I think I figured out my main technique issue. I have been placing some downward pressure on the buttstock with my shoulder when I get behind a rifle in prone, which puts some downward pressure on the rear bag. Probably been doing this for a couple of months now in prone with bipod, although it doesn't appear I have been doing it with other positions and supports. When I got behind the gun yesterday I was back to very limited vertical dispersion on steel between 300 and 800 yards. Those darn fundamentals.

*****
JC Steel targets recently had a sale and I added a few pieces to my range. Depending on shooting location, a new 12" diamond will be used for distances of 350 to 600 yards. A new 4" square and a 4" circle will be used for distances from 200 to 400 yards. I can honestly state that a .308 impact on a 4" plate at 330 yards produces a rather noticeable reaction. Haven't yet mounted the new 2" x 3" plate, but I think it may be reserved for .223 rounds in order to reduce the beating on my support straps.

Bryan Litz quote. Oh, how it rings true.

Bryan cautions: “My advice for hand-loaders who are long-range shooters, is this: If you can get a load that is reliable and can shoot consistent, half-minute groups with low MV variation and you can shoot that load in any condition and it will work well, then STICK with THAT LOAD. Then focus on practicing, focus on the fundamentals of marksmanship. The consistency you develop over time by using the same ammunition will mean more to your success in long range shooting than refining a half-minute load down to a quarter-minute load.”

Never forget the advice I was given by one of the most consistent LR steel match shooters in Colorado when I first got into this. Work up a good enough load, work on your fundamentals and learn how to read the wind. The first steel match I shot was at the above friends match. In a dopey newbie voice I asked him what's the DA? He replied, don't worry about the DA, it'll be the least of your concerns!

Earlier this year shot my 6x47 with a barrel on its way out barely clinging to 3/4" at 100yds/velocity dropping.... at our local T3 match LR steel match. Won the match, my wind calls were dead nuts on. Maybe knowing my vertical was going to be not as good as a fresh barrel, made me focus that much more...? One of my best matches I shot this year.

A fundamental I've been focused on most of this season is breathing. We've all read we're supposed to pull the trigger on the bottom of the breathing cycle. That doesn't work shooting some of the matches I've shot this year, shooting positional stuff, shooting very fast..... From a compromised position very seldom will the reticle be on the target/breath cycle at the bottom at the same time. Would sometimes find myself holding my breath, vision gets a little blurry/lack of oxygen to my eyes, pulse transfers to the reticle.... all bad stuff. A 1/4 MOA load/rifle isn't going to help me much with that. My focus is always taking short/shallow breaths as I'm shooting a positional/fast stage.

Hey guys, been away for a while but looking forward to getting back in the groove. I got my little guy back from the smith today. Put her all back together but it looks to be a wet weekend. Hoping I can get some preliminary loads worked up and out to the range on Monday. Looking forward to decreasing my powder burn. Since my local range maxes out at 600 yards I figured I might as well embrace it. Here are the required pics

Looks very nice, what rifling twist do you go with, and what bullet do you plan on shooting?

I finally received my custom Rem 700 action with PTG bolt a couple weeks ago, and immediately sent it off to get a mini-M16 extractor and side bolt release installed. As soon as I get it back, I'll be sending it off to have a 223AI built.

quote:

Originally posted by Alpine:
Looks very nice, what rifling twist do you go with, and what bullet do you plan on shooting?

The barrel is a 5R 1/8 Bartlein finished at 22", Remington varmint contour. I have 69gr Lapua Scenar's and 77gr Berger OTM's that I'm going to work with initially. Have a small pile of both to work with. I'm not sure what others I should look into as well. If you have any suggestions I'd appreciate the advice as always.

quote:

Originally posted by jlemmy:
The barrel is a 5R 1/8 Bartlein finished at 22", Remington varmint contour. I have 69gr Lapua Scenar's and 77gr Berger OTM's that I'm going to work with initially. Have a small pile of both to work with. I'm not sure what others I should look into as well. If you have any suggestions I'd appreciate the advice as always.

Nice rig. If you ever get tired of shooting that poodle shooter, just let me know.

