223/5.56 range testing

[JamieC]

At what range do most actually test their reloads, different factory loads, etc.? Is 50 yards good, 100...?

 

[243winxb]

Iron sights may work better at 50 yards. For a scope, i go to 100 yds when testing loads. Wind flags help for 100 yds & longer distances.

 

[Reloadron]

Generally for 22 LR I set up at 50 yards. I'll set several targets and shoot at 50 yards for awhile and this is with my known rifles.

Then for all my other calibers I'll set targets at 100 and 200 yards simply because at my regular range 200 is as good as it gets. Again, this is for my known rifles. A new rifle in center-fire I may start at 50 yards just to see what the rifle and I am doing. I'll also post several targets at both 100 and 200 yards so I am not making trips constantly downrange. I check my targets with my spotting scope.

Now if I am fortunate to visit a club with 500 yards I'll shoot 500 with my known rifles. I really need to find myself a good club up my way that has a 500 yard range.

Ron

 

[grubbylabs]

I use the 50 yard mark to get it on paper and then move it out to 100. I figure my reloads should be able to do a clover leaf at a 100 with a fully supported rifle. Of course this is also with a quality bullet or at least one no cheaper than the bulk Hornady bullets.

 

[Ifishsum]

I do all my initial load testing at 100yds with the rifle supported; I feel that anything less than 100 may not reveal smaller differences between loads. I guess it ultimately depends on what you're going for - I am almost always looking for the most accurate load possible within the load range. I might use a closer range for a cast bullet or plinking load with open sights.

 

[TheCracker]

100 yards for all rifles. 15-20 for pistols

 

[Centaur 1]

I think that 100 yards is a good distance to start with. Any further and outside variables like wind start to effect your results and you might not get accurate data. One exception I found is when using iron sights or a low power scope. I have a fixed 3X power Nikon P223 scope on my AR. It's a great scope especially for deer and predator hunting, but when I'm working up new loads I do my testing at 50 yards. The Shoot-N-C target that I use have a 1/2" bright orange dot in the center. At 50 yards the intersection of the crosshairs is the same size. If my aim is off any I can see that orange dot start to peek out from under the crosshairs. The system works really good and when I found my final hunting load, I backed the target to 100 yards and zeroed the scope. The distance is doubled, but my groups grow in size to about four times what they are at 50 yards. At the longer distance the crosshair intersection covers an area that's about an inch larger than the dot. The scope was built to hunt, not win tournaments. The rifle is way more accurate than what I'm capable of with this setup. Lately I've been looking at buying a scope with more magnification. I'm looking at the Bushnell AR series of scopes and I'm trying to decide between their 3-12X40mm or the 4.5-18X40mm. I need to make a road trip to Bass Pro and check them both out.

 

[gahunter12]

With an AR I would test at 50yrds unless you have a scope on it. My ARs that I have setup with Red Dot/ iron backups are rarely shot past 50-75yrds with most being 5-45yd for tactical SD training. My pig hunting/long range AR has a 3x9x40 with a Red Dot 45* offset to the right for close in shooting which is also removable. I usually test at 100yrds with it, and play at 200yrds.

 

[Glockula]

My Bushnell"T dot" scope does just fine up to 150 yards or so. I use it to evaluate reloads in my AR. From the bench it will hold around 1 moa. A scope is better though.

 

[AABEN]

I test at a hundred with my center fire rifles. I set them for 150 yards all of my long guns are scoped. My hand guns is 10 Ft and 20 FT. For target 25 Yd from a rest open sites.

 

[roval]

I test at100 yards for the bolt action as well as the ar. Both have scopes. My scopes are set for 100 yards.

 

[JamieC]

Seems like the distance is based on 'sight', irons and red dots around 50, scopes 100. I'm irons and red dot.

 

[Ifishsum]

I test peeps like the AR and M1 at 100 and 200 yds just as I would a scope. For fully open sights like the SKS and older milsurps I might drop to 75. Anything less and you can't really see much difference between test loads IMO (assuming accuracy as the primary goal). Ill admit I'm more of a target shooter than a plinker, but either way I would shoot the longest distance you feel comfortably consistent at.

 

[45lcshooter]

"At what range do most actually test their reloads, different factory loads, etc.? Is 50 yards good, 100...?"

The only guns i reload for that are iron sighted are mil surp guns, they are just play toys that sit in the safe, i have those sighted for 50 yrds. I test my mid-range guns to 100 yards, i test long-range out to 200yrds. Pistol rounds, 15 yrds or less

 

[Nwflycaster]

I've found that if I'm going to be doing any longer range shooting I will work up the load at 300 yards. My reasoning is that I used to use factory match ammo and it worked great when I shot at my local clubs reduced course matches. As soon as I took it out to another range and fired a full length course, it showed it's true colors and they weren't pretty. Now I'm set up for reloading all my comp rifles and wouldn't even consider looking at any tests below 300 yards then checking at either 500 or 600.

 

[AABEN]

It all depends what range you will be shooting! I shoot paper at 100 and have my long guns set at 150 that way I can hunt with them for I run the MIL dots in 90% of my scopes. As long as I can shoot 1/2 at a 100 I am happy. I know where the bullet should be when shooting paper. I would say set at a 100 and you will be GOOD