enjoyed the report/pictures, interesting stuff young man!

Dan

 

Good stuff! Looks like there are no issues with your 300WM! (Especially after being fired from a supported sitting position, even with shooting sticks!

I always love pictures in a thread, and these are no exception.

What feature or setup on the camera did you use to get that clear shot through the scope?

 

Good stuff! Looks like there are no issues with your 300WM! (Especially after being fired from a supported sitting position, even with shooting sticks!

Ahem . . . it's a 300RUM not a 300WM. (dig dig dig, can you feel that jab in your ribs? ) I pack shooting sticks when I'm hunting if i know I could get into a "long range" situation. Now before I get "flamed" for "long range hunting" what you see in the pictures is elk country here in much of NW Colorado and I do limit myself to what I figure to be 500 yards.

What feature or setup on the camera did you use to get that clear shot through the scope?

I set the camera on macro and zoom in to 4X (max. optical zoom) center up the image through the scope in the view finder. With the camera set on "macro" it focuses better through the ocular lens, why I don't know. 1 out of 10 times I get lucky and in this case very lucky. At 4X, it's like looking at things with the "naked eye" or pretty close.

I like pictures too, they are "worth a thousand words" Now that I've gone digital, I take a lot of pictures of everything.

BKieth, while I hope some day to have a real custom rifle, I make due with what I have. Your daughter is very lucky to have such a fine shooter and a father who took the time to show her how even if she is a girl.

This is on a very remote section of BLM land about 30 miles from anything. The two track ends about another 700 yards in a wash. To the tree on the hill (top center of pic.) is 1000 yards (measured with a friends Lieca laser) from where I was set up. You don't dare go in there when it's wet as the road is impassable. It's so bad, if you go in a horseback and spit your horse will slip and go down.

I hope it doesn't rain between now and Sunday.

RJ

 

Well, at the range I shoot at, there is no way to shoot 300 yards, unless you climb about 30 feet up a tree and place a target. It goes down to a dry creek bed right where the 300 yard marker would go.

However, I'm willing to bet my 16 year old granddaughter shooting her 260 will put all five shots in the brown at 400 yards, and while I wouldn't bet on it at 500, she would most likely keep them in the brown at 500.

However, she's running a lot more optics with target turrents, has all the dope out to 600 yards and knows how to dial it in, and her rifle is a very accurate, custom build. It also happens to be 400 yards is her favorite range to practice and six inch targets are what she shoots.

I also know dang good and well I can but I figured letting a "kid" and a "girl at that" do it, it would add a little extra to it.

Like most teenagers, she's getting more interested in boys and friends than guns right now, but the next time I can get her to the range, we will have to make some pictures for you. The problem is, about the only time she wants to go now is to show off to her friends she can get to go with us, and none of the boys that have ever been once will go with us again.

 

Enjoyable reading! I like to see what the younger generation is doing as far as working with their firearms. Mirage is one heck of an enemy to those trying to shoot P-dogs or small groups on paper far down range. A little more time and you will learn those things which will help you later on. David Tubbs CD is a very good one to pick up pointers from and become a better marksman.

 

He called me "younger generation" I don't know if I should be flattered or mad. He's either older than kdub or thinks I'm a "kid" come to think of it, I'm flattered.

I didn't figure it would be such a big deal this morning as it was only 68* when I left and at the time I was shooting it was only 72* according to the truck. I've seen a way less shimmer at 90* when shooting the greater sage rat at farther ranges. I've also seen heat waves at below freezing when shooting over snow on a bright day.

Ad for the Tubbs DVD, I'll have a look as I'm never too old to learn.

RJ

 

Heh!! RJ we all know your a big kid at heart. I mean you play all day with Tonka Toys

Good shooting with that Rum. Dead Elk

 

Nvshooter, have you seen this thread? Maybe so, but if not, this is exactly how I made mine. The only difference is I didn;t put screws in the end of the dowels, and I used oak dowels (1/2" and a couple of pair of 5/8"). Oh, and I didn;t nail the tubing to the dowels or paint anything.

So basically I just got the dowels and hose, made the recommended cuts, and put them together. They work just fine.

http://www.shootersforum.com/tips-comments/47890-shooting-sticks-cheap.html

 

a great challenge, and a great update on it. I wish I had easy access to a 300 yard range. as much hype as I hear about folks wanting to shoot at crazy distances.... a challenge like this really puts things in perspective. out to 200 yards, hitting a 6" plate is pretty easy. At 300 its a heckuva challenge. Beyond that...400+ targets need to be the size of a refrigerator to hit reliably....

Awesome pics.

