Fun in the Fog

S

stagpanther

New member
Living on the coast of Maine means rarely having "ideal" weather for shooting; so unless you want to wait a long time for a perfect day--you do what you can.

I decided to see just how well I could do in a classic Maine "pea-souper" and selected my recent 280 AI build since I've done very little actual load development with it. Target is at 240 yds and I could barely make out a smudge. Had it not been for the errant shot at the upper left this would have been a pretty decent group. 150 gr eldx driven by 56.8 grs of 6.5 StaBall. StaBall might not be the ultimate in competition powder--but I have been very impressed by it's over-all performance across a wide variety of cartridges and conditions. I've used it from right around zero degrees all the way up to 80+

attachment.php


attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4483.jpg
    IMG_4483.jpg
    61.8 KB · Views: 226
  • IMG_4484.jpg
    IMG_4484.jpg
    81 KB · Views: 229
With my eyes, on a PERFECT day I could get rounds to that target as long as UPS were able to deliver them there. :(
 
With my eyes, on a PERFECT day I could get rounds to that target as long as UPS were able to deliver them there.
Click to expand...
LOL--I bet you could if you got behind the rifle I put together. It actually is probably capable of far better groups than I'll ever be able to shoot.
 
Nice to hear about 6.5 Staball, I just picked up an 8 pounder and am deciding where.to use it. I’m thinking my Swedish Mauser will be a good candidate, my new peep sight set will be here Monday so maybe next week I’ll finally start working on a load.
 
Nice to hear about 6.5 Staball, I just picked up an 8 pounder and am deciding where.to use it. I’m thinking my Swedish Mauser will be a good candidate, my new peep sight set will be here Monday so maybe next week I’ll finally start working on a load.
Click to expand...
I haven't found any "shoots .01 MOA all day and night even while I sleep" loads yet, but it works well enough in a broad range of conditions on different cartridges I've found. I'm sure you'll like it.
 
Last edited:
stagpanther said:
I haven't found any "shoots .01 MOA all day and night even while I sleep" loads yet, but it works well enough in a broad range of conditions on different cartridges I've found. I'm sure you'll like it.
Click to expand...
The newer defensive laser weapons are about 0.02 MOA.
Would that be close enough?
 
Heck if I can shoot sub 4 MOA out to 100yds with irons and my eyes I’ll be tickled with the 6.5x55. I still have three different bullets in bulk to try in my AR10 and whichever one doesn’t work there I’ll try in the Mauser first.
 
I'd be VERY happy with 4 MOA shooting freehand at 100 with only irons. I can beat that at times when using a rest, but not often. I wish I could help you with swede info--all I can say it's one of the few cartridges that I almost never read anything negative about.
 
Nah, I’m figuring shooting off bags for load development. Shooting off hand beyond 50yds for me anymore, well that’s a whole other thing. Although I can shoot my Henry BBS’s in .41 and .357 at 100 and keep about 50% on a standard size sheet of paper on a good day. Many years ago I could do that with my model 57 though offhand. Sad to say those eyes and nerves are long gone now.
 
I know what you mean, I'm well north of 60 and my eyes aren't what they used to be. What I found out is that if I got the front iron out there far enough with enough sight radius between front and back, I could just get enough focus on the front bead if it were something like a tritium bead. I came up with a goofy design for a target, but it works really well for me because I can bracket the sides of the bead with tangents on the legs of the target "L."

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • target new.jpg
    target new.jpg
    61.8 KB · Views: 121
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top