That's a good barrel which should shoot well with what you already have, and likely just about every other good match bullet out there. Other options include 69/77 Sierra Tipped Matchkings and Hornady 77 AMax/HPBT. FWIW, with factory ammo, I see more consistent results with SMK 69 (FGMM) than with Scenar 69 (Lapua) -- few people want to hear that.

Pulling my 6x47 barrel today. About 2K rds on it, velocity dropping off, starting to throw flyers... My 4th 6x47 barrel on this action, still shooting the original brass. Brass is about shot, a few split necks.... Need new brass anyway, going to make a caliber change. Sending it to jelrod1 and have him chamber a 6 Dasher on a Medium Palma Hawk Hill finished at 26".

Why medium Palma instead of marksman?

And do you use antiseize when you out the barrels back on? If so, what, specifically?

quote:

Originally posted by exx1976:
Why medium Palma instead of marksman?

And do you use antiseize when you out the barrels back on? If so, what, specifically?

Have a 24" Medium Palma on the barrel pictured, comparing it to the slightly heavier 24" Marksman contour on the 6.5x47. Feel at 26" the Medium Palma will have a better balance? We'll see. Rather error on the lighter side.

A little of this goes along ways!

http://www.amazon.com/SEPTLS44...0SXEJ5JB64YHHTJ2QTR4

Fritz, thanks for the tips on bullets and ammo. My main focus is going to be the 77gr Berger as I start down this road. The factory tube was a little lazy on the twist for the heavy's. Which is also why I have a few boxes of the Scenar's. I didn't bother trying to chase the rifling on the factory barrel. The Scenar's were the best grouping of all the bullets I tried. They didn't seem to mind the huge jump. Unfortunately it would print 2 or 3 nice shots then toss one an inch away. At this point the factory barrel had to go. Now that it's all back I'm looking forward to trying to once again work up a load.

And now for a gardening moment:

FN in MT -- you are correct in stating that chopped down yucca only regrow. Lots of new little plants where the big ones are gone, especially with our wet spring/summer. I began spraying with Remedy & diesel a few weeks ago. I didn't spray properly the first time -- too much spear and not enough whorl. But done right, yucca is dead in 1-2 weeks. I sprayed again today, in an area ripe with monster plant, just behind my 500-600 yard targets. Some plants in this area are more of a colony than anything else -- 20 to 30 whorls are common, and I'm going through a lot of herbicide.

*****
Back to the shooting front, I figured out how to rig target numbers to my target locations. Started with a 7" wide by 9" tall piece of plywood, painted white, than painted with a 6" tall black stencil number. Attached to the target t-posts with steel hanger straps and a couple of bolts. I was able to clearly see the numbers at 580 and 640 yards through my 15x scope. Hopefully, calling out targets by number will reduce targeting errors for those who visit my range.

-- "Shoot the 12" diamond between the two orange posts right of the gully, just in front of the big yucca."
Bang. Miss.
-- "No, not the 12" square on the single orange post to the right of the big ant pile."
Bang. Miss.
--- "No, not the 10" diamond between the two yellow posts to the right of the gully."
-- "Oh OK, got it now."
Bang, ting.

Had a fun past 4 days on a hunting trip. No long range shooting going on but did take the 6 creed as my hunting gun. A 17lb gun certainly isn't the ideal hunting rig but with the comfort I feel shooting it and the type hunt I wanted to take it along. Something about the confidence level you reach with a gun when you're used to shooting it so much.

The highlight for me was when an opportunity arose and my position at the time only allowed for a weak side shot, and an awkward one at that. Prior practicing of weak/strong shooting really helped when it counted and felt almost as comfortable. I don't think I could have done that with confidence using a different gun and made practicing for these type shots for steel matches mean that much more to me.

On another note Berger 105 VLDH at 3120 are wicked on deer and hog.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jelrod1,

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
And now for a gardening moment:

FN in MT -- you are correct in stating that chopped down yucca only regrow. Lots of new little plants where the big ones are gone, especially with our wet spring/summer. I began spraying with Remedy & diesel a few weeks ago. I didn't spray properly the first time -- too much spear and not enough whorl. But done right, yucca is dead in 1-2 weeks. I sprayed again today, in an area ripe with monster plant, just behind my 500-600 yard targets. Some plants in this area are more of a colony than anything else -- 20 to 30 whorls are common, and I'm going through a lot of herbicide.

