Over the last weekend, a couple of friends of mine and went to the local private range. Among the various pistol, shotgun and rifle ranges, it also boasts one of the region's best 1000 yard tactical steel ranges, along side a traditional F-Class 1000 yard range.
My friends were shooting 7mm Mag, 6.5 CM and .223. I brought my .308 CZ bolt gun and my 22" .264LBC. The weather was really nice, with winds about 5-7 quartering at us from the right.
We all started with a bit of fun with the 500 yard steel, but only to check zeros. Not much challenge, with conditions as good as they were.
I fired a total of 10 shots from the .308. Two at 500, 700, 900 and 4 at 1000. After two hits at 1000, I put the CZ away and brought out my AR.
With a first round center punch @ 500, I pushed out to 600 for a nine round course of head and neck shots. At 700, my only two shots shots were centered and an inch and a half apart.
900 Yards was a trip, since I was listening to the banging of some very solid sounding hits arriving nearly 3 seconds after the shots were breaking. (Oddly, there is no steel at 800 yards.)
I then pushed out to 1000 with the 264. After 5 rounds at the large silhouette, I moved to the medium steel. I was rewarded with 7 out of 10 rounds hitting the 18" tall silhouette, all shot at a fairly rapid pace. The thing that had all of our attention was how much the medium steel was swinging. I had it turned 90 degrees with each of the edge hits, and managed to connect multiple times while the target was still swinging. My alibi for the three misses is that I would likely have made more hits if the target had been allowed to settle.
7 hits out of 10 at 1000, holding .6 mil for windage.
Oddly, the fellow with the 6.5CM bolt gun was not having a very good day, at all. His optics were not up to the job, and the mirage was just eating him up. My Vortex Viper PST was cutting right through, giving me solid images @ 24x, while his Bushnell Elite Tactical just couldn't hold a candle.
I had also been checking my drop at each distance, and was not too disappointed.
The 123 A-Max had the following drops with a 100 yard zero:
4.2mil @ 600
5.7mil @ 700
8.5mil @ 900
10.7mil @ 1000
Mind you, these loads are not hot and cases continue to look good. I know more MV is doable without tearing it a new one, but I just can't see a reason to go that way, after this weekend.
This rifle has been lined out before, but for those interested:
22" BHW Match Bull Barrel.
BTE Adjustable GB
DPMS Slick side Heavy upper
S&W MP lower
Timney Single Stage Trigger, 3.5#
DPMS FF Tube
Magpul PRS stock
Miculek 30 cal Brake
Vortex 6-24x50 Viper PST
Shot off a 6-9" Harris bipod w/ rear bag
Thanks for indulging me.
My friends were shooting 7mm Mag, 6.5 CM and .223. I brought my .308 CZ bolt gun and my 22" .264LBC. The weather was really nice, with winds about 5-7 quartering at us from the right.
We all started with a bit of fun with the 500 yard steel, but only to check zeros. Not much challenge, with conditions as good as they were.
I fired a total of 10 shots from the .308. Two at 500, 700, 900 and 4 at 1000. After two hits at 1000, I put the CZ away and brought out my AR.
With a first round center punch @ 500, I pushed out to 600 for a nine round course of head and neck shots. At 700, my only two shots shots were centered and an inch and a half apart.
900 Yards was a trip, since I was listening to the banging of some very solid sounding hits arriving nearly 3 seconds after the shots were breaking. (Oddly, there is no steel at 800 yards.)
I then pushed out to 1000 with the 264. After 5 rounds at the large silhouette, I moved to the medium steel. I was rewarded with 7 out of 10 rounds hitting the 18" tall silhouette, all shot at a fairly rapid pace. The thing that had all of our attention was how much the medium steel was swinging. I had it turned 90 degrees with each of the edge hits, and managed to connect multiple times while the target was still swinging. My alibi for the three misses is that I would likely have made more hits if the target had been allowed to settle.
7 hits out of 10 at 1000, holding .6 mil for windage.
Oddly, the fellow with the 6.5CM bolt gun was not having a very good day, at all. His optics were not up to the job, and the mirage was just eating him up. My Vortex Viper PST was cutting right through, giving me solid images @ 24x, while his Bushnell Elite Tactical just couldn't hold a candle.
I had also been checking my drop at each distance, and was not too disappointed.
The 123 A-Max had the following drops with a 100 yard zero:
4.2mil @ 600
5.7mil @ 700
8.5mil @ 900
10.7mil @ 1000
Mind you, these loads are not hot and cases continue to look good. I know more MV is doable without tearing it a new one, but I just can't see a reason to go that way, after this weekend.
This rifle has been lined out before, but for those interested:
22" BHW Match Bull Barrel.
BTE Adjustable GB
DPMS Slick side Heavy upper
S&W MP lower
Timney Single Stage Trigger, 3.5#
DPMS FF Tube
Magpul PRS stock
Miculek 30 cal Brake
Vortex 6-24x50 Viper PST
Shot off a 6-9" Harris bipod w/ rear bag
Thanks for indulging me.
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