 

Beyond 400 yds my Elk hunting buddies and I just use regular targets taped to cardboard about 1/2 the size of a fridge It does help when your sighting in with a new rifle or scope. Those turrets are the bomb and I would like to get one in the future. Watched three shots at five hundred yds, hit in a 4" circle after the scope was sighted dead on at 200yds. That sold me for the 400-500yd ridge to ridge shots we sometimes have the opportunity to take, and sticks are a must! The rifle was a 300 weatherby mag my stepdad shoots, the old buzzard is 69 and can out hike Mike G in the Idaho mountians!

 

OK, I went with my M700, 223 with Bushnell, 5-15 Tactical Scope, shot in a sitting position using my bipod for front rest to keep it in line with your shooting sticks. Right after I got there, a thunderstrom started brewing and I was dealing with some heavy wind gust but I tried it anyway. Top right was at 100 yards (two bullets together in black ring, top left was at 200 yards (one bullet hid in black) then the 400 yards on bottom. Remember, we don't have a place for 300 yard target so I had to go to 400

The one on the bottom is darker because it got soaked from the rain, just like me.

I got soaked, because the bottom feel out just as I coming back from placing the 400 yard disc but I was determined to try it. The rain was so hard, I couldn't see the disk so I was pretty much quessing where it was and had two minutes of wind (eight inches) cranked into the scope (needed 10 for that little 22 cal bullet) but here's the results. The two bullets on the disc were on the left side, the other must have missed, like I said, I needed another 3/4 minute in the scope for the wind. I'll have to try again when mother nature is forgiving.

I was going to try a 500 yard also, but the weather wouldn't let me. I'll have to try it again in better weather.

 

Recoil Junky, first off I am jealous you have such wide open spaces to let rounds go into.

If you check with local farmers ask them for work out discs from their farm equipment. Make a S hook from rebar and hang the discs from the same type frames you have. They make a nice noise when hit.

 

Humpy, I have a ready supply of AR400 and T1 scraps, so I have quite a few targets that go CLANK .

The idea behind the test is not to know if you hit it or not until you're done. No looking until you've fired your string.

I made it out yesterday morning and after making a 3/4 MOA vertical adjustment to the 7 mag I put in on paper . It again shot a "large" group, but well within the six inch circle on a sighting in target, but . . . . . . .



I only hit it twice

I think it's me. I am going to try another load I have worked up when I get a chance.

RJ

 

Thought about spray painting the inside of the target bright orange?

 

The target is supposed to be "all black" according to the rules of the challenge. I'm going to make some more seein's as how they are so hard to build and make them solid black with a say 1" white spot in the middle. That one wasn't that hard to see with no heat waves.

I'm thinking about the 35 Whelen just to make it interesting. I should try one of my .223's and the .243, but that really wouldn't be fair to the test.

Shooting a "non-reactive" target with no back drop is more challenging than "dingers" I'm finding out.

I'll keep you posted.

RJ

 

Sorry for the younger generation rating! So you Old FART, what is next in your shooting range sessions?

I am wanting to try out some rifles but the Doc says !@#$%$% NO!!! I had theropy this morning and I came home not wanting to even think about doing a single thing but take some pain pills.

 

That's what I'm waiting for, the good old Whelen! Good shooting with the RUM.

 

What keeps the 223 or 243 from being a "fair" test?

I thought the object was to take your favorite hunting rifle. My 6mm is probably my most favorite hunting rifle. The 22-250 would be my favorite coyote rifle but will also be using this 223 a lot when I get the loads developed for it. The 260 is my granddaughters favorite, would that one be fair?

Any of these rifles would shoot the center out of it at 300 yards. Is that what keeps them from being fair?, or do you not think they would not be capable of making 300 yards shots is what would keep it from being fair with one of them? Just curious, or should it be something like a 336C? That's about the only one I have that would make it a challange.

 

BKieth, the challenge was issued for your "hunting rifle". To me that means ELK hunting rifle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I forget that not all of us are elk hunters, just like I forget that all of us aren't over 6 feet tall and 240 pounds. If we were I wouldn't hit my head on stuff all the time or get back spasms from driving/riding in "mid" sized cars.

I know my varmint rifles are capable of "shooting the center out of it" at 300 yards and they are all OOTB Remingtons, nothing fancy about them, just the loads.

I'm sorry for not getting to the testing, what with all the extra house/yard work and all. You know how it is when t' missus is gone.

RJ

 

Buy a box of the clay targets they sell for sporting clays, I think wallyworld has them. There's a variety of size targets in them from little tiny mini's to 6"rabbit targets, there alot more fun to shoot at and there all biodegradable now.
Not saying you will be able to follow through good enough to see your impact shooting a 300rum but at 300yards you might be able to as the gun comes back down.
I haven't sighted a big game rifle in using a paper target since the 80's, steel plates and clay targets work better, lots faster too.

 

nice idea and test.

