Yesterday, I shot my last 1000 yard match before Raton. I have loaded 500 rounds for the upcoming event and because of the vagaries of component availability in the last year or so, I found myself starting a new batch of Varget at some point in the process. I elected to start the new batch from the entire 500 rounds, using my same load. Yep, breaking all the rules, don't remind me. Because of travel and commitments, I was unable to do any testing. Until yesterday. Also, I did this entire batch with an added step in my powder loading, the use of my Gempro 250 with the Omega powder trickler. Yep, two changes (powder batch and scale), but I was thinking the scale thing was not a downside.
It took me a little while to get used to the Gempro and I altered my sequence a little bit after the first 30 rounds or so. I used to get the powder charge from the Chargemaster, dump it in the case and seat the bullet while the CM1500 was measuring the next load. Now, I use the CM to drop 0.1 grain short of my target load. I dump the contents onto the GM250 's tray and trickle up from there using the Omega. I discovered that while the two scales were pretty much in agreement of the weight, at least at the grain and fairly close at the tenth of a grain, the CM was not as consistent as could be hoped for. When it was showing the desired weight, which was virtually all the time, the variations on the GM250 were an eye-opener.
It took a little while to understand the idiosyncrasies of the GM250 but after 10 rounds or so, I was confident that I was loading to the kernel, if the GM250 could be trusted, of course. If I had been smart, I would not have seated the bullets immediately and I could have redone the first 10 or so, but it is what it is. After a little while I decided that it would be much more efficient to charge 50 cases at a time and then seat the bullets for those 50. This reduced the workload, switching from a delicate operation to a gross operation and back over and over, and it afforded me a break after 1.5 hours sitting at a table measuring powder. By the end of the 500 round marathon, I could hit my target weight on the GM250 with my Omega within 10-12 seconds and the GemPro 250 and I are old friends who understand each other.
So yesterday during the first match, my face was awash in water, not so much my sweat as the humidity in the air. The temperature was in the low 80s at the start and there was no way I could keep my glasses dry and clean. I had 3 different cloths and they were all drenched at the end of the relay. I even turned on the illuminated reticle to help me find the dang thing. My first sighters were high, so I thought the new batch of Varget was hotter than the old one. I adjusted the scope and after my customary five sighters on the first match, I went for record totally drenched and fidgeting like a mad eel. I was wiping my glasses at every shot, and sometimes two or three times. I was also thinking about how the first 10 rounds were not my best loading work and that played on my mind also. I should have told myself that while they were not the best of the lot, they were better than any of the multiple thousands I had loaded with the CM1500 alone. Then I discovered (realized) that I was shooting high consistently in the 9 at 11 o'clock. So I adjusted my scope and got an 8 at 11 o'clock. While wiping my glasses, I made another adjustment to the scope and got a 7 at 11 o'clock. You guessed it, I was turning the scope knobs the wrong way. It only cost me 5 points in two shots. By the end of the first 15 round match, my scope settings were right back to where they were at the beginning of the match; there was no detectable difference in the Varget lots. I had worried for nothing, but did manage to lose 14 points in the first 15 round match.
After the pit duty I returned to the line to discover that while it was hotter, my glasses were not covered with water. I just cleaned them before the start of the string and shot my entire string quite quickly, more for confirmation of the ammo and scope settings than anything else as I had resolved that I had shot myself out of winning or placing with my disastrous first string. I shot a 145-4X in about 7 or 8 minutes. My puller got a good workout, but I noticed that the shots were all horizontal; no vertical issues at all. On the third match, I continued shooting very quickly and the wind was up at that time, but again, there were no vertical issues. I shot a 142-3 in about 6 minutes or so and the shots were very much horizontal. When I got to the pits for my final duty I could see the spread and it was smaller than the X-ring but I did not measure it as the next shooter fired on that sheet. By that time the temperature was 101 degrees and I was dragging a little bit.
A big weight has been lifted from my shoulders; the ammo is terrific, the best I have ever produced and the gun shoots magnificently. It's all me now.
