8/2/2011 - I Now Have Witnesses of 1K

Tonight I tested out the new scope that Dad bought.  It is the Vortex Viper PST (Precision Shooting Tactical) 4-16X50.  I needed to sight it in.  The pic below shows the last 6 six shots I took while sighting in.  I used some of my older reloads that were 168 gr bullets with IMR 4064 powder. All these shots were taken at 100 yards. After sighting the target down the bore with the bolt removed, I produced the very tight group of 3 shot just under the number 7 on the tape.  Then I moved the scope 2 clicks (this scope uses 1/10 MIL clicks) to the left and produced the 3 bulls-eye shots.  I was pretty impressed with the gun, scope, and hand-loads at that point.  After all, as you can see, they are .5 MOA groups.  I used a quarter to cover them up, but I could have also used a nickel.

There we 2 guys and 2 girls that pulled up to shoot about the same time I was setting up.  I'm sure they were confused as to why I had the four-wheeler there to go check my target when I was only shooting at 100 yards.  It became more apparent, I'm sure, when picked up the target and drove it another 900 yards away!  Before leaving the house, the ballistics calculator at vortex.com suggested that I would need to use 89 clicks (1/10 MIL clicks) up from Zero to reach 1000 yards given the conditions which were approximately 85 degrees, 25.25 pressure, and 8 percent humidity, while using my newest, hottest loads that produce about 2750 fps. I went for 90 clicks to start.  From what I could tell after making 4 shots, it appeared to be very close laterally, but a bit high.  I then removed 2 clicks from the scope (so it was now set to 88 clicks) and shot 4 more shots fairly quickly since it was getting dark.  By this time, I had garnered the attention of the other people shooting.  They came over and asked how far I was shooting and asked a bunch of other questions.  They said that from what they could tell they thought that my first few shots looked high, and then the later shots didn't show much of a spray.  By this time, it was getting quite dark, and I went over to retrieve the target.  When I got back to the truck, they were very interested in seeing if I was able to make any hits.  As you can see from the picture, only 1 of the first 4 shots landed in the paper.  After making the adjustment in the scope, all of the remaining 4 shots found pay-dirt in some form or another.  It was awesome to finally have someone out of the range to witness some decent shots.  Funny thing is that if I had listened to the computer and used 89 clicks, this would have been spot on!

7/9/2011 - Exploding Targets

6/27/2011 - 1000 Yards - Yes... my Reloads shoot pretty well too

 Tonight after family home evening with the Karen and the kids, I headed over to the shooting spot.  The sun had just peeked below the mountain, and the conditions were almost ideal for shooting.  I say "almost" because I did have a little bit of the cool evening breeze going from right to left. Tonight I was shooting the Savage 308 with my personal hand-loads.  175 gr Sierra BTHP, Lapua brass, 45 grains of Hogdon Varget powder, along with CCI 200 primers. With the conditions that I estimated I would see upon reaching the shooting range, the ballistics computer suggested that I should use 120.5 clicks in the Vortex Viper Scope.  I dialed up 121 (even though 2 days ago, 121 wasn't quite enough) and took the first shot.  I was surprised just how much the wind had pushed me off to the left.  It was an entire Mil left, and a bit high to boot!  I took 2 clicks back out of the scope, held exactly 1 Mil to the right and fired the second shot.  From what I could tell, this one was just a bit high.  After taking one more click out of the scope (so now I was at 118 clicks), I produced some really good shots in the target.  I actually shot them at a faster pace than I have ever shot before, because  I didn't want to miss the window of what I felt was consistent wind.  I was also battling mosquitoes the entire time, which was pushing me along faster than normal.  I felt that it was really good practice, having to hold a wind correction, and focus on the shot with the pests flying in my ears and biting me everywhere. After having made that last correction in the scope, I was pretty sure things were dialed in, so I was blasting away at about 3-4 rounds per minute.  In total, I fired 8 shots, and 6 of them are in this picture.  The first two were the ones I used to get the shot set up.

 

 

6/24/2011 - Testing My Metal..(well, lead really)

Now, I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking that these are pretty boring pictures.  I guess you're right, they are kind of boring.  I'll do my best to explain why I even uploaded them.  In the top picture, that is a "cold barrel" shot right in the bulls eye.  The next two shots decided to share a single hole together, and the fourth shot is the one off to the left.  This was shot at 100 yards with my newest hand loads.  They are Lapua Brass, with Sierra BTHP 175 gr bullets.  CCI 200 primers, with 45 grains of Hodgon Varget power pushing the 308 bullets.  I almost forgot to mention that this is the Savage 10FP rifle, with the Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44 scope.  This particular load is hotter than any that I have shot before from this gun, so I wanted to check the zero point.  As you can see it wasn't far off, but after making this 4 shot group I dropped the scope 2 clicks for good measure.

