"Close range" reloading for MilSurps

[Mustang51]

My sons and I shoot in a vintage military rifle silhouette match every month. The match consists of 10 rounds each fired at chickens @ 220 yards, pigs @ 330 yards, turkeys @ 420 yards and rams @ 550 yards. We use a variety of different rifles to include K31's, Swedish Mausers, Swiss 1911 and 96/11 rifles, 09 Argentine Mausers and Finnish M39's.

Here is the problem-while all of these guns are superbly accurate, many of them have difficulty hitting targets at close range. By close, I mean less than 350-400 yards. Most of my rifles will shoot close to MOA with handloads. The problem comes when I have to shoot at chicken silhouettes @ 220 yards or even, in some cases, pigs @ 330 yards. Even with a "6 o'clock" hold, and the rear sight set at the lowest level, the bullets go right over the target.

Case in point-this last weekend I shot an Argentine Mauser at the match. I had developed a handload (40 grs. of 4064 with a .311 SMK) that shot close to MOA.
However, I had to aim at least a foot below the chickens and at least 6 inches below the pigs in order to hit them at all and as a result ended up doing badly. Same with my Swiss 1911



I've decided that I need to develop a "chicken load" for these guns and need a place to start. I'm thinking of loading a heavy, low ballistic coefficient bullet with a light powder charge to lower the point of impact at the silhouette. One possibility is a 30-30 style flat nose 170 grain bullet for the Swiss 1911 and a RN 180 grain .311 bullet for the Argy Mauser. Some of the match shooters suggested a light ball might be better.

Before I start buying bullets willy-nilly and loading them, I thought I would check on line and see if anyone else has already solved this problem or at least experimented with some "close range" loads. I know that another approach is to modify the front sight with a taller post, but would like to try the "close range ammo" route first.

 

[rcmodel]

Most old bolt-action military rifles had a "Battle sight" zero which made aiming at the enemy's belt buckle result in hits all the way from the muzzle to way on out there at several hundred yards.

The answer IMO, is a taller front sight to make a 100 yard zero possible at the lowest rear sight setting. Then you can use the rear sight settings as designed for longer ranges.

I first encountered this when I tried using an 03A3 Springfield for coyote hunting in 1962.
I could hit them at 400 yards, but was always shooting over them at 100 or 200.

A taller front sight and 100 yard zero that was really "zero" cured the problem once & for all.

I agree a light bullet would probably shoot lower then a heavy one due to less recoil moving the gun before bullet exit.

But there is no hard & fast rule. Every rifle will shoot different bullets weights to a different POI.
But that might be anywhere on the target, not just necessarly lower, due to barrel vibration / harmonics.

rc

 

[NCsmitty]

I have to say that installing taller front sights on the rifles that need it, will in one move, prove to be a huge time saver. You will still have rifles shooting loads that were worked up previously, and still able to give you the groups that they are capable of shooting.

Yes, you will need to recalibrate your ladder sights at the different ranges that you shoot, but developing a soft load that's accurate in each rifle could be a daunting task. To be able to take each rifle and have an accurate soft load for shooting the close targets and then change to a higher powered load and expect it to be dead on laterally, might be wishful thinking. Not impossible, but the odds are against that.

Several places have front sight replacements at varying heights, and IMO, that would be the sensible approach.



NCsmitty

 

[Mustang51]

I think you could be right about the tall front sight.

Are the tall front sight "reverse V" front sight blades that fit Argentine Mausers available?