One issue remains though. I am trying to understand how or why I was so drenched in the first match when it was cooler than in the later matches. I think it has to do with the dew point. We started to shoot at 8:15AM, and I arrived at 6:40AM and was outside doing registration and match prep for about an hour and a half before taking my first shot. Need more research on dew point.
It took me a little while to get used to the Gempro and I altered my sequence a little bit after the first 30 rounds or so. I used to get the powder charge from the Chargemaster, dump it in the case and seat the bullet while the CM1500 was measuring the next load. Now, I use the CM to drop 0.1 grain short of my target load. I dump the contents onto the GM250 's tray and trickle up from there using the Omega. I discovered that while the two scales were pretty much in agreement of the weight, at least at the grain and fairly close at the tenth of a grain, the CM was not as consistent as could be hoped for. When it was showing the desired weight, which was virtually all the time, the variations on the GM250 were an eye-opener.
It took a little while to understand the idiosyncrasies of the GM250 but after 10 rounds or so, I was confident that I was loading to the kernel, if the GM250 could be trusted, of course. If I had been smart, I would not have seated the bullets immediately and I could have redone the first 10 or so, but it is what it is. After a little while I decided that it would be much more efficient to charge 50 cases at a time and then seat the bullets for those 50. This reduced the workload, switching from a delicate operation to a gross operation and back over and over, and it afforded me a break after 1.5 hours sitting at a table measuring powder. By the end of the 500 round marathon, I could hit my target weight on the GM250 with my Omega within 10-12 seconds and the GemPro 250 and I are old friends who understand each other.
So yesterday during the first match, my face was awash in water, not so much my sweat as the humidity in the air. The temperature was in the low 80s at the start and there was no way I could keep my glasses dry and clean. I had 3 different cloths and they were all drenched at the end of the relay. I even turned on the illuminated reticle to help me find the dang thing. My first sighters were high, so I thought the new batch of Varget was hotter than the old one. I adjusted the scope and after my customary five sighters on the first match, I went for record totally drenched and fidgeting like a mad eel. I was wiping my glasses at every shot, and sometimes two or three times. I was also thinking about how the first 10 rounds were not my best loading work and that played on my mind also. I should have told myself that while they were not the best of the lot, they were better than any of the multiple thousands I had loaded with the CM1500 alone. Then I discovered (realized) that I was shooting high consistently in the 9 at 11 o'clock. So I adjusted my scope and got an 8 at 11 o'clock. While wiping my glasses, I made another adjustment to the scope and got a 7 at 11 o'clock. You guessed it, I was turning the scope knobs the wrong way. It only cost me 5 points in two shots. By the end of the first 15 round match, my scope settings were right back to where they were at the beginning of the match; there was no detectable difference in the Varget lots. I had worried for nothing, but did manage to lose 14 points in the first 15 round match.
After the pit duty I returned to the line to discover that while it was hotter, my glasses were not covered with water. I just cleaned them before the start of the string and shot my entire string quite quickly, more for confirmation of the ammo and scope settings than anything else as I had resolved that I had shot myself out of winning or placing with my disastrous first string. I shot a 145-4X in about 7 or 8 minutes. My puller got a good workout, but I noticed that the shots were all horizontal; no vertical issues at all. On the third match, I continued shooting very quickly and the wind was up at that time, but again, there were no vertical issues. I shot a 142-3 in about 6 minutes or so and the shots were very much horizontal. When I got to the pits for my final duty I could see the spread and it was smaller than the X-ring but I did not measure it as the next shooter fired on that sheet. By that time the temperature was 101 degrees and I was dragging a little bit.
A big weight has been lifted from my shoulders; the ammo is terrific, the best I have ever produced and the gun shoots magnificently. It's all me now.
One issue remains though. I am trying to understand how or why I was so drenched in the first match when it was cooler than in the later matches. I think it has to do with the dew point. We started to shoot at 8:15AM, and I arrived at 6:40AM and was outside doing registration and match prep for about an hour and a half before taking my first shot. Need more research on dew point.
