7magcreedmoor
Well-Known Member
While you are reading up on MOA and turret adjustment increments, you also will need to study up on "Trajectory Validation". The only way to know what YOUR load does in YOUR rifle is to test and validate. If you obtained your muzzle velocity with a chronograph, that is good. But it is not fact, only a measurement from a particular tool, with a certain margin of error. The ballistic coefficient of your bullet is a mathematically derived value, and is also subject to some error, and when the bullet leaves your barrel, it doesn't look like it did in the box, which may have a small effect on the actual or "True BC" as observed downrange. So what's a poor marksman to do? He gets his MV off the chrono, his BC from the bullet box, generates a drop chart with a ballistic program, then he goes to the range to validate. Shoot your zero range, and two longer ranges, with the longest one being the longest at which you expect to shoot while hunting if that is possible. If I hope to shoot 800 yards on the hunt, I would shoot my zero, then 600 and 800 yards doing my best for group at each. Then record the difference in point of impact from point of aim, and run the numbers through the ballistic program again to obtain the "validated" trajectory. Chrono's may lie, and BCs may vary, but holes in targets tell the truth.