Puzzled, In need of some help!

[yotekilla250]

To start, I am fairly new to the ELR game. I have been load testing for my new .260 remington and found what I believed to be a good round. 39.1 grains of Varget, 123 grain nosler match bullet, out of my 1:8 twist tube was producing muzzle velocities of 2950 with as spread of +/- 5 fps. At 200 yards I was getting 0.5" groups. Great! Dialed all this into my ballistic software, found a range that let me extend its legs (550 yards to be exact, not all that extreme, but starting to get out there). This is were the problem starts. Out to 400 yards my software and mils are great. At 550 yards I should dial 29 mils. Couldn't hit the target, found out I was blasting dirt way in front of the target. Kept raising and dialing. Found my bullet to be hitting at 44 mils low. Went back to 100 yards to check my zero, right on the money. Went back and played around in the ballistics software, this would mean my bullet is going transonic at about 650 yards. Called a farmer friend and he let me shoot in his field out to 900 yards. Once again, 550 was 44 mils and anything past 600 forget it. Couldn't even see where they were going. This does not make sense to me. I am hoping to reach out and get some more opinions on what may be happening here. Also, I am heading out tonight with 30 rounds loaded with H4350 and som H4831SC to see velocities and see if they die off at 550 and beyond. Any help / suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[cohunt]

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[Mach 1]

Your Zeroed out 100 yards. At 550 yards with this round you should dope in roughly 2.9 mill or 10 moa of elevation. You said 29 at 550 but took 44. I'm assuming you mean 2.9 and 4.4 mills. 4.4 mill elevation should put you at 700 yards. And at 600 yards your bullet should still be going around 1940 FPS. I think I would be inclined to put another scope on it or get a really tall piece of paper or cardboard and leave your gun on your verified 100 yard zero and see how many inches low the bullet impacts at 550 yards. It should be 55 to 60 inches low. If it is I'd say you've got a scope tracking problem.

 

[yotekilla250]

I never thought about the board idea. I have a junk 4'x8' piece of plywood I can setup tonight and see. And, yes I meant 2.9 and 4.4 mil. I also, have the same scope (brand new) waiting for another build. I think I will do the board idea and see what I get tonight, before I swap scopes, so I know for sure. Thanks for your input!

 

[Mercracing]

What scope are you running?

 

[yotekilla250]

bushnell elite tactical 3.5-21x50 with g2dmr reticle

 

[Mach 1]

I never thought about the board idea. I have a junk 4'x8' piece of plywood I can setup tonight and see. And, yes I meant 2.9 and 4.4 mil. I also, have the same scope (brand new) waiting for another build. I think I will do the board idea and see what I get tonight, before I swap scopes, so I know for sure. Thanks for your input!

Your welcome. If your tracking good from 100 to 400 yards I'd guess the scope isn't tracking appropriately. If the bases or rings where the problem I see how they would be ok to 400 yds. I hope you get it figured out. Post back what you find. I'm curious

 

[WildRose]

bushnell elite tactical 3.5-21x50 with g2dmr reticle

Yote you never clarified. Are you dialing up 2.9 mils or 29 mils at 550? If you're dialing up 29 mils and your scope isn't busted you should be shooting so far over the target as to be dangerous.

If you're dialing up 2.9 Mils your scope is probably busted.

 

[yotekilla250]

So, I finally made it out last night to test the rifle. Checked my 100 yard zero, was right on. Then went out to 550 yards (without adjusting the scope) and my group dropped between 2.8 and 3.0 mils on a piece of plywood. Adjusted the turrets to 2.9 mils and was hitting low, adjusted to 4.4 mils and was low. I had to adjust to 5.0 mils with my turrets (which is different from the other day) to get it to adjust correctly. Went back to my 100 yard zero, shot at 3 shot group at 100 yards and was right on. Needless to say, my scope is not tracking correctly and is coming off tonight. I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions here. Hopefully Bushnell has a good warranty department. Thanks again!

 

[Mach 1]

So, I finally made it out last night to test the rifle. Checked my 100 yard zero, was right on. Then went out to 550 yards (without adjusting the scope) and my group dropped between 2.8 and 3.0 mils on a piece of plywood. Adjusted the turrets to 2.9 mils and was hitting low, adjusted to 4.4 mils and was low. I had to adjust to 5.0 mils with my turrets (which is different from the other day) to get it to adjust correctly. Went back to my 100 yard zero, shot at 3 shot group at 100 yards and was right on. Needless to say, my scope is not tracking correctly and is coming off tonight. I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions here. Hopefully Bushnell has a good warranty department. Thanks again!

It sounds like it returns to zero well but kinda sounds like the turret starts free wheeling when cranked on for elevation. Good luck with the wattanty.

 

[yotekilla250]

Yeah. The turrets feel like they "click" fine and I even counted the clicks vs the actual numbers on the turrets and they line up. I believe something internally is wrong and eventually the scope probably wont return to zero even. I emailed and there warranty department is going to take a look at it. hopefully I am not out a scope.

 

[Joefrazell]

Search tall target test and do one. You need to make sure your scope is tracking correctly.

 

[WildRose]

So, I finally made it out last night to test the rifle. Checked my 100 yard zero, was right on. Then went out to 550 yards (without adjusting the scope) and my group dropped between 2.8 and 3.0 mils on a piece of plywood. Adjusted the turrets to 2.9 mils and was hitting low, adjusted to 4.4 mils and was low. I had to adjust to 5.0 mils with my turrets (which is different from the other day) to get it to adjust correctly. Went back to my 100 yard zero, shot at 3 shot group at 100 yards and was right on. Needless to say, my scope is not tracking correctly and is coming off tonight. I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions here. Hopefully Bushnell has a good warranty department. Thanks again!

How confident are you in your velocity? Have you verified it with a chrony or are you running an estimate from charge weight?

 

[Gord0]

Your scope doesn't have a mil reticle with moa adjustment does it?
Edit: Nevermind, just looked it up.