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.
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