like the place to set up. After I pulled a bunch of the tall grass in front of the target, I rode back over and tried to get my heart rate back down and set up the shot. I soon realized that I had forgotten the tarp I lay down on, and the coat I usually use the support the butt of the rifle to keep steady. This time out was going to be roughing it in the dirt and weeds with nothing but me to steady the butt end of the weapon. Time to find out what you are made of, and see if you can do it a little more like the snipers do.

My data cards seemed to indicate that I should need around 98 click of elevation, so that was my starting point. The conditions were near perfect. No wind. Well, maybe just a slight breath of a tailwind, but a simply beautiful night for shooting. I squeezed off 4 relatively good rounds. From what I could see from the dust kicking up (about a full second after the shots), I was hitting a little high and left. I used the 4-wheeler to check it out, and sure enough, I had missed the target high and left. Here is the good news though, I had a VERY tight grouping in the ground behind the target. Encouraged by those results, upon returning to the gun, I took two of the clicks back off of the scope. I also gave my self 2 clicks to the right, and tried 4 more shots. From what I was seeing in the scope, watching the dust fly, it still seemed to be high and left. By this time, I was losing daylight and I didn't think that there would be enough light for another trip over to confirm my suspicions. I did what any good marksman would do, I followed my gut and pulled 2 more clicks out of the scope, while giving myself one more click to the right. (Did I just call myself a good marksman...I digress) I took 2 last shots with this scope setting and packed up the stuff at the truck.

I was right. The second grouping of 4 all missed high and left even after the initial scope adjustments. The second adjustment and last 2 shots are shown in the picture. In summary, today it took 94 clicks of elevation and 3 clicks to the right to make this happen at 800 yards.

5/31/2010 - For the Record

Today I went shooting with Paul, and Danny. They were shooting their guns to get them sighted in. I set up a small target at 600 yards. According to the best ballistics card I can find, I need 15 MOA of elevation to reach 600. After dialing 60 clicks, I put 4 shots just over the target. It's really odd because I used this same data for my 425, 500, and 700 yard shots. All of those were bang on...

5/17/2010 - 500 Yards

It's nice to know that even when dealing with some wind, 4 great shots in a row are very possible.  Today I tested the new scope bases at 500 yards.  After I had the shot all set up, I realized I didn't have the bullet drop data with me.  I called Karen and had her look it up for me.  She indicated that at 500 yards with this setup, the chart said I needed 11 MOA in the scope.  Trusting that to be the case, I dialed 44 clicks of elevation.  Truth be known, I actually shot one shot and watched the dirt kick up about 5 feet low!  I then realized that you have to do more than the math on 11 MOA, you also have to dial it in!  After the scope adjustment, I was ready again.  There was a steady crosswind where I was shooting, but I couldn't see the grass moving at all over by the target.  I decided that I would hold the crosshairs on the right hand side of the cardboard to compensate for wind.  I tried as best as I could to get an idea of the shot placement based off of the dirt kicking up.  My best guess was that I was hitting a little high and to the left, but I decided to shoot 4 good shots at the same place and then walk over to see the results.  During my walk over, I fully anticipated to find that I had missed the target high and left.  Much to my surprise, it was 4 of the most consistent shots to date.  There was one grouping in late January that was possible better, but that was only 425 yards.  This is most definitely sub MOA.  It's about 1/2 MOA actually.  It measures just under 2 inches vertically, and just over 2 inches horizontally.  It amazes me that the data I am getting from those bullet drop calculations can get me this close.  Notice how accurate the elevation is.  I was shooting 175 gr. Black Hills Match 308 ammo.  I only wish that I didn't have any wind.  Had I been able to hold dead center (it's been since about January since I was able to do that), this might have been a really impressive picture!

5/7/10 20 MOA Scope Bases

Today my 20 MOA Nightforce Scope bases got a test run.  20 MOA bases point the scope downward in relationship to the bore. This gives you added elevation travel from the scope (since you really never need to adjust down, when you are zeroed at 100 yards). Overall, my Vortex Viper Scope has 258 clicks of elevation from the bottom to the top. This of course translates to 64.5 minutes of angle in elevation travel. Since at the factory, they make sure that the scope will be in the middle of it's elevation travel when held level, you really only get about 30-32 MOA of "up" elevation travel with a normal setup.

