Anyone?

[bigbrother]

Anyone around here? Nobody's been posting any interesting long range stories, successes or failures lately. (pot calling the kettle black here!)

Due to my increasingly unbearable work schedule this summer, I didn't get out to fire at unsuspecting groundhogs from afar. I don know that Olspark and Petey were killing bowling balls at over 900 yards a couple of weeks ago...damn work anyhow.

I've been preparing for a deer hunt in SD and "long rangin" with my muzzleloader out to 200. Definitely not my 6.5 but it will have to work for this hunt. As soon as I get back, I'll be tuning up the big gun for a little deer slaying event in November. Maybe even set up for a bear?

Anyone else doing anything in preparation for the season?

[Ridge Runner]

Lets see, loaded some ammo for the 7mm Allen, had the throat lengthened on the 6.5 Gibbs, put a 8.5x25x50 mark 4 M1, TMR on it, and reworked a load for it, 140 bergers at 3250 fps, doing .3MOA to 600 yards. other than that just waiting for cool weather so I can get the big boomers out and run some trajectory tests.
got a 20 tac in the works that should be finished in the near future.
I load my mzzldr with 150 gr pyro pellets, and 250 gr shockwaves, took a deer last year at 267 yd with it.
RR

[petey]

Busy drilling wells!

More worried about archery at the moment, but I did take the time to meet a couple of newbies to the sport up at Ridgway. Tagged the bowling ball at 902 yards on the first two shots with the 7 RUM.

I called my buddy over who never shot that far before to pull the trigger, and he ended up hitting the ball on his first shot too. Moved on back to 968 yards on a steal gohper. Just missed the head by a couple inches, but it was a dead deer for sure.

I had a good time walking the new guys through the process. I only really shot about 5 times and hit pretty much everything I was shooting at out to 970 yards, so I called it a day and spotted for the rest of the fellows. Sure was a hoot watching the one guy shoot that 21" barreled .338 at 970 yards.

Other than that, can't wait for archery season in 5 days. Getting ready for winter, cutting and spitting wood, checking trail cams, hanging stands...usual fall activities for me

[spike1]

I wish I had something to post about 500 yard shots. I guess I'm just a 300 yard sissy boy. I'll have to look for a good 500+yards place to shoot.

Till then here are a few of my sissy movies.
(click on them)

300 yard No Problem !

New Mini-14

[MacD37]

Well Spike1 that was some damn good shooting with those butt ugly rifles!

Nice range! Is it private, club, or comercial?

Pritty good filming as well, but you need another camera set up out at the target, so you can splitscreen edit shooter & target, and a remote mike would let the viewer hear all your commentary.

.........................Good shooting, and nicely set up rifles! Congratulations

[GoodOlBoy]

Well I ain't a sissy! But if you want 500+ yard stories from me at the moment I am either going to have to shoot down a road, or somebody needs to meet me in the national forest with a bulldozer

Maybe someday I will actually get out to west Texas then we can talk.

GoodOlBoy

[spike1]

(To MacD37) -That is the public range in Payson, AZ It’s kind of an informal range. A lot better than shooting in the forest or desert, but not at all crowded like some of the other places I have been to. It’s only open to the public on Saturday and the rest of the week it is members only. SWEET !

Both of those movies were filmed using a $79 Kodak camera in the movie mode. I think the camera does a great job for what it is. If I put the camera up so you can hear me talk real good the sound of the rifle is way to much for the audio and causes a big blank spot in the audio. If I put it back behind me too far you can’t hear me at all. If it is behind me but too close, when I shoot an auto loader (AR or Mini-14) the additional sound of the action cycling (I think) causes you not to be able to hear the bullet hit the steel. The other problem is the wind direction and temperature of the air. As you can expect if the air is cool and blowing at me the sound of the steel is real loud. If it is a real Arizona 100+ degree day you can barley hear a 223 at 300 yard. Anyway thanks for the compliment the movies actually surprised me how good they can out.

