120x enough to see 5.56 holes at 300m?

A good 20X to 25X scope will resolve 22 bullet holes in the black when it's cool 300 yards away. Warm or hot air often has enough heat waves that even 30 caliber ones won't be seen at any magnification. 20/20 shooter vision assumed.
 
What you can and can not see depends more on the quality of the optic than it does on the power of the optic. A high powered low end optic looks big and blurry instead of small an blurry. Atmospheric conditions make a huge difference.
 
What ammo/bullets are you shooting?
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Well, it's Top Shot .223 ammo, made by S&B, but the bullet hole is the same regardless of the brand.

Hornady lists their 55gr SP with .235BC. At 2950fps, with a 100yd zero you will have 15in of drop at 300.
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Well, I will hold on the top of the target and plug away a few times then have a look. If I can't see with the telescope, I'll have to walk down there to see... :mad:

I understand the principle, but when it comes to the reality, it doesn't seem to work out. Part of the problem is that I lack any other party input: no one to spot hits on my behalf.
And, as always, I'm sort of teaching myself as I go along: learn how stuff works on here, then try to make it work on my tod at the range.

A high powered low end optic looks big and blurry instead of small an blurry.
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It's a Meade. The telescope is entry level in terms of power and specs, but Meade is still a respected product in amateur astronomy. I would think it is up to the job.
 
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I think if you put the numbers you know in your ballistics program, and play with some different BC's, you'll find they don't vary much at 300 yds, so setting 3-4" high at 100 will likely get you on the paper at 300

Use a target thats as large as possible
 
so setting 3-4" high at 100 will likely get you on the paper at 300
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I'm dead on (sort of :o) at 100m.

So, am I right in saying that if I hold it on the top of the target, any hits should be in the middle or lower half of my target? (imagine a sheet of paper 2ftx2ft)
 
What a colossal waste of time!

Being more precise, I should say what another colossal waste of time.

One and a half hours of driving, setting up, tidying up and driving.

In amongst all that I managed to shoot 8 shots, holding on the top of a 1yd wide and 1.5yd tall, bright orange target.

Add to that the first rain/sleet/snow fall of the month starting upon my arrival making my scope useless (despite being powerful enough to give me a suitably large image of the target) and requiring that I pack up after 4 shots, drive to the target trench, inspect my target and return to repeat.

End result?

Not one *******,********,******* hit on paper.
Not one.

So.... I am left with these possibilities:

1. My zero at 100m is off (badly set up or a lemon from Leupold). It had seemed good when I set up last time.
2. My shooting is crap. (Having said that I was prone, with the rifle handguard in a rifle clamp and my cross-hairs didn't move when the trigger broke)
3. My rifle is faulty.

These are my possible explanations and in the order of likelihood.

Rant over, except to say that I am getting really tired of spending all my ammo and range credit on set-up of apparatus, rather than actually working on my shooting technique etc. I've put 5-600rds through this gun. Not all of those have been to zero my gun, but I have lost a fair amount of time and energy on this and it's getting a bit old now...
:mad:
 
That sounds like no fun at all, sorry to hear it did not work out well.

It seems the next logical step would be to recruit someone to spot the shots from the pits so you can determine if you are shooting high/short or to the side of the target. You should be on target with 2950 fps holding at the top of a 1.5 yard target, when zeroed at 100. What were the wind conditions?

Also, was the 2950 measured by you or manufacturer data? If the latter, what kind of rifle are you shooting (type and barrel length)
 
What were the wind conditions?

Also, was the 2950 measured by you or manufacturer data? If the latter, what kind of rifle are you shooting (type and barrel length)
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Chrono data was my own, measured 10 or so metres off the muzzle.

Wind?

There was some wind, but it was blowing along the range and bullet path, not across it so much. All the same at 300m, I can't imagine it would have shifted altogether off the paper: that would be about a foot of lateral travel in a fraction of a second.
 
Can you shoot at any intermediate range?
If you are on at 100, 150 should make hardly any difference, then work your way out.

For computational purposes, your S&B 55 gr FMJ has a G1 BC of .255.
 
Ranges are 50m, 100m, and 300m. That is it for rifle ranges.

I'll plug in the new BC value, but if I understand BC correctly, that will make the trajectory a tiny bit flatter, making missing paper all the harder!!

As it happens, I'm going back tomorrow again. Double check the 100m zero, then go back to 300m and try again.

I may have to ask if someone is free to spot with the range's walkie-talkies so they can tell me if there are hits anywhere in the county that originated from my barrel! :rolleyes:
 
You say "target trench."
Is this a safe area for your spotter while shooting is going on?
I have shot midrange and long range on traditional US ranges with target pits and elevating target carriers so each shot can be spotted and the previous one pasted over.
 
JBM has an entry for the S&B 55gr FMJ, they claim it is .255 G1.

http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi

With a 1.5" sight height, at sea level, with a 100 meter zero, you should drop 18.5" at 300M.

The light .223 bullets suck in the wind, but should not be enough to blow you off the paper, a 5 MPH Full value wind would only move it about 8 inches.

Alternatively, when you are at 100M, zero your rifle to hit ~6 inches above point of aim at 100 Meters, you should be pretty close to dead on at 300M.
 
You say "target trench."
Is this a safe area for your spotter while shooting is going on?
I have shot midrange and long range on traditional US ranges with target pits and elevating target carriers so each shot can be spotted and the previous one pasted over.
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Basically, yes.

It is a tunnel with access to the open air. Through that access the target carriers are lowered, targets affixed and raised up again. A person could look at the target, from below, as it is being shot at and remain in safety.

With a 1.5" sight height, at sea level, with a 100 meter zero, you should drop 18.5" at 300M.
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Absolutely. It should. That is what I find so astronomically infuriating about the current situation. Everything says I should have more than virgin sheets of paper to show for my range time!!

Aaaaarrggghhh!
 
It sounds like you need a helper and a GREAT BIG TARGET.

A six foot target backer can be a challenge to get on target with new equipment at 600-1000 yards. A two foot target at 300 meters is about as bad.

I have seen experienced coaches tell someone in your position to shoot into the berm while they look for dirt strikes. I do not know if your range construction would allow it, but it is a good method for coarse adjustment.
A VERY experienced coach can get directly behind the shooter with a spotting scope and watch the "trace" of the bullet headed toward the target. The "trace" is the air shockwave of the supersonic bullet, quite visible in good lighting. But it takes skill to adjust on that, especially elevation.
 
Berm shooting is an option. I used it when there was snow at the 50m range. The snow "burst" with each hit allowed me to zero there.

From there I was able to zero at 100m (or at least so I thought), with my dad on the telescope seeing as he was visiting.
 
When you're not making hits as expected at long distances, it's time to check the torque on all the action and mount screws, and start over at either 100 or 50 yds and confirm your zero, and then adjust at that range to match your 300 yd trajectory

While it's "possible" it's a problem with the Leupold, it's pretty low on the probability list
 
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