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Varmintmist
Posts: 8,305 Senior Member
Decent weekend before last
Varmintmist
Posts: 8,305 Senior Member
Started out pretty well with a team match on Fri. We only had 3 shooters on the pickup team and none of us were real confident on calling wind. Offhand started OK, then chased the reticle into the 5 ring. That didnt help a lot. Felt great in sitting and rapid prone. I was watching mirage and turning knobs and hammering in 600. On the scope, on the gun, back on the scope then check the value. Mirage was fishtailing +8 clicks to -5 about every two minuets. Shot 13, I rolled in on the gun and squeezed one off.... on the target to the left...... Nice thing about the match was there was a really good coach on my left. I was calling my own wind, but when he yelled STOP to his shooter, I stopped and watched the mirage. I wasnt able to figure out what all he was calling, but I caught some of it.
800 on Sat was better offhand, but for some reason I got squirrly in rfp. Both groups went high and low out of the 10 ring. I need to figure that out. 600 was about 0-8 clicks mostly from the right but it picked up quick, thus the 7. Only call I missed badly.
EIC on sun was ok, just OK. Standing was going well until I started doing the math and figured I had a 93-94 in the bag, then walked a 7 out. Sitting was OK, RFP, wind call was good, but I was high and low again. Has to be shoulder position and head. I was dead on for the last shot. 600 was hard. Wind acll for the first shot was not enough, then I compounded it by rolling on more in the wrong direction. Pulled it back the same amount I figured, X2, and went to work. It was work. Fishtailing more than Fri, long boil periods, quick changes. It would change to a boil OR the other direction in the time I came off the scope to when I took up the trigger. I got caught badly on the first string, then started shooting faster.
2 legs, 1 was 483, 2 was 478. Within my ability, not that day.
It's boring, and your lack of creativity knows no bounds.
Replies
Yeah, shooting team is better either a dedicated coach, but even if none of you feel up to the task of wibd coach, you can at least help each other out. When you shoot, you can have a team mate watch the flags and call out if something changes, just talking back and forth can yield great results. That's how I started coaching. It was in a two man team and we helped each other out and won state matches for 2 man teams for a couple of years before building a 4 man team.
Yep, when the wind shifts quickly it's tough to get any kind if decent score.
Cross fires hurt, but you appeared to put it behind you, & recovered nicely.
The leg match, while I realize you are chasing EIC/leg points, your score was in the 94.4 percentile, with no sighters, standing to position, and so on, again another solid Expert score.
If you are a Master or High Master, well rats, wasn't your day.
If still a raising star, Bravo Sir, nice shootin'.
Several years back at the Nationals, we had clinched second place in the first match of teams championships. During the second match, one of our guys crossfired and put an X on the target next to ours. I was calling wind for the team and I saw the trace and my heart sank. That one shot cost us 2 medals; second place in match #2 and second place in aggregate. Bummer.
It's even more "easier" when you're shooting at etargets, as you don't even have the spotter for the last shot as a hint that you're about to lose 10 points.
"The Un-Tactical"
"The Un-Tactical"
"The Un-Tactical"
I'm willing to bet you will be surprised.
The more I read about the exterior ballistics, and see the performance, of the newer designs of bullets, the more amazed I become. I've had to rethink many of my long held positions.
When I attend matches with more than just a few sling shooters, I'm seeing more people showing up with 223R cambered Palma rifles. Granted, the rifles are purpose built bolt guns, but I do notice a trend.
On paper at least, the 223 with an appropriate bullet isn't giving up anything (i.e. velocity retention & wind drift) to the 308W 155 grain, rifles.
Give it a go, and report back. We would enjoy hearing about the results.
When the NRA sanctioned F-Class and issued the tiny targets, I tried one last thing with the AR, and that was a Krieger barrel, 26 inches and 1:7.7 twist with the ling leade. I spoke with several well-known AR builders at the time and they all agreed I was pushing the limits of the AR-15 platform in .223 caliber.
The rifle is a phenomenal shooter at 600 yards and I made High Master in mid-range with it, but in 1000 yards (LR), the best I could achieve was sharpshooter. After a while, I switched to a .308 bolt and within a few months, I had achieved Master for LR.
I realize the F-class target is 1/4 the size of the regular LR target. I also remember the first ever LR clean achieved in Service Rifle was done with an AR-15 in 1999 (IIRC). So, the .223/5.56 does go the distance but I am here to tell you 2 things:
1- Regardless of what the paper says, even with the same ballistic coefficient, there IS still a difference in the wind drift between a .308 and a .223.
2- And even more important: The transonic area in between Mach 0.95 and Mach 1.20. If your bullets are coming into the target in that range, you are going to be dealing with continual frustration. When I develop a load for my 1000-yard rifle, my minimum acceptable velocity at the target is Mach 1.25 in the coldest day I will compete in, at sea level. My current loads are all above Mach 1.30 and those are verified by the ShotMarker system, with current velocities above 1450FPS.
The Palma and F-Class rifles all depend on a 30+ inch barrel to get the highest possible MV. Putting one of those on an AR platform was not worthile, even with a CWS and heavy inserts. Go bolt or go home.
Now, the AMU produces AR-15s with 20-inch barrels for the 1000-yard course. But the brass is a one-time use, and they have armorers that support the rifles constantly. That and the fact they are insane.