The weather was great today, and I was able to sneak away from the house for a couple of hours to get to the range. Just this last week I started reloading, so today was the fateful day to see if the work was worth it. Turns out reloading is completely tits, once the bullets start flying. My rifle is a 700 308 AAC-SD in a B&C Medalist with a Vortex 4-16 (which I'm somewhat disenchanted with). The loads were 168 gr SMKHPBT with IMR 4064 38.0gr and Federal primers.
At 100 yards, I was getting a lot of 0.6" 3-shot groups and <0.8" 5 shot groups, which are both totally unheard of until now. I had two 10 shot groups, one 1" and one 1.2". I'm totally aware the majority on this board could clean my clock, so this isn't 'bragging', this was just an encouraging outing for me at this stage.
The coolest part was finding someone left barely used shoot-n-see at 200 yards. I didn't bother to dial it in, just used 1mil hold over with about 0.2mil windage. Ended up with a 1/2" group. Had another five shot 0.75" group on another.
Even though I know the reloads produced much more consistent behavior, I made a couple of changes to my shooting platform. I focused more on getting my center of gravity straight behind the rifle, ditching as much muscle use as I could, and working harder to follow my shot to the target.
Oh, I also picked up a Konus 80mm along with my reloading gear. This thing is great! Dramatically clearer images than my super-badass, walmart-special Simmons. Thirty cal holes were still crisp at 300 yards. Easy win for the price.
Sorry for the rambling! This is more of a 'thanks for your help' than anything. Take care-
At 100 yards, I was getting a lot of 0.6" 3-shot groups and <0.8" 5 shot groups, which are both totally unheard of until now. I had two 10 shot groups, one 1" and one 1.2". I'm totally aware the majority on this board could clean my clock, so this isn't 'bragging', this was just an encouraging outing for me at this stage.
The coolest part was finding someone left barely used shoot-n-see at 200 yards. I didn't bother to dial it in, just used 1mil hold over with about 0.2mil windage. Ended up with a 1/2" group. Had another five shot 0.75" group on another.
Even though I know the reloads produced much more consistent behavior, I made a couple of changes to my shooting platform. I focused more on getting my center of gravity straight behind the rifle, ditching as much muscle use as I could, and working harder to follow my shot to the target.
Oh, I also picked up a Konus 80mm along with my reloading gear. This thing is great! Dramatically clearer images than my super-badass, walmart-special Simmons. Thirty cal holes were still crisp at 300 yards. Easy win for the price.
Sorry for the rambling! This is more of a 'thanks for your help' than anything. Take care-
