I had the opportunity to spend a day with a US army sniper two Saturdays ago on a local range that reaches to 1400 yards. I haven't had that much fun in a long time and I learned a tremendous amount but as the saying goes, the more you know the more you realize you don't know.
The rig:
I was shooting a new to me Remington 308 5r (24" barrel) in its factory hs precision stock. I had a timney trigger installed and set just to the light side of two pounds before this. The scope was on the rifle when I bought it. It is a Zeiss conquest 6.5-20x50 with mil-dot reticle. I was shooting 175 smk's pushed by 43.5 grains of varget, CCI primers, brand new lapua brass, and bullets were seated .009 off the lands. Honest to god all this was a shot in the dark. No pun intended. I had never fired a round through this rifle before I arrived that day. The load was, according to my manuals and data from searching here, a safe load.
The lesson:
We started with the mechanics of long range shooting and worked on body & rifle position for some time before ever getting the ammo out of the truck. My first three shots were approximately 0.65 at 100. I didn't put a caliper on them because that wasn't the focus of the day. They were high and right so we brought it in, fired another three rounds, and this was a little larger but not more than 0.75". We then used his data card for a very similar rifle and load to put me on target at 400 yards. 400-700 was like falling off a log. At 800, I struggled all day but the range owner attested to the fact that his target placement at 800 caused grief for many people. Due to it's location, there is almost minimal feedback from where the round made impact if its not on the steel. 900 turned out to be as far as I could go. My Zeiss was maxed out on elevation and I was using the fourth mil-dot to get on target. I did ring the steel at 900 three times to eliminate the "lucky shot" thought from my mind.
After taking a break to let our rifles cool down a bit, we set up a chrono and shot six rounds through it to get my muzzle velocity. My highest was 2612 and my lowest was 2553.
Here are my questions:
First of all, my scope is on a 20 moa base. I would obviously like to reach farther but am limited by my scope. If I change to a 30 moa base, would the 65 moa internal elevation of the vortex viper PST (vs 45 of the Zeiss) get me out to 1400? I kind of doubt it but I don't know. My next choice would be the vortex razer because mile high shooting sports is running a special on them with a spuhr mount. Also, for this type of shooting would a FFP scope be preferable or no?
Next, I have a very simple reloading setup. I have a basic powder drop, a digital scale and balance scale, and an rcbs single stage press. In order to decrease the spread in MV I assume I will need to individually weigh every single powder charge? Other tips would be appreciated.
Finally, I have replaced the hs precision with a McMillan A5 setup and installed a badger ordnance dbm. I got a deal on the stock because it is a less desirable color. Can these stocks be cerakoted? If not what options short of a rattle can do I have to make this stock not quite so...ugly?
Thanks for taking the time to offer any insight to another FNG. This range has a competition the first saturday of each month and I would like to try for the sake of learning more and more. I have no delusions of winning. I'd be happy to not look like a fool. Please forgive me if I havent used forum accepted terminology for everything. This is all new and I will learn in due time. Thanks again.
The rig:
I was shooting a new to me Remington 308 5r (24" barrel) in its factory hs precision stock. I had a timney trigger installed and set just to the light side of two pounds before this. The scope was on the rifle when I bought it. It is a Zeiss conquest 6.5-20x50 with mil-dot reticle. I was shooting 175 smk's pushed by 43.5 grains of varget, CCI primers, brand new lapua brass, and bullets were seated .009 off the lands. Honest to god all this was a shot in the dark. No pun intended. I had never fired a round through this rifle before I arrived that day. The load was, according to my manuals and data from searching here, a safe load.
The lesson:
We started with the mechanics of long range shooting and worked on body & rifle position for some time before ever getting the ammo out of the truck. My first three shots were approximately 0.65 at 100. I didn't put a caliper on them because that wasn't the focus of the day. They were high and right so we brought it in, fired another three rounds, and this was a little larger but not more than 0.75". We then used his data card for a very similar rifle and load to put me on target at 400 yards. 400-700 was like falling off a log. At 800, I struggled all day but the range owner attested to the fact that his target placement at 800 caused grief for many people. Due to it's location, there is almost minimal feedback from where the round made impact if its not on the steel. 900 turned out to be as far as I could go. My Zeiss was maxed out on elevation and I was using the fourth mil-dot to get on target. I did ring the steel at 900 three times to eliminate the "lucky shot" thought from my mind.
After taking a break to let our rifles cool down a bit, we set up a chrono and shot six rounds through it to get my muzzle velocity. My highest was 2612 and my lowest was 2553.
Here are my questions:
First of all, my scope is on a 20 moa base. I would obviously like to reach farther but am limited by my scope. If I change to a 30 moa base, would the 65 moa internal elevation of the vortex viper PST (vs 45 of the Zeiss) get me out to 1400? I kind of doubt it but I don't know. My next choice would be the vortex razer because mile high shooting sports is running a special on them with a spuhr mount. Also, for this type of shooting would a FFP scope be preferable or no?
Next, I have a very simple reloading setup. I have a basic powder drop, a digital scale and balance scale, and an rcbs single stage press. In order to decrease the spread in MV I assume I will need to individually weigh every single powder charge? Other tips would be appreciated.
Finally, I have replaced the hs precision with a McMillan A5 setup and installed a badger ordnance dbm. I got a deal on the stock because it is a less desirable color. Can these stocks be cerakoted? If not what options short of a rattle can do I have to make this stock not quite so...ugly?
Thanks for taking the time to offer any insight to another FNG. This range has a competition the first saturday of each month and I would like to try for the sake of learning more and more. I have no delusions of winning. I'd be happy to not look like a fool. Please forgive me if I havent used forum accepted terminology for everything. This is all new and I will learn in due time. Thanks again.
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