I spent most of the day training my son on the M14 for the upcoming match. He's never shot my M14's so we really needed the training. I was belly down with him the whole time and didn't snap any pics. He did great though, but I see that I neglected to show him proper trigger control. He's 14 and was dropping rounds all over the target from the 5-ring to the X-ring. But he was on paper and I had to train him on the range commands as well as how to single-feed a M14.

After he was comfortable with the positions and the flow of the course of fire, I told him he was slapping the trigger. He wasn't taking up the fist stage slack and breaking the second. Once I told him to take up the slack and hold on the second stage break all his shots were in the 8-ring or better. Great improvement!

I did shoot my 308 M1 and the last 5 shots came in at 2.66 MOA, and with a rifle that has no match modifications. It's, for all intents and purposes, a bone-stock M1. All 10 shots came in around 4 MOA. The only thing on the rifle that is match-grade are the sights. No bedding or anything else.






Tony.

A nasty sinus infection made last week no fun at all. I'm still not hitting on all cylinders and feel a bit foggy. I seem to have an uncanny ability to have shooting days coincide with the wind. This time there was a red flag warning, with warm and gusty conditions. I did ranch work in the morning -- winds were maybe 20-35mph, and it was even unpleasant in the trees. I shot after lunch, with winds of 10-15 from my 1-2 o'clock on the prairie, gusting to around 20mph. All shooting from prone with bipod, 12" plates. GAP 308 bolt action, Hornady 168 Zmax.

It was one of those low-karma target hanger days. Only 1 of the 4 did its job correctly. I was uncertain how well I'd shoot in the winds, so for each target I started with a 15 rounds loaded -- a 10-round and a 5-round mag.

458 yards to start. I increased elevation from last week, as it appears the barrel is slowing down. But I shouldn't have done it for the closest target. 7 rounds...and the high 7th impact knocked the plate off the hook. Man down. 4-5/8" vertical dispersion, just under 1 MOA. I was holding on the 3 o'clock point to just a bit right.




Switch to the other target at 458 yards, because I don't want to waste the time & energy to put that plate back up. On the 11th round the plate falls off...grrrrrr. This time the J-hook bolt holding up the plate loosened up, rotated to the side, off goes the plate. 7-1/8" vertical, which was disappointing. About 1.5 MOA.




On to 575 yards. The supporting T-posts are not visible in this picture, but the right post was about 8 inches right of the 3 o'clock point. Depending on my wind guesses, I held windage from a few inches left of the t-post to a few inches right of the t-post. The wind was rarely consistent. I was pretty happy to land all 15 rounds. 4.25 inches vertical dispersion, which is a touch under 3/4 MOA.




On to 633 yards. Frickin' cattle bent the left t-post. When I installed the crossbar and the supporting hose clamp, I should have tightened the hose clamp a bit. So with every 2nd or 3rd shot, the rebar dropped to the next notch on the post. For my last shot, about half the plate was hidden by grasses from my shooting location. The very last shot hit the 6 o'clock point, so I decided to pack it in for the day. I was holding quite a bit right of the 3 o'clock point on every shot. 10 shots with 7.25 inch vertical, or about 1.1 MOA.

Congratulations on your perseverance with all the target glitches and feeling like that.

Although my shooting at small steel targets with serious cartridges is limited, the bouncing plates problem is still a nuisance even at the relatively short distances I normally shoot. I’ve tried various solutions, some of which are better than others, but it’s usually impossible to know how something will work until it’s tried, and then it’s like the “box of holsters” result: “No good; no good; okay, but could be better; let’s try this one ….”

The best hangers have have are the slotted-hook ones from JC Steel. The hook is large, beefy, and takes direct hits without issues. Plates don't jump off the hook, and the hanger system has performed well in a number of competitions I've been in. You can see this system in few pictures on page 7 of this thread. The plate requires a "taller" slotted hole -- the common round hole doesn't work.

The smaller hangers that gave me fits on Sunday are from Rogue Shooting Targets. This hanger is nice light, reasonably priced. It works quite well on my "run up the erosion gully" shooting setups, where I use less energetic rounds. The hanger is no longer made -- materials sourcing and costs became issues. I spoke with the owner, then bought his remaining inventory. I was lazy when I picked up the hangers for this last shooting session and I went for the lightest hanger option. Not the best for 308 Win, 6.5CM, and 6CM rifles. Fine for 223 Remy and 300 blk.

