Alias the Ground Hog Man

[K22]

At the range again today, a blamey 31 degrees with 20 mph sustained winds. Shooting my 243 Win, X Bolt with 85 Sierra BTHP's. Love this rifle and load! I wanted some adversity, and I got it and then some. It was damn cold with that wind. Wimps need not apply. Sometimes I feel like a wimp.

Only one other bold guy showed up at the range - another fellow shooter suffering from cabin fever. Good shooter, punching out bug holes at 100 yards with his Creedmoor, off the bench of course. Me, as usually, shooting off my cross sticks having vision of predators and ground hogs.

The fellow walked over and said, "I know you, you're that ground hog man that I see on the upper range in the summer." (The upper range is currently inaccessible - the access road is a sheet of ice - thus we are shooting on the lower range with nasty cross winds and no wind breaks like the upper range.)

I grinned, "Yea, that's me." He replied, "I knew it had to be, you're the only guy I ever saw shooting off two poles!"  Once you have a reputation, it's hard to shake it.

 

[357Mag]

K22 -

Howdy !

Yeh…sounds like you got a reputation….. a good one !

I tried weight checking 200 of those 85BTHPs.
Only found one .1gr heavy, and one .1gr light. Stopped wt checking those, thereafter.
They shoot so well, I have often thought about making a “ dipper “ that holds the powder charge that the 85BTHPs shoot best at. Then…. use the dipper to “ measure “ each of 5 charges, then shoot a 5-shot 100yd group; to see just how well the resulting cartridges would group ? Just for “ S & G’s . Hmmm…….


With regards,
357Mag

 

[K22]

K22 -

Howdy !

Yeh…sounds like you got a reputation….. a good one !

I tried weight checking 200 of those 85BTHPs.
Only found one .1gr heavy, and one .1gr light. Stopped wt checking those, thereafter.
They shoot so well, I have often thought about making a “ dipper “ that holds the powder charge that the 85BTHPs shoot best at. Then…. use the dipper to “ measure “ each of 5 charges, then shoot a 5-shot 100yd group; to see just how well the resulting cartridges would group ? Just for “ S & G’s . Hmmm…….


With regards,
357Mag

I don't know what it is about this bullet, but it has shot really well in about a 1/2 dozen of 243 Win's I have own over the years. Had my best success with IMR 4064 and Varget. IMR 4350 can also work quite well with this bullet.

 

[LHSmith]

Nostalgic for me. Back in the late 70's, a buddy and I each bought Colt-Sauer's in .243. I was the reloader for both and we spent several years trying various components in search of "THE" perfect load. Back then I was most into GH and deer hunting, so I was way down on the learning curve of what we have since learned on accuracy. But of all the combinations that worked the best in both rifles the 85 gr Sierra BT HP pushed by IMR 4831 was the load we kept going back to. Still have a partial box priced at $6.02. Back then we shot off Hoppe rests (the orange ones) and were mostly ignorant of wind and mirage effects- not to mention powder / bullet / brass lot disparities. At one session, two guys showed up with painted stocks and "bull" barrels and placed "lawn ornaments" down range. I would later recognize these two as Lester Bruno and Gary O'Cock. Twenty years later I progressed to shooting those same "fancy" rifles (ended up with 4 of them) along with +$400 rests and windflags at registered matches. My biggest regret is not jumping in sooner because that was the "heyday" of Benchrest in this area and I missed out on meeting some of the real characters of BR.

 

[joshb]

I don't know what it is about this bullet, but it has shot really well in about a 1/2 dozen of 243 Win's I have own over the years. Had my best success with IMR 4064 and Varget. IMR 4350 can also work quite well with this bullet.

You like that bullet about as much as I do. My 6br likes it. The other day, I was testing some Berger 68s. The gun didn’t like the load and I shot another group of my 85 Sierra load to check it. The Berger group is the lower right. The Sierra group is in the bullseye with that pesky flier high left. I adjusted the scope and tried one more shot in the square to verify point of aim. My gun likes them!

 

[K22]

Nostalgic for me. Back in the late 70's, a buddy and I each bought Colt-Sauer's in .243. I was the reloader for both and we spent several years trying various components in search of "THE" perfect load. Back then I was most into GH and deer hunting, so I was way down on the learning curve of what we have since learned on accuracy. But of all the combinations that worked the best in both rifles the 85 gr Sierra BT HP pushed by IMR 4831 was the load we kept going back to. Still have a partial box priced at $6.02. Back then we shot off Hoppe rests (the orange ones) and were mostly ignorant of wind and mirage effects- not to mention powder / bullet / brass lot disparities. At one session, two guys showed up with painted stocks and "bull" barrels and placed "lawn ornaments" down range. I would later recognize these two as Lester Bruno and Gary O'Cock. Twenty years later I progressed to shooting those same "fancy" rifles (ended up with 4 of them) along with +$400 rests and windflags at registered matches. My biggest regret is not jumping in sooner because that was the "heyday" of Benchrest in this area and I missed out on meeting some of the real characters of BR.

