cheygriz
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That's a popular misconception. I've taken somewhere near a hundred pronghorn antelope on the plains of Wyoming, and my ,longest shot was just under 300 yards. Most were under 100 yards.
Obsession with velocity
- Thread starter Hokie_PhD
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That's a popular misconception. I've taken somewhere near a hundred pronghorn antelope on the plains of Wyoming, and my ,longest shot was just under 300 yards. Most were under 100 yards.
I'm just fixing to get into rifle reloading but I've already got an obsession with velocity.
I liked the way a .375 H&H - 270 and a .404 Jeffery - 400 recoiled. More shove than jab.
I didn't like the way the .300 Wby and .338 Win Mag recoiled. More jab.
A friend showed me that a .338 Win Mag with a 200 grain + 66 grains of H4350 at 2600 fps could feel just like a smaller 375 H&H and with a 300 grain + 60 grains of H4350 at 2300 fps could feel like a smaller .404 Jeffery
I am now obsessed with velocity. I will be loading American Calibers to African Caliber Velocities.
I liked the way a .375 H&H - 270 and a .404 Jeffery - 400 recoiled. More shove than jab.
I didn't like the way the .300 Wby and .338 Win Mag recoiled. More jab.
A friend showed me that a .338 Win Mag with a 200 grain + 66 grains of H4350 at 2600 fps could feel just like a smaller 375 H&H and with a 300 grain + 60 grains of H4350 at 2300 fps could feel like a smaller .404 Jeffery
I am now obsessed with velocity. I will be loading American Calibers to African Caliber Velocities.
That's cuz deer hunters overestimate the range because the target's smaller their 300 yd antelope is a 180 yd deer
JeffG
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When I first started shooting I wanted a laser bullet path out to 500 yards, more if I had a target out that far. The Marines taught me about trajectory, sight adjustment, and consistency, as well as getting closer to your target. These days I shoot most of my bottleneck cartridges at about 85%. My brass lasts forever, my accuracy is great and I use my hunting skills to get closer to my quarry. I have to sign off of all of this by saying, if I needed the velocity to be in the 99-101% of the cartridge, I would load for it. My shots out to 300 yards are good how they are.
I shot a few handguns loose with super-duper full throttle handloads, and realized the reality of that whole situation, too.
You know, getting a hunting rifle to shoot two MOA at 300 yards or beyond is pretty good. I have lots of 100 yard targets, ten shot groups, nice groups. I have tended to weed out the ugly targets, so there is bias in the data, I will keep a sub MOA target, which are very few compared to the number of targets I did not keep. But you know, a good hunting weight rifle, yes 1 to 1.5 MOA is pretty good, at 100 yards, When I have taken my good hunting rifles to CMP Talledega and shot out to 300 yards, (a few at 600 yards), you know, the ten shot groups are closer to 2 MOA than 1 MOA. The further you go, the larger the group gets. I believe this is a reflection of how difficult it is to shoot a lightweight rifle. The things are twitchy, little differences in trigger pull direction show up on target, hunting rifles don't have adjustable cheekpieces or buttplates, so the stock weld is very inconsistent from shot to shot.
You know, a Benchrest Champion, on another forum, just pissed all over these 300 yard targets of mine.
But, he never showed me his 200 yard offhand groups with his Benchrest rifle. I would like to see those, and compare my M1a or Garand offhand targets to what he shoots offhand, with a Benchrest rifle.
Out to 100 yards I consistently shoot tighter groups with my BSA MKIII 22lr, prone with a sling, than I do with a centerfire hunting rifle off the bench. The BSA MKIII weighs 14 1/2 pounds with irons, might be 15 1/2 to 16 with my Redfield 3200. That extra weight means a lot. When I take this thing to Talledega,
it will hold about half the ten ring at distance (shooting prone)
But it is not a 7 or 8 lb hunting rifle. I have not weighed it, but it has to be 14 to 16 lbs with a scope.
I do believe the obsession with velocity is because velocity is something that can be measured. Humans are quite irrational, they have these compulsions, more means more sort of thing. (Does anyone really need a 700 horsepower Hellcat when the speed limit is 70 mph?) Also from what I have read, humans are poor judges of absolute value, much better at relative value judges. The K cup coffee take over of the market is an example. The K cup is very convenient, in less than one minute you get a cup of poor tasting coffee. But, has anyone compared the cost of a K cup to brewed coffee? I can buy a bag of Mocha ground coffee for $3.72 that will produce 42 cups of coffee. A box of 48 K cups is $14.98. People don't notice the absolute cost difference, only the difference in price between K cup brands. They think they are getting a bargain when they buy a box of 48 K cups for $13.50.
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Toprudder
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Some truth to that. I have a feeling that if there were a practical way for me to measure pressure, I would be obsessed with pressure.
Toprudder
Member
LOL. Sounds as if you are an engineering type like me.
cheygriz
member
As was said earlier, if I buy a .357 magnum, I expect .357 performance. If I'm satisfied with .38 special performance, I'll buy a .38 special.
My last issued "duty" loads were 115 grain +P+. My practice ammo is loaded to duplicate that.
If I had been issued .380 ammo, I would have practiced with .380.
Expecting a handload to perform to factory ammo specs is certainly reasonable IMHO.
My last issued "duty" loads were 115 grain +P+. My practice ammo is loaded to duplicate that.
If I had been issued .380 ammo, I would have practiced with .380.
Expecting a handload to perform to factory ammo specs is certainly reasonable IMHO.
My main PA whitetail rifle is a 30-06. I typically download my ammo somewhat to minimize meat damage. That M70 is a 1.5 MOA rifle with pretty much anything you feed it. I don't think I've ever missed a deer because it wasn't accurate enough.
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