1000yd match

[esheato]

Shot a 1k match last weekend for the first time. Very enlightening experience.

It was held on a private range here in W. Tx. We had 20 shooters from all over the state.

The range was open the day before the match for final zero. I went out with a new load which I had only tested at 200 yards (3/4").

Load was as follows:

Lapua brass (trimmed, weight sorted and fully prepped)
Lapua 90 Scenars
Fed Gold Medal LR primers
40.5 IMR 4064
OAL 3.935" (with comparator, IIRC)
3386 fps (chrono'd)

Gun:

Cooper M22
243 AI
Trigger has been worked
Warne bases
NF rings
NF 5.5-22x50 NP-R1

Practice day went off without a flaw....fantastic environmental conditions.

My JBM drop chart got me close enough and I dialed the rest. The chart specified 21.5 MOA, but I had to dial 23 and some.



Wind was pushing left to right pretty consistently. Here's my practice group:



I put 5 shots into a group just over 5" with a flyer dragging it out to just over 10".

Let me explain how much experience I have with this type of shooting.....none. I used to shoot to 550 yards quite often, but never for groups. Usually at small targets thrown on the berm. Now that I'm in Tx, I have access only to a 200 yard paper range....it's quite boring.

I've shot at 1k exactly one time at steel targets, but the range closed before I had a chance to return...and that was with a load that went subsonic at 700 yards.

Match consisted of 10 shots per relay and three relays. Each relay was broken down into two sections....5 shots on paper for score and 5 shots for three discs (dinner plate, saucer and standard clay pigeon). Discs were scored 10 points for dinner plate, 20 for saucer and 30 for pigeon. I hit the dinner plate every relay and the saucer once. I didn't hit the pigeon at all.

Relay 1:



Conditions were completely different from practice the day before (about what I expected). I dialed what I thought the corrections would be (.25" at 100 equals 2.5" at 1k) and started shooting at the discs, spotting misses and making correction. I hit the large plate only. Eventually moved to the paper and ripped off 5 rounds....hoping for group consistency at the least (I can move the group as long as they're together!!) Larger than I wanted, but they were in the same area at least. Good start.

Relay 2:



Dialed what I thought the corrections would be and got into it...I hit the large plate then the saucer. Hmmm, off to a great start! Fired three rounds at the pigeon and missed just around it.

Conditions were consistent and I seem to have it dialed in. Center hold on the paper and rip off five rounds. Success! Best group of the day! 8 7/8"!

Relay 3:



At one point I was looking downrange and the wind flags (American flags on both ends of the 1k berm) were going opposite directions. Now, obviously, and this is new to me, but that isn't supposed to happen. LOL.

No adjustments after that last group, I smacked the large plate, and missed the other two. Wind was switching up and threw me for a loop. Center tgt hits, but spread out a bit. I put three bullets just outside the blue seriously hurting my point value.

Came in 13th out of 20.

All in all, I learned a ton, hung out with some very cool dudes, and didn't come in dead last.

I'd call that success.

Ed

 

[unwise11]

awesome. pics of the gun? and ammo? I have never seen 243 ai used

 

[taliv]

nice shooting!

btw, at my home range, we usually have about 6 wind flags and usually, they're all going in different directions. The trick is to figure out the "prevailing wind" and which flag matches it.

using Litz' BCs usually gets me a little closer than 1.5 MOA. I've found lately that it's worth being a little more precise on the temperature with the powder I'm using than the typical 30*, 60*, 90*. I see your dope is at 70*. what was the actual temp, and did you enter the temp when you chrono'd?

 

[browningguy]

That's very good shooting, and you came in 16th out of 20 very good shooters so it's not a bad day at all. But as you noted, that wind will kill a good score until you figure out how to read it at a particular range.

 

[esheato]

Temp and humidity on the dope chart were guesstimates on my part. I chrono'd in the evening, and shot the match a couple days later in the morning.

W. Tx temperatures these days are running 50 low and 83 high...I figured 70 would get me close. IME with dope charts (and it's very limited), they're a good starting point. Of course if I were serious, I'd confirm and then adjust the chart.

 

[esheato]

16th out of 20

Technically, 13th...LOL

Personally, I'm just ecstatic I wasn't DFL.

 

[kis2]

"All in all, I learned a ton, hung out with some very cool dudes, and didn't come in dead last.

I'd call that success."

Your standards and mine are the same then! Real nice shooting. Sounds like a lot of fun, maybe I'll set something up like that around here.