The Second picture is the target that I had set up at 1000 yards.  After checking my zero, I sent some shots down range.  I went shooting much later than normal (it was about 10 a.m.), and I was quickly reminded why I like to shoot either early morning, or just before dusk.  Yes, it was a little breezy.  So much so, that the bullets were being pushed 2 to 3 feet off the right hand side of the target.  Luckily with the time that it takes the 308's to get out that far, I can reacquire the sight picture most of the time to see some dust spray up.  I used a ballistics calculator online before heading out, and with the faster muzzle velocity (these are going about 2750 fps, see earlier post), the computer suggested using 121 clicks, so that's what I tried.  It was actually really close for 25.10 on the pressure, and about 75-80 degrees, with very low humidity. I shot about 6 shots, while trying to aim into the wind.  Although only one shot is actually recorded on the cardboard, there was a decent little grouping in the ground, off to the right of the target.  Some of those shots looked like 121 clicks was enough to reach the distance, but I think I might give use a couple extra clicks given the same situation.

6/11/11 The Chrony Results Are In

Today Konnor and I went to see how consistent my most recent 308 hand-loads are.  Here are the results.  It appears I have made a round that is 138-117 fps faster (taking my avg. speeds compared) than the Black Hills Match ammo (comparing today's two 10 shot strings against a string of 8 that was shot on 5/7/10), and more consistent (my Extreme Spreads today were about 40 fps, while the Black Hills Match was 60.99).  Obviously I would have to put more Black Hills Match ammo through the Chrony to confirm, but these results are promising.

10 Shots - 175 gr Sierra BTHP, 45 Grains of Varget Powder, CCI 200 primers, Lapua Brass

Low: 2731
High: 2770
Avg: 2751
Extreme Spread: 39.39
Standard Deviation: 14.03

2770
2755
2754
2745
2770
2747
2761
2740
2731
2732

10 More Shots - 175 gr Sierra BTHP, 45 Grains of Varget Powder, CCI 200 primers, Lapua Brass

Low:2716
High:2758
Avg: 2730
Extreme Spread: 41.47
Standard Deviation: 13.00

2736
2739
2723
2716
2739
2758
2728
2719
2725
2718


10 Shot of Lenny's Guns-n-Ammo - 175 gr Sierra BTHP Custom Ammo

I forgot to store the exact figures, but this is what I wrote down real quick from memory:


Low: 2642
High: 2692
Avg: 2670
Extreme Spread: 50
Standard Deviation: 17-19

4/2/2011 Bench Rest Shooting - Resetting the Zero

They say that a picture paints a thousand words.  Certainly that old adage applies here.  I got lucky enough to be there right in time for the sunrise. What a beautiful morning, and a picturesque time to go shooting.  This is a bench rest that is over by the rock/garbage pit behind our house.  I found this little bench rest last year while riding my dirt bike, but this is the first time that I have come over here to shoot.  It is a good place to shoot 100 yards, something that I haven't done much of in the last couple of years. That bag you see under the rifle is one of the many that Dad sewed together and filled with silica sand.  They work pretty well to give you a good, solid base.  In case you don't recognize the gun, this is the Savage 10FP, chambers in .308 Win. The scope is the basic Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44. The ammo used is the Black Hills Match in 175 grains. My first group was a total of 6 shots.  This is the zero I have been using for over a year now, and as you can see, it's a bit off the mark.  I think it's telling because so many of my 1000 yard shots have initially landed high and left.  I guess this grouping supports those results.  Yes, even though you can really only see 4 holes, there are 6 shots there. Three of those shots when through the same hole!  I don't know why the overall spread is about 1.5 inches because all of my shots were very good.  It must be variations in the ammo (the most likely culprit), gun, or scope...I'm not really sure.  Seeing the trend, I adjusted the scope 4 clicks down and 1 click to the right.  Those are the 4 shots that are in the bulls-eye. As you can see, the gun is definitely capable of producing 1 MOA results, and sometimes it produces sub MOA shots.  Maybe if the ammo was better, it would do that all the time, and I wouldn't get those little "strays". I used a tape measure to confirm that the second grouping is under 1" across in total.

