600 yard qualifation

[konrado]

i will be taking a qualification class at our gun club to be able to use the 600 yard range. I have 24 inch AA upper reciever mounted on an AR lower. We will be shooting 300 yards then 600 yards prone. I haven't shoot past 200 yards with this rifle. From what I have been reading the bullet I should be using would be a 123gr bullet. I am leaning towards the Hornaday A Max 123 grain bullet. I have had good luck with IMR 8208 XBR powder.
I'm primarily asking if anyone has used this combination at 600 yards and how it worked out for you.
Thanks
Konrado

NRA Lifetime Patron Member.

[LRRPF52]

600yds is easy, especially with bullseye targets if that's what they're going to be using for qual. You just need some good data on the load you settle on.

CFE223 will give you way more speed, but 8208XBR has really tight extreme spreads.

From a 24", a max load of 8208XBR might give you 2500fps. CFE will give you up to 2700fps from a 24" with 123gr, and some folks have found very tight ES with it as well. My CFE load from a 16" is very accurate, with much higher speeds than I ever anticipated.

Either one will be child's play at 600yds, as long as winds stay fairly stable. Get your velocity data as you run some ladder tests or OCW, find the tightest ES, and push it out to confirm that your vertical isn't all over the place.

You could use any of the 107gr-123gr target pills, to be honest, but the 123gr will buck the wind the best.

[konrado]

Thanks I have used CFE 223 and it worked really good. Tight groups.
My only concern is I'll be 69 next month. Age is against me?

[NugginFutz]

Welcome to the Horde, Konrado.

I wouldn't let age worry you - several acquaintances of mine at the local range are considered "Seasoned Citizens", and are regularly banging the gong at 750. Heck - I'm not that far behind you in terms of age and I don't consider 600 yards as much more than a chip shot. I would wish you good luck, but you'll probably do fine.

[CPT.CRAZY]

The 123 a max and 8208xbr are what I use in our local F class shoot. Use it at 600 and 1000.

[davidj]

I did a 1k qual with 8208xbr and A-max 123's.

[Sputnik]

What charges ya'll use with the 8208? I use 28.0gr on that powder and 30.6 gr of CFE, but only shot out to 200 so far. I have a 20 inch Bartlein, but another new Horde friend has a 24 inch Overwatch that he would like to load for long distance. Your loads would be of use to him as a reference. We both use 123 Amax and SST.

[davidj]

try

https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=016368947416500061353:paqd_0xcu1o&hl=en

[Sputnik]

try
https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=0...d_0xcu1o&hl=en

Yeah, I use the search engine a lot and have a lot of data on load development for 8208, CFE, and AR Comp for 123 Amax and SST, but I was hoping you and CPT.CRAZY would share the charge that as actually specifically used for the 1k qual. Most load development posts on the threads show results and groupings of 100 or 200 yards.

[CPT.CRAZY]

You will have to do some load development to find your barrels sweet spot. Mine is 28.3 grains about .005" off the lands.

[LRRPF52]

If you don't have the 6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbooks yet, I can't emphasize what a great resource they are to have on your bench.

http://ar15buildbox.com/Sitemap.html

[konrado]

I qualified. It took me 6 tries to establish a good zero at 300 yards. After that we moved to 600 yards, since the scope was brand new to me it also took 4 tries to zero the scope in. As one of you mentioned "piece of cake". I put the next 10 in the black. I started using Nosler 125 partition bullets with 26 grs of IMR 8208 XBR. I ran out of that round so I used Barnes 120 gr TSX with 30 grs of CFE223. I used a Hawke Sidewinder 30 20x Tacticle scope at 6.5. My upper receiver is an Alexander Arms 24 inch barrel. My lower is a Spikes lower receiver.
I have been shooting the Grendel for 4-6 years. I really like the caliber. If you have any questions let me know and I will try to answer them.
Konrado

[NugginFutz]

Congratulations! What a pity all that worry went to waste, isn't it? Life begins at 500!

[usmc1371]

A company here in town is building a 500 yard range. It will be open next spring. I'm am counting the days. The other range here is limited to 100 yards and 4 hours. I'm going to take my rifles out there and stretch there legs.

[konrado]

It was amazing. 600 yards looked daunting, when I got down in the prone position and looked through my scope the target seemed different. Even though I was at the lowest magnification I had a clear sight picture. I hit the target in the black for 10 rounds enough to qualify.
I had been playing mind games with myself, I had no confidence before shooting. After I fired the first couple of rounds and zeroed my scope in I started getting my confidence. I know I can do it now. My equipment is good, I made good choices there. Now I can do it at my speed, take time to set myself up properly and do it for fun. Competition will come later.
I have other guns I want to try, something to occupy myself as I retire.