More than 16 years have passed since I last shot at long range with a rifle. Since that time the data I had on my handloads vanished into thin air.
A friend joined a local range with various shooting areas including a long range with steel hanging between 300 and 1200 yards. He had never shot beyond 200 yards other than typical military qualification ages ago. I have a hunt coming up that will likely include some moderate range shots. With that in mind we loaded up and went out.
My old faithful rifle is a 1995 Remington Sendero in 300 WM. With more than 2000 rounds through the tube it's pinpoint accuracy has declined with the growth of throat erosion. Topped with a Midway USA special Nikon 6-18x mil-dot scope it'll still run under 1-1/2 inches at 200 yards.
The sidekick I took was ElCheapo the Ruger. It's an American Predator in 22-250 topped with a craptastic Bushnell Banner 4-12x scope. It's a fun gun that will run as tight as the Sendero at 200 yards with factory loads.
My shooting partner took his Remington 700 in 308 wearing the same Nikon scope I used on my Remington. It's sitting in a laminate stock he finished and bedded. The gun has impressive performance and runs tighter than either of my rifles.
The wildcard was his Mini-14 Tactical in 223 with a Nikon 3-9 scope.
We both had basic chrony data for the hand loads we ran and built tables using JBM Ballistics websites.
Since I had the hunt coming up I flopped down on the ground and got behind the Ruger. Mind you, the last time I had it out I was trying a new load and only captured 3 bullets on paper at 200, all of them clipping the top of the target. Knowing that the 65 grain Game Kings were what I needed for the hunt, I dialed the proper amount of correction in and sent a round at 300.
*PING*
Hit on steel! Over the next 20 rounds I corrected my point of aim and walked it out to 600 yards on various sized targets with a single miss. 700 yards took a couple attempts and the bullet was really starting to drop. 800 yards had more than 21 minutes of correction but it got there. 900 yards was a mystery. The grass was overgrown on the backstop. We could see some of it being clipped by the bullet going over the 800 yard backstop but that was it. Due to the lack of impact witness (even with a 100x astral telescope) we had to call it done without a hit. Still, and awesome day for a $500 gun/scope combo.
We swapped places and my friend got down behind his 308. He managed first round hits out to 600 then connected on his second round at 700. Getting comfortable with a few rounds there, he moved to the 800 yard steel. The hits were good but the scope was done. The elevation adjustment was maxed. I crunched some numbers and gave him a mil dot hold for the 900 yard target and he got on it repeatedly. After a bit more number crunching I gave him a mil hold for the 1k and he was on it in just a few rounds. After a bit of celebration I'd call out a distance, he'd dial it, and hit the target on the first shot. That's a good day for a long range virgin!
After that, I got down on the Sendero and managed to hit steel out to 600 but my scope ran out of adjustment before I got to the 700 yard silhouette. When I added one half a mil hold on top of the elevation adjustment I was on target. Stepping up another 1-1/2 mil put me on at 800. A total of 3.5 mil had me on at 900. Leaving the adjustment topped out and adding a full 5 mil rewarded me with a first round hit at 1000 yards. Mind you, the 5th mil down in the reticle means you're out of dots and using the top of the fat part of the crosshair. Feeling good, I decided to press my luck. With my load, jumping from 1000 yards to 1200 yards meant adding a full 3 mil to the 1000 yard hold. That's about half way down the fat line on the bottom of the reticle. I made the hold, pulled the shot, and hit the steel towards the bottom and a few inches off center. After a bit of celebration we decided that was enough of that nonsense and let the gun rest.
Swapping places once again, my friend got down behind his Mini-14 with a $5.99 box of plinking ammo. He quickly found his 300 yard zero. It didn't take much work to get consistent out to 600 yards but, again, the high grass and low bullet energy prevented us from spotting bullet impacts at 700 yards. Still, he had his "those are never accurate" Mini on various sized steel out to 600 yards with the cheapest ammo he could find.
All in all, it was an awesome day for an old crusty "ain't done that in forever" shooter and a long range newbie.
