New Kestrel Elite Owner, Class coming up.

[pmclaine]

Took advantage of the Cameraland sale and bought a Kestrel Sportsman that I have upgraded to a 5700 Elite. Found a Bushnell Conx RF in the PX to pair up with it.

Taking a 1000 yard class at Sig in mid May and hope to play some with my Kestrel and get my feet wet with it on a KD range.

Ill be using a USMC M40 clone (24 inch 10 twist varmint barrel M700) Remington .308 with a Leupold 3-9X, capped turret, mil reticle scope. Ive shot the same class a few other times with more capable gear and the fun of this event will be using reticle holds only to run the class. Ill be dialing down magnification to double my reticle value. Might come up a little short with 10 mils in the reticle at +/- 4.5X. May have to change my 100 yard zero from the cross hair to holding under 2 or 3 mils.

My ammo will be Federal GMM 175 SMk.

Ive entered my rifle info into the Kestrel, previous chrono values for my ammo, height of optic above bore, twist etc.

Ive shot the course a few times already so Im pretty confident in what Ill be doing out there regards previous info with similar rifles/ammo. It should be a good exercise to learn the Kestrel/ConX RF tools.

Any advice on choosing G1 or G7 for 175 SMK FGMM?

Any downloads from AB that I should punch in to my Kestrel. I wont have a smart phone with, only thing Ill be linking to will be the ConX RF.

Guessing I should look up latitude for the Sig range?

Any and all good advice for a newbey to Kestrel?

 

[Steel head]

I really like the videos MPA did.
Lotsa info without extra words.

That’s the appeal of the kestrel
No extra crap needed.

Currently waiting for the sun to move a bit more so I can engage the 1120 yard plate.

 

[pmclaine]

2-3 years ago I took a a Sig class and they provided Kestrels.

In the time past I forgot how to use the thing but recall it was easy to figure out, intuitive, when using it. Ill have to check my class notes and hope I took good records.

 

[_Windrider_]

Took advantage of the Cameraland sale and bought a Kestrel Sportsman that I have upgraded to a 5700 Elite. Found a Bushnell Conx RF in the PX to pair up with it.

Taking a 1000 yard class at Sig in mid May and hope to play some with my Kestrel and get my feet wet with it on a KD range.

Ill be using a USMC M40 clone (24 inch 10 twist varmint barrel M700) Remington .308 with a Leupold 3-9X, capped turret, mil reticle scope. Ive shot the same class a few other times with more capable gear and the fun of this event will be using reticle holds only to run the class. Ill be dialing down magnification to double my reticle value. Might come up a little short with 10 mils in the reticle at +/- 4.5X. May have to change my 100 yard zero from the cross hair to holding under 2 or 3 mils.

My ammo will be Federal GMM 175 SMk.

Ive entered my rifle info into the Kestrel, previous chrono values for my ammo, height of optic above bore, twist etc.

Ive shot the course a few times already so Im pretty confident in what Ill be doing out there regards previous info with similar rifles/ammo. It should be a good exercise to learn the Kestrel/ConX RF tools.

Any advice on choosing G1 or G7 for 175 SMK FGMM?

Any downloads from AB that I should punch in to my Kestrel. I wont have a smart phone with, only thing Ill be linking to will be the ConX RF.

Guessing I should look up latitude for the Sig range?

Any and all good advice for a newbey to Kestrel?

Use wind 2 and latitude at zero. Gets rid of Coriolis and SD.

 

[seansmd]

Use wind 2 and latitude at zero. Gets rid of Coriolis and SD.

I believe the SpinDrift is a setting, don't have it in front of me. The WS1 set to zero turns of the Aerodynamic Jump I believe.

 

[pmclaine]

I went in and set latitude to zero, it was at 40.

And SD was an on/off switch so I set it to off.

Id like to turn off the AJ also.

The limited use I had with one of these at Sig on the 1000 yard range it was giving me too much wind likely based on these settings.

It would give me a wind call and if I dialed or held it I usually missed.

I had better luck looking at the wind reading on the device, than judging down range wind, than just holding center, just off center or edge of plate.

 

[_Windrider_]

I went in and set latitude to zero, it was at 40.

And SD was an on/off switch so I set it to off.

Id like to turn off the AJ also.

The limited use I had with one of these at Sig on the 1000 yard range it was giving me too much wind likely based on these settings.

It would give me a wind call and if I dialed or held it I usually missed.

I had better luck looking at the wind reading on the device, than judging down range wind, than just holding center, just off center or edge of plate.

@seansmd is correct above, using wind 2 turns of AJ.

 

[FishDr]

@seansmd is correct above, using wind 2 turns of AJ.

How do you set just Wind 2 to zero? I can set BOTH (W1 and W2) to zero, or I can set W1 to zero and W2 to a given number. If I set W2 to zero, the device automatically sets W1 at zero as well, so it doesn't provide a wind hold estimate.

Thanks so much guys. I wish there was a good primer on how to set up these nuances. Appreciate the help here.

 

[pmclaine]

How do you set just Wind 2 to zero? I can set BOTH (W1 and W2) to zero, or I can set W1 to zero and W2 to a given number. If I set W2 to zero, the device automatically sets W1 at zero as well, so it doesn't provide a wind hold estimate.

Thanks so much guys. I wish there was a good primer on how to set up these nuances. Appreciate the help here.

Good question.

I thought Wind 1 was determined by the impeller and Wind 2 was an input gust condition or perhaps some down range observation.

 

[_Windrider_]

How do you set just Wind 2 to zero? I can set BOTH (W1 and W2) to zero, or I can set W1 to zero and W2 to a given number. If I set W2 to zero, the device automatically sets W1 at zero as well, so it doesn't provide a wind hold estimate.

