Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Velocity, Accuracy, Drift, Concentricity, and a Hunting Rifle in 1K BR

Some of you might find my ensuing drivel about the 1K BR match near Tucson yesterday interesting, though I make no promises...........

Last month I shot 210 grain Bergers from my 300 WSM at 2850 fps. I placed 4 of 9 shooters in the "Light Gun" class with a 11.2" agg (the average of three 5-shot groups).

Yesterday I shot 220 grain Sierra Matchkings at 2740 fps. The wind was much worse today than last month. It varied from 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock between zero and approx 15 mph. I placed first out of 11 shooters in Light Gun with a 7.81" agg (the average of three 5-shot groups). I placed first in the Heavy Gun class with an agg of 9.4" (the average of three 10-shot groups). I also placed first in score for both the Light and Heavy classes, shot the highest single round score for both Light and Heavy gun classes, and shot the smallest single group in Heavy Gun. The only thing I didn't win was the smallest group in Light Gun.

An important point here. 1K groups are very much affected by the wind. Under mild and consistent wind conditions most shooters do well. Under bad conditions everyone does worse. As such, it is hard to evaluate improvement in shooting technique or load development based only on what groups you shot during a 1K match. It is very important to see how well you did in relation to everyone else. IE, if you placed first with a 9" agg one match but placed last with a 7" agg the next match, you probably didn't improve, it was the conditions that improved. Conversely, if you placed last with a 7" agg then placed first with a 9" agg the next match, chances are you did improve.

Maybe I was just lucky. Good luck is always a factor in these matches. Sometimes I wonder if it is the ONLY factor. I am hoping my results today were a validation point for my theories of shooting long range. Time will tell.

I think that when you shoot in gusty, variable wind conditions--which is common out here--you need to shoot a bullet with the least amount of drift possible. The least amount of wind drift is often obtained with a high BC bullet, even if it is traveling at moderate velocity. This is easy to see with most any ballistics program.

Further, you need to have a reliable BC for the bullet, preferably a BC that was measured over a wide range of velocities vs just calculated on it's shape. The 220 grain SMK BC starts at .629 and drops to just above .6 at lower velocities. Sierra's BCs are actually measured, and as such are reliable. Berger says the 210 grain 30 cal bullet has a .631 BC. I am sure that is what it calculates out to be, but who knows what it really does in flight. David Tubb has said Berger's BCs are optimistic. I also think BC's will vary based on how much a given barrel distorts the bullet as it fires it.

No one else at the match shot 220 grain SMKs. There were some 6.5mm 140/142s, 190 Bergers, 210 Bergers, and even a guy with some 162 grain A-maxes. I will have the full equipment list later, but regardless, everyone else seemed to be shooting lower BC bullets at higher velocities.

You also need an accurate load with low extreme spreads to shoot well at long range. During 100 yd load development, I managed a couple 1/2" 5-shot groups with extreme spreads of 11. I did this with both once fired brass and new brass. For those of you who don't know, 1K BR bullets shoot like crap at 100 yds. 200 yds or even 300 yds is a much better distance from which to develop loads.

Because the new brass seemed to be shooting well, I decided to prep enough cases to shoot the Heavy class and fireform the brass while shooting the match. This is where it gets interesting, and "conventional wisdom" goes out the window. The concentricity was horrid for these new cases. I neck turned them all so they'd fit my chamber, then trimmed, chamfered, deburred, and uniformed the primer pockets. I had already sorted them into a weight range on 233-235.3 grains.

My first 10 rounds with this new brass were the best, having loaded bullet runout of .003 to .005". They shot into a 7.8" TEN shot group. My next set of rounds had runout of .005-.006". These 10 rounds made a 9.875" group. The last set of 10 had runout between .006 and .007", and they managed a 10.5" group.

Conventional wisdom says that runout of more than .004" will affect accuracy past 300 yds. I go to great length to sort loaded rounds by runout. This rifle does like the bullets jammed .007" into the lands, and maybe seating them that way offsets gross loaded round runout? Maybe runout doesn't affect things as much as we have been lead to think? Maybe my experience today was just an anomaly. I do know this, I cannot afford to use new brass every match.......................

