Range Report---Epic Day!

[GOST]

I don't have any ideas cause I don't have the patience for long range shooting. Have fun brother!

[mustangfreek]

Just curious what load u are shooting out to 650 yards? As u say you roll your own also.

[alamo5000]

Just curious what load u are shooting out to 650 yards? As u say you roll your own also.

69 grain Sierra Matchkings over 24.3 grains of Varget. Yep, I am definitely rolling my own It takes time but it pays off in the end for some things. If I buy match ammo that can do what that can do (and not even as good) I pay about a $1.50 a round... rolling my own I am under .35 cents for about 1/2 MOA performance. (give or take some--more like give a little I think the last time I shot a group it was .6 inches or something like that @100 yards)

About the only major tradeoff is that I have to sacrifice some TV time, but considering that there isn't anything halfway decent on TV that's not much of a sacrifice. I can make 50 rounds in an hour (easily) so when I get on a roll I do about 100 rounds a night so that I don't get bored with it. I take a break halfway in between. And at that pace I am being extremely particular with an error rate on the charge of .02 grains.

I don't have any ideas cause I don't have the patience for long range shooting. Have fun brother!

I am going to give it another go and see what happens I am actually liking it quite a bit. In the end though I want to be an all around shooter. I want to be able to consistently hit 600 yards and in... and once I get decent at that I will try to figure out something fun to do that would be like a CQB type thing or something. Big picture I might try my hand at 3 gun.

[alamo5000]

Also on the reloading thing, I am not a heavy shooter. I can go in the back yard and shoot out to 200 yards so usually I might go shoot a mag or two and that's it. If I was shooting a case of ammo in an outing I might find a different route.

I guess it all depends on what I am doing. If I go out with friends and I know we are just going to be shooting coke cans or something I won't go blow my good ammo on that. Maybe just some... but I am not a machine gunner type shooter. At least not yet. I can get jollies on 2 or 3 mags...

So for now reloading precision rounds is working out just fine for me.

[GOST]

I am going to give it another go and see what happens I am actually liking it quite a bit. In the end though I want to be an all around shooter. I want to be able to consistently hit 600 yards and in... and once I get decent at that I will try to figure out something fun to do that would be like a CQB type thing or something. Big picture I might try my hand at 3 gun.

Most of my friends prefer long range shooting, I don't shoot past 200 yards often.

[alamo5000]

Most of my friends prefer long range shooting, I don't shoot past 200 yards often.

I can't say I do it often...3 weeks ago was the first time ever LOL

I can say this though...I'm definitely hooked. :) its like the crack of shooting.

[alamo5000]

We rarely get the chance to shoot past 200 yards where I live. The whole area is covered in dense forest so getting long shots is not that often. The only reason I even have the chance to do it is because my friend has a 550 acre ranch and they have a dedicated rifle range out there.

[alamo5000]

Man! Today was a good day!

I shot all 180 rounds There was a lot of trial and error going on...part of that was due to me playing with my scope so I had to figure it out... I didn't use the shim set when I got the scope so I kind of lost track of my turns... and didn't know where my zero was. I got that all figured out though. I burned some ammo but I got it sorted LOL

I had two primary targets that I was concerned with. The first one I didn't know the exact range (until later), but I was able to get a fairly reliable read on it. Based on my very unscientific math and a rough reading I thought the target was 575 yards out...(turns out I was mistaken--it was 600 yards)... also the next target out... that one was not at 650 yards. It was at 700 yards... (the picture above is a 700 yard target as are the two pics below) I physically measured the distance with a long field tape measure on that one...so I am 100% sure.

I got to meet Trey (the son of the ranch owner and guy who set up the targets). He said they placed those targets from the bench and verified them... so what he is saying sounds very right. Considering what I was shooting at it all makes sense! Now I just have to digest all the information...

As for the shooting... I ended up doing 10 shot groups...several of them.. at 600 yards and at 700 yards. I would do 10 shots on one and and 10 shots on the other then go check on my targets, repaint, and try it again. I didn't do a hold over... I dialed it in on my scope so I know exactly where I was at in terms of MOA this time around.

On the 600 yard target that one was relatively easier to hit I was getting 10/10 hits every time. I think out of all my 'groups' on that target I think I missed it once or twice out of maybe 50 rounds... also that plate was a lot more forgiving since it was closer and it was 24".

On the 700 yard target though... Once I got all dialed in to where I was hitting my worst performance was 8/10 shots on target. I did at least 3x 10 shot groups just to confirm that I was on it... I got 8/10, 9/10, and 10/10...on an 18" plate at 700 yards.

[WHSmithIV]

Very nice and congratulations! I'm looking for a place to work with a mile of space. I want to try to do a one mile shot with my old Lee Enfield and it's iron sights. Out here though, I'll have to do that in the mountains most likely. There are some good spots to set it up in but they aren't very easy to get to and take about an hour on horseback. Having to walk or ride up to a mile to check if the shot hit or not isn't a great option. Tannerite might help with that though and a friend with a spotting scope.

I need to discuss this with a rancher friend of mine. He knows more about these mountains than I have found out yet. He grew up here. He can't ride horses anymore though after he broke his back and I don't know where we can get to with his Jeep.

I love to keep in practice with long range shooting and that is something I haven't been able to do much at all of over the last 4 years. I'm glad you have the opportunity Alamo. Keep up with it. There is something very satisfying about hitting a target very far away.