I think the 7mag is headed for the dealer to be traded for something better. Those results are discouraging to say the least.

Sometime this spring I'll have to do it with my 6.5x284. BUT, in past experience 300yds isn't much of a challenge for the gun. It's shot groups as small as .75" before at 300yds.

 

Kevinbear, the object of the test is not to know how well you did until you check your target after the last shot. It's not as easy as it looks or sounds as you have no idea how you are doing 'til it's all over. Bullet holes are impossible to see in that brown cardboard even with the BIL's Vortex Razor spotting scope.

The sevumag is now hitting all three shots after new load development (.1 grain more powder ) and zeroing for 300 so there is no guessing.

RJ

This is the first time anyone has resurrected an old thread of mine, thanks!!!

 

I'm an instant gratification guy when it comes to shooting, not having instant feedback drives me crazy.

 

I want my .338 to shoot a 6 inch group at 300 yards and it shoot that's about 4 inches low give or take and inch or two, so I good for a top of the back hold on elk, and if I hold a foot high at 400 I have a killing shot..i would be 3 inches high at 100 and 4 inches high at 200 on at 275...and it does just that in tests..not counting the wind and wind is the monster that ruins it all..reading wind at those ranges is guess and by gosh, but surprisingly I get pretty close but it does make for misses..The .338 is one of the least moved bullets by wind and that seems to be a plus with me I think!!

 

The above is my 100-600 yard range where I do my step load development at 300 yards. I do not use cardboard but 6" diameter steel plates I got from a steel fabrication place with a computerized cutting table where they cut out 6" up to 10" discs. I weld a piece of 1/4" X 1" flat stock on bottom so they will stand up. They are painted white. Also at 300" is a 2"X12" steel disc painted white I get zeros on before moving to the plates at it's stand does not allow the plate to move when hit even with a 300 Win mag. It looks like a white lollypop in this photo and is the third target down range by itself. There are two targets at 200 and one at 100 yards.





This photo taken from the top of my backstop showing 36" steel plates painted white with a 3" block dot in the center. The ones in front of the pick up are for the 600 yard range. The plate at the bottom is for the 900 yard range where just to the left of the tree line up the right side you can just make out the firing point (dark colored rectangle) about four feet high. These are high hard armor plate that a 300 Mag won't even dent at 600 yards thus they are lifetime targets so to speak.

With these plates I can shoot and see immediately where I am hitting and can chronograph the shots and plot them. Thus I can plot each shot by velocity so if I get a high or low shot I can tell how much velocity variation there is for each shot.

A really interesting exercise is to shoot a group on a newsprint target at 300 yards and have the bullets continue to travel down range and go through a backer target at 600 yards. It is amazing to see the different groups as the shot locations at 300 do not duplicate at 600. One would think the groups double as the range is doubled but in reality the 600 yard groups average about 120% larger than the 300 yard groups.

Even more interesting is I had three tests where the 600 yard group was only about 90% larger than the 300 yard group indicating the group dispersion got smaller as the range doubled.

Also of interest is I have had fliers out of the group at 300 but they were not fliers when they went through the backer target at 600.

I can only conduct such testing after about 6:30 PM in the summer months as the cross wind dies and the mirage doesn't blur the targets thus with the light on the target I can plot each shot by velocity and location and as indicated the shot hole locations at 300 are not duplicated at 600.

I also have another target that is ft wide and 8ft high I set up with a 4" black target mounted about 6" from the top and the board is covered with newsprint and I get my initial zeros at 300 then aim at the high target and shoot 3 shot groups from 400, 500, 600 so I can measure from center of top target to the center of each hole and determine the actual drops I am getting at each 100 yard range increase.

I know from my work at Aberdeen that computer generated projections are only accurate about 5% of the time and then may only duplicate what the computer print outs call for at the most two of the ranges. In other words if you zero at say 300 yards and then shoot 400, 500, 600, 700 etc the actual drops will only duplicate computer projections at 400 and 700 but no where else. Actual firing and plotting is the only way to know exactly what you are going to get when you test on the same target fired from different ranges.

Note the gray hair in the avatar. I didn't have it till I started doing this testing haha

 

Please understand, I was NOT shooting groups!! The purpose of this test was to test SKILL.

Humpy, that's a great range. I can only shoot to 200 yards out my door.

RJ

 

Humpy, is there some way you could reduce the size of your pictures?

RJ

 

RJ, the skill portion is when I shoot the 6" plates and the ring and fall off the steel stand they are now on.

It is very hard to bring out bullet holes at 300 on paper but the ring gets the adrenaline going haha.

Glad you like the range. At one time I had plans on putting in a pit and a cantilever target system but that never happened. That is why I put the backstop so far behind the target so I could do just that.

Perhaps if a shooter buys this place