quote:

Originally posted by offgrid:
See this, good read.

T3 is the toughest place I've shot for judging wind, terrain effect..... Getting first round hits on the 1150-1353yd stage, no doubt a little luck comes into play with our BB guns. Sure is fun.

I saw Frank's write up on the ELR at T3 Ranch. Interesting read, especially now after the class and comps at T3.

FWIW, when I shot successfully at 1780 yards this summer, it was with Hornady factory 338LM 285 HPBT ammo from an AIAX. If I ever jump up in caliber, that's my current preference.

I'm sure glad that I dove head first into precision competition shooting at the "easy" T3 location. See you at the next tourney.

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Originally posted by offgrid:

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Originally posted by sacox31s:

quote:

Originally posted by jelrod1:

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Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Mini chassis is bolt in and the regular requires bedding, correct?

Yes

I bedded mine. Once it cures I'll see how the setup performs.

I have two hunting hand loads to go with it, Nosler 165gr Ballistic Tip and Sierra GK 180gr with R15.

I am curious to see at what distances I'll end up being comfortable with in a supported position. Shooting long range out in the field while hunting that will be another story. But I hope to get comfortable to 600 yards supported. Its a light gun without turrets, but I have 5.5 mils on the reticle in 0.5 mil increments.

Bed it yourself?

Yes, I did the bedding in my garage. It was the first time I bedded a stock. I plan on doing it again to my other bolt action rifles.

quote:

Originally posted by offgrid

Specs on the rifles, barrel contour/length, predicted weight...

It's great you and your buddy will be shooting the same caliber cut with the same reamer. Same friend you're building the 6.5x47 for?

Going over the PRS schedule with a fellow Colorado shooter last night, he's shooting Woody's in March. His sister lives in Raleigh, I'm leaning towards joining him.

Yes same guy. He's hooked, possibly obsessed . Will be good having the same stuff. I'm helping him setup for handloading now so like chambers will make it easier. Will be testing his 6.5x47 this weekend.

Not sure on weight yet. Mine is getting a standard palma from Chanlynn at 22-24". He hasn't spec'd his yet but will probably be a sporter variety to keep his lighter. Hoping mine can pull double duty as a match gun if needed. Hunting here doesn't require much walking usually but I do want it lighter than the Sentinel. I did take it with me last time though and got 3 hogs and a deer with it.

Hope to see you at Woodys. Not been there yet. Hope to make it there for testing before the match and check it out. It's further for me so I've been going to VA instead. People say they run the matches great and are enjoyable. Think they stagger squad start times throughout the day to keep it moving. Also I believe the place is small. One thing I read from a past match had max target distance in the 600's. I do think they were expanding though. Have heard they make up for the shorter distances by constantly changing positions to make it more difficult. Haven't heard anyone say it was easy.

ETA: looks like distance restrictions are only on the DMM matches. They seem to be doing PRS matches to at least 1000.

fritz,

spoke with Alpine earlier today. He'll be sporting his 300WM/Berger 215's @ 2900 at the next T3. I believe his banking on a high score on stage 1, willing to give up a few points from being pushed around with that 300WM hammer on the stage 6, 9 and 10. A braked 300WM in that tube, oh my!

jelrod1, look forward to your range report on your buddies 6.5x47. I'll keep you updated on the Woodys match.

quote:

Originally posted by jelrod1:

He's hooked, possibly obsessed .

I welcome him to the our club!

quote:

Originally posted by offgrid:
spoke with Alpine earlier today. He'll be sporting his 300WM/Berger 215's @ 2900 at the next T3. I believe his banking on a high score on stage 1, willing to give up a few points from being pushed around with that 300WM hammer on the stage 6, 9 and 10. A braked 300WM in that tube, oh my!

I believe Scott's amazing performance at the last match on the 1100 to 1300 yard stage was accomplished with a 6x47. And yes, firing that braked 300WN in the culvert probably won't do much for Alpine's sinuses. When I stand up after firing the culvert shots, I'm spitting dust and trying to clear the schnoz.