With the 20 MOA bases, it points the scope "down", meaning you need to compensate with the elevation knob to enable a zero at 100 yards. This is great because now after zeroing at 100 yards, this is what I have left for adjustments on the scope: 176 "up" clicks (44 MOA), and 82 "down" clicks (20.5 MOA). Since calculations seem to indicate that it will be around 36 or so MOA, to get the bullets in the vicinity at 1K yards, the rig is set up for the shots (more of less).

These pictures show that for whatever reason, I am not yet (with this current stock gun setup) claiming any better than 1 MOA at 100 yards. Interestingly enough, once I was sighted in with the 175 grain Black Hills Match ammo, I shot in the same basic place using my 168 grain hand-loads.

5/7/10 More for the Chrony Lovers

60 Degrees

8 Shots Black Hills Match 308 175 Grain BTHP

Low: 2584
High: 2645
Avg: 2613
Extreme Spread: 60.99
Standard Deviation: 20.07

10 Shots - 308 Win., 168 gr Sierra Match King, 42 Grains IMR 4064, Laupa Brass:

Low: 2567
High: 2633
Avg: 2588
Extreme Spread: 65.93
Standard Deviation: 18.73

4/6/2010 - More Chrony Results

Today I decided to get a bigger sampling of my .308 and .243 reloads. With the last time only getting 3 shots with the 308, and 4 shots with the 243, I had since decided that I need a bigger sampling. I can't wait to do this with the Black Hills match 308 to compare. He is the low-down. 50 Degrees F.

10 Shots - 308 Win., 168 gr Sierra Match King, 42 Grains IMR 4064, Laupa Brass:

Low: 2568
High: 2640
Avg: 2605
Extreme Spread: 71.70
Standard Deviation: 18.92

10 Shots - 243 Win., 105 Hornady A-Max, 41 Grains IMR 4350:

Low: 2836
High: 2910
Avg: 2863
Extreme Spread: 73.67
Standard Deviation: 21.42

3/27/10 - New 100 Yard Zero - Mixed Bag

After shooting through the chrony, I tried to reset my zero with the hand-loads on the .308.  Amazingly, I had to bring the scope up 20 clicks at 100 yards to get back to zero!  That is 20 clicks higher than the 168 gr. Black Hills 308 Match ammo.  It was very gusty at times, (about 3 p.m.) and my results were not very consistent.  I wonder if shooting the bullets so close to the ground was effecting the shots adversely.  From where I was shooting, the bullets were getting, possibly closer than 4 inches to the ground, about 20 yards in front of me.  It was making a ton of dust along the ground, which I haven't really had happening before.  I kept on shooting more than I normally would have to try to figure out if if was the wind, or interference from the ground, or just that my hand-loads are not very consistent.  I think I will be loading them hotter next time to try to get rid of some of the space inside the casings.  If you shake the bullets that I loaded last week (both the .308s and the .243s), there is more space in there than there is in the Winchester Super-X factory ammo.  I will need to compare with the Black Hills Match ammo on both the muzzle velocity and the amount of "empty space" in the casings.  As you can see, these groupings are not very good.  Some shots are okay, but overall, they are like 2 MOA groups for the most part.  I am not impressed.

3/27/10 Shooting Chrony

Today I bought a Beta Master Shooting Chrony.  I tested some of my loads and here are the results.

(In hindsight, I didn't get a large enough sample for most of these shots, so take it with a grain of salt.  The 308 group was only 3 shots, 243 group was 4 shots.  In later tests I ran 8-10 shots in the string and I think that is a better way to show actual performance.)

Savage .308 168 gr Sierra BTHP Match 42 grains IMR 4064:
     Low: 2620
     High: 2634
     Avg: 2624
     Extreme Spread: 13.69
     Standard Deviation: 7.54

Savage .308 Winchester Super X 180 Gr.
     Low: 2665
     High: 2691
     Avg: 2677
     Extreme Spread: 26.67
     Standard Deviation: 11.53

Ruger .243 Hornady 105 gr A-Max 41 grains IMR 4350:
 
     Low: 2856
     High: 2916
     Avg: 2879
     Extreme Spread: 59.19
     Standard Deviation: 26.24

Ruger .243 Winchester Super X 100 gr soft point

     Low: 3033
     High: 3077
     Avg: 3049
     Extreme Spread: 43.94
     Standard Deviation: 16.67

AR-15 .223 PMC 55 gr FMJ  ???