One shooter impressed us today with his hunting rifle. He had a trued Rem 700 with a 27", heavy Kriger barrel (.9" at the muzzle), bedded in a Sendero stock. It was chambered in 7mm WSM. The rifle will shoot 162 grain A-Maxes at 3000 fps into 1/4" 3-shot groups at 100 yds. This type of rifle has me envisioning guys like Stick and Jamison using it to make first shot hits on critters ranging from coyotes to moose at ranges between 500 and 1100 yds.

The 7 WSM further impressed us when the shooter managed a 7� 5-shot group 1K. However, he also shot an 18� group and a 20� group. That makes an agg of about 15�, which is about double what the winning agg was for the class he was shooting. Additionally, his best 5-shot group was just a little smaller than the best 10-shot group shot that day. We think if he beds that barreled action in a proper 1K BR stock, gets the balance right, and sorts those A-maxes; he may wind up with a real shooter. BTW, the BC of the 162 A-Max is decent, as he had no shots blown off the 42� target. Not everyone shooting is relay could make that claim.

Congrats on the success, great job! Outstanding post, good info for all who like to reach out there accurately.

Congratulations! I've been following your 1K match reports and find them very interesting. Heading to the range now with my first chronograph in tow (Oehler 35P).

Very interesting stuff and nice shooting! Keep it coming.

I'm glad you got a Oehler! Just this past weekend my other chrono started giving suspicious readings, so I put it up and got out the Oehler. That settled the question.

Congradulations Blaine, and thanks for the post

Very impressive. Odviously your attention to detail and hard work paid off. E

The only downside is I can't fly under the radar anymore............ <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Baline, That shooting is excellent..Something I've never even seen let alone tried( or had the gear to try)
Do you have to deal with sunlight and mirage much or are the matches set for early morning?I know it's hot down there already...Jim

The macthes are early AM and the sun is fine. The mirage is such that with the scope at 32X, the dot looks like it is constantly making little circles. I adjust the front rest until the what looks to be the center of the dot's movement is in the center of the target and shoot.

Thanks...A whole 'other world' from the huntin-shooting I have done, but interesting.
Years ago I lived and hunted Arizona, and even by 0900 this time of year in the Safford-Tucson-SanManuel areas the heat mirage on the flats was tricky...even at 300 yards on water filled milk jugs in practice..:)
The mulies and javelina ( and rattlers & chuckwalla lizards) were long abed in the shade by then..and so we practiced..and drank gallons of water..

Never used a 32X scope either..:) jim

As much as I love my Leupolds for hunting, the do not hold a candle to the Night Force for the ability to see through the mirage. It was already 85 degrees at 0700 Sat.

What size and model Nightforce are you using that work better than which size and model Leupolds ? E

Look out Blaine, E's about to take a drive north to come give you a focusin' lesson!

No, I'm really curious as to what he found. It may well be possible to set up a rifle scope with special coatings to filter out mirage. I'm not sure if that is the case here. E

Blane--the wind is your friend. The more it blows the better I like it!! Learn to read it better than everyone on the line and you win. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

"It may well be possible to set up a rifle scope with special coatings to filter out mirage. I'm not sure if that is the case here. E "

You got to be kidding. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

A while back, Pentax was selling scopes with special coatings to enhanced the greens and browns to allow us to see game better.
Have you ever taken pictures or used a polarizing filter ? Same general idea. They filter out the scattered blue light and give you a sharper image. This trade off will give you a dimmer overall image when used under low light conditions, but might be worth it to a long range shooter because they shoot in full day light.
I don't know if this is what they do with certain scopes. That's why I asked. E

Which Pentax scope are you referring to? I don't know how it would be possible to enhance green and brown wavelengths without seriously effecting image quality in any light condition. Green/Blue or Red/Brown, yes due to their perspective wavelengths much like Steiner does with their Predator lens coating. What is being discussed is mirage which occurs as the result of changes in atmospheric conditions. I don't see how a specific lens coating would be able to correct this phenomena.

I missed this. I am using a NF 8-32x56 BR model. The Leus that cannot keep up are all that are used for 1K BR, the best of which is the 6.5x20x40, often boosted to 13-40. The 8.5x25 is not considered as good of a choice to boost, and there is an advantage to going over 25X.

The NF will run at 32X all day long where are the Leus have too many mirage issues at that power setting. Beleive me, if the Leus would keep up we would all be using them becasue they are a pound lighter, and that extra pound could be put in the barrel.