Awesome Day!

[alamo5000]

Today was an extremely awesome day. I shot personal bests by quite a bit. I finally got back out long range shooting after a while of not going out there for a variety of reasons. Three of us went out but one guy didn't shoot a whole lot and neither of them have ever shot over 200 yards before.

Neither of those other guys shoot much at all, and definitely not long range, but running up to this I helped the one guy pick out stuff and develop a load for his gun. Today was only the second time his rifle has ever been shot.

I started out at 400 yards to confirm zero. After that I got a few on 600. After that I got it dialed in to 1,000. Once I got us all lined up and good we would trade off shooting. We notched up a few 1,000 yard shots each so it was my turn again. I went all the way out to our farthest target that we had hanging, 1,400 yards.

The weather was mid 70's and there were 3 to 5 mph winds with 10mph gusts right to left the whole time. Total I got around 20+ hits on the 1,400 yard plate. Between all of us and swapping back and forth we shot maybe 60 to 70 rounds all day long out of that one gun.

Once I got it all dialed in I was calling wind and showing the other guy how to do it and giving him pointers at least up to my skill level.

We only had a few rounds left so we went and painted the target and I shot a group with what we had left over. The results are pictured below.

Approximately a 4 inch group from outside edges at 1,400 yards. My hand is on the plate for size reference.



I am going to see the owner tomorrow hopefully and I am going to ask him if we can open up the other lane they have which stretches out to a mile. I am really confident that we can get out to 1,600 yards with that gun. A mile is probably possible given the right conditions.

Needless to say I am stoked. This stuff SOOO has my attention. It's fun and fascinating both. I am still very happy with today's performance. It was a very memorable day. I definitely need more real estate to work with!

[BoilerUp]

Nice. Which rifle, Alamo?

[alamo5000]

Nice. Which rifle, Alamo?

300 Remington Ultra Mag with a 20 MOA SPHUR mount and a Nightforce optic. 210 grain Bergers over 91.1 grains of Retumbo powder.

Honestly that was the first time I really ever had the chance to shoot beyond a grand with a gun that could get there and that had quality optics. I am so gonna be a optics snob before long.

[SINNER]

Nice shooting Alamo!

[alamo5000]

Nice shooting Alamo!

Thank you my man. I don't know how I couldn't be any more happy about this!

HOLY SH*T I need to build me a good rifle. I wonder how much I could sell a kidney for?

[BoilerUp]

300 Remington Ultra Mag with a 20 MOA SPHUR mount and a Nightforce optic. 210 grain Bergers over 91.1 grains of Retumbo powder.

Honestly that was the first time I really ever had the chance to shoot beyond a grand with a gun that could get there and that had quality optics. I am so gonna be a optics snob before long.

300 RUM? Dang. How's your shoulder doing?

[alamo5000]

300 RUM? Dang. How's your shoulder doing?

Haha! Not too bad. Once you get the hang of it it's a piece of cake.

[KW900A]

Awesome shooting. I’ve never gotten that ambitious with an ultra mag.

[alamo5000]

Awesome shooting. I’ve never gotten that ambitious with an ultra mag.

I got ambitious for sure. I started doing the math on it and that round with the velocities we have been getting---it goes subsonic right about the 1,700 yard marker. Those bullets were great too... high BC... why not go for it?

Not to mention that I had at least a little part of getting all that together with OPM (Other People's Money). It was a pretty good way for me to get my own feet wet in what I will want out of a bolt action rifle.

The guy I have been helping though didn't follow my instructions -- at least not totally--so we need to work on the loads more. For the most part he's getting there but still there are kinks to work out. While the overall results were impressive it wasn't without a learning curve for him and a few mess ups as far as the reloads go. He's got about 125 rounds that he has to pull the bullets and start over with.

Eventually though I think he will get there and after that it will be some fine shooting.

[Former11B]

What were these instructions?

Need an experienced rifle loader around

[alamo5000]

What were these instructions?

Need an experienced rifle loader around

Well for one, don't over charge the round.

He had one case that he charged and messed up doing it, tried to dump it out, then charged it again. Problem is when he 'dumped it out' there was still a bit of powder in there. That split the neck of the case and popped the primer... but I am glad he pulled the trigger on that one and not me.

Also he read online about getting velocities etc etc... and these guys (online) were posting about these loads that were WAY over max load recommended by the manufacturer. He started there (above max) and loaded a bunch of rounds up. I handed him the box and said 'we are not shooting these'. I told him to take them all apart but then he was like 'but those other guys...'

I also explained to him about accuracy nodes... but he's still going on about velocities.

Finally when we got here to the house we punched .25 MOA groups and had very decent velocities, but they were nowhere near those max loads he was insistent on trying out. I loaded those and carefully did the ladders myself.

Start low and go up, not high and go down. I think after he almost blew his gun up the other day it finally started sinking in that he had to pay a lot closer attention to what he's doing. I also think my demonstration of 'faster isn't always better' helped.

It's a whole bunch of seemingly little things (except the over charging thing) which is a really big thing. He was going to come over and shoot but when he told me what he did all in the name of velocity I refused. There are 3 or 4 areas where he tried to just hurry through and take shortcuts, but then he wonders why one round is 2,890 fps and the next one is 3,150 fps.

He's learning though. I am trying to get him to remove as many variables as possible and be as accurate as possible but he's still trying to go back to his own way.

He bought this fancy electronic scale thinking it will be the best thing since sliced bread but when we verified his charges they were up to .2 grains up and down from what we really wanted. I get trying to be fast, but if we are aiming for 91.1 grains and we get 91.3 or 90.9 instead on loads this is not ok. (92 grains is the max load per the manufacturer with that powder)

He had about 3 or 4 boxes of reloads--- one that I had helped on--and that he swore he took his time on finishing up--- and the other two boxes were his own invention. He shot 3 or 4 rounds of one box and stopped. Then he got the box that we were more certain of and shot that for the rest of the day.