Next up: We're going back with the Contenders with the goal of ringing steel at 600 with handguns.
A friend joined a local range with various shooting areas including a long range with steel hanging between 300 and 1200 yards. He had never shot beyond 200 yards other than typical military qualification ages ago. I have a hunt coming up that will likely include some moderate range shots. With that in mind we loaded up and went out.
My old faithful rifle is a 1995 Remington Sendero in 300 WM. With more than 2000 rounds through the tube it's pinpoint accuracy has declined with the growth of throat erosion. Topped with a Midway USA special Nikon 6-18x mil-dot scope it'll still run under 1-1/2 inches at 200 yards.
The sidekick I took was ElCheapo the Ruger. It's an American Predator in 22-250 topped with a craptastic Bushnell Banner 4-12x scope. It's a fun gun that will run as tight as the Sendero at 200 yards with factory loads.
My shooting partner took his Remington 700 in 308 wearing the same Nikon scope I used on my Remington. It's sitting in a laminate stock he finished and bedded. The gun has impressive performance and runs tighter than either of my rifles.
The wildcard was his Mini-14 Tactical in 223 with a Nikon 3-9 scope.
We both had basic chrony data for the hand loads we ran and built tables using JBM Ballistics websites.
Since I had the hunt coming up I flopped down on the ground and got behind the Ruger. Mind you, the last time I had it out I was trying a new load and only captured 3 bullets on paper at 200, all of them clipping the top of the target. Knowing that the 65 grain Game Kings were what I needed for the hunt, I dialed the proper amount of correction in and sent a round at 300.
*PING*
Hit on steel! Over the next 20 rounds I corrected my point of aim and walked it out to 600 yards on various sized targets with a single miss. 700 yards took a couple attempts and the bullet was really starting to drop. 800 yards had more than 21 minutes of correction but it got there. 900 yards was a mystery. The grass was overgrown on the backstop. We could see some of it being clipped by the bullet going over the 800 yard backstop but that was it. Due to the lack of impact witness (even with a 100x astral telescope) we had to call it done without a hit. Still, and awesome day for a $500 gun/scope combo.
We swapped places and my friend got down behind his 308. He managed first round hits out to 600 then connected on his second round at 700. Getting comfortable with a few rounds there, he moved to the 800 yard steel. The hits were good but the scope was done. The elevation adjustment was maxed. I crunched some numbers and gave him a mil dot hold for the 900 yard target and he got on it repeatedly. After a bit more number crunching I gave him a mil hold for the 1k and he was on it in just a few rounds. After a bit of celebration I'd call out a distance, he'd dial it, and hit the target on the first shot. That's a good day for a long range virgin!
After that, I got down on the Sendero and managed to hit steel out to 600 but my scope ran out of adjustment before I got to the 700 yard silhouette. When I added one half a mil hold on top of the elevation adjustment I was on target. Stepping up another 1-1/2 mil put me on at 800. A total of 3.5 mil had me on at 900. Leaving the adjustment topped out and adding a full 5 mil rewarded me with a first round hit at 1000 yards. Mind you, the 5th mil down in the reticle means you're out of dots and using the top of the fat part of the crosshair. Feeling good, I decided to press my luck. With my load, jumping from 1000 yards to 1200 yards meant adding a full 3 mil to the 1000 yard hold. That's about half way down the fat line on the bottom of the reticle. I made the hold, pulled the shot, and hit the steel towards the bottom and a few inches off center. After a bit of celebration we decided that was enough of that nonsense and let the gun rest.
Swapping places once again, my friend got down behind his Mini-14 with a $5.99 box of plinking ammo. He quickly found his 300 yard zero. It didn't take much work to get consistent out to 600 yards but, again, the high grass and low bullet energy prevented us from spotting bullet impacts at 700 yards. Still, he had his "those are never accurate" Mini on various sized steel out to 600 yards with the cheapest ammo he could find.
All in all, it was an awesome day for an old crusty "ain't done that in forever" shooter and a long range newbie.
Next up: We're going back with the Contenders with the goal of ringing steel at 600 with handguns.
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