Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Choosing between two loads

The 88 is never not my first pitch,when RPM/COAL allow. That especially in 223. Hint.

Lever’ is never not my first pitch to fuel same. Hint.

The 88 is my FAVORITE in several dozen,platforms(Custom all),though only in 223,223AI,224 Grendel,22 BR,22-250,22-250 AI and Speedmire. Hint.

The 88 offers a fhuqking sensational blend of Accuracy,Precision and Terminal Effects. Hint………..

If you have a load that works, go with it. BTDT...The biggest problem you will have is you. Wind and mirage. A good Load will not beat either, if you don`t do your job. If you don`t already have a good spotting scope, get one. You can see both wind and mirage through the scope, but the spotting scope is better. I have a 20x..plenty.
Shooting 4 will give you some idea what the wind will do, but 8-9-1k is a different animal. I`ve seen wind coming from two different directions at once, with range wind flags. Find something at least 600, and practice.
Hope for a dark day with consistant light wind.

My experience, FWIW..

BSA, I did look up my 600 yard 2.51" 5 shot group picture, but I already posted that last June at your request and if you are like me you hate it when the same pictures are re-posted over and over again.

So instead I went out to my clubs 600 yard practice this morning to shoot up my remaining Palma ammo from last weeks Southwest Nationals match.

The obligatory equipment shots





First MTM box had 2 rounds so I decided to make my wind call, shoot, break position and stand up, rebuild position, make wind call and shoot. A good practice drill for prone shooting. Not perfect, but happy enough with this pair.



Next box had 5 cartridges. Shot straight through with 3 wind corrections IIRC. Group opened up some to 5 inches



Last box had the most... but the wind had really picked up and corrections were in a 2.75 minute spread. Got behind and ping ponged the last two. Did have a decent vertical of a little over 4.2" as you can see. To the O.P., when the wind is sporty, you will still get good load feedback by looking at the vertical dispersion in my opinion.



Have you had any luck locating those 1000 yard targets you promised to post last June?

😂

Good shooten...I never did shoot with all that electronic stuff. And proves a point...the "best" load you develope will not go center target if you miss condition calls.

Is this electronic target tablet the club/facilities or yours or? Can you spill the beans on it?

That’s cool stuff Mike. Thanks for posting. Shooting like that with irons is enviable!

Thanks, these days I get more enjoyment out of "tuning" myself as a shooter than the loads or rifle, although I can handle that well enough . You are absolutely right about the condition calls!

Regarding the electronics, my E Target was a great investment that allows for early morning practice during our Phoenix summers without too much discomfort. A pretty cool electronic trainer that I have just started using was developed by my pair fire training partner who is a software designer in addition to being a shooting member of the US Palma team. With $75 worth of laser, webcam and USB cable your laptop or tablet becomes a dryfire trainer similar to the expensive SCATT systems. Really cool to see your aiming trace throughout the entire shot execution process.





At the 22' distance I use this set up the scaled 1000yard black is .30 inch diameter.

Thanks beretzs. The human eye is great at lining up concentric circles, which is how the match sights work. Its just getting over the intimidation factor when you start out.

For sure Mike. I remember shooting the M16A2 at at 500 meters the first time. I was amazed how easy it actually was to make pretty fair groups with a tight sling and old green tip ammo.

I’d not shot big rifles any further than that. Definitely an eye opener. Made me appreciate aperture sights. Went to OIF I with them and never had a problem engaging with them either.

Keep the pics coming. It’s great to see folks still sling up and shoot rifles on the deck and make itty bitty groups.

This one I own. It's a Silver Mountain Solo purchased 4 or 5 years ago. There is another good one called Shotmarker, which is more available and likely more popular. One of our local clubs has 10 of them and another was waiting for the Solo model to become available but may end up buying the Shotmarkers. Here is a 500 yard club match group I fired on a Shotmarker.

Super cool. Thanks for the tip on ShotMarker - y'all make a guy spend money.