Advanced Marksmanship .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

[Garvey]

A bud of mine and I went into the TX Panhandle Sunday through Wednesday prarie dog shotting. Due to the drought they're suffering, there weren't near as many prarie dogs as last year. So we were banging some steel Tuesday evening. He didn't know how to spot very well, but seeing this helps me after-wards.

We had 15-20 mph wind left to right but the trace shows up pretty well. I was shooting a .22-250 with a 55 gr. SGK HPBT.

I learned that I need to take about .1 to .2 out of my elevation turret after reviewing this video. Filming shots is going to really help me to learn what's going well and what needs to be improved.

I think the delay of me getting started shooting is due to me having to reference my dope chart and dial in elevation. But once I started shooting it went pretty fast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDsf2trBOxA

 

[Kelly The Lionfish Hunter]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

What's up man, Kelly Ash from THF here. Watched the video again for the trace, lol. Love that shit.

 

[Garvey]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

Now I know another one that lurks in the shadows of each. You gonna shoot at 3 MILs right? Dieselgeek should be.

 

[blklabs]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

I love watching trace. Nice video.

 

[EXSOCAL]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

Nice vid, that little bullet seems to be holding on pretty good considering the wind. Nice shooting as well.

 

[Michael Riley]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

I remember my first time shooting 400 yards with my .22-250. Was my first time I'd ever shot anything long (well, long to me at the time) range and I found out real quick how much the wind comes into play with those little bullets. Moved out to 600 yards and a light wind completely kicked my ass! Lesson learned I guess. That's the only time I've ever shot that caliber that far though, so I doub't that I'd do much better the 2nd time.

Anyways, great vid and good shootin! I can't imagine how irritated I'd get shooting into a 20mph wind at that range lol

 

[head2h2o]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

The trace shows up nicely on that video. Thanks for sharing.

 

[customshooter]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

Nice... You can actually see the bullet curving!

 

[Who Dat]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

I have mine zeroed for 400 yards and use a heavier bullet and it rocks the prairie dogs on a windy day.

 

[Garvey]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

"Shooter" on the android called for a 1 MIL hold @ 400 yds. It was actually .5 MIL. It must have been because I input elevation and not station pressure. I don't have a Kestrel 4500 so elevation is the best I can do right now. This taught me that station pressure is going to be a better method of correcting than elevation above sea level.

The rifle was zeroed at 100 yds. and @ 500' elevation. Where this video was filmed is 4200' elevation, significant difference. A .22-250 can not do what a .308 can do, overall, but it can get to the target very fast within 500 yards. That rifle/ load combo makes 3780 fps at the muzzle. Obviously it maintains velocity better at that elevation above sea level.

Here is the trade off; super fast bullet with a poor BC can do well in these conditons vs. a good BC that isn't going near as fast (175 SMK 2770 fps). Next year I'll bring my .308 and compare what it's doing in the same conditons.

 

[Kelly The Lionfish Hunter]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Halligan</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Now I know another one that lurks in the shadows of each. You gonna shoot at 3 MILs right? Dieselgeek should be. </div></div>

I don't think I can make it due to timing issues but I've been eyeballing the thread about it and trying to figure a way to get there.

If not this one, I'll be doing one around here sometime soon. The rifle and load are ready and I'm almost ready so now it's a matter of timing.

On the difference between the calculator stated numbers vs actual performance, I've seen the same thing out of my tables vs what I get on paper. I don't know where the math goes wrong and don't have the experience to figure it out so I just hold with just over half the value stated by my calculator. Doesn't work all that bad but I know it's not the best way to do it.

Good post, man!

 

[Kelly The Lionfish Hunter]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

"It must have been because I input elevation and not station pressure. I don't have a Kestrel 4500 so elevation is the best I can do right now. This taught me that station pressure is going to be a better method of correcting than elevation above sea level."

I have a watch that gives pressure readings. How can I use the baro instead of the elevation to get corrections? I use the DBM calculator and it won't allow a blank field in the elevation.

 

[Radar360]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

for these videos, do we have to use special (faster) recording speeds? I've tried to record some of mine and haven't seem to be able to record the trace.

Nice vid by the way.

 

[Garvey]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Radar86</div><div class="ubbcode-body">for these videos, do we have to use special (faster) recording speeds? I've tried to record some of mine and haven't seem to be able to record the trace.

Nice vid by the way. </div></div>

I can't tell you bud. I just filmed it, loaded it to my computer, and You-Tube accepted it. It's magic as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Garvey]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

If you must input elevation then do so. A Google search will give you elevation for a given town. From what I've learned a few hundred feet of variance won't make that much difference. I looked up "Dalhart, TX elevation" and it gave me 3900'. I was actually 4200' to 4300'.

Input your elevation, then input your baro reading since it's available on your watch (very cool BTW). I've had ballistic calculators get me close but there usually not right on the money. I've have actual field dope differ significantly from calculator dope and what I've done to get them to match more closely is, within the calculator, move the BC up and down or move the MV up and down until I get field dope and calculated dope to match as close as possible.

I've never had them exactly match up. About the third week of Feb I went out with calculated dope and tested it on targets from 600 to 1000 in 100 yard increments. Calculated dope was off by quite a bit. I was dialing what was calculated then having to take elevation out of the turret because I was over shooting targets. I wrote down the field conditions, field elevation turret setting, and went to the calculator and did what I mentioned to get them to match.

There could be a number of factors working against me here. I think one of the most probable is the tracking within the scope, but I havn't verified that. Another factor could be Sierra's published BC. And one I'm wondering about is how accurate is my chronograph. I need to get a bud of mine to bring his out and chrongraph my rifle on both of our chronographs to see what kind of dicrepency there is.

 

[wtopace]

Re: .22-250, 15-20 mph wind, 400 yds

Nice video, thanks for sharing. The wind really takes it's toll on that .22 bullet - even considering the high velocity. .22-250 is still a favorite caliber of mine for prairie dogs.