So after playing around with my xbolt 7mm rem mag...i found a load tha works like magic....57.3 g of imr4831 with hotnady 154 g bullet and ogive sitting at 2.694...at 300 yards im gettin all bullets touching each other. ...o ever 3 bullets and only 2 wholes side by side.....is that sufficient to take it right out to 800 yards...or should i do 100 yds increment at a time....whatsbur take....?
where to go next from 300 yds
- Thread starter Jpw360
- Start date
I have the same good problem with my 7 mag.
I'm taking it to 600, that ought to humble me, last time I went to the Vapor Trail, it shot a group like that with 160 grain Accubonds and 7828.
Its my hunting rifle, so I think it might shoot decent to 400-500, but I dont shoot at deer that far, mostly under 200.
I'm taking it to 600, that ought to humble me, last time I went to the Vapor Trail, it shot a group like that with 160 grain Accubonds and 7828.
Its my hunting rifle, so I think it might shoot decent to 400-500, but I dont shoot at deer that far, mostly under 200.
Pathfinder45
New member
Stay at 300 yards, but lose the bipod and the bench. Change the targets to water-filled milk jugs. Stand up and shoot off-hand. If it's too easy, move the jugs out to 400 yards. If it's too hard, either move the jugs to 200 or try kneeling for more stability. Sitting is a little more stabil yet. A good exercise is to place the jugs at various ranges out to 400 or 500 yards with all shots inside 150 yards to be required off-hand. Then kneeling to say, 250 or so, then the remainder sitting. Use expanding soft-points, so the jugs will explode when hit. A few jugs should be inside 100 yards, but none closer than 50. Bring lots of jugs. When you are finished, leave the site cleaner than you found it. Obviously, if you are using an established shooting range, there may be restrictions on such improvised targets. Paper targets are essential for sighting in, load evaluation, trajectory plotting, etc. But reactive targets also have their place in marksmanship development. With a milk-jug, all hits are equal; like the heart-lung kill-zone on a deer. Sometimes, in hunting, it's better to be able to get a quick shot off anywhere into that zone, than to deliberate too carefully that the deer trots away because you tried too hard to be perfect. Still, you have to make a good shot and jugs are an excellent training target for that. Try it; it's fun, and a bit more challenging than you might expect.
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Um, 350 yds?
Seriously, though, you need to get used to shooting distances, so increase the distances incrementally and get used to where your rifle shoots and how to read wind. And if you intend to hunt with the rifle, get experience with field positions and offhand shooting.
"The issues at long range are wind and extreme spread of muzzle velocity causing vertical stringing. Tiny differences in short to medium MOA accuracy is a distant third."
That's a good comment.
Use milk jugs and let someone else set your targets at unmarked distances. Shoot sitting from a bipod and see how that goes. Back when I was shooting coyotes for grocery money, my best practice came from just picking a variable size dirt clod(or cow pie) at an unknown distance and shooting at it. Both range estimation and trajectory/wind compensation were challenged.
That's a good comment.
Use milk jugs and let someone else set your targets at unmarked distances. Shoot sitting from a bipod and see how that goes. Back when I was shooting coyotes for grocery money, my best practice came from just picking a variable size dirt clod(or cow pie) at an unknown distance and shooting at it. Both range estimation and trajectory/wind compensation were challenged.
"...to take it right out to 800 yards..." Hornady factory 154's drop about 35" at 500 with a 200 yard zero. So it sort of depends on which 154 you're using. With an SST or Interbond, I'd take that drop into consideration and see what happens at 800. Don't even think about an 800 yard hunting shot though. Not enough energy left.
"...water-filled milk jugs..." With some food colouring added. Helps if there some snow too. A milk jug at 300 won't be easy to see.
"...water-filled milk jugs..." With some food colouring added. Helps if there some snow too. A milk jug at 300 won't be easy to see.
All good above...I'll add that personally, I found that 600 yards was roughly the distance that separated me from not much of a challenge (at least on a relatively windless day)- to more than I was ready for.
Wind, wind, wind... if it weren't for the "w" word, it would be pretty much dial and shoot with a load with low SD, an accurate rifle and solid skills behind it.
If you look at the dope for your round, you'll notice that drop and drift become exponentially more pronounced as you get beyond a certain range- making wind reads that much more difficult and important. And it's not the wind where you're at- it's what it's doing all the way to the target- and that often means varying velocities as well as direction. No shortcut for trigger time here, and I for one, don't get nearly enough of it...
Wind, wind, wind... if it weren't for the "w" word, it would be pretty much dial and shoot with a load with low SD, an accurate rifle and solid skills behind it.
If you look at the dope for your round, you'll notice that drop and drift become exponentially more pronounced as you get beyond a certain range- making wind reads that much more difficult and important. And it's not the wind where you're at- it's what it's doing all the way to the target- and that often means varying velocities as well as direction. No shortcut for trigger time here, and I for one, don't get nearly enough of it...
