Photos from two days of scouting and shooting in NM

[Zak Smith]

Photos from two days of scouting and shooting at a private ranch in NM. Stay tuned--
We're running a match here in 2008.


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The K.D. range has targets every 100 from 400 to 1000, then 1350 and 1760. The 6.5x47 shooting factory ammo made it to 1350 no problem. I managed a first-round hit at 1760 with the 338LM, but the next two were misses.


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[tnieto2004]

WOW What I would give to have a place like that to go and shoot.. What kind of targets were ya'll shooting at?

 

[Zak Smith]

Hanging steel plates.

 

[swingset]

Looks like a crappy time.

I hate you.

 

[Prince Yamato]

So were you hunting granite or limestone?

 

[pablo45]

Very nice. I am from here in NM also and I love all the free space we have to go out and shoot that other places have to drive all day to get to. What kind of rifles are you shooting with?

 

[Zak Smith]

pablo45,

On the field course, here's what we were using.

I shot an AI-AW rebarrelled to 6.5x47 Lapua; S&B 3-12x50mm PMII scope, and 9" titanium sound suppressor.

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MF- used a Remington 700 in .260 Remington with a USO SN-3 scope.

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MK- used a Remington 700 in .260 Remington with a Nightforce. Stock is a Choate that he's added a AICS DBM conversion to.

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C- used his 6.5-08 Ackley Improved built on a Surgeon Tactical action, McMillan with Badger bottom metal / AICS, and a USO SN-3.

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It's safe to say we like the 6.5 mm bore size for long-range...

 

[lencac]

Wouldn't you rather be on a nice cruise

 

[pablo45]

Very nice sir, thanks for the break down. Those are some nice rifles. I especially like the Remington 700. It is an excellet rifle.

 

[Wes Janson]

I can only desperately wish I could have been there watching. Florida doesn't really have any terrain as interesting as that, sadly.

 

[Smitty in CT]

Couldn't you find any BIGGER scopes???

 

[Mute]

Zak, how much drop did you dial for the 6.5x47L at 1350?

 

[Zak Smith]

Couldn't you find any BIGGER scopes???

Sure--

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... but I went back to the smaller ones--

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A lot of the length you see is simply sunshade. Most of us run 2" or 4" shades to cut down on glare when shooting into the sun.

Mute,

13.8 mils from a 100 yard zero to the 1350-yard target shooting factory Lapua 123's. Density altitude was about 5500'. My 338LM load took 11.5 mils. At a mile, the 338LM took I think 19.0 (this one is from memory).

-z

 

[gunnie]

as a newbee to the 338L, i have heard that accuracy suffers @1,500, whence going sub sonic. also, that using solids can trick the BC #'s to nose-bleed heights, and move re-entry out to nearly 2,000. same at the cost of BBL life from increased erosion due to poor gas seal around the solids...

my questions....

cool enough this time of year to eliminate mirage?

are you using 300gr sierra match kings or solids?

if solids, any perceptable increase in how fast the wrinkles are leaving the BBL I.D.?

have you chrono'd the load? any specs appreciated about load/reload.

when's the match?

gunnie

 

[K.L.O.sako]

REALLY REALLY ! GREEN with envy. you've got to be the most hated man on THR

 

[Zak Smith]

gunnie,

The 250 Scenar shot at 2950fps (we're shoting it a little faster) should stay above 1200 fps out to about 1900 yards at 5000' density altitude. The 300gr SMK shot at 2750 fps should stay above 1200 fps to about 2000 yards. Those are the two loads were were shooting.

I don't know of any ravailable monolithic .338LM bullet. I think LRB kind of disappeared, and the only other monolithic I'm aware of is one made in Europe and not imported here (yet?). Anyway, paying over $1 per bullet is hard to swallow, and we'd all need to replace our barrels anyway (for faster twist).

I've seen mirage even at 20F, and on the day we were shooting down there, it was more like 60F. After a little bit of pulling the trigger, mirage comes off the barrel and a lot of mirage comes off the suppressor if we're shooting suppressed (even with a thermal cover).

The match will be posted on http://ColoradoMultigun.com when details are ready-- should be within a couple weeks. It will be in early June '08.

 

[sm]

Zak,

Thank you again for sharing and educating - with great pics!

Steve

 

[Black Majik]

Superb range report. I'm kinda jealous too.

 

[Zak Smith]

This thread is so two weeks ago.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=318623

 

[eliphalet]

Impressive, to say the least. What size are the steel plates hit at 1350 and the mile? Also what is a mil? You mentioned 13.8 mils. Forgive my ignorance but where is more information readily available on this type of shoots and shooting, the rifles, and general information?
Keeps us posted and thanks.

Edit: using your posts links thanks again

 

[Zak Smith]

Hi,

The targets at 1350 and 1760 were, I think, about two feet in diameter.

A mil ("mil-radian") is an angular unit of measure, equal to one thousandth of a radian. In rough terms appropriate for rifle fire, it is one tranverse unit for each 1000 units of distance. For example, one mil demarcates 1 yard at 1000 yards, 1 meter at 1000 meters, 3.6" @ 100 yards (ie 3600 inches), 10cm @ 100m, etc.

Because there is one trajectory curve for any dialed zero when the elevation correction is viewed in angular units, AND because scope reticles and knobs deal in angular, not "height" units, it makes sense to specify drop correction values in angular units. Common units include MOA (minutes of angle), mils (see above), IPHY (inches per hundred hards, approx 5% less than MOA). 13.8 mils is the same as 47.3 MOA.


For more information, try these:


article | Practical Long-Range Rifle Shooting, Part I - Rifle & Equipment


article | Practical Long-Range Rifle Shooting, Part II - Optics


article | Practical Long-Range Rifle Shooting, Part III - Shooting

and matches described on the Colorado Multigun web-site, in my signature block below:

 

[07Lway]

I love the four corner states, so beautiful. Looks like a heck of a time.

 

[BlazingAngel01]

AI-AW man would i love to have one

and that Remington 700 is that the TWS, 700P, or just a 700

 

[Zak Smith]

The two Remingtons pictured are basically semi-custom rifles built on 700 actions.

The one with the camo stock is actually the Surgeon action.

 

[Mute]

The 6.5x47L is looking really impressive. I definitely see one of these or a .260 in my future.