If you want to see how well your rifle really does you need to shoot dual range targets at same time.
It is kind of tricky but here is how. Set up target at 300 yards on a target board that has a large open hole. Say the size of the black on a 200 yard repair center. Place the 200 yard repair center on the hole at 300 so when bullet goes through it it only contacts the light weight paper of the repair center and does not go through cardboard,other old targets etc where it will disturb projectile flight.
Next directly behind that target place a backer target at 600 yards. I use rolls of newsprint or movers packing paper (same thing). You can get end of news print rolls from your local newspaper. There are several hundred feet left on these rolls.
When the movers unloaded us here I got them to leave me about a five in stack of wrapping paper I have stored away that will last for years.
Aim at the 300 yard target in a no or very little mirage/wind condition and fire, bullet passes through first target and imprints on second target.
The ideal condition is cold overcast winter day with no wind for this test.
This gives you several advantages. One you have the exact same aim point for both targets and you only have half the mirage to distort aim point so any distortion at 300 is not magnified by trying to aim at 600. As stated above a cold overcast day is ideal or in the evening in summer right before sundown if you have a range with no wind.
Also be aware no wind condtion can get you heat waves coming off the barrel through the field of view of the scope. This is where receiver mounted scopes are at a disadvantage in a no wind condition and heat coming off the barrel straight up will distort the aiming where the old long Unertl's and Lymans objective lens were closer to the muzzle and it was quite easy to roll a piece of target into a roll and attach a tube to scope with rubber band and no mirage at all was allowed to interfere with sighting.
This is why I have a ceiling fan right over my bench. I turn it on low and heat from barrel is deflected from in front of scope.
If your results duplicate mine you will be amazed at the groups and the results you get.
Normally one would expect the 600 yard group to be exactly double the 300 yard group but not so. My testing has indicated the 600 yard group will more than double in size. Or say I have a 4" group at 300, I will see a 9" group at 600 instead of an 8".
I have run about twenty of these series and all but two increased 125%.
Next the group pattern does not dupe at 600 yards.
I had two groups that increased approximately 90% at 600. In other words 4" at 300 got 7.5" at 600.
During testing I chronograph each shot and plot the shots as fired at 300. For instance I had a flier at 300 and say it was at 10 o'clock however the 600 yard target did not show a flier at 10 o'clock at 600. I have had fliers at 600 that do not dupe at 300.
Extreme care must be taken to insure the rifle is fired from the same position each shot.
Our section did a sniper rifle test at Aberdeen PG many years ago and there were targets at 500 and 1000. Obviously the mid range trajectory was way up there so a mechanism was constructed that allowed the target at 500 to be lowered for replacement and plotting and raised back to the same spot.
They were man fired as it was proven many years before that a man firing a weapon could beat a FA mount and it was concluded the only advantage the FA mount gave was it did not develop eye fatigue and in the case of ammo testing allowed fast follow on shots.
The accuracy (which we referred to as dispersion testing) was required to be fired by three NRA Master Class rifle shooters holding either highpower or smallbore classification. Several of us held both.
We had professional gunners with between three and five million rounds of experience. They were outstanding at loading mags, pulling triggers, picking up brass but when it came to shooting believe it or not they were not that good. They didn't like not being considered good and to prove it to them I set up a series of tests on 100 yard indoor range. We all shot same rifle, same lot of ammo and I beat them every time. They were trigger pullers, not shooters.
What really burned them up was I was able to produce smaller groups than they could using the FA mount with same ammo, same rifle etc.
During my series here I had the most amazing thing happen. I shot the first two shots at 300 yards and it was a perfect double so I stopped the test immediately and went down to 600 to check the results.
OK the question of the day is how far would you expect shots to be separated at 600 yards that went through the same hole at 300 yards?
Anyone else ever tried this?
It is kind of tricky but here is how. Set up target at 300 yards on a target board that has a large open hole. Say the size of the black on a 200 yard repair center. Place the 200 yard repair center on the hole at 300 so when bullet goes through it it only contacts the light weight paper of the repair center and does not go through cardboard,other old targets etc where it will disturb projectile flight.
Next directly behind that target place a backer target at 600 yards. I use rolls of newsprint or movers packing paper (same thing). You can get end of news print rolls from your local newspaper. There are several hundred feet left on these rolls.
When the movers unloaded us here I got them to leave me about a five in stack of wrapping paper I have stored away that will last for years.
Aim at the 300 yard target in a no or very little mirage/wind condition and fire, bullet passes through first target and imprints on second target.
The ideal condition is cold overcast winter day with no wind for this test.
This gives you several advantages. One you have the exact same aim point for both targets and you only have half the mirage to distort aim point so any distortion at 300 is not magnified by trying to aim at 600. As stated above a cold overcast day is ideal or in the evening in summer right before sundown if you have a range with no wind.
Also be aware no wind condtion can get you heat waves coming off the barrel through the field of view of the scope. This is where receiver mounted scopes are at a disadvantage in a no wind condition and heat coming off the barrel straight up will distort the aiming where the old long Unertl's and Lymans objective lens were closer to the muzzle and it was quite easy to roll a piece of target into a roll and attach a tube to scope with rubber band and no mirage at all was allowed to interfere with sighting.
This is why I have a ceiling fan right over my bench. I turn it on low and heat from barrel is deflected from in front of scope.
If your results duplicate mine you will be amazed at the groups and the results you get.
Normally one would expect the 600 yard group to be exactly double the 300 yard group but not so. My testing has indicated the 600 yard group will more than double in size. Or say I have a 4" group at 300, I will see a 9" group at 600 instead of an 8".
I have run about twenty of these series and all but two increased 125%.
Next the group pattern does not dupe at 600 yards.
I had two groups that increased approximately 90% at 600. In other words 4" at 300 got 7.5" at 600.
During testing I chronograph each shot and plot the shots as fired at 300. For instance I had a flier at 300 and say it was at 10 o'clock however the 600 yard target did not show a flier at 10 o'clock at 600. I have had fliers at 600 that do not dupe at 300.
Extreme care must be taken to insure the rifle is fired from the same position each shot.
Our section did a sniper rifle test at Aberdeen PG many years ago and there were targets at 500 and 1000. Obviously the mid range trajectory was way up there so a mechanism was constructed that allowed the target at 500 to be lowered for replacement and plotting and raised back to the same spot.
They were man fired as it was proven many years before that a man firing a weapon could beat a FA mount and it was concluded the only advantage the FA mount gave was it did not develop eye fatigue and in the case of ammo testing allowed fast follow on shots.
The accuracy (which we referred to as dispersion testing) was required to be fired by three NRA Master Class rifle shooters holding either highpower or smallbore classification. Several of us held both.
We had professional gunners with between three and five million rounds of experience. They were outstanding at loading mags, pulling triggers, picking up brass but when it came to shooting believe it or not they were not that good. They didn't like not being considered good and to prove it to them I set up a series of tests on 100 yard indoor range. We all shot same rifle, same lot of ammo and I beat them every time. They were trigger pullers, not shooters.
What really burned them up was I was able to produce smaller groups than they could using the FA mount with same ammo, same rifle etc.
During my series here I had the most amazing thing happen. I shot the first two shots at 300 yards and it was a perfect double so I stopped the test immediately and went down to 600 to check the results.
OK the question of the day is how far would you expect shots to be separated at 600 yards that went through the same hole at 300 yards?
Anyone else ever tried this?