     Low:2722
     High2770
     Avg: 2749
     Extreme Spread: 47.99
     Standard Deviation: 18.35

3/21/10 - Wall of Fame

It speaks for itself.  These are the fruits of my labors.  Well, at least the fruits of my shooting labors over the last 6 months, give or take a few. 

3/20/10 - Reloading - Shooting the Bottoms

Today I spent the morning reloading at Dad's house.  We spent the night last night, and then later today, we went out to shoot at The Bottoms.  I loaded 100 .308s and 100 .243s.  On the .308s I used the Sierra 168 gr. match tips with 42 grains of IMR 4060 power.  I figured that would be a good starting point.  On the .234s, I used Honady A-Max 105 gr tips.  pushing the .243 bullets is 41 grains of IMR 4350.  Once I got going, it took me about 2 hours and 20 minutes to load 100 shells if I didn't trim the cases.

After loading, Dad and I drove to the Bottoms to see if it was too muddy, and to try to range out some of the distances with his car GPS.  Since it doesn't really give you accurate line of sight distances between way-points (because it is geared toward navigating streets), we went back home and tried to load those points onto his computer to figure the distance.  Well, that didn't work out too well.  We went back down with Karen and the kids and set up a target.  Using the mil-dots in my scope, I estimated the yardage to be almost exactly 500 yards.  I used data that I had for the Black Hills match ammo as a guide, and dialed 44 clicks into the scope.  It wasn't even close.  That shot was about 2 feet low.

We had a little wind coming from left to right too, so I was holding off the target to compensate for that.  Dad and Kaylee were by the target with 2 way radios calling my shots.  It was a little frustrating trying to figure out where these new handloads were hitting as far as elevation goes, but by the time I had shot 11 round, I was able to put the last 4 shots onto the paper as shown in the picture.  If I didn't have the wind messing with me, I think I would have had a very impressive grouping.  Take the two shots right by the bulls-eye for instance, and couple them with the one to the left 3 & 1/4 inches away.  That 3 shot grouping is well under 1 MOA, given the distance.  Those shots were achieved by holding clear off the cardboard to the left.  The shot to the right of the circle was one shot that I didn't notice any wind from where I was, so I held right on the bulls-eye.  After the shot, Dad told me they they still had wind at the target, hence the result.

All told, I ended up having to dial 61 clicks into the scope to get these shots.  That makes me really worried about the muzzle velocity of the bullets I loaded.  If my calculations are close, that means that I can't be getting more than about 2350 fps out of them.  That would not be good.  I really won't know until I get the rifle zero'ed at 100 yards (I didn't even attempt to do that today), and get a chronograph to shoot through.  I have really got to invest in one of those.

3/16/10 - Woman with a Gun - Kentucky Windage

The weather was so beautiful this afternoon that we decided to take a trip as a family to the range.  Karen, Kaylee, and Konnor all got to come with me to the range today.  Kaylee got to shoot a .22 LR for the first time in her life.  She liked that, but had a hard time reaching the trigger.  Karen shot the Glock too.  It's only the second or third time I remember her shooting a pistol since we have been married.  Some women wouldn't pose much of a threat to an intruder even if they had a gun.  Karen on the other hand,  well, let me put it this way; you wouldn't want to mess with her.  This is a warning to all:  she knows right where the gun is, she knows how to rack the slide to load it, and she could most definitely kill you with it!  She can put bullets on target, and she isn't timid when shooting.  She put two or three rounds in to a cup at about 17 feet, and then proceeded to unload the rest of the clip on some other target further away.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

At the rate I am going, I will never have any bullets for the .308 (I need to reload), so I shot the cheap ammo out of the .243 again today.  I'm going to have to sit down one day and find out how much elevation I can get out of the Burris Scope that is on the Ruger, so that I can get some indication of how far out I can use the scope.  Right now, all I am doing is using the BDC reticle for holdover estimation.  Since I know pretty much exactly how to aim for the 425 yard distance, I haven't moved the scope knobs for a while.  Not exactly an exact science, but if I hit what I am pointing at, what difference does it make, right?  

