Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Pee Wee Goes Long....

Spring has sprung finally making my long range spot accessible.

Back when I had this 22-204 put together, I didn't spend a whole lot of time on load work, more along the kiss, find pressure, and rock on approach so highly touted (wink), with 75 Amax and AA-2230-C.

This winter I picked up a 1K box of 80 grain Berger VLD's and a 22 caliber sleeve for my Whidden pointer. I usually shoot 75 grain VLD's but for some unknown reason the 80's are cheaper, and after running the numbers at 50 fps difference, it's a wash anyway, so cheaper won out.

The 3 on the left as they come from the Berger....right three after pointing with the Whidden die:




I already had a good 200 yard zero from a couple days ago, so I went straight back to 610 yards with the steel and got set up. My 6.5x47 is in the pic, as I didn't take a pic with the 22-204, but it shows the set up:



I looked at the drop chart, dialed the scope, and ripped off three:



Shazaam, an inch and three quarters!


Then moved to the 775 mark. No pics or stats on the 22, but I ran three through the 6.5x47 to test the new Vortex:




Back to 1003 yards and the wind was starting:






I had hung two 12x24's side by side so I could shoot one at 1000 and the other at 1200, so I didn't have to run back and forth. I got a good zero on the 22-204, and then compared the 80's to the 75 Amax's that had a 25-30 fps advantage. The Amax dropped 2 1/2 MOA lower than the 80's at 1K.

I then moved back to the fence trying to get 1200, but with the steel being part way down the hill to spot shots, I could "only" get to 1185. I had to drive the truck back and forth to knock down the thistles to make a lane to shoot through, one of the reasons I bought a Work Truck with the plastic front end that some idiots gave me grief over. Of course by now the wind and mirage were kicking in:

[img]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh167/alfbucket/017_zpsfc0773aa.jpg[/img]

In my rush to get going, I had not run the ballistics out that far, so I shot several in the hillside to get a zero, then I moved to the steel. I saw the first two hit in the middle, but never saw the third hit plate or dirt, so I shot one more. I thought the center splash had gotten a little bigger on the fourth, but couldn't tell with the mirage.

After loading everything in the truck and driving down to the target, I found the third shot did hit at the bottom of the steel, and the fourth did land on the top of the center shot:

[img]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh167/alfbucket/020_zps857a38e3.jpg[/img]

Before packing up from 1185, I did compare the Amax to the Berger again, and the Berger had a solid 5 1/2 MOA flatter trajectory.

There's one more test I want to do yet, just for the hell of it. When I pointed the bullets, I didn't do 30 of them, so it'll give me an idea of the improvement gained by pointing.