PRS Talk Beginner here: Can I get DOPE on my rifle, put that in my Kestrel, and roll with that for the life of the barrel?

[richthe1]

I shoot factory Hornady 108gr ELDM 6mm creedmoor. Is the velocity, etc., going to be changing much throughout the life of the barrel where I need to change my dope? Do I need to find a new MV (or something?) every “X” number of rounds?

I am getting into PRS club matches and I don’t want to be tweaking a lot of data every few times I go out to shoot. If this is a thing, would a 6.5 or 308 be more forgiving where I wouldn’t have to update my data?

Am I overthinking this?
Thanks for the help!

 

[MCHOG]

Usually, a new barrel's muzzle velocity will increase until you get some baseline copper buildup. I'd put at least 50 rounds through it before I would try to get reliable dope. Your need for data gathering and tracking depends on how precise you want to be and the distances at which you will be shooting. If you are just having fun shooting at targets (rather than being concerned about ethical kills at long range), then go shoot and have fun. Your desire to get and stay on target will naturally lead you to adjust for changes in MV, to the extent your target size and rage requires it.

You'll probably get 1500-2000 rounds through the barrel before you notice a significant drop in MV. Of course, that depends on how you treat your barrel. Yes, a 6.5 (Creedmoor I assume) barrel will last longer - probably 2000-3000 rounds. A 308 will last much longer - about 5000 to 6,000 rounds. I've heard of 308s with 10,000 rounds that still shot well.

 

[richthe1]

Usually, a new barrel's muzzle velocity will increase until you get some baseline copper buildup. I'd put at least 50 rounds through it before I would try to get reliable dope. Your need for data gathering and tracking depends on how precise you want to be and the distances at which you will be shooting. If you are just having fun shooting at targets (rather than being concerned about ethical kills at long range), then go shoot and have fun. Your desire to get and stay on target will naturally lead you to adjust for changes in MV, to the extent your target size and rage requires it.

Thanks for the response! I enjoy shooting PRS, so 1-2MOA Targets. How often do you find yourself having to naturally adjust for changes in MV?

 

[MCHOG]

Thanks for the response! I enjoy shooting PRS, so 1-2MOA Targets. How often do you find yourself having to naturally adjust for changes in MV?

Before a match, I measure MV at site-in with a LabRadar and often see average MV differences of 5 to 20 fps from match to match with factory Hornady Match ammo. That ammo is known to be very consistent, but MV can also be affected by barrel cleanliness, ammo temp, barrel life, and even how you support the rifle. So I tweak my MV in 4DOF all the time, but only by a small amount. Would my score be any different if I didn't do that? I don't know. But at least for me, it's something that give me confidence (even if it is a false sense of confidence) that I think helps more than anything else.

At PRS, you will be shooting mostly between 450 and 750, where a 25 fps change will affect elevation by 0.1 or 0.2. If you are a new shooter, then you will have other errors that will be more significant than that and should probably focus on getting stable and efficient. Once you get to a point where your misses are consistently within a few tenths of a mil and not frequently timing out, then a Magnetospeed or LabRadar would be a good investment.

My thinking for mid-pack shooters is: if you can account for a variable with certainty, you shold do that so the other errors that you can't account for, or don't control sufficiently, compound to smaller number. If you have a Kestrel and know your range, then why let MV be a question mark hanging over your head?

 

[Rob01]

Rich get a velocity before each match and run data off that. You don't need to go shoot and check at every range you might shoot. Most don't have that ability. Use a good ballistic program like the Hornady 4Dof which works great with the ELDs. You will be very close if you put the right data in the program as ballistic programs are garbage in and garbage out. You can get velocity changes in factory ammo from lot to lot so make sure you are shooting the same lot of ammo through the whole match.

As for caliber, you have the 6 Creed so shoot it and see where you want to go from there. It's a good match caliber. Accurate and the only downside is a little less barrel life than 6.5s and .308s.