A little over a year ago I bought my first precision rifle, a FN SPR A3G, which I introduced to the hide, here
The range I shoot at is a pretty standard 300 yards range, it has range marks at 50, 100, 200, and then a big berm at 300. Over the last year I have dont most of my shooting at 100 and 200 yards for groups on paper, trying to better my control and and abilities with my .308. I have had quite a bit BVAC .308 ammo in both 168 Amax, and 168 SMK stored up that I have purchased at Vegas gun shows over the last couple years. For those of you that have not heard of BVAC, you have probably heard of HSM ammo, of which BVAC broke off from. Its good ammo, probably not Federal Gold Medal Match great, but good.
Something I didnt even know, or notice the first 7 or 8 times I went to the local range where I shoot, is that it actually has a 1,000 yard range right next to it. Its kind of work in progress range, with dirt berms out at 400, 500, 600 gets skipped for some reason, 700, 800, and then at 1,000 yards there is a large long berm clear out in the desert that you wouldnt really notice is part of the range unless someone pointed it out. In fact I never took notice of the farther targets until one day while sitting at my bench, shooting at 100 yards, I couldn't help but notice a guy laying prone at the very end of the cement shooting a DPMS LR308. First thing I noticed is he wasn't even laying straight, but aiming at about 11'clock off thru the brush and cedar trees. I asked him what the heck he was shooting at and he pointed out that there are steel plates at 700 thru 1,000 yards. A quick scan thru my scope confirmed it, out at the 1,000 yard berm is a single rectangle steel plate, which I later measured at 12 inches wide, 15 inches tall.
I didn't attempt a shot at it that day, but a week later me and my buddy headed out to the range to make our first attempts at 1,000 yards. First thing I realized when we where loading our rifles on the bench, is that I didn't have any idea how many clicks I would need to adjust my Mil scope to aim that far. I knew from reading on snipershide that MOA scopes take somewhere around 40 MOA to get there I think, but Mil I had no idea. I knew it was alot, so to start of, I just turned my Leupold M5 Mil turret one full rotation. Took aim at the berm (wasnt even trying for the plate yet) and fired. Luckly, my shooting buddy saw the dirt kick up at about 750 yards. Rather than adjust clicks, I just raised my scope and used the TMR's hash marks to aim, fired again, BOOM!! dirt kicked up at about 900 yards. So I raised up agian, so I was at the second to bottom hash in my scope, BOOM!! Splash down on the birm. So I finally aim at the plate, using my bottom hash marks as my aiming point and fired. Dirt kicked up about 2 feet high, 2 feet to the left. I walked it in with 3 more rounds, and on the 8th round, TINK!! you could hear the distant smack of the bullet on steel. I quickly looked back thru my scope and could see the plate violently swinging from its chains! I stood up and gave a quick fist pump. I was stoked!!! Yes, it took me 8 shots, but I just shot a target from 1,000 yards!! We had to go out immediatley and take a picture.
Yes, I barely hit it, but I hit it. And let me tell you, once you've done it once, you'll be hooked. I went home and told my little brother, who lives down the street in the same college housing, he of course, threw up an immediate BS flag. So, a couple of days later I took him out to the range with me. I still hadn't figured out my MILs, so just like before I turned the knob one full rotation and aimed with the lowest hash mark thru my scope. Took aim, and Boom!!! followed by TINK!!! I hit that sucker first shot, My brother about shit himself looking thru his binos. He tried to hit it with the remaining 9 rounds I had with me but couldn't hit it. The one nice thing about the berm is its very soft dirt, so 9 out of 10 shots that hit the berm you can see where it hits every time.
After a couple more outings taking my buddys out to shoot at it, I finally decided to figure out my MILs, so I can actually aim at it with the center of my reticle. A bunch of shots and knob turning later, I figured it out, its 9.9 MILs, aiming dead center of the plate.
So once I got my mils down, I went out and gave the plate a fresh coat of white paint, which I do every time I go out there because apparently alot of local guys both shoot at, and hit the plate. I loaded up five rounds of my 168 grain Amax BVAC ammo, and decided to attempt a 5 shot group on the steel. With my scope on 20X I can see most of the bullet strikes on the steel plate because they always leave a grey spot that constrasts with the white paint, even looking thru the heat mirage. As you can see below, my first three shots where pretty good, and close. My 4th shot I watched the dirt kick up right next to the plate, I missed by probably less than 3 inches, and after a small adjustment for the miss off to the right side, my 5th shot hit on the left side of the plate.
I am in no way claiming to now be a proficient at 1,000 yards. Far from it, I've probably shot a good 40-50 rounds at 1,000 yards now and have probably >20 hits. But boy it is fun. Especially since a .308 is so slow I can usually fire off the round, and regain my sight picture to watch it hit myself. I also know I need to get away from the 168's, which is all I have had. I just ordered some 155 lapaus, and 175 SMK's from Southwest this last week and am very excited to try them out soon. One thing to mention, I have read alot on here about 168's not being stable at 1,000 yards. But at least at about 5,500 feet here in southern Utah they do fine. In fact its kind of neat, but there is a little, perfectly round "nipple" where each of the Amax's hit the steel plate. You can run your finger over it and it actually protrudes outward rather than inward. I dont know if this is from the Amax's plastic tip collapsing or what. You can see it a little better below.