I recently bought a couple of JC Steel's adapter plates, which convert a round-hole target to a slotted-hook target. I haven't installed them yet, but I really need to do this. Especially as I'm putting some mileage on the old 308 barrel, in an curious effort to determine when throat erosion turns it to a tomato stake. My local 'smith is quite interested in this, as he has never replaced a shot-out precision 308 barrel.

The hose clamp support for rebar on t-posts is one of my first target hanging systems, as suggested by offgrid. Maintaining proper tension on the hose clamp is the primary challenge. Cattle like to rub up against solitary posts in the pasture, which makes keeping t-posts straight a challenge. The hose clamps aren't all that robust and they take in in the shorts from being stepped on. Long ago I learned not to keep these targets fully set up, as cattle seem to home into them as their own rubbing targets. But the future burgers-on-the-hoof still step on the hose clamps and the rebar (which I leave at the base of the t-posts), making them wear parts.

I haul my steel plates back and forth from storage to range every day. Kind of a pain, especially when I want to set up a large target array.

Another forecasted red flag fire warning day. Winds were strong in the morning, but died down by late in the day when I shot. Generally 5-10 mph from my 7 o'clock, with some gusts of 15. GAP308 with Hornady Zmax 168, starting with clean cold bore, targets at 307 yards. Due to warm dry air, Density Altitude was a little higher than expected.

Prone with rear bag. First 2 shots on top of each other, even with side points -- yeehaw, this will be good. But wait...shots 3-10 landed higher. WTF? Was it me, the old ammo, the aging barrel? Total vertical of 4.25 inches, or around 1.3MOA vertical. Not what I was hoping for. Maybe the barrel now needs some fouling shots for best accuracy.





OK, trying again with prone. 10 rounds with 3-1/8 inch vertical. Better, now with 1 MOA vertical. This is my first time with JC Steel's adapter plate, which converts a round hole to a slotted hook. I think this will work just fine. As I expected, it deadens the harmonics of impacts on the plate. Free-hanging plates with either conveyor hose or direct-to-slotted hook holes ring loudly with a distinct "tink". This plate was more of a dull "thunk". I dialed down 1/2 MOA on scope elevation, as compared to the above target. I'm definitely struggling with exact elevation needs with this barrel and this ammo.

Time to futz with barrier positions and the 308. The spool, reverse kneeling height. The wind moved me a bit, but honestly I've dealt with a lot worse.




307 yards, 10 rounds. Given that I was throwing rounds high from barriers, using an AR15, for the last couple of months -- I was a bit concerned that my results might not be so wonderful here. So I reduced scope elevation by another 1/4 MOA. But it wasn't necessary. Whatever wonky things I've been doing with the AR15 wasn't occurring here. And that was pleasing, because although I sometimes struggle with throwing rounds high from barriers, when I concentrate on technique it doesn't occur all that often. 4.75" vertical dispersion, or just under 1.5 MOA. I'm OK with these results.




On to the wobbly pallet, from a crouched standing position. This has been a challenging position to shoot from. When I see stages set up like this, I pretty much figure my scores will suck. The t-posts "supporting" the pallet aren't all that stable. So when you try to press forward and weight the posts like a bipod, there's a lot of wobble -- the reticle bounces up and down a lot. What works best for me is just barely pressing forward until the pallet touches the t-post, but not enough to bend the t-post. And no forward or downward pressure on the buttstock. About the only pressure I put on the rifle is straight down on the scope's turret with my left hand. This is not far from free-recoil shooting, which means that spotting your own impacts with a 308 is really tough. I saw maybe 4-5 rounds impact, but for the rest of the shots my reticle was above the target upon impact.




The target -- 13 hit from 13 shots, which I'm fine with. I single fed the last 3 shots from a partial box of ammo. 8.5" vertical variation, or about 2-2/3 MOA. Nothing pretty, but OK with a wobbly support that was moved a little by the wind. I really respect the guys who can shoot well from this type of barrier.

Next day....the weather guessers were correct this time with the red flag warning. Really windy in the morning working in the trees, but not quite as bad in the afternoon while shooting in the pasture. Winds 15-20mph from my 3 o'clock, with some gusts around 25mph. Practice when it sucks, to learn how to perform when it sucks. 308 with Hornady 168.