I still have my Hoppe's Orange bench rest. I was also totally ignorant of wind and mirage. Even worse, I was obviously to the effect of cant on consistent POI. (I am a closet Hoppe's 9 with a bronze brush user but don't tell anyone - I don't want to get banish from this forum.)

IMR 4831 never work great for me. I did use IMR 4350 quite a bit, and it shot well. But when I went to IMR 4064 with the 85 BTHP, things started humming. Incidentally, 4064 is one of Sierra's accuracy loads for the 85 BTHP. These days I used Varget or 4064 when supplies of Varget dry up.

When I began reloading, I knew absolutely nothing. I read the Lyman Manual and started loading. It wasn't until I met a bench rest precision shooter at a local club that I started to refine my reloading technique. These guys were an immense help in advancing my precision reloading and shooting skills.

You might be amazed at the success I had with a simple 3 x 9 Redfield scope on my old 243 Win Model 70.

 

[nmkid]

I started shooting the Sierra 85 BTHP in the mid-70s. Even then they were the cat's meow for my 243. H-4831 at 44.5 grs. was the magic then.

 

[1K6BRA]

Back when groundhogs were plentiful in my area and I spent a lot of time shooting them, I became known as “that guy that sits on one hillside and shoots to the other“ Sounds like a good Indian name! When I was down at the road packing all my gear up to go back home the locals would stop and say, I knew you were in the area recently, the buzzards have been all over the place.

 

[Schandler]

I purchased a ruger tang 77 heavy barrel in 243 years ago only because i watched the fella that had it shoot ground hog at 400 yards ! He priced it and i had to have ! Well that was the start of my rabbit hole for accuracy ! Still have the rifle and the sierras in 85gr is what it likes and i purchased powder and sierras enough to last long time ! Well im sad to say after loading a box full i just put ammo on shelf and rifle in safe and forgot about it. 4831 and the sierras is where it’s at ! Other than a crow or 4 - the rifle hasn’t been used because 6 ppc and 6 br replaced it but i know it’s there if i get the notion. It’s the only 243 i have and im not sure why !

 

[ebb]

Before I retired, I was a carpenter and cabinet maker for over 40 years. I still have almost all of my wood working tools (I gave a friend at church a bandsaw, a table saw/jointer combo unit, and an old miter saw) I would love to make a set of crossed sticks or poles whatever they are called. Butch's friend Wyman shoots off of sticks, and mentioned he cut the willow sticks from a creek just below where Billy Dixon made the worlds record long range shot and held it till it was broken by Carlos Hathcock. I doubt I will drive to Texas to harvest sticks to make a set, but I have 10 acres in a little town near Daytona that has an overgrown pond that has a lot of willow growing on the bank. I cut some last time I mowed up there and it is drying to make charcoal for black powder. It has always been said willow charcoal makes the best black.

 

[Geronimo Jim]

Bought a Remington 788 in left hand as soon as they came out about 1970 or so in
6mm Remington. Had a friend who had same gun in 243 I think. 85 Sierra bthp with
4831 was the bomb. Shot groundhogs all over Virginia for the next 10 years. Had a
Weaver 4 x 12 and must have shot a million hogs....maybe more.

 

[dave@aDave]

I too had great performance from Sierra's 85gr HP. I used it in a .264 Win Mag for varmints on the farm.
I also like their 87gr spitzer.
I loaded the 85gr with 64.7gr of IMR 4831, the 87gr with 55gr of IMR 4895.
Both did very nicely.

 

[Rem06]

At the range again today, a blamey 31 degrees with 20 mph sustained winds. Shooting my 243 Win, X Bolt with 85 Sierra BTHP's. Love this rifle and load! I wanted some adversity, and I got it and then some. It was damn cold with that wind. Wimps need not apply. Sometimes I feel like a wimp.

Only one other bold guy showed up at the range - another fellow shooter suffering from cabin fever. Good shooter, punching out bug holes at 100 yards with his Creedmoor, off the bench of course. Me, as usually, shooting off my cross sticks having vision of predators and ground hogs.

The fellow walked over and said, "I know you, you're that ground hog man that I see on the upper range in the summer." (The upper range is currently inaccessible - the access road is a sheet of ice - thus we are shooting on the lower range with nasty cross winds and no wind breaks like the upper range.)

I grinned, "Yea, that's me." He replied, "I knew it had to be, you're the only guy I ever saw shooting off two poles!"  Once you have a reputation, it's hard to shake it.

Keep at it.
I love them bullets in my wifes little winchester 70 lightweight.
Deer and groundhogs