TassieTiger wrote:SCJ429 wrote:You get much more than a patch Tassie. You also get a polite round of applause from your fellow shooters. A sub 1.250 inch group is very difficult and almost impossible when the boil stops you seeing the fall of shot. The change from the splash plate to the target always gets me.
1.250 inch at 500m - that’s somewhere between 1/4 and 1/5 Moa? I doubt many if any, could shoot that at 50m, let alone at 100m let alone at 200m but 500? That’s as you’ve said - a little bewildering if I’m honest. Farken impressive.
Well, not only is this a test to see if my Login worked, seems it did . But also to fill in a bit more information. Yes, I was rather proud of the results since that was achieved a few years ago, before the Screamer Patch days, and it was my first ever competition shoot at a National Grade Match.
It was the 2nd Detail of the day just before lunch and the Mirage was very much in force so I couldn't actually see the Red Fly but I could see a dark patch (bullet holes) where I thought the Fly was located so I stayed on that line of sight and all I could see was that the dark patch was getting bigger at each shot. I was watching wind flags around me and tried to shoot under the same condition which was basically rapid fire for a single shot action.
The 5 shot group size was officially measured at 1.182" which was just outside the range record best. The target scored 58.01 points and was the best for the day out of 50 odd competitors in either Light or Heavy Gun... I shoot Light Gun.
At the time I had to wind the magnification of the 8-80x March X back to about 50x magnification otherwise the whole target was just a blur in the mirage.
The rifle in question is a Stolle Grizzly II with a 1.5oz Jewell Trigger and overall weight just under the maximum 17lbs allowed for Light Gun.
Shooting the warmer target first up early in the morning I had the scope would up to almost 80x and I had no trouble see each shot land BUT then for the first detail things went downhill with the breeze and mirage coming up.
So, that's my story but not the topic. Using an expensive high magnification scope in my view has it's advantages when conditions are better than good but is still an advantage when they go downhill but I was still able to use a bit more magnification than others. The chap that shot the detail before me with a Nightforce 12-42x had to wind his back to less than 35x due to mirage.
I have only ever shot F-Class once and I'll say it was a dammed sight easier scoring than shooting the Fly. It's easy to see a bloody big Black X Ring than it is to see a Red Fly on an Orange Target at 500 Metres...
Bullet wise as far as I have information from years gone past the Berger Target was about the tops, Copperhead Bullets are there as well and what I'm testing at present to tune but I can't achieve the 1/4 MOA or better I used to get with the old version Berger VLD's. I have shot Sierra Matchkings but they are way out of the target league accuracy in my view, they aren't consistent enough bullet to bullet to win target competitions.
I test my loads/bullets at home and I pick the best ideal conditions to test so I have an advantage over a lot of people. For me and a couple of mates that I have done load development for and they still come and test/fine tune at my 200 Metre Target we are not happy if all 5 shots for the test touch each other in a clover leaf group. Sure it doesn't happen all the time but that is a standard I set for shooting competition. Going on that standard both my Mate and his Son have both won 1st Place at a 500 Metre Fly Shoot.
So back to the Topic Title.... Personally, I would not be using Sierra Bullets if I was seriously wanting to do well at BenchRest Target Shooting. They may be okay for F-Class where in my view you have a lot greater margin for error... Not knocking F-Class shooters, we all have a sport we love.
by » 14 Mar 2019, 7:18 pm