This would leave me to beleive the Amax's aren't wobbling at all, but hitting straight ahead, tip first.
The range I shoot at is a pretty standard 300 yards range, it has range marks at 50, 100, 200, and then a big berm at 300. Over the last year I have dont most of my shooting at 100 and 200 yards for groups on paper, trying to better my control and and abilities with my .308. I have had quite a bit BVAC .308 ammo in both 168 Amax, and 168 SMK stored up that I have purchased at Vegas gun shows over the last couple years. For those of you that have not heard of BVAC, you have probably heard of HSM ammo, of which BVAC broke off from. Its good ammo, probably not Federal Gold Medal Match great, but good.
Something I didnt even know, or notice the first 7 or 8 times I went to the local range where I shoot, is that it actually has a 1,000 yard range right next to it. Its kind of work in progress range, with dirt berms out at 400, 500, 600 gets skipped for some reason, 700, 800, and then at 1,000 yards there is a large long berm clear out in the desert that you wouldnt really notice is part of the range unless someone pointed it out. In fact I never took notice of the farther targets until one day while sitting at my bench, shooting at 100 yards, I couldn't help but notice a guy laying prone at the very end of the cement shooting a DPMS LR308. First thing I noticed is he wasn't even laying straight, but aiming at about 11'clock off thru the brush and cedar trees. I asked him what the heck he was shooting at and he pointed out that there are steel plates at 700 thru 1,000 yards. A quick scan thru my scope confirmed it, out at the 1,000 yard berm is a single rectangle steel plate, which I later measured at 12 inches wide, 15 inches tall.
I didn't attempt a shot at it that day, but a week later me and my buddy headed out to the range to make our first attempts at 1,000 yards. First thing I realized when we where loading our rifles on the bench, is that I didn't have any idea how many clicks I would need to adjust my Mil scope to aim that far. I knew from reading on snipershide that MOA scopes take somewhere around 40 MOA to get there I think, but Mil I had no idea. I knew it was alot, so to start of, I just turned my Leupold M5 Mil turret one full rotation. Took aim at the berm (wasnt even trying for the plate yet) and fired. Luckly, my shooting buddy saw the dirt kick up at about 750 yards. Rather than adjust clicks, I just raised my scope and used the TMR's hash marks to aim, fired again, BOOM!! dirt kicked up at about 900 yards. So I raised up agian, so I was at the second to bottom hash in my scope, BOOM!! Splash down on the birm. So I finally aim at the plate, using my bottom hash marks as my aiming point and fired. Dirt kicked up about 2 feet high, 2 feet to the left. I walked it in with 3 more rounds, and on the 8th round, TINK!! you could hear the distant smack of the bullet on steel. I quickly looked back thru my scope and could see the plate violently swinging from its chains! I stood up and gave a quick fist pump. I was stoked!!! Yes, it took me 8 shots, but I just shot a target from 1,000 yards!! We had to go out immediatley and take a picture.
Yes, I barely hit it, but I hit it. And let me tell you, once you've done it once, you'll be hooked. I went home and told my little brother, who lives down the street in the same college housing, he of course, threw up an immediate BS flag. So, a couple of days later I took him out to the range with me. I still hadn't figured out my MILs, so just like before I turned the knob one full rotation and aimed with the lowest hash mark thru my scope. Took aim, and Boom!!! followed by TINK!!! I hit that sucker first shot, My brother about shit himself looking thru his binos. He tried to hit it with the remaining 9 rounds I had with me but couldn't hit it. The one nice thing about the berm is its very soft dirt, so 9 out of 10 shots that hit the berm you can see where it hits every time.
After a couple more outings taking my buddys out to shoot at it, I finally decided to figure out my MILs, so I can actually aim at it with the center of my reticle. A bunch of shots and knob turning later, I figured it out, its 9.9 MILs, aiming dead center of the plate.
So once I got my mils down, I went out and gave the plate a fresh coat of white paint, which I do every time I go out there because apparently alot of local guys both shoot at, and hit the plate. I loaded up five rounds of my 168 grain Amax BVAC ammo, and decided to attempt a 5 shot group on the steel. With my scope on 20X I can see most of the bullet strikes on the steel plate because they always leave a grey spot that constrasts with the white paint, even looking thru the heat mirage. As you can see below, my first three shots where pretty good, and close. My 4th shot I watched the dirt kick up right next to the plate, I missed by probably less than 3 inches, and after a small adjustment for the miss off to the right side, my 5th shot hit on the left side of the plate.
I am in no way claiming to now be a proficient at 1,000 yards. Far from it, I've probably shot a good 40-50 rounds at 1,000 yards now and have probably >20 hits. But boy it is fun. Especially since a .308 is so slow I can usually fire off the round, and regain my sight picture to watch it hit myself. I also know I need to get away from the 168's, which is all I have had. I just ordered some 155 lapaus, and 175 SMK's from Southwest this last week and am very excited to try them out soon. One thing to mention, I have read alot on here about 168's not being stable at 1,000 yards. But at least at about 5,500 feet here in southern Utah they do fine. In fact its kind of neat, but there is a little, perfectly round "nipple" where each of the Amax's hit the steel plate. You can run your finger over it and it actually protrudes outward rather than inward. I dont know if this is from the Amax's plastic tip collapsing or what. You can see it a little better below.
This would leave me to beleive the Amax's aren't wobbling at all, but hitting straight ahead, tip first.