[Ridge Runner]

yesterday I finaly got some more time so I loaded up the 6.5 and the 7 AM, and headed out. I wanted to start tweaking my drop chart for my 6.5 since switching to 140 bergers. well they are running 3250 fps, published BC of .64, I set my target up on a large pile of topsoil and drove to an adjacent field.
Range was 834 yards, exbal said I needed 12.5 MOA to make zero, there was a 7mph constantly switching wind that I just said the heck with and let her rip.
I fired 3 shots, the group was centered on the target 11" high, hor. dispecion was about 12" vert was 2". so doing the mathits seems to me that I need to change my BC to around .8 to make the trajectory match my charts< seems high to me, what do you think big?
RR

[bigbrother]

Well, I know that the .64 bc on the berger is probably a little low. I created a chart from a web site ballistic calculator and when I first started shooting them I was also high. No where near 11" at 800+ but was definitely off 1/2 MOA and gaining starting at about 400 yards. I figured this out while shooting over the first half dozen ground hogs last summer. I never really went back and plugged another number into my calculations, I just adjusted my chart to match what I was seeing in the field. I really like how the Bergers work on game though! Let me know what you figure out with the true bc that you're seeing. I'll run the numbers backwards and find out what I was seeing and fill everybody in.

[Ridge Runner]

well heading back out today, gonna try the numbers I've tweaked and see how she dials after confiming my 300 yard zero's on my 6.5,7mm AM, and my 7STW, also loaded up some 162 gr a-max's for the 7 AM to test for accuracy at 800 yards.
will stick with the 160 accubonds this season, then shoot some a-max's next year while I'm testing the 200 gr wildcats for the following year.
RR

[Catfish]

Petey,
Good thinking. As soon as you have them impresed you want to quit before you miss.
I haven`t been doing any long range shooting, but now that the crops are comming off I`ll get back to it. I`ve changed the load in my .22-6mm and have not had a chance to check the drop chart. The last load was off 1/2 moa at 600 yrds. That`s only 2 clicks, but it`s also 3 in. at 600 yrds., so I am wanting to get this one checked as soon as I can. HOPEFULLY, they will get the corn out of my bottom this week and I`ll be able to shoot 800 to 1,000 yrds.

[Larryjk]

Ridgerunner, I see you are building a 20 tac. Let us know how it works out. I have a .20 AI on the .223 case and love it. Never have had a chance to shoot it at really long range but it is really accurate to about 400. Have never shot at anything farther. Using the 32 grain V-Max. Explodes p-dogs at that distance. Thinking of a 20 Vartarg on a Ruger No.3. That little case will do about 3800 fps with the 32 grain v-Max.

[Ridge Runner]

near as I can tell the BC of .78-.8 will work with the bergers, fired a 7" group that was centered around POA at 834 yards. thats about average for me, since the group from the 7mm AM was also 7", shooting from a bipod, in a 0-6 mph wind. so again this year my max range is 850 yards.

Larry I'll let ya know how the 20 tac turns out. its a charles dailey left hand mini-mauser action, trued and all, 26" 12 twist hart #5.5, it'll have a joel Russo A3-5 walnut stock pillared and glassed, with a 6x18T loopy on top.
RR

[Larryjk]

Ridgerunner, My 20/223AI is on a Sako L461 with a 26"Shilen #5 SS with 12 twist in a HS precision stock with the aluminum bed and a Leupold 12X on top. I am always amazed at the shots I can make. Those 20s are the answer. I used to shoot a 17 Rem. but have almost quit because of the wind drift. I thought about throwing it in the river before I started treating the bullets with moly. You could always plan on spending at least an hour cleaning the copper out of the barrel. The 20 just isn' that way. I treat all of the bullets 25 and below with moly because of the ease in keeping the barrel clean and accurate. Velocity is the same if you add just a touch of powder. My experience!

[Larryjk]

Ridgerunner, My son-in-law is salt of the earth, one of the finest fellows I know. He is a West Virginia man. Are you that way?