*****
Back to the shooting front, I figured out how to rig target numbers to my target locations. Started with a 7" wide by 9" tall piece of plywood, painted white, than painted with a 6" tall black stencil number. Attached to the target t-posts with steel hanger straps and a couple of bolts. I was able to clearly see the numbers at 580 and 640 yards through my 15x scope. Hopefully, calling out targets by number will reduce targeting errors for those who visit my range.

-- "Shoot the 12" diamond between the two orange posts right of the gully, just in front of the big yucca."
Bang. Miss.
-- "No, not the 12" square on the single orange post to the right of the big ant pile."
Bang. Miss.
--- "No, not the 10" diamond between the two yellow posts to the right of the gully."
-- "Oh OK, got it now."
Bang, ting.

If one cuts out 100 yuccas you will have 115 to 120 reemerge. The small, young plants are harder to kill than the large whorl older plants. The old guys seem to take in the mix and are DOA in a week or two. It does appear that plants have survived the spray, especially smaller plants...But then within a month or two, they also turn a pleasing light tan.

On the range marking....I tried the same thing but only had access to a 4" stencil and only LETTERS. So we did a list; A=675 yds, B= 775 yds, etc. Worked FAR better than "Yeah the 675 plate is the one to the left of the big white rock".

You know the issues.

Got my .223 short range trainer done but not happy with my factory barrel. Have a new HART on order and bought a .223 AI reamer as well. Always wanted to try the AI so have another project on the burner.

Set up a nice 100 to 400 yd range a mere 325 yds from my house. We have a three sided shed with a concrete pad, so a roof over our heads and a place to store a rest, bags, a pad, spray cans, etc. Using a mess of smaller JC Target steel 3x5 inch diamonds, 4 and 5 inch rounds and squares, and a single gopher flapper at 510 yds. But from 100 to 400 over a dozen plates.

Really enjoying the new Rem 700 in .223 with the can. Perfect tool for the situation. Cheap to shoot, Accurate and QUIET.

FN in MT

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
If one cuts out 100 yuccas you will have 115 to 120 reemerge. The small, young plants are harder to kill than the large whorl older plants. The old guys seem to take in the mix and are DOA in a week or two. It does appear that plants have survived the spray, especially smaller plants...But then within a month or two, they also turn a pleasing light tan.

Interesting. I'm finding the smaller plants giving up the ghost quickly - as in less than a week. The "colony" plants (3 to 7 feet in diameter) are the sturdier ones. For the plants I chopped out earlier in the year, the number of newly emerging plants probably match the number of whorls on the old chopped out plants. In other words, 100 chopped plants equal many hundreds of new shoots in the 6-12 inch tall range (as of today) within the bare ground radius of the original chopped plant. I plan to spray these new shoots next spring.

On a positive note, at least the above-ground biomass of the chopped out plants are providing erosion control in the gullies I put them in, and we now can drive vehicles across this chopped-out section of the pasture. And I don't have big #%$@* yuccas blocking my views of steel targets.

Those yuccas sound mean.

In these parts, we only have to contend with a bulldozer to clear trees to make a range....

By small I'm talking 4" to 10" new shoots. No whorl to speak of and I think the spray simply doesn't get sucked in , like it does on the big plants.

With 95% of my entire colony GONE...A very positive change!

Got out today to try out the new barrel and re-establish the zero. Completed the initial OCW test with the Berger 77's. Brought along some of the 69 gr. Lapua's that I loaded for the factory barrel. It put 5 rounds into a 1/2" group so I believe my accuracy woes are behind me. Back to the loading room for the next step. Hopefully back out on Wednesday.

PVI has 140 hybrids in stock again for whoever needs them...

$193.25/500

FYI

3rd Generation Shooting Supplies has STR8 LACED shooting bags in stock again.

FN in MT

It's entry level, decent glass. Have not fired it yet but I am looking forward to it. Ruger Precision Rifle in 243 Win wearing a Burris XTR II