Re: F-Class t/r and moa....
Nathan,
A couple of things.
One, nice shooting on the first 600 yard relay there at Butner. A 149-7 is a good solid score, and put you up there with some of the best in the world (of which Jeff and Monte definitely are). The first relay is almost always a measure of how good your rifle/position and ammo are. The next few relays are when you see just how well you can read the wind. These tend to be somewhat dependent on how lucky you were in drawing a relay, which is why comparing the daily aggregate scores is a more useful indicator of skill level.
Two, you should scan down the classification list as well. The 1st Master is not necessarily the best shooter for a relay, or a day. That 1st day at Butner is a good example. At first glance, it looks like Brad Sauve won the day at 600 yards. If you scan all the way down to sharpshooter classification, you'll notice that the day was actually won by Derek Rodgers. These days, a shooter's classification has more to do with where they normally compete than actual shooter skill. Some of the *wild* ranges out west tend to artificially hold one's classification down.
Three, as an observation, knowing nothing about your experience level, it looks like you had a good day at 600 yards, and had trouble at 1000 in Butner. What this would tell me is that your rifle is right up there for overall accuracy, but the wind is giving you issues. What I'd do is hit some bigger wind ranges and see what happens when a 25 mph wind hits a .308 bullet at 1000 yards. I'm dead serious, this will jump-start the wind reading learning curve like little else. Will you be hitting Nationals in Sacramento come March?
Four, to actually address your original question, I personally feel that 1/2 minute isn't quite enough for F-T/R accuracy. I like to see my test loads (5 round "confirmation" groups) sit closer to 1/3 min. This just gives you that little extra edge in mitigating those pesky vertical leakers.
There are some (literally) world renowned shooters responding here. Most of them are pretty free with whatever info you might be looking for... just depends on how you approach it/them.
Hope this helps (and wasn't too preachy
)
Darrell Buell
Captain, Team USA F-T/R