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.