While Karen and the kids went for little hike up the hill, I set up the first grouping.  I had a little wind, but I thought that it was mostly coming at me.  I should have known better.  Five shots, and only one of them even grazed the target.  I mean that.  I barely grazed the target with one of the shots.  The other 4 missed wide right.  I did end up seeing bullet marks in the ground behind the target which seemed to indicate the missed shots.  So after a long walk back, I set it up again. Armed with new information, I held about a 14 inch crab into the wind, and was able to get 3 of 5 generally on target as shown.  As to the location of the other 2 shots in this group, your guess is as good as mine.  Difficult to say whether this was a product of the ammo, or the conditions.  I doubt it was my mistake, but with a trigger like this gun has, I guess that is a possibility.  My guess is that the 2 close hits are a good representation of the consistency of the shots, and that the windage variability with the third shot is due more to atmospheric conditions, than the shooter on this one. 

Back to the .243 - 3/13/10

I'm out of bullets for my .308, so today I went back to the Ruger .243.  I've got a whole bunch of the cheap Walmart Winchester Super-X (crappier than all get out in my .308) 100 gr ammo, so I decided to use some of that up.  It was a breezy morning, and given the fact that I have lost all confidence in the Winchester ammo, I decided to shoot at about 110 yards (I don't know the EXACT distance for this one).  I haven't shot seriously at 100 yards for a while, so I figured it was a good change of pace, and would give me a good idea of how reliable the box of bullets that I was shooting was.  As seen in the picture, 6 shots were placed in a fair grouping for the distance.  Four of those shots, on the other hand, are definitely 1/2 MOA.  I cannot complain at the crap ammo when it makes those types of shots.  The stuff shoots okay out of the .243, but I will never buy it again for the .308.  In fact, now that I am getting more serious about precision shooting, I don't think I will buy any more of it all together.  

Even though the breeze was strong, it would die out every few minutes to be quite calm.  I didn't feel like I'd had my fill yet for the morning, so I took another target over to my 425 yard stump.  It's nice sometimes to just be outside on a walk to enjoy the morning, so I didn't mind the hike.  It is strange to walk that far, and then realize that the bullets you are about to shoot will cover that distance in about a half of a second (.473 seconds, but who's counting, right?).  

Once back at the truck, I set up the gun, and the shot again.  I concentrated on getting my breathing back to normal as I put in my hearing protection.  Here comes the wind again.  I have been dealing with wind in my shooting for the last few weeks.  It has definitely taken it's toll in accuracy, but I guess those are lessons that are important to learn.  I waited for a few minutes to see if it would die down a bit.  I could see the tall grass around the target swaying quite a bit, so I knew that the wind was even stronger at the target, compared to what I was feeling.  Once I noticed the swaying grass slow down, I used the same elevation hold that I used the last time at this distance with this gun.  I figure that the cross-hairs on the scope are fine for 200 yards, the next line down would be for 300, next line 400, next line 500...you get the idea.  Given that formula, I held the target in between two lines (what would equate for 450 yards generally).  I held on the right edge of the white plastic backing to compensate for wind, coming from the right to the left.  There was one of the seven shots that I didn't feel as confident about, and I was not able to see a single one of the shots from that distance. 

All things considered, (wind, and the amazingly long, hard trigger pull on this gun) I am pleased with the shots I placed.  A close look reveals that the 4 closest shots (in relationship to each other) are about 2.5 inches apart vertically, and about the same horizontally.  That almost exactly matches the 1/2 MOA grouping that I was able to print from 110 yards on the previous target (remembering that a 4.25 inch spread would represent 1 MOA at 425 yards).   It might not qualify for 1/2 MOA, but it is under 1, and I cannot expect any better given the ammo, wind, and factory Ruger trigger.  I was glad to see that my windage holding was just about right today.  That is an improvement over my last outing (with the .308), and that is what matters.

