So I took my .338 up to the "range" with my new fancypants reticle to see how it worked. First, I hiked down to my steel plates course and reset them and put a couple new ones up. I have them at 250, 325, 385, 475, and 625 yards. The canyon I shoot across is breezy at best.
Anyway, a 100-yard sight-in followed the hike and other than one of the most comical flinches I've ever done, went smoothly. I added a pound and a half of pull weight to the Jewell on the rifle and it messed with my head! That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Also picked up about $20 in scrap brass. If ya'll are leaving brass on the ground, then call your local metals buyer and ask how much they pay for brass... you won't leave it lay anymore. This was all un-reloadable military surplus brass, but it paid for 2 trips worth of gas up there to where I shoot!
Off to the LR shooting course. I didn't even bother with the 250-yard plate. Started with the 325, treating my rifle as a Leupold "Group A" cartridge. Bang, clang! So far so good. Went to the 385 gong, bang clang. Yay. Next up was the 465 gong, and it was a miss. Then another. I dicked around with trying the group a/group b settings, then decided that this was a windage problem and tried holding opposite what I THOUGHT the wind was doing. Bang, clang. Nice! Tried again, another hit.
I'm sold. Other than wind (if only...) I think I'm good to go out to 500 yards. I already WAS good to go, with the turrets I had on the previous scope, but this is a cleaner way to do things. It's too close to the season to mess with things, but this winter I'll probably send a couple more scopes up to Leupold and get the reticles changed out.
While I'm feeling good about my new setup, don't worry, I'll be up there at least a couple more times before elk season. One trip does not a confidant Jeff make. However, it went about as well as it could possibly have gone. Also, these were my exact hunting load- 225-gn Accubonds at full charges of RL19. I've also had good times with 200-gn BT's from that rifle but didn't try any of those at long range today.
I think that for my purposes- being lethal out to 500 yards max, which is an upgrade from my stated 400 yard goal earlier this year- this reticle is great. Beyond 500 yards I think a guy would need mil-dots or turrets, but ya'll would know better than me.
I also got to mess with my new spotting scope, a Loopy 12x-40x 60mm (I think). It was nice! My new gear for this season consists of a canvas wall tent, the spotting scope, and this new scope/reticle.... well, also that DPMS AR10 and a Bushy AR15, but they don't count. Anyway, I'm heading into the season with a warm fuzzy feeling! :-)
-jeff
Last edited by Jeff_Olsen; 09/16/07.
