180gr 7mm SMK performance

[Endyo]

I personally never fired any of the 180s. Everyone I knew gave such a dismal report that I never got around to testing them.

Sometimes we learn the hard way. The 180SMK shot so well at 100 yards I decided to use what I had at the TSRA Long range championship last weekend. The last time my scores were so bad was my very first match and I had a loose scope base...

I went back to 100 yards with the same loads today to diagnose what was going on and they hammered again. Obviously they're tuned at 100, but why performance is so so bad at 1,000 is stumping me.

 

[mac86951]

Sometimes we learn the hard way. The 180SMK shot so well at 100 yards I decided to use what I had at the TSRA Long range championship last weekend. The last time my scores were so bad was my very first match and I had a loose scope base...

I went back to 100 yards with the same loads today to diagnose what was going on and they hammered again. Obviously they're tuned at 100, but why performance is so so bad at 1,000 is stumping me.

Much variation can go unnoticed at 100y. Most BR is 100, 200, 300y or some combination of the two.

I'd recommend a 100y, followed by 300 min, and 600 for wind reading practice.

 

[1shot]

My ES tells me if I take it to distance or not. A small group at 100 with a ES of 30 won't yield good results at 1K.
YMMV,
Lloyd

 

[Laurie]

The top F-Open competitors on this (UK) side of the pond have come to the same conclusion over the 180 SMK. Berger rules with a minority following for the 180gn Lapua Scenar L. I picked up a few thousand SMKs for next to nothing as a result and they suit one of my 7mm barrels (on a straight 284), but not the other. To get from small 100 yard groups to L-R performance required a lot of BTO batching followed by trimming and pointing work. This eventually removed most of the long-range vertical spreads I saw initially.

The barrel that likes them is an 8-inch twist job, actually a Bartlein gain twist starting at 8.5 if I remember right. Whether the faster twist is a factor in their performing or it's down to bore and bullet dimensions, I don't know. My other 7 (7mm Shehane) with a 9-inch twist Benchmark won't shoot them well at any distance with any load I've tried and prefers the Scenars over anything else.

 

[Endyo]

The top F-Open competitors on this (UK) side of the pond have come to the same conclusion over the 180 SMK. Berger rules with a minority following for the 180gn Lapua Scenar L. I picked up a few thousand SMKs for next to nothing as a result and they suit one of my 7mm barrels (on a straight 284), but not the other. To get from small 100 yard groups to L-R performance required a lot of BTO batching followed by trimming and pointing work. This eventually removed most of the long-range vertical spreads I saw initially.

The barrel that likes them is an 8-inch twist job, actually a Bartlein gain twist starting at 8.5 if I remember right. Whether the faster twist is a factor in their performing or it's down to bore and bullet dimensions, I don't know. My other 7 (7mm Shehane) with a 9-inch twist Benchmark won't shoot them well at any distance with any load I've tried and prefers the Scenars over anything else.

Laurie,

How extreme was vertical? I trimmed bullets but did not have an appropriate collet for my Hoover pointing die.

1/4 MOA groups at 100 had on average 2MOA vertical. Over 130-shots the extreme spread was 5+ MOA vertical @ 1000.

I'm planning on going back to Bergers or possibly trying the Lapua Scenars which will require me to get a throater.

Money is tight and I was out of 180 Hybrids. I learned my lesson.

 

[Laurie]

Verticals at around the 1-MOA with an occasional worse one. After all the bullet sorting, pointing etc most are under half-MOA with just the occasional one stretching to three-quarters or one. However, some wind conditions on my home range can create verticals so it's not always possible to know what's ammunition and what's conditions.