Turns out the .234 is no slouch

For all of you out there that have ever fallen asleep during a discussion of external ballistics, this is not the post for you.  Unless you are suffering from insomnia, and desperately need to get some hard core rest in the next 30 seconds, I suggest that you move on.  Those that didn't heed my warning and are still reading, now I can talk openly with you about ballistic co-efficients, windage, and foot pounds of energy without running the risk of scorn.  Doesn't it feel great that we can communicate on this deeply personal level?
Okay, down to brass tacks.  It turns out that the .308 using 168 gr. Sierra BTHP Match bullets shot from 2650-2750 fps will experience a bullet drop at 1000 yards of about 386 inches.  The ballistic co-efficient (hear after denoted as BC) of that round is .462-.424, depending on the velocity.  The .243 105 grain Hornady A-Max bullets I have, boast a general BC of .500.  I looked up the BC for the Sierra 107 gr. BTHP Match bullets and they fall in at .527-.495, (velocity dependent, from 2900 fps at the muzzle).  This higher BC means that the .243 will only experience a 309 inch drop in 1000 yards.  Not only does the .243 round out perform the .308 in the amount of bullet drop, it gets there faster.  Time of flight (here after denoted as ToF) for the .243 is 1.495 seconds, while the heavier, slower .308 takes 1.688 seconds to impact the target.  This flatter trajectory means that the .243 round will be more forgiving with regards to mistakes in the range estimation of any given target, than the .308 round will.
The particular .243 round we are discussing also out performs the .308 round with respect to wind drift.  If we examine a 10 mph wind coming at 90 degrees, the .308 round will drift 105.1 inches.  The smaller, faster .243 will only drift 81.1 inches.  I suspect this is due in part to the shorter ToF.
The one area where the .308 will out shine the .243 is the amount of energy the round has.  Assuming you can get your 168 gr .308 round to 2750 fps at the muzzle, you will have 2821 ft/lbs of energy.  The 105 gr. .243 round at 2900 fps, will give you 1961 ft/lbs of energy.  That means the .308 has 860 more ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle.  However, lets take a look at the 500 yard, and 1000 yard markers for a closer look at how each round bleeds energy.  At 500 yards, the .308 is down to 1271 ft/lbs.  That means that it has only retained 45 percent of it's energy.  The .243 round is down to 998 ft/lbs at 500 yards.  It has retained just shy of 51 percent of its energy.  At 1000 yards, the .308 round is down to 534 ft/lbs.  It has only retained 18.9 percent of the total energy it once had.  The .243 is down to 463 ft/lbs at 1000 yards, meaning that is has retained 23.6 percent of its total energy.  So although we cannot argue that the .308 round has more energy at all ranges, it is interesting to note that it bleeds off energy faster than the .243.  For the purposes of this discussion, I say that makes the .243 a more efficient cartridge with respect to external ballistics. 
If you are still awake after reading this, I congratulate you on the tremendous feat you have just accomplished. I suspect, that it was much harder for you to read this and remain coherent, than it was for me to write it.  I hope you learned something, because I sure have.  The .243 is no slouch, ballisticly speaking.

2/27/10 Wind 2, Kyle 0

The heading says it all really.  I am blaming today's less than stellar performance at the range on the wind.  We all know what that really means: I underestimated the wind again today.  I guess the issue is that just because I only have a light breeze from my shooting position, there are larger wind currents flowing down the canyons that I have to shoot across to get 700 yards to the target.  As you can see in the pictures, it was rough.  After my first 5 shots, I decided to walk over to the target instead of drive over.  The entire time I was walking I was excited to see really good shots right next to the bulls-eye.  When I got to the plywood, I could hardly believe what I saw.  What I saw was nothing.  Not a single shot in the 4x8 ply!  I wondered if perhaps I had dialed 77 clicks of down elevation.  A closer look at the ground beyond the target told the story.  I found where my shots were landing. I had missed wide left (yes that was the general direction of the wind from what I could tell).  I actually did find 2 of the five bullets there in the ground.  The only redeeming thing about the situation is that I think I had at least 3 (or more) shots in that very small area, by the looks of the disturbed dirt. 

After a 700 yard walk back to the truck, I was determined to out shoot the wind.  For the next five shots, I held about 3/4 mils to the right.  As you can see in the photo, I printed a really good grouping of 3 shots that landed on the ply left and low of the aimpoint.  In the wider photo, you can see a shot that landed about level with the bulls eye (my stray shot?).  My guess is that the 5th shot that didn't manage to hit the plywood was just left enough to miss the wood, but still in the same grouping with the other 3, but I will never know.