I suspect we won't have any issues determining whether or not Alpine hits the close targets -- his hits will absolutely rock the steel.

Got out today to do some testing with a 6.5x47 I just finished for a buddy and further test the 6.5 SAUM. Settled on two loads for my 6.5 SAUM. 130 VLD's jumped .01 at 3210 are doing very well. 140 hybrids jumped .03 at 3080 are doing well also. The sheer accuracy and ease of loading on the 6.5x47 may win out for me over time but this SAUM and its speed with light recoil is a great round. Will take it out to distance next time.

The Tikka started out as a Scout in .308. Stock is a XLR Carbon. Krieger 8 twist 4 groove in LV contour, and stock trigger. Muzzle is threaded and had the protector on for testing. He has an APA LB on the way for it. It has a Leupold Mark 4 8.5-25 mounted at this time. I would have chosen a lighter contour barrel but it's what he wants. Will pull it apart tomorrow and Cerakote graphite black.

Had a hunch where loads would end up but started low anyways. Tested 36,36.5,37, and 37.5 Varget with Berger 130 VLD hunting .005 in the lands. First five shots at 36 bugholed. Opened to around .600 then at 37.5 tightened up again. Very pleased with how it turned out. Will provide him with a dummy round and load data.

Was very impressed with the Tikka as a stock gun to build upon. Measuring out the action and checking lug contact showed no need for truing. The firing pin is a good fit that makes 6.5x47 a great round for it. I'm not really a fan of the Sako extractor, but it does work well in this application.

fritz, as always, good shooting with you yesterday.

Brutal wind conditions for sure! It's so difficult to gauge/measure our misses/dirt splashes with the bullet traveling well beyond the target, often giving us false info. Congrats on your 3rd place finish. Heck of a single shot you made on the 912yd target for the 3rd place tie breaker, great wind call!

Tough day for me, barrel died, velocity took a big dump. First stage/first shot at 1131yds I was .6 MILS low, crap! Oh well, glad it died at a local match. Planned on shooting the 6x47 next weekend in a PRS style match in Wyoming, will be shooting the 6.5x47.

offgrid, thanks for letting me join your squad again. Always enjoyable. Definitely a tough wind day, as it wasn't until I started holding for 12-15 mph crosswinds did I start hitting targets. I believe I had 0 or maybe 1 point on combined stations 1, 2, 9, and 10. Yikes. When you and alpine said I had the high score of the squad I didn't believe you -- I figured I was dead last and you were just jerking my chain. I wasn't until Paul said I was in the shootoff did I realize it was time to get my game face on.

I definitely got lucky with tie breaker shot. It felt good to leave on a high note. But honestly, we all got skooled by the match winner. He flat out smoked us.

Hopefully you get the new 6x47 barrel up and running soon. How many rounds did you get out of that barrel?

Don't keep a round count log book, track by how many bullets gone through. Just opened the 5th 500rd box to load for the match, so about 2000rds. Will send out the action/barrel to Beanland next week some time.

Guy who won the match, I believe is the best, most consistent LR shooter in Colorado. He lives/breathes LR shooting. Couple years ago shot with him at a match in Pueblo, between strings he was reading Brian Litzs's book. He's done well in several disciplines, F-Class, High Power, 3 Gun.... When he's teaching a mover class again in Guernsey, WY I'll let you know. No doubt we'll learn a thing or two.

Spent a few hours today at Colorado Rifle Club with two friends, fellow die-hards. Shooting in a match next weekend in Wyoming. Seemed like a good idea to shoot in the same temp range as next weekends forecast. 13 degrees when we got to the range, at least it was sunny, light winds 5-10. Had the place to ourselves, imagine that! Warmed up to a balmy 28.