Thanks so much guys. I wish there was a good primer on how to set up these nuances. Appreciate the help here.

Did I say set wind 2 to zero? If I did I mistyped. i thought I said use only wind 2.

 

[seansmd]

Did I say set wind 2 to zero? If I did I mistyped. i thought I said use only wind 2.

Summary:
Disable AJ: Wind 1 set to 0
Disable coriolis: Lat set to 0, DOF set to 0(not sure this matters but saw it mentioned in another thread by the AB folks https://www.snipershide.com/shootin...-elite-ab-w-link-ab-app.6882030/#post-7012517 )
Disable Spin Drift: In the menu disable Spin Drift

 

[pmclaine]

Summary:
Disable AJ: Wind 1 set to 0
Disable coriolis: Lat set to 0, DOF set to 0(not sure this matters but saw it mentioned in another thread by the AB folks https://www.snipershide.com/shootin...-elite-ab-w-link-ab-app.6882030/#post-7012517 )
Disable Spin Drift: In the menu disable Spin Drift

Really no pointing down range to capture DOF?

Makes sense as the only reason to do it would be to get a reference of target to internal compass for coriolis.

 

[8up]

With everything zeroed out, such as AJ, Latitude, spin Drift, and wind, really no need to capture DOF. It will work just fine. If you want to see what wind is doing at your position, just go into weather mode in the wind menu and see what it is and the angle. Then put your wind calls into practice based on terrain on your firing range.

If you capture wind in the ballistics mode, you will need to capture DOF otherwise you will have some funky solution, and it will turn on AJ and wind into your solutions.

 

[FishDr]

Did I say set wind 2 to zero? If I did I mistyped. i thought I said use only wind 2.

That makes much more sense... Thanks fellas. I'll play with it this afternoon and report back.

 

[pmclaine]

In order to make my class more interesting I'll be shooting a Vietnam era clone M40 mounting a Leupold 3-9X with capped turrets. Adjustments are in MOA and the mil reticle is in well.......mils.

I plan on checking zero on Wednesday.

My current 100 yard zero is on the cross hair.

If I dial down to 4.5X+\- to double the hold in the crosshairs that won't give me enough holdover for 1000 yards, shooting 175 FGMM at 2650 MV.

This what I came up with using JBM. If I zero at 2 mils holding under I should get to 1000 without having the torso targets get lost in the duplex stadia.

Holds should look something like this.....

Kestrel should come in handy to confirm or adjust holds.

Ranges we will shoot are typically 100, 300, 750 and 1000 during the Reach for 1000 class. With about 2/3 of the day shooting under 800 most of my shooting can be at 9X.

 

[FishDr]

@pmclaine
Another approach to consider … you could zero and hold as normal at 9x. Then calculat known holds for your longest targets (or any other ranges beyond holdover in scope). Put a board up at your zero range with those subtensions well marked. Hold your zero at the top, then back off power ring until top of lower stadia is at known subtension for the range you are measuring. Mark the power ring with range.
I’ve used this method to mark out ranges on a simple duplex reticle as well. Keeps zero on the crosshair (usually).
Good luck.

 

[pmclaine]

@pmclaine
Another approach to consider … you could zero and hold as normal at 9x. Then calculat known holds for your longest targets (or any other ranges beyond holdover in scope). Put a board up at your zero range with those subtensions well marked. Hold your zero at the top, then back off power ring until top of lower stadia is at known subtension for the range you are measuring. Mark the power ring with range.
I’ve used this method to mark out ranges on a simple duplex reticle as well. Keeps zero on the crosshair (usually).
Good luck.

Neat trick, Thank you.

 

[pmclaine]

Set Wind 1 to 0 - this will eliminate Aerodynamic Jump

Latitude is set to 0 and direction of fire is set to 0 - So Coriolis will be zeroed out as the device thinks Im on the equator shooting due north.

Spin Drift is turned off in the menu.

If I want to capture a wind reading than I should press enter on Wind, start capture, capture. Wind 1 and Wind 2 will show a value, zero Wind 1, use only Wind 2?

Going to check this out at 100 yards today, confirm zero, see how reticle holds line up on a tall target. Got my Kestrel linked with a ConX range finder.

I feel like Im entering the modern era...

almost.

 

[seansmd]

I don't capture wind anymore I go into the weather menu and observe the wind and then use my miles per hour gun calculation

 

[pmclaine]

I don't capture wind anymore I go into the weather menu and observe the wind and then use my miles per hour gun calculation

The neat thing about the wind meter is it seems to indicate to me I overestimate wind.

What Im feeling on my face Im guessing as 5-8 and the Kestrel is saying 1-2 mph.

 

[TACC]

Great info, thanks for passing it along

 

[FishDr]

The neat thing about the wind meter is it seems to indicate to me I overestimate wind.

What Im feeling on my face Im guessing as 5-8 and the Kestrel is saying 1-2 mph.

I so the same thing - and I’m terrible at accurately estimating wind, but greatly improving. Using the kestrel as a tool is helping.
I heard on a podcast (i think it was @lowlight ) said most guys OVERestimate wind but UNDERestimate its effect - strangely it seems to balance out.

 

[pmclaine]

Went out to 100 and played with my rifle and the 9X to 4.5X shift........

Kestrel and ConX gave me what I expected for shooting at a short 100 yards.....

.

 

[FishDr]

After matching the inputs and adjusting the settings as @pmclaine suggested above in post #18, this new kestrel exactly matches my solutions from the Shooter app on phone out to 1250. Those had been trued so looks good to go.