Both times I walked up to the target I was genuinely surprised to see that I didn't break the paper multiple times.  Those 10 shots were the last of my 168 gr. Black Hills Match 308 ammo.  From here on out (mostly), I hope to be shooting my own hand-loads.   We shall see how that goes.

Ranging out the range

This is for all of you out there wondering what 1000 yards looks like.  I took the picture standing in the back of the truck where I shoot from.  You'll have to click on the picture to really check it out.  The tree stump at 425 yards is about 18 inches in diameter,  but is barely visible at that range.  When I stood a 4'x8' plywood board up at 700 yards, it blends in with the surroundings and I thought it had blown over for a minute or two just the other day.  Then there is the thousand yard distance...no, those are not weeds on that hill...they are trees!  Not just little trees.  They are 12 to 15 feet high!  The picture is deceiving, because that is a pretty steep hillside.  As is turns out, 1000 yards is a long way... who knew?

I'm a sucker for flashlights...

Don' you just love a good flashlight?  I have many flashlights, but I think this one is my favorite. It is really bright, and it will shine for like 8 or nine hours on a set of batteries.  I decided that every good flashlight needs carrying handles, so I got that flashlight holder to go with it (and the sling to hold the flashlight holder).   I topped it off the with  the  holographic sight, so I always know where the focal point of my flashlight is.  Just so you know, if you are lurking around inside (uninvited of course), or outside of my house, there is a decent chance that I will point my flashlight at you (for educational purposes that I won't go into here).  I have another one (not pictured) that works really well with the smaller flashlight companion.  I keep the flashlights in the bedroom with me, because you just never know when you are going to need to see in the dark.

This looks like it would hurt

Just in case you are wondering what it might feel like to be shot with a .308 at 700 yards...lets examine what happened to the steel frame that I was using to stand my target up with today. Keep in mind that it had to go through the plywood first.

2/20/10 First 700 Yard Shots!

Earlier in the week, I scouted the shooting area and compared it with Google Earth to find a 700 yard shot. I also know where a 1000 yard shot is too, for later on in the year. I didn't get out to the range till 2 p.m. because Karen had a relief society thing to do. The weather was prefect all morning but by the time I got out to the range, and set up the target at 700 yards, it was snowing. I set up my shot and took note of the moderate snowfall and the wind. With the scope on my .308 dialed to 14x, the snow fall was quite thick to see through at that distance, but I had waited for this all week. I decided to dial 77 clicks of elevation, due to calculations I found on http://www.biggameinfo.com/index.aspx?page=%2fbalcalc.ascx. I also decided to hold about a ½ mil left of the target to compensate for wind.

I took 6 shots and was not able to see a single one of them from where I was, so I drove over to check it out. The result: 5 of 6 shots on the paper. Total spread vertically on the 5 paper hits, was 8 inches. Windage spread was 10 inches, but given the unpredictable wind and snow conditions, I was quite pleased.

Just then, while I was checking out my target, the sun peeked out, and the wind died down at the target, so I decided to drive back and shoot one more group. By the time I got back to the shooting position, the wind and snow picked back up, although not quite as strong as before. This time however, the wind was coming from the opposite direction as evidenced by the way the snow was falling. I'm not really sure why, but I decided not to compensate for wind this time around. I aimed dead center, and felt that I had pretty good trigger breaks.

Upon inspection, I was wrong not to hold to the right for the wind, because only one of my 5 shots broke the paper, and that was on the very edge of the left side. This time I had once again had 1 bad shot landing outside the pattern of the 4 others. I seem to be doing that. I wonder if it is the cold barrel shot? The 4 shot group landed a mere 7 inches apart laterally (2 shots were about 4 inches apart), with a 10 inch vertical spread.

