Y.A. 1000 yard outing report

[NugginFutz]

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.

[biodsl]

Sounds like a great day and great showing for the caliber! Forgive me if you've covered this else where: what load were you shooting?

[bwaites]

Very nice!

[Errorhead]

Is your Vortex FFP or SFP, I'm interested in the FFP but worried the crosshairs are too thick at those distances. What your thoughts?

[schrödinger's cat]

Awesome !

[LRRPF52]

Fun, isn't it? What I really like is that I can spot my own hits even with a lightweight little AR15 at 1000yds.

I haven't even pushed a long barrel Grendel, as I mostly shoot 16" and 18" Grendels. I need to get on my 22" Grendel and see what it will do once I find some time.

What BC were you using for the 123gr AMAX NF?

[NugginFutz]

Sounds like a great day and great showing for the caliber! Forgive me if you've covered this else where: what load were you shooting?

The load this particular rifle enjoys most is the 123gr A-Max, pushed by 28 gr of 8208. Hornady cases, CCI BR primers. Cases are now at 8 reloads.

Is your Vortex FFP or SFP, I'm interested in the FFP but worried the crosshairs are too thick at those distances. What your thoughts?

Mine is the SFP. I've looked at FFP's, but don't like them at minimum magnification and feel that I am missing little, if anything, without one. I like this SFP because it shows the multiplier on the zoom ring, has nice crisp glass, and the reticle is thin enough I don't sub tend the smaller targets, but thick enough I am not straining to resolve it in less than ideal lighting. (It does have an illuminated reticle, but I've yet to need it.). Range finding and target sizing is very straight forward, and a FFP really doesn't matter to me because let's face it, at my age, speed isn't critical.

Fun, isn't it? What I really like is that I can spot my own hits even with a lightweight little AR15 at 1000yds.

I haven't even pushed a long barrel Grendel, as I mostly shoot 16" and 18" Grendels. I need to get on my 22" Grendel and see what it will do once I find some time.

What BC were you using for the 123gr AMAX NF?

I couldn't agree more. Distance shooting, coupled with squirrelly winds = improved skills. Recoil on this particular rifle is ridiculously minor. I've had worse from some .223 carbines. 1000 yards is deceptively easy to self spot, though. Even my .308 (same brake) could settle fast enough for me to see impacts. At 600 and under, not so much, but my 264 has none of those issues.

BC in my calculator was .247 G7, but I've revised it down to .235. That gives my distance results more consistency with the real world figures.

[danm]

Awesome man! Love me some BHW!

[davidj]

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.)


Dave,
There is a berm for 800. The steel is there only it is lying in the dirt about 40 feet in front of the mound. I suspect the distance was incorrect so they took it down.

[NugginFutz]

Ahh. Makes sense, as I spotted the berm driving out and back, but didn't bother to range it. The place really looks good, these days. I've convinced my bride I need the price of admission, soon.

[Redomen]

I've been considering the vortex viper in 4-16 ffp. I thought the 6.5-24 might be more than I would need. Sounds like you had a helluva good time and I enjoyed reading your post.

[NugginFutz]

These are my BHW toys. Back to front, are my 5.56 20" Bull BBL, my 18" .264 LBC Standard Profile, and my 22" 264 LBC Bull BBL. The one in the foreground is the rifle described, above.




I've got Viper HST glass on the 18", and Viper PST on the 22". The HST is 4-16x44, and the PST is 6-24x50. I find the HST's VMR-1 mrad reticle less busy, which I believe makes it slightly faster on target. The PST's EBR1 mrad is more precise, with .2 mrad stadia divisions. Both are very clear, but if I could do it again, I would have gone for greater magnification on the HST. While I can (and tend to) shoot at less than max magnification, I really enjoy the ability to zoom and ID targets the 24x offers.

Both are SFP reticles, which I prefer.