I was hoping I could get 2850fps from the big 180g vld. That would give pretty nice ballistics out to 1000 yards. The round would also be pretty cheap on powder, and have pretty decent barrel life. I dont know, just somethign I was thinking about. I was just thinking that maybe an ultramag is to big for 95% of the shots you encounter, and for the price you pay in consumption of powder and barrel life when it comes to target shooting is something I have been thinking of lately. Anyways, about those drop charts. I'll tell you how I do it, and that dont mean its 100% right, but it works for me, of course with actual practice at the distance and recording. Anyways, you need to get your load cronographed. Thats a must. Once you find your velocity, you then enter your ballistic data into a free ballistic program (pick one). I use biggameinfo.com because it gives the clicks for you, no math involved. Forgot to add that I obviously chose the most accurate load based on load testing, assuming you would to. Now load up a couple boxes and zero at 100 or 200 yards. I personally like to zero at 200. It lets you hold dead on farther then if you had a 100 yard zero and did not have time to use the clicks. Example being you jump a coyote/buck at 250 yards, with a 100 zero, your gonna be hittin pretty low as compared to a 200 yard zero. Your still pretty much gonna hit dead on. Your trajectory is not as much as a rainbow is what I'm getting at when you sight in at 100. The opposite works true as well. I use to zero at 100, then leave my scope on the 300 yard setting. Many times I shot at coyotes at 100 yards or less, and I shot soooo high it was not even funny. A 200 yard zero simplifies things a big in my view for quick shots when you dont have time to range. ANyways enough about that. Once you zero, shoot at least every 100 yards to the max distance you intend to kill or shoot targets. I usually go to 300-400-500-800. I have found that out to 500 yards, the computer will be very close, no more then 2 clicks off, to being "dead on". I have found once you start gettin past 500, they tend to either start dropping more, the BC is actually lower then advertised, or the velocity is lower at the muzzle. Either way, my rifles combos nearly hit anywhere from 6inches to 2ft low at 800 yards. THe thing to do here is record how many clicks, or what number your on the scope. NExt get a big piece of plywood or cardboard works great. Draw a 6-8 inch square and go up a couple more clicks and shoot 3 more shots or so. Go to the target and mark and see if they landed dead on or not. Keep raising your scope and shooting to verify when its shooting dead on. This is the way I have set up my clicks with my rifles to hunt coyotes and deer and elk with shots out to 800 at most. I write down the yardage on a small 3x5 card, then write the # on the scope corresponding with the yardage. Makes it a lot faster then sittin there counting clicks. You just range, look at the card, find the range, go to the # it says to and do that to your scope, then shoot.