I felt pretty good about everything when considering, I haven't shot from anything beyond 425 years before today, and I have never shot in snow with a visible wind. Technically speaking my overall groups were just a touch larger than a 1 MOA spread at the distance (if you throw out the stray shot in both groups), but I did have 2 shots in first group that are 2-3 inches from the bulls eye. Those are good shots for an amateur just getting into long distance shooting, like me. The second group also had two really good shots, but it isn't as cool if you don't actually break the paper near the bulls eye, because you don't think the wind is a big enough factor to adjust for it. That is a mistake I will try to learn from.The tape is basically where I was aiming for this grouping. I spray painted the holes black so you can see them.

2/13/10

Today Dad and Lynn came out with me to shoot. Lynn wanted to shoot her 9mm, so we did that too. Dad brought his .243 and him 7mm Rem. Mag, and we shot both of them. I shot my .308, .223, and my .40.

I set up the box at my 425 yard tree stump, and Dad stayed there in the ravine just in front of the target with one of my 2 way radios to call back my shots. Using 2 weeks ago as a guide, I dialed up 30 clicks of elevation on the scope. The first three shots landed in a 5-6 inch group right and low of the bulls eye. Dad called back on the radio a suggestion of 6 inches left and 4 inches up. So I moved the scope 6 inches up and 4 inches left. The next 3 shot group landed about where I would expect having just given the adjustments to the scope.

In summation, today's shots didn't land in as impressive of a formation as I was able to print 2 weeks ago, but still 2 good groups considering the range.  The 3 shots on the paper are the grouping after I adjusted the scope.   They show a 4 inch spread from top to bottom and about 3 1/2 from side to side.  Given the range, this is just slightly better than a 1 MOA grouping (4 inch spread at 400 yards would be 1 MOA.  Since these shots were taken at 425...well, you get the idea.) The 2 others right by the measuring tape are from the first grouping.  I cut the first one out just to make the card board smaller.  It was also a 1 MOA group.

1/30/10

Today I started early. I set up a target at 100 yards, and then another at 425 yards. Since I was going to be shooting a different grain bullet today, I thought it would be good to make sure it was zeroed at the 100 yard target, before attempting the longer shot. I loaded up the 180 grain Winchester Super X bullets, and my first shot was about 15 inches low! I was amazed at that, since the others seemed pretty close yesterday, except for a couple of stray shots that migrated about 2 inches off target. So I shot another. This one was about 7 inches apart from the first shot, and still a good 7 inches away from center. I was baffled. The only different between today and yesterday, was that the bullets were 30 grains heavier. I wondered if my scope was bad. I was sickened. After 6 or 7 shots, of the worst grouping from 100 yards I have ever had, I left the targets right where they were and headed off for Cabelas to get different bullets. My thinking was that I either had the worst bullets on the planet, or a bad scope, or a bad gun, or a combination of all of them.

While online last night, I got some recommendations of good shooting, match bullets, that can sometimes rival good handholds. Federal Gold Medal Match, and Black Hills Match. Cabelas only stocked the Black Hills Match ammo, so I got 2 boxes of that. For the record, it was 168 gr. BTHP Match .308 ammo. My first 2 shots with this new ammo did not even register on the box from 100, so I brought the target in to 50 yards. I shot 2 more shots about 6 inches high, but at least they were consistent. Then I brought the bullets down and printed a nice 3 shot grouping from 50 yards. With the target back at 100 yards, I shot the rest of that box to make sure that everything was in order. The result, very good groups.

By this point I was relived to see that (at least for now, it seemed) the problem was some REALLY terrible, cheap, Winchester ammo. The Black Hills Match ammo seemed to be fine. With the 100 yard shots falling into line, I decided to put it to the real test. Earlier I had set up the 425 yard target, so I swung my aim over in that direction. I had noted from the night before that the 308 in the 168 grain bullet dropped about 30-34 inches from a 100 yard zero, so I clicked the scope 30 times for the 30 inches of elevation I thought I would need. (It was only a co-incidence that this formula worked, as I found out later). This might be my imagination, but this scope seems to have a bad bullet each time you adjust the scope for the first shot, but then all the subsequent shots fall into line. True to form, I think my first shot landed right and low, just off the paper but still in the box. I was not able to see that shot however because of the distance. The next shot on the other hand, I was able to see. Not only was it on the paper, it was close! It was 3 inches high, and 1 and a half inches to the right. I was happy with that, but anyone can get lucky once, right? My third shot from this distance fell Just below the center of the target, about ¾ of a inch, and maybe an inch and a quarter right! I could actually clearly see the two shots very close to the bulls-eye from 425 yards. The next shot was almost in the same hole as the one before it, and the last of my 5 shot group fell 3/8 of an inch high and in line with the others on the right. I had just printed a grouping of 4 shots all in a line with a spread of only 3 inches from 425 yards, with a rifle that couldn't keep it closer than 10 inches together from 100 yards with the crap ammo. What a difference the ammunition makes!

