I went out yesterday to my current 500(ish) yard spot for some plinking action. After zeroing at 100, I stepped up to the 530 yard target. I was not impressed with my performance. Only 4 hits on paper, and I'm not even going to say how many shots I took.
I was shooting Federal 150 grain soft point (.308 power-shok). I was shooting around 2 MOA at 100 yards with this ammo after I zero'd, so I figured I should give the 530 yarder a shot.
What I'm trying to figure out is how much my missing was due to shooting lower grade ammo and how much was just shooter error (ie wind estimation). I'm totally new to long range shooting, but have shot under 1/2 MOA with Match ammo so I know my shooting technique isn't complete garbage.
How well (MOA) can blue-box Federal be shot? Taking a look at the ballistics table shows that a match round is off by 22" at 500 yards with a 10mph crosswind, while the soft point 150 grain is off by 39.2". Thats quite a difference.
Seeing as how I'm a noob and don't know how to estimate wind, a 10mph crosswind could have made me miss completely.
Am I wasting my time shooting this load at over 500 yards or do I just need to learn to read the wind (which I have to do anyway)?
I'll probably start handloading just to cut down the costs (50 bucks a box is steep for a peasant like me), but for now it's either keep shooting the cheap stuff or drop the dollars for more Gold Medal Match and watch the bank account whither. So once again, is shooting the soft-point at this range a waste of time or just a learning curve?
I was shooting Federal 150 grain soft point (.308 power-shok). I was shooting around 2 MOA at 100 yards with this ammo after I zero'd, so I figured I should give the 530 yarder a shot.
What I'm trying to figure out is how much my missing was due to shooting lower grade ammo and how much was just shooter error (ie wind estimation). I'm totally new to long range shooting, but have shot under 1/2 MOA with Match ammo so I know my shooting technique isn't complete garbage.
How well (MOA) can blue-box Federal be shot? Taking a look at the ballistics table shows that a match round is off by 22" at 500 yards with a 10mph crosswind, while the soft point 150 grain is off by 39.2". Thats quite a difference.
Seeing as how I'm a noob and don't know how to estimate wind, a 10mph crosswind could have made me miss completely.
Am I wasting my time shooting this load at over 500 yards or do I just need to learn to read the wind (which I have to do anyway)?
I'll probably start handloading just to cut down the costs (50 bucks a box is steep for a peasant like me), but for now it's either keep shooting the cheap stuff or drop the dollars for more Gold Medal Match and watch the bank account whither. So once again, is shooting the soft-point at this range a waste of time or just a learning curve?
