First Time to 1200yds

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  • PredatorDown
    Warrior
    • Jun 2014
    • 239

    First Time to 1200yds

    Got the chance to take the Grendel out to 1200 yards today, and I've gotta say I was pretty impressed! This was my first time shooting past 1000, and I've only ever shot 1000 a couple of times.

    Conditions were close to ideal...sunny, 64 degrees, only a light breeze at 5-7mph. We were at a friend's cabin, and were shooting east to where we had our targets set up on BLM land. Another friend fired first, and on round 3 was able to hit our 18x24 gong with his .308 shooting factory ammo. Try as he might, he just couldn't get a hit on a water jug. I'm pretty sure if we had set cardboard behind it he would have cut out a complete silhouette. He had several rounds that were within a few inches, but before long he had shot all 40 rounds he had brought out.

    "Ok" I thought, "My turn". I laid prone on the balcony we were shooting from, stuck the barrel between slats in the railing, dialed up the 56MOA that iStrelok had called for, and let the first shot sail. A bit over the top of the gong, and a couple feet to the right. Ok, not too bad for a first shot. I dialed down to 52MOA and left 4MOA and let her fly. Just off the bottom right corner, but I figured I'd shoot a few more to see where my average would lie. My next two shots were just slightly lower, so I dialed up to 54 and left another 2MOA. My next three shots hit steel, so I decided it was time to try for a jug.

    My first jug I hit on shot #8, but like idiots we didn't record it. We drove out there, set up another jug, and went back to the cabin to shoot. We set up the phoneskope, and this is round #6.



    Afterwards, I tried to play cleanup on the jug that my buddy had been shooting at. I hit just low on shot #2 and skipped the round into it, so it doesn't really count. It was kind of cool to see the imprint of a sideways 123gr Amax on the jug though!

    All in all it was a great day to be out shooting, and just another testament to the awesomeness of this little cartridge.

    Edit: Hopefully the video works this time. Last time I tried to post one from my photobucket it would only work on phones/tablets...let me know!
  • VASCAR2
    Chieftain
    • Mar 2011
    • 6219

    #2
    Sounds like great fun, video worked for me on my IPad. Great shooting!

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    • MountainCur
      Bloodstained
      • Mar 2015
      • 37

      #3
      That's pretty BA! What's the barrel length and your twist?

      Comment

      • PredatorDown
        Warrior
        • Jun 2014
        • 239

        #4
        22" JP Enterprises, 1:8 twist

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        • LRRPF52
          Super Moderator
          • Sep 2014
          • 8569

          #5
          Awesome post. I really like that I can get that kind of performance with half the recoil of the .308, even when shooting heavy .308's.

          I was just test-firing my friend's .308 at the range on Friday and even with the beast profile Krieger barrel, Iron Ridge receiver set, and PRS topping the scales at 15lbs, it was still recoiling pretty hard-enough to have the ocular piece of the scope hitting my glasses with each shot on higher magnification.

          I've also shot my 16" out to 1200yds, which didn't make sense to me at all, but actually worked better than I would have imagined. I need to do some filming this year, now that I have an optics adapter for the phones as well.

          Great fun for sure.
          NRA Basic, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, RSO

          CCW, CQM, DM, Long Range Rifle Instructor

          6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbooks & chamber brushes can be found here:

          www.AR15buildbox.com

          Comment

          • Klem
            Chieftain
            • Aug 2013
            • 3507

            #6
            Interesting and sounds like great fun.

            What range do you think the rounds go unstable (tumbling)?

            Comment

            • jawbone
              Warrior
              • Jan 2012
              • 328

              #7
              great post and amazing video. wow. fantastic shooting and shooter!

              Comment

              • PredatorDown
                Warrior
                • Jun 2014
                • 239

                #8
                Not sure when the rounds start tumbling. If I remember right, don't they usually get unstable when they go trans-sonic? If so, I'm right about at the threshold at 1200.

                LRRPF52, didn't you say you've shot your 16" out close to a mile before? Even just plinking around? I didn't shoot for group while we were there, but I'll have to next time!

                Comment

                • Jakal
                  Warrior
                  • May 2014
                  • 376

                  #9
                  Damn good mastery of ballistics! Makes me want to get out to a bean field and give it a shot. (pun intended)!
                  ""Come taste my Shillelagh you goat-eatin bastard!""

                  Comment

                  • Klem
                    Chieftain
                    • Aug 2013
                    • 3507

                    #10
                    Rounds getting buffeted at transonic...That's the theory anyway. Like the old X1 experimental plane being pushed around in the dive as it approached Mach 1. On breaking the sound barrier everything was suddenly smooth again.

                    Shooting 1,000yds in F Class competition those of us who use .223 notice the group sizes start increasing after 900yds. More than predicted by the MOA of your gun. We can still group at 1000 but never win against the 308 guys, even with BC's higher than theirs. Less than 900 is a much more level playing field. The Australian F Class champion who shoots in our state does not use 223 at serious long range competition. An 80gn FMJBT 223 exits a 30" barrel at about 2960fps, drops below 1300fps by 900yds and crosses the sound barrier at 1100yds.

                    I am thinking the sound barrier buffeting for a 223 starts as the round drops below 1300fps and builds to the point where bullets will tumble as they fall out of the sky. Never shot anything beyond 1000yds so can't comment on when of if all bullets actually tumble as they go unstable. Even if a round does tumble the idea that it still groups roughly at what you are shooting at makes sense, just a bigger group.
                    Last edited by Klem; 03-12-2015, 12:19 AM.

                    Comment

                    • LRRPF52
                      Super Moderator
                      • Sep 2014
                      • 8569

                      #11
                      Originally posted by PredatorDown View Post
                      Not sure when the rounds start tumbling. If I remember right, don't they usually get unstable when they go trans-sonic? If so, I'm right about at the threshold at 1200.

                      LRRPF52, didn't you say you've shot your 16" out close to a mile before? Even just plinking around? I didn't shoot for group while we were there, but I'll have to next time!
                      I've shot it with unexpected predictability at 1200yds, and also tried it at 1500yds, but don't have a cant MOA base on my 16". My 18" has a 20 MOA NightForce Unimount, so after I work up a load, I'll have to do it. I shoot with guys that regularly shoot out to 1500yds. I think the 123gr Scenar on top of CFE223 will be interesting with the right set-up.

                      I've shot a bit of 6.5x284 and .338 at ELR, and have seen bullets come down with an angle of attack still though the danger space, instead of nosing over, but were still supersonic. They left trajectory-oriented keyholes in aluminum pop-up targets in Finland.
                      NRA Basic, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, RSO

                      CCW, CQM, DM, Long Range Rifle Instructor

                      6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbooks & chamber brushes can be found here:

                      www.AR15buildbox.com

                      Comment

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