I can cover 2 of the 425 yard shots with a nickel, and a silver dollar would cover 3 of them. All and all, it was a learning experience to say the least about how ammunition can make or break your day. The funny thing is that I have been shooting the same type of crappy ammo (Winchester Super X) out of my .243 for the past year. I have been buying that, since it is cheap and shooting it with the intention of using the brass for handholds. I guess I will not be buying any more of that stuff. I figured out online that I can load my own, very high quality, bullets for just over a dollar at current prices, and that includes using Lapua Brass which is very expensive brass. That is even with using the Sierra Match bullets. The subsequent loads will be under 60 cents, since the brass can be used again.

1/29/10

I set out to sight in my new .308 Savage Precision rifle today. I ended up getting the Vortex Viper 6.5-20 x 44mm scope, with a 30mm tube, and Mil-dot reticle. I started shooting 150 Grain Winchester Super X Bullets. During the sight in period, I would have some good 2 or 3 shot groups, but then I would have a stray shot moving out a couple of inches. I wondered if this might have been because of the scope I was using and the fact that I was trying to adjust the zero point.

It was a little disconcerting because some of the shots were almost in the same hole at 100 yards, but then I would get the rouge shot. At any rate, I used up that box and headed home a little bit concerned about the grouping.

1/23/10

Today Dad came up and went shooting with me. We stepped off a target, and set it up at what we figured was between 525 and 550 yards away. Dad stayed near the target, to mark the shots, and I walked back to the truck and set up the shot with my .243 Ruger target rifle. I was elated to find that I could use the gap between the 2nd and 3rd lines on the scope as my reference to put 4 shots all on the paper! One of the shots was 1 inch left and ½ inch low, a very good shot! The worst shot was 4 inches off center and a little over an inch high. All this was accomplished with the Burris Ballistic Plex 3-9 power scope. The ammo was factory Winchester Super X bullets, the cheapest bullets that I can buy.

Dad tried to zero his old .243 at 100 yards, but there must be something wrong with the scope because after trying to adjust it, the bullets were walking all over the place. We didn't spend much time on that.

I wanted to know exactly how far my shots really were at the target, so we used Dad's GPS for highway driving to set a waypoint at our shooting position and then we walked over to the target site. We had set the box up on a stump there. With both waypoints set up in the GPS, we went home. I downloaded the waypoints into Google Earth on the computer and used the ruler in that program to calculate the distance. I was bummed to see that the actual distance was 425 yards. Although that was a let down, because it would have been cooler to have been shooting at 500+ yards, it was very cool to see it in Google Earth.

Now I can use that stump as a reference and get some more shooting at 425 yards from that position. I can't wait to get the scope for the Savage 308 Precision rifle that I just bought. I have been trying to decide between the Viper Vortex 6-20 scope, or the SWFA Super Sniper 10 power fixed scope. Today, I placed the order for the Vortex scope only because they have a Digicert certificate on their site. We will see how that goes hopefully next week.

1/2/10

Today I shot my .243 Ruger in to this Huggies Diaper box at somewhere between 300 and 400 yards.  The marker on the target would have you believe that this was 400 yards, but because of the fact that I was just stepping it off in the snowed over sagebrush, it's really just a guess.  My gut tells me now (knowing some other distances at the shooting range), that it was less than 400, but I digress. 

I didn't know where to aim exactly.   The Burris Ballistic Plex reticule on my scope gives you some reference points, but all that depends on the exact bullet that you are shooting on any given day.  I was just guessing which line to use for the first few shots.  Then, seeing that I was shooting high (after a long hike and back), I decided to split the difference between two of the lines in the scope.  There are a couple of good shots in there when you realize that this was accomplished with basically just "holding over".