398 yards prone, with cold fouled bore. I think I won't be cleaning this barrel as often as I used to. 10 rounds in 3-1/8" vertical, or about 3/4 MOA vertical. The barrel ain't dead yet. The starting reticle position for wind holds was 2 MOA right of the 3 o'clock point.




I had some scraps of warped wood, some screws, a pair of L-brackets, and glue. Seemed like a good idea to have a portable bracket for power poles and trees. Here it is, the "Bubba Bracket v1" (patent pending). Ain't pretty, but it works. A little for-aft rotational wobble with one strap, but solid as a rock with two straps.






398 yards, kneeling from the bracket on the power pole. 13 of 15 hits -- the 2 misses went just left of the 9 o'clock point. I was trying to break the shots 2-3 MOA right of the 3 o'clock point. Winds had picked up, and I suspect some gusts were around 30mph. I felt my position was relatively stable up & down, but the wind made my side-to-side wobble a challenge. The reticle was constantly moving left & right a good 4-6 MOA. Big wind gusts pushed me 8-10 MOA. Vertical dispersion of 4-3/8 inches, or just under 1.1 MOA. Bubba Bracket works, although it's a little slower than I expected to set up.

I was down to my last 30 rounds of Hornady 168 Zmax -- a green-tip "zombie" version of Amax. The manufacturing lot numbers on the boxes indicate the ammo was made in 2013. Time to go long, and if possible go out in style. No winds in the morning while working in the trees, but breezes picked up in the afternoon when I shot. I ballparked the winds at 5-10mph from my 11 o'clock. However the actual bullet drifts were higher than the projected drifts in JBM for that wind speed. Given the apex of the bullet flight, the wind speeds were likely higher than what I felt on the ground. I decided to use 15 rounds on each full-sized IPSC target and let the chips fall as they may.

First up, 815 yards. At this distance the 18" wide plate is around 2.2 MOA wide. My wind holds with hits were 2-6 MOA left of target. It was frustrating that just a subtle change in the wind speed resulted in a miss. I landed 12 of 15 shots. Vertical dispersion of 15-3/4 inches (about 1.9 MOA), which wasn't anything to write home about. I just didn't feel my fundamentals were solid. There was a lot of reticle movement upon recoil, in pretty much all directions. The 3 misses might have been in the same vertical zone as the hits, but it was hard to be certain, as it was hard to pinpoint misses in the pasture behind the plate.




Time for a Pepsi, a Reeces snack, and a moment for reflection. On to 918 yards, where the target is about 1.9 MOA wide. Wind holds with hits were still 2-6 MOA left of target. Even at my altitude, this is beyond the sweet spot for 308 performance. I landed 11 of 15 hits. I was able to spot my misses in the scope quite well in the small berm behind the plate. When looking at the target up close, the impact of the misses in the dirt were even with the hits on the plate. Yeehaw, at least this time I wasn't throwing rounds up & down like a complete dipshit. Vertical dispersion of 8-1/2 inches, or about .9 MOA. Yeehaw, burnin' up the last of this ammo in relative style.

I still had a little time available to shoot, along with some FGMM 175 ammo. Tree support time -- see tree #1 on the 4th page of this thread. 460 yards to the 12" plate. The wind died down a little, but there were still a few gusts that moved the tree. I shot between gusts to minimize the vertical dispersion. I also pressed forward slightly into the tree with my left shoulder. I've never done this before, but it seemed like a way to reduce the tree's swaying motion a bit. Think of it as "weighting the bipod". Or something.

I forgot to bring dope information for FGMM 175. I guessed elevation needs of 8 MOA on the scope, but I really need 8.5 MOA. Too lazy to correct the scope, drive down to the target, repaint, then drive back. So I just shot with 8 MOA on the scope, knowing that if my wind holds weren't good, I'd have a bunch of misses just left & right of the narrow part of the diamond. I more-or-less held the 9 o'clock point of the plate and let them fly. I really needed 8.5 MOA of elevation on the scope.

13 of 15 hits, with misses at the same elevation as the hits. Vertical dispersion of 5-1/2 inches, or a touch under 1.2 MOA. I can deal with this. The aging barrel still shoots FGMM 175 well, which I pretty much expected.




The next ammo that I may use to determine when the barrel is toast is CorBon 155 Scenar. It's a discontinued load from Corbon, making this a good opportunity to burn up both the ammo and the barrel.