P1ZombieKiller
Silver $$ Contributor
I was dove hunting this weekend with my buddies here in Texas, and a couple of us decided to try to shoot a little longer range than we have ever before. On our hunting lease, we have a little valley we have set up a 500 yard range. For the most part, this has been all we have ever needed. We love shooting steel plates at this distance. As some of you know, I have a very nice shooting 6BR that fellow forum member "PREACHER" did the chambering on for me. Here is my last write up I did for a group at 500 yards.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php/topic,3768006.0.html
Rem 700 trued action
28" 1.250 straight PacNor barrel 1:8 with Harrell’s muzzle break
Bolt bushed and pin turned by Gre-Tan
Jewel trigger
Hand carved Indonesian Hardwood
Badger 20 MOA base
NF rings
Sightron S3 8-32x56 Target Dot
Ammo is Lapua brass (turned for a .269 neck)
Berger 105 VLD
29.6 grains Varget (runs around 2850 fps)
Wolf Small Rifle Magnum primers
Saturday morning we got up and ate breakfast, and then went out to set up the range. We had to move the range to the west fence line as that was the only place we could get a shot longer than 500 yards. We used our Garmin GPS to set the bench at 800 yards from the place we set up our target. I wished I would have taken a picture of the set up, because it looked like we were shooting a mile. This was the first time I had ever attempted a shot past 500 yards. We took a 4x8 sheet of plywood, and turned it sideways so that we could get 3 targets side by side on the plywood board. The only targets we had that could be seen from that distance were the man sized silhouette style targets. We placed 8" splatter type in the center of the target so we would have a hold point on the target. The 1/4" dot on my Sightron seem to cover 1/2 the 8" splatter target (even thought I know it didn't).
Since I have never shot at this range before, I had no idea what to move my scope up too. I used JBM calculations to figure out my 800 range based on what I knew my 500 ballistics to be. I went up 19 MOA from my zero at 100 yards, and clicked 1 MOA for a very light breeze. I squeezed off 1 shot. I then jumped on my 4 wheeler, and went to the targets to look. I had hit 2" right of the red bull on the splatter type target which was right in the middle of the man sized target. I could not believe it. When I got back to my bench, I could hardly keep my hand from shaking. With my smile still as big as you could imagine, I then squeezed off 4 in a row. Those all went high left. The group was about a 6" group. I had to assume this was the difference between a cold bore shot, and a warmed up barrel. I know when I shoot short range benchrest, I always use a couple of shots to warm up my barrel, before shooting my record target.
After about an hour or so, and my buddy was done shooting his first set of test rounds, It was my turn to shoot again. At this point, I had moved my scope down 1 full MOA, but forgot to move the scope right. Remembering the difference in the cold barrel shot, I shot my first round at the steel plate we placed next to the target stands. My first shot hit the 12" steel plate a little left, but well inside the edge of the plate. I then moved the scope back to my target and shot my group. In the excitement of this experience, I failed to place 6 rounds on the table, and only placed 5. This turned out to be a HUGE mistake, as I firmly believe when shooting groups; you should shoot 5 shot groups, and not 3 or 4. Nevertheless, I am SUPER EXCITED about this group I shot. I had no idea I could ever accomplish anything like this.
Here is the 4 shot group I shot.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php/topic,3768006.0.html
Rem 700 trued action
28" 1.250 straight PacNor barrel 1:8 with Harrell’s muzzle break
Bolt bushed and pin turned by Gre-Tan
Jewel trigger
Hand carved Indonesian Hardwood
Badger 20 MOA base
NF rings
Sightron S3 8-32x56 Target Dot
Ammo is Lapua brass (turned for a .269 neck)
Berger 105 VLD
29.6 grains Varget (runs around 2850 fps)
Wolf Small Rifle Magnum primers
Saturday morning we got up and ate breakfast, and then went out to set up the range. We had to move the range to the west fence line as that was the only place we could get a shot longer than 500 yards. We used our Garmin GPS to set the bench at 800 yards from the place we set up our target. I wished I would have taken a picture of the set up, because it looked like we were shooting a mile. This was the first time I had ever attempted a shot past 500 yards. We took a 4x8 sheet of plywood, and turned it sideways so that we could get 3 targets side by side on the plywood board. The only targets we had that could be seen from that distance were the man sized silhouette style targets. We placed 8" splatter type in the center of the target so we would have a hold point on the target. The 1/4" dot on my Sightron seem to cover 1/2 the 8" splatter target (even thought I know it didn't).
Since I have never shot at this range before, I had no idea what to move my scope up too. I used JBM calculations to figure out my 800 range based on what I knew my 500 ballistics to be. I went up 19 MOA from my zero at 100 yards, and clicked 1 MOA for a very light breeze. I squeezed off 1 shot. I then jumped on my 4 wheeler, and went to the targets to look. I had hit 2" right of the red bull on the splatter type target which was right in the middle of the man sized target. I could not believe it. When I got back to my bench, I could hardly keep my hand from shaking. With my smile still as big as you could imagine, I then squeezed off 4 in a row. Those all went high left. The group was about a 6" group. I had to assume this was the difference between a cold bore shot, and a warmed up barrel. I know when I shoot short range benchrest, I always use a couple of shots to warm up my barrel, before shooting my record target.
After about an hour or so, and my buddy was done shooting his first set of test rounds, It was my turn to shoot again. At this point, I had moved my scope down 1 full MOA, but forgot to move the scope right. Remembering the difference in the cold barrel shot, I shot my first round at the steel plate we placed next to the target stands. My first shot hit the 12" steel plate a little left, but well inside the edge of the plate. I then moved the scope back to my target and shot my group. In the excitement of this experience, I failed to place 6 rounds on the table, and only placed 5. This turned out to be a HUGE mistake, as I firmly believe when shooting groups; you should shoot 5 shot groups, and not 3 or 4. Nevertheless, I am SUPER EXCITED about this group I shot. I had no idea I could ever accomplish anything like this.
Here is the 4 shot group I shot.
;D Hog
