Best targets for long range

[muleman69]

I have a roll of butcher paper 36" wide that I use for wrapping elk, I also tear off about 3' sections and stick a black 3-4" dot in the middle for all my 1k tuning. Works very well for me and the sharpie from the bullets shows up very well on the dull side of the paper, not the waxed side.

Alex you mentioned the sharpie from the bullets showing up on the paper. So I'm guessing you blacken bullets with sharpie prior to firing?

 

[LoanHarvey]

Tag

 

[Tucker65]

I use a 80mm Swarovski spotting scope and can see 6mm holes at 1000 yards in the right conditions.

I think the best groups I've shot at distance though are the ones I didn't see until I went out to get the target.

John

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Alex you mentioned the sharpie from the bullets showing up on the paper. So I'm guessing you blacken bullets with sharpie prior to firing?

No, different colors so you can tell which shots are which. You can shoot 5 different groups on the same target and then id them by colors.

 

[dmoran]

@muleman69
Below is a 1000yd example of having bullet tips colored with red, blue, and green Sharpe's:
(Note: a round robin ladder test, to 3 increments of seating, with 4-shots at each increment)

 

[muleman69]

No, different colors so you can tell which shots are which. You can shoot 5 different groups on the same target and then id them by colors.

Cool ,thanks

 

[muleman69]

@muleman69
Below is a 1000yd example of having bullet tips colored with red, blue, and green Sharpe's:
(Note: a round robin ladder test, to 3 increments of seating, with 4-shots at each increment)

View attachment 1156217

Awesome,wish I new more about Robin testing. I bought a dasher and have been trying to find a load with R/15. I will be the first one to admit I don't no much about ladders or round robins. Guess they call us Jarheads for a reason..lol

 

[rsmithsr50]

it is simple
load 20 rounds at the lands in .2 gr steps( like steps of a ladder.)
shoot one at a time at 300 yards. log each shot at the bench. chrono is useful.
when done look for spots were steps are level, very little elevation change.
retest sweet spots in 3 shot GROUPS, and evaluate.
reshoot the best of the 3's in a 5 shot group.
when you find what looks like the best, start playing with seating depth.

the 20 shot/300 yard/.2gr step is the ORIGINAL LADDER by chriegton Audette.
some shoot just 10-15 in 1/100 of case volume.
some use 200 vs 300.
the intent of a LADDER is to id spots where there maybe a sweet spot. you then move to 3 AND 5 shot GROUP shooting to evaluate.

Awesome,wish I new more about Robin testing. I bought a dasher and have been trying to find a load with R/15. I will be the first one to admit I don't no much about ladders or round robins. Guess they call us Jarheads for a reason..lol

 

[rsmithsr50]

DEFINE "LONGER RANGES"

We were talking last night about trying to come up with a target for longer ranges. What do most of you folks use for color of paper ? Would some kind of backer help to see holes better? Are cameras the way to go theses days?

 

[muleman69]

DEFINE "LONGER RANGES"

DEFINE "LONGER RANGES"

300 to 700 at this time

 

[rsmithsr50]

a decent spotting scope will work wonders.
celestron 100 ed glass m2 is about 750 used/on sale less
meopta 82 s2 is about 2200-2500
if you buy less you will end up replacing them

 

[dmoran]

Awesome,wish I new more about Robin testing. I bought a dasher and have been trying to find a load with R/15. I will be the first one to admit I don't no much about ladders or round robins. Guess they call us Jarheads for a reason..lol

"Round robin" style just means alternating between each increment for each shot of the ladder test.
In the example, it was shot like this:
Shot 1 - red
Shot 2 - blue
Shot 3 - green
Shot 4 - red
Shot 5 - blue
Shot 6 - green
Shot 7 - red
Shot 8 - blue
Shot 9 - green
Shot 10 - red
Shot 11 - blue
Shot 12 - green

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[dmoran]

a decent spotting scope will work wonders.
celestron 100 ed glass m2 is about 750 used/on sale less
meopta 82 s2 is about 2200-2500
if you buy less you will end up replacing them

Mike -
One of the main reasons for using colored bullets, is to NOT NEED optics (or cameras, etc).
That's what the colors tell ya...... !.!.!

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[DickE]

Donovan and I use a building product called R-board 1" thick. Foam core with a fiberglass like coating on both sides. Paint it flat black, use white stickers for target dot. Can see 6mm holes on a good day at 1000 yds, no problem at 500 yds. I've got a Sightron 10-50. Donovan has various scopes with equal powers. Has worked good for years. Too many holes? Just repaint.

 

[tom]

@muleman69

Here's a link to an older(valuable still today)article right here on this website. Towards the end, Jason mentioned using the basic example for things besides powder load tuning. When you see an example like that Donovan posted, it is just a seating test spun off what you read in the article below.

Tom

https://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/long-range-load-development/

 

[muleman69]

a decent spotting scope will work wonders.
celestron 100 ed glass m2 is about 750 used/on sale less
meopta 82 s2 is about 2200-2500
if you buy less you will end up replacing them

I sold my meopta and bought a Swarovski. I still have problems

 

[muleman69]

@muleman69

Here's a link to an older(valuable still today)article right here on this website. Towards the end, Jason mentioned using the basic example for things besides powder load tuning. When you see an example like that Donovan posted, it is just a seating test spun off what you read in the article below.

Tom

https://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/long-range-load-development/

Good stuff ,thanks

 

[DHuffman]

Another added benefit of shooting the 3-5 sharpie colored groups at the same POA on paper at distance is not being able to see the groups from the bench. Whether it's powder in increments, seating in increments, bushing size, primers or anything else that can be tested against anything else you get to see how 5 groups honestly print in relation to each other in very close to the same condition and you have little or no idea how they are printing until you go down and look.

There's no screwing up a group because you have two touching and blow the third because you get all anxed up not to blow the third. There's no pressure, you shoot then you go look! If you can't see the holes you can't sway the test by altering your POA.
I enjoy the drive or walk to the target to see how the groups print compared to each other.

 

[dolek]

Another added benefit of shooting the 3-5 sharpie colored groups at the same POA on paper at distance is not being able to see the groups from the bench. Whether it's powder in increments, seating in increments, bushing size, primers or anything else that can be tested against anything else you get to see how 5 groups honestly print in relation to each other in very close to the same condition and you have little or no idea how they are printing until you go down and look.

There's no screwing up a group because you have two touching and blow the third because you get all anxed up not to blow the third. There's no pressure, you shoot then you go look! If you can't see the holes you can't sway the test by altering your POA.
I enjoy the drive or walk to the target to see how the groups print compared to each other.

Good point, not sure if it's superstition or what but I always wait until I am standing in front of the target before I look up ...pretty cool surprise at times.

 

[power55316]

I am trying some lime green paper covered with carpet guard and painted the plastic carpet guard with flat black paint the target shown is at 300 yards with a target camera