Long sigh..... I went to the range yesterday to try some new loads in my .243, I had loaded up some 68 gr. Bergers to try for a short range load, and some 95gr. Berger VLD's that I have been playing with for a couple of weeks.
It looked fine when I left home but by the time we got to the range the wind had picked up and although only 12-13 mph it was actually quite gusty, annoying but what the heck it was an otherwise lovely day. If you have shot at American in Houston you;ll know their benches really aren't set up for accuracy shooting, all wod construction, not really very heavy, and two benches connected to each other with a plywood partition between the shooters.
After getting targets set, ammo laid out, front rest in position, another guy sets up on the bench connected to mine. The first session shooting the 68's I would have two shots touching, with the 47 and 47.5 grain loads actually in just one small hole, then my bench mate would decide he needed to move around just as I touched off the 3rd shot and off it would go 1/2" or so to one side.
In the next session I broke out the 95 gr. Bergers to try, I had been getting the groups down in the .3's previously and spent a lot of time on these reloads making sure they were as precise as possible in .2 gr. increments to see what it liked best. Then my benchmate decided to bring out his .300 Remington Ultramag with a muzzle break. I should have just packed up then and went home.
It looked fine when I left home but by the time we got to the range the wind had picked up and although only 12-13 mph it was actually quite gusty, annoying but what the heck it was an otherwise lovely day. If you have shot at American in Houston you;ll know their benches really aren't set up for accuracy shooting, all wod construction, not really very heavy, and two benches connected to each other with a plywood partition between the shooters.
After getting targets set, ammo laid out, front rest in position, another guy sets up on the bench connected to mine. The first session shooting the 68's I would have two shots touching, with the 47 and 47.5 grain loads actually in just one small hole, then my bench mate would decide he needed to move around just as I touched off the 3rd shot and off it would go 1/2" or so to one side.
In the next session I broke out the 95 gr. Bergers to try, I had been getting the groups down in the .3's previously and spent a lot of time on these reloads making sure they were as precise as possible in .2 gr. increments to see what it liked best. Then my benchmate decided to bring out his .300 Remington Ultramag with a muzzle break. I should have just packed up then and went home.