Shot my 6BR for fun and the 6.5x47 to get solid dope, chrono, verify zero... Shot a few rounds at the 100yd range then moved over to the High Power range. Range rules when setting up steel at the High Power range, have to set it up past the 1000yd F-Class bunkers. Also have to run flags up to let everyone know we're on the range. Sure was nice having those flags to help with wind calls. Plopped down at 640yds, banged away. Then moved back to where the F-Class/BR guys shoot, which put us 1050yds from the steel. We did something a little different this time with our steel, painted them all white like we usually do, then sprayed a orange narrow horizontal line across the center. Gave a nice "water line". Found it very helpful confirming our dope. The other rifles, Trued R700 6x47, R700 223, TRG22 260 and a JP semi 260. Shot a few rounds through the JP, not my cup of tea, still fun. Both my rifles holding vertical extremely well, didn't shoot the 6BR at 1050yds.

640yds

fritz, you might recognize these two characters from the T3 match.



1050yds.

quote:

Originally posted by offgrid:
13 degrees when we got to the range, at least it was sunny, light winds 5-10. Had the place to ourselves, imagine that! Warmed up to a balmy 28.

fritz, you might recognize these two characters from the T3 match.

Well, they weren't quite so bundled up at the T3 match.

Seems like nice conditions to me. At least compared to Loveland Ski Area -- 10-15 degrees all day, cloudy, snowing most of the day, winds of 10-40 mph. Funny thing, I did not have the place to myself.

Just curious -- with the low temps, did you find your elevation dope change from what you've seen recently at T# for the longer target distances?

Nice pic, but what's with the distinct lack of suppressors??

Jealousy.

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Originally posted by exx1976:
Nice pic, but what's with the distinct lack of suppressors??

Lot of us prefer the faster/shorter recoil pulse of a muzzle brake.

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Originally posted by offgrid:

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Originally posted by exx1976:
Nice pic, but what's with the distinct lack of suppressors??

Lot of us prefer the faster/shorter recoil pulse of a muzzle brake.

Eh, what did you say? Speak up!

Suppressors are more "civilized", but a good brake helps to settle the gun down more quickly. Wild assed guess of how it feels to me:
- Let's say I can see my impacts on steel at 300 yards with my .308. In other words, my sights are back on target before the bullet hits the target and I watch the bullet splash the steel. FWIW, bullet flight time with FGMM 175 is .37 seconds.

- Same conditions (and same shooting technique) with a Thunderbeast can, I can see impacts at 200 to 250 yards -- .24 to .30 seconds.

- Same conditions (and same shooting technique) with an APA LBII brake, I can see impacts at 150 to 200 yards -- .18 to .24 seconds.

Some of us dont have a choice.

quote:

Originally posted by entropy:
Some of us dont have a choice.

Your kids are off at school, you can relocate.


Fritz/offgrid - that's an interesting observation. I've never considered that. I think I would give up the additional tenth of a second for the comfort of being able to communicate with fellow shooters without yelling.

Also, since most of your guys shoot at DISTANCE, I wouldn't expect that the .1 of a second would make a huge difference in getting back on target to see your hits at 600 or greater....

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Originally posted by exx1976:

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Originally posted by entropy:
Some of us dont have a choice.

Your kids are off at school, you can .

We kinda have...with the same effect unfortunately. The devil is in the details.

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Originally posted by exx1976:
Fritz/offgrid - that's an interesting observation. I've never considered that. I think I would give up the additional tenth of a second for the comfort of being able to communicate with fellow shooters without yelling.

Muzzle brakes and suppressors are not allowed in high power competition and yet there is a need to listen for the range commands, your scorer calling out the value and round count to you and in a team match, the instructions from the wind coach. We use electronic earmuffs. I have recently acquired a set of Pro Ears 300 and I keep them on all the time. I can adjust the ears independently and they allow me to hear better than without them. When on the line, I can turn off one side so as not to be distracted from there and yet can still listen to the scorer or the wind coach.