What went wrong? Opinions needed.

[the Bandit]

At Song Dogger... given the number of responses, you asked a great question... lots of discussion and suggestions have arisen...

I am new to this forum and to long distance shooting as well... but one suggestion I would like to bring attention to is by Canhunter35... If I can paraphrase what he said is this... you have to practice the shot you intend to take in the field... if prone / bipod is your preference, then you need to shoot the same way at the range. My suspicion is that you hold your rifle / look through your scope slightly differently when viewing prone vs shooting off the bench... and this is assuming that you were "precise" while at the range...
Congrats on feeling capable of taking a 600 yard shot. You are not there yet but sounds like you will work to get yourself there. But I too, would like to recommend not taking this shot until you are precise at the range over the same distances from the same shooting positions / conditions. Good luck to you.

 

[bounty hunter 2]

You are shooting an efficient cartridge with an efficient bullet so is the drop between your 200 yard zero and 450 yard target really 28 " ? 6.2 moa times 4.5 (450 yards) = 27.9" of drop according to your calculations given. Not checking any ballistic tables that seems a bit much to me.

 

[xsn10s]

Song Dogger: I had more time to read through so here's my suggestion. Setup your rifle the way you would take it out hunting. So sling, ammo, bipod, or no bipod. I'd reset your zero prone if you are going to shoot prone. Also set up your scope's eye relief for prone too. Also get a chronograph to check your actual velocity or have someone measure your velocity for you. Print out a drop chart from JBM and compare it to your rangefinder's drop. I looked at your drop and it doesn't jive with JBM's drop chart for some of the velocities I plugged in. I think either your zero is off from a prone position zero, or your velocity you plugged into your rangefinder is off. Those seem like the most obvious issues without actually handling your rifle. When using JBM's ballistics calculator try to use Litz's BC's. And of course like someone suggested check all your hardware again. But setting your zero and confirming all your drops off the bench seems a glaring issue if your most likely going to shoot prone. You'd be far better off practicing prone off your backpack with a sling then practicing off the bench with a bipod. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[xsn10s]

Song Dogger I saw your last post and good deal, you're figuring it out. But don't worry about shooting under duress right now. just get some really good practice shooting the field positions relaxed for now. Get that solid then worry about duress later on. If you practice rushed then you increase the chances of rushing a shot. But if you practice relaxed and mentally focused then that's how you'll probably shoot in the field.

 

[Song Dogger]

Songdogger...judging by your avatar or military shield...a lot of these guys have never been dressed down by a first sergeant so I am not so hard on you for being hard on this shooter. They may be correct, but I think I understand where you are coming from. Thanks for your service tough guy.

I'm guessing this message was meant for I'mYourHuckleberry, not Song Dogger?

 

[trackhoehunter]

Im gunna go about 5.3 moa off with this, but how bout a picture of the kill! Congrats as well!

 

[Broken arrow]

PETA hacked your ballistic calculator ( ;

 

[Song Dogger]

Consider a through evaluation of your bullet velocity, don't trust tables. Why are you using a target bullet for hunting?

Didn't use tables, I had a 13 sample average muzzle velocity of 2875 fps with an extreme spread of 27 fps and standard deviation of 9 fps. As for using the Berger 210 gr Target VLD bullet - another thread, another time. It's not a whim, do a quick search in this and other forums. I wanted the Berger's 215 hybrid, but surprisingly, it didn't group well in my Fierce Edge.

 

[Song Dogger]

If it's not the gun, then it has to be the shooter. That or you might have ranged him incorrectly. Did you chronograph your load to verify your velocity, and at what temperature?

I had a spotter who ranged the bull exactly as I did, and we checked multiple times - like I said, the bull was very accommodating. The load was chronographed at a temperature of 82 degrees.

 

[Song Dogger]

song dogger, after reading the first page of comments and suggestions I am compelled to say this. I am going to make a wild guess and say your stock on your rifle is a stock malleable plastic one. I am also going to guess that your rifle barrel is a #3 or #3.5 profile (magnum sporter). I ran into just about this exact problem with a friend's long range hunting rifle (300 RUM). my groups were about 6" higher than his groups at 300 yards. 100 yard sight in. 190 grain Burger slugs. He neglected to tell me he was using a "leadsled" to shoot this brutal recoiling beast. when I shot it; I was prone or off the bench, bi-pod, and a sandbag between me and the paper thin butt pad. his ballistic computer was off by several feet at 600 yards. the VLD slug carried much better than his computer stated it should. after finding out what he was doing at the range I replicated his method and replicated his results. the strap holding the gun down in the sled was holding the barrel bent. it was not pretty. so yes, ditch the lead sled, when shooting at the range, shoot in all positions you might shoot on the hunt, just a small suggestion to stop the possibility of flinch.. muzzle brake that puppy. go to a gunsmith and find out if your rifle stock fits your body, yes this can make for a more comfortable experience at the range and the field. if I am right about your stock, please have it re-stocked with something that is stiffer and will help you shoot better. I suggest Chet Brown of Brown Precision in California. He makes the best stocks I know of. High Mountain Tech on the east coast are no slouchers either. I personally like laminated wood stocks, so I would go with Boyd's custom stocks. after that it is all up to you to practice until you can reliably deliver the round out to how ever far you are comfortable with.

The stock is carbon fiber, checking for fit is a good suggestion. As for the barrel, it has a muzzle brake - otherwise, all I know is it's "hand lapped cryogenically treated match grade buttoned and fluted". It's a Fierce Edge, if you choose to look it up. FYI, I had no strap holding my gun in the Lead Sled - didn't even know it had a strap.

 

[Song Dogger]

I also would check your range finder to an another app like shooter. I had to adjust my Leica to my app that was on for the gun I was shooting they were different when you get long range. They all need to match.

Recall, I first used a ballistic calculator to program the Geovid, checked drops, then adjusted muzzle velocity to force the Geovid to match those drops. In both cases, I charted readings at various distances, temps, and pressures, then compared the suggested MOA adjustments to several ballistic apps. All matched well, which isn't hard to do out to only 600 yards (my max).

 

[Wraith Hunter]

Recall, I first used a ballistic calculator to program the Geovid, checked drops, then adjusted muzzle velocity to force the Geovid to match those drops. In both cases, I charted readings at various distances, temps, and pressures, then compared the suggested MOA adjustments to several ballistic apps. All matched well, which isn't hard to do out to only 600 yards (my max).

If all else is good, it is usually the shooter!

 

[Song Dogger]

If all else is good, it is usually the shooter!

Everyone keeps saying that - pretty sure I fessed up to that early on.

 

[Song Dogger]

Questions /observations. If parallax was off that much on my scopes I would have a pretty fuzy sight picture which wouldn't help making a shot especially in low light conditions. I have the hdb 2200 and I was lucky enough to find a factory preset ballistic curve that matches perfectly within 1/4 moa to my ammunition/bc/velocity. I have tested it from 10-100 degrees from 100-1000 yards and 900-10000 feet elevation. It has compensated correctly in all conditions. I made it a point to have my rifle and gevoids with me when I travel so I can shoot in different environments to validate accuracy. There are so many possibilities for you to have incorrect inputs. You need to spend the time practicing to verify everything. Having the geovids in the ambient temperature long enough for correct compensation is often overlooked. The more you practice, you will figure out where your issue is. Having your zero exactly at the distance you put into your geovid is critical.

Most agree the error was too large to be parallax alone. As you pointed out, the sight picture wasn't even fuzzy. I'll still probably experiment with parallax, if only for research and confidence. And agreed, the Geovid needs to adjust to ambient conditions, but they were with me in the field all day long. Thanks for the vote of confidence.