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So I was out shooting with my BIL and his FIL. Some guys pulled up and said they would be shooting Glocks out to 1200yds that would put the trajectory over our heads with just a slight wind gust, but not to worry, the guy teaching them was highly experienced and it would be ok, he trains SWAT teams, etc.
We expressed the lack of a warm and fuzzy with the idea, informed them that we would suggest otherwise, and packed up to leave, but I decided to stop by and see what the deal was with the gentlemen. Turned out they were all FBI, DEA, IRS, and other Feds/or retired from same, and were doing some very long range shooting just for fun, off the hoods of trucks and off-hand. Blasters ranged .44 Mag Ruger Blackhawks and DPMS Lo-pro classic with Gun Show grade optics, to .30-.338 belted magnum with muzzle break and Leupold. Shots were kicking up dust all over the mountain side.
The guy who was doing the long-range shooting used to work at Quantico, and has written gun articles dating back to the 1970's. He actually was hitting stuff way beyond the commonly accepted effective distances of the gun in question, and has a colorful past.
They asked if I wanted a crack at it. I was really in a hurry to get home, but couldn't resist seeing what my little 16" Grendel would do at that distance, so I hopped up in my truck, discreetly pulled out my phone as I squatted down, and plugged in the data to see what my elevation would be for the shot.....
It gave me 14.4 mils (49.5 MOA) for the 123gr A-MAX at 2450fps at 4400ft ASL, with 81 F temp. I had the atmospherics in already, but only ran my dope out to 1000yds since I have really only shot the 16" out to 600yds, maybe 700yds at BoomerShoot once.
Here's the area we were in. The target they were shooting at was to the left of this, 3 times the distance of the target you can see in my reticle in the picture:
This is 400yds. Target I was shooting at was 1200yds, way to the left of the FOV here.
I got on the hood of one of their trucks, started cranking like crazy on my elevation turret until I hit 14.4 Mils. There was literally no wind that I could see, but I held a little left because I just had a feeling that there was some canyon effect between the ridge we were on, and the one we were shooting, because we had winds up to 12mph earlier in the day from there. I settled the gun's NPOA like I do, and kept the reticle as centered as possible as I broke the shot.
To them, it looked like a hit, but I could see I was just a little low and left, so I corrected and put 3 or 4 more shots on the target, which was just a little dry patch of dirt on the grass at that distance, that couldn't have been wider than .4 Mils, and no taller than .3 Mils (so basically a 3ftx4ft oval target). I was surprised at how easy it was to hit consistently and repeatedly at 1200yds with a little 16" Grendel, which I had written off as an 800yd gun max.
The no-wind conditions really made it easy to be honest, but I was surprised when I went back into my program and saw that the bullet is still supposed to be supersonic at that distance. The data shows 1165fps at 1200yds with a mv of 2450fps using the G1 BC, which isn't even ideal for that bullet or distance-a G7 model would be much better, but it got me really close so that I could have a round in the air after the 1st correction on-target.
This is making me re-think the maximum effective range of the little carbine, and I will be playing with it a lot more at twice the distances I normally do. I'm very interested to see how it will group on paper/cardboard or steel at 1200yds, because the shots were right where I wanted them.
I chrono'd the factory Hornady 123gr A-MAX earlier in the day, and it was running between 2460 and 2470fps for me from the 16" AA ER Shaw button-rifled pipe.
We expressed the lack of a warm and fuzzy with the idea, informed them that we would suggest otherwise, and packed up to leave, but I decided to stop by and see what the deal was with the gentlemen. Turned out they were all FBI, DEA, IRS, and other Feds/or retired from same, and were doing some very long range shooting just for fun, off the hoods of trucks and off-hand. Blasters ranged .44 Mag Ruger Blackhawks and DPMS Lo-pro classic with Gun Show grade optics, to .30-.338 belted magnum with muzzle break and Leupold. Shots were kicking up dust all over the mountain side.
The guy who was doing the long-range shooting used to work at Quantico, and has written gun articles dating back to the 1970's. He actually was hitting stuff way beyond the commonly accepted effective distances of the gun in question, and has a colorful past.
They asked if I wanted a crack at it. I was really in a hurry to get home, but couldn't resist seeing what my little 16" Grendel would do at that distance, so I hopped up in my truck, discreetly pulled out my phone as I squatted down, and plugged in the data to see what my elevation would be for the shot.....
It gave me 14.4 mils (49.5 MOA) for the 123gr A-MAX at 2450fps at 4400ft ASL, with 81 F temp. I had the atmospherics in already, but only ran my dope out to 1000yds since I have really only shot the 16" out to 600yds, maybe 700yds at BoomerShoot once.
Here's the area we were in. The target they were shooting at was to the left of this, 3 times the distance of the target you can see in my reticle in the picture:
This is 400yds. Target I was shooting at was 1200yds, way to the left of the FOV here.
I got on the hood of one of their trucks, started cranking like crazy on my elevation turret until I hit 14.4 Mils. There was literally no wind that I could see, but I held a little left because I just had a feeling that there was some canyon effect between the ridge we were on, and the one we were shooting, because we had winds up to 12mph earlier in the day from there. I settled the gun's NPOA like I do, and kept the reticle as centered as possible as I broke the shot.
To them, it looked like a hit, but I could see I was just a little low and left, so I corrected and put 3 or 4 more shots on the target, which was just a little dry patch of dirt on the grass at that distance, that couldn't have been wider than .4 Mils, and no taller than .3 Mils (so basically a 3ftx4ft oval target). I was surprised at how easy it was to hit consistently and repeatedly at 1200yds with a little 16" Grendel, which I had written off as an 800yd gun max.
The no-wind conditions really made it easy to be honest, but I was surprised when I went back into my program and saw that the bullet is still supposed to be supersonic at that distance. The data shows 1165fps at 1200yds with a mv of 2450fps using the G1 BC, which isn't even ideal for that bullet or distance-a G7 model would be much better, but it got me really close so that I could have a round in the air after the 1st correction on-target.
This is making me re-think the maximum effective range of the little carbine, and I will be playing with it a lot more at twice the distances I normally do. I'm very interested to see how it will group on paper/cardboard or steel at 1200yds, because the shots were right where I wanted them.
I chrono'd the factory Hornady 123gr A-MAX earlier in the day, and it was running between 2460 and 2470fps for me from the 16" AA ER Shaw button-rifled pipe.
Some nice thinner air to send 'em through too. Keep sendin' 'em bud! 
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