Pressure is on today, gotta make a cold-bore, first-round hit. My son is with me and wants to see daddy shoot THAT rifle from a "long ways away". My fingers are sore from loading his magazine all morning long so I give in (he had to twist my arm a little even). ;-)
After a short drive in the truck, I laid down with the bipods extended, got a good laser range. I've shot this range before, so used the same dope, checked parallax and set up the rear bag. Wind, hmmmmmm....this is the part I suck at. It's only 2-3 where I'm at but a solid 10-12mph for the second half of the bullet's flight. I think. It's coming from 11:00 I'll make a WAG and dial 3/4 moa.
My son lays down behind me with the spotting scope and the instructions to watch where the bullet lands so I can make adjustments. I really hope I can bring it all together for a first-round, cold-bore hit. That would be awesome.
Time to let the math do the talking. Load 4 rounds, hold center mass, natural point of aim is good so I ease a little air out of my lungs and hold that. Add just a little pressure on the trigger until it surprises me.
I get the rifle back on target in hopes that I can observe the puff of dirt. Amazingly enough, the target disappears and at least a 10 foot radius EXPLODES from where the milk jug used to be. Filled with water and the sun behind, it was an amazing display, just a huge silvery explosion. Man that felt GOOD!!!!!! Some of the homework and practice is now paying off.
But there's still two more chances to screw it all up...was it LUCK? Maybe I skimmed the side of it and the rest of my rounds won't be so lucky? Well, time to find out. Rack another round, make sure he's ready and wait for the wind to die back down to where it was before. Add some pressure and another one EXPLODES. Whew! Rack, Boom BANG the last one completely disappears amongst a huge explosion as well. That one split in half and shot 7 feet in the air before landing.
This has to be the best feeling in the world...feels like the first time all over again.
And, all I hear about on the way home is how cool that was. So needless to say, we won't ever throw another milk jug away. Those things were awesome! So completely more satisfying than shooting even 800 on paper.
Thanks for listening, had to share that feeling with ya'll. I know you just have to know how far this seemingly amazing feat was, but I stress it's not the impossible range that's important. It may or may not have been only 401yds, but it's the process that's important, right...
? Still, it's a good feeling and I think I'm going to some more of this in the future, using the dopes I've worked out to 800 yards. I'll just set up a bunch of jugs and take off walking, stopping at random places, lase, go through the process and see where it hits. This pasture always has some wind kicking so this should be some good practice.
Cheers, and thanks again for listening.
Chris
After a short drive in the truck, I laid down with the bipods extended, got a good laser range. I've shot this range before, so used the same dope, checked parallax and set up the rear bag. Wind, hmmmmmm....this is the part I suck at. It's only 2-3 where I'm at but a solid 10-12mph for the second half of the bullet's flight. I think. It's coming from 11:00 I'll make a WAG and dial 3/4 moa.
My son lays down behind me with the spotting scope and the instructions to watch where the bullet lands so I can make adjustments. I really hope I can bring it all together for a first-round, cold-bore hit. That would be awesome.
Time to let the math do the talking. Load 4 rounds, hold center mass, natural point of aim is good so I ease a little air out of my lungs and hold that. Add just a little pressure on the trigger until it surprises me.
I get the rifle back on target in hopes that I can observe the puff of dirt. Amazingly enough, the target disappears and at least a 10 foot radius EXPLODES from where the milk jug used to be. Filled with water and the sun behind, it was an amazing display, just a huge silvery explosion. Man that felt GOOD!!!!!! Some of the homework and practice is now paying off.
But there's still two more chances to screw it all up...was it LUCK? Maybe I skimmed the side of it and the rest of my rounds won't be so lucky? Well, time to find out. Rack another round, make sure he's ready and wait for the wind to die back down to where it was before. Add some pressure and another one EXPLODES. Whew! Rack, Boom BANG the last one completely disappears amongst a huge explosion as well. That one split in half and shot 7 feet in the air before landing.
This has to be the best feeling in the world...feels like the first time all over again.
And, all I hear about on the way home is how cool that was. So needless to say, we won't ever throw another milk jug away. Those things were awesome! So completely more satisfying than shooting even 800 on paper.
Thanks for listening, had to share that feeling with ya'll. I know you just have to know how far this seemingly amazing feat was, but I stress it's not the impossible range that's important. It may or may not have been only 401yds, but it's the process that's important, right...
? Still, it's a good feeling and I think I'm going to some more of this in the future, using the dopes I've worked out to 800 yards. I'll just set up a bunch of jugs and take off walking, stopping at random places, lase, go through the process and see where it hits. This pasture always has some wind kicking so this should be some good practice. Cheers, and thanks again for listening.
Chris