3/5/2011 - Sooner or Later - 1000 Yards

If you keep doing something, you're bound to get it right eventually.  This same little target walked up the hill with me for the fourth time today.  He must have known his days were numbered.  I must have spent an entire box of bullets on this one piece of card board in the last six weeks.  The difference was that today the snow was just patchy enough that I was able to see the spray of my bullets upon impact.  Without a spotter it can be very difficult to know where you are hitting, and that has killed me the last 3 times that I have shot at 1000 yards.  Today I did everything I could do re-acquire the sight picture before the impact of the bullets approximately 1.6 seconds after the shot.  I started using 136 (1/4 MOA clicks) in the Vortex Viper scope.  Same gun as before, the Savage 10FP, chambered in .308 Winchester.  I was using 175 grain Black Hills Match 308 ammo.  The first couple of shots appeared to be high and left, so I took one click of elevation out, and gave myself 2 clicks to the right.  In summary, these 3 shots were at 135 clicks up from Zero.

2/12/2011 - It Ain't Easy

For the 3rd time in a row shooting at 1000 yards, I failed to produce a shot in the paper.  It was about 23 degrees, no noticeable wind, but I did have a slight mirage in the scope as the area began to warm in the early morning sun.  I shot eight shots total.  I was using the Savage 308 with Black Hills Match 175 grain bullets.  The scope was the Vortex Viper.  I was using 138 clicks of elevation in the scope to start out.  On the 5th shot, I finally saw a little splash of snow and realized that I was shooting high and left (too bad that the shot I saw was the worst of the day, just above the text... it caused me to over correct, since you can see that the scope elevation setting was almost dead on).  I dialed back down to 134 clicks, and entered 2 clicks of right windage and shot 3 more shots.  I'm not sure if the second grouping seen in the photos (the one at the right base of the target) consists of 2 or 3 shots.

2/5/2011 - Microwave Heaven

Today Dad came up and we swapped the scopes on a couple of his guns.  We put my Burris scope on his 7mm Remington Magnum, and a Tasco scope on his old .243 Winchester. We wanted to test the newly installed Timney trigger on the 7mm.  It isn't quite right.  The safety doesn't work properly and it sometimes won't allow you to fire.  That is going to need some extra TLC to get it working correctly.  I brought some exploding targets along and we found an old shot up microwave sitting there.  The door had been broken off, so I set the target on the ground and then placed the microwave over the target.  Then I simply shot through the microwave and into the exploding target.  Hind-sight is usually clearer than fore-sight, and as it turns out, we were probably a little close to the target in this case.  As you will see in the video, debris was falling ALL AROUND us.  We were about 40 yards away from it, and the camera was about 25 yard away.  There was also another shot with a smaller exploding target.  That is the one with the plywood board on top of it.

1/22/2011 - Foiled Again!!

Determined to not repeat last weeks failure, I gave the scope 138 clicks (5 more than last week) in an attempt to score hits on my target at 1000 yards.  Conditions were very similar to last week.  The temp gauge on the truck registered 29 degrees.  I squeezed off 5 rounds of Black Hills Match 308 from the Savage 10FP, using the Vortex Viper Scope.  It's pretty disappointing to drive all the way over to the hill, and then hike up only to find that you have not registered a single hit in the paper for the second week in a row!  As you can see, the elevation was pretty good, but I got pushed off to the left.  From the thermals that I could see in the scope, I didn't think that would happen, but there was a slight breeze at the target when I was checking it out.  I didn't notice any breeze when setting the target up, and there didn't seem to be any wind from my firing position.

1/15/2011 - Live and learn

Early this morning, before the sun came out, I set up another target at 1000 yards.  The last successful attempt at 1000 yards had been on October 1st 2010, and the dope on the Vortex Viper scope with these 308 loads was 133 clicks.  I knew that it was colder today, but I didn't know how much that would affect the bullet trajectory so I used the same input of elevation.  As you can see from this picture it produced less that desirable results.  You can see that all 4 of my shots were low.  The density of the air had a dramatic effect on my shots.  I think it was about 25 degrees when I was shooting.  133 clicks was not enough for today's conditions. Gun: Savage 308, shooting Black Hills Match 175 gr. with the Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44

 Somewhere off in the distance is my target at 1K yards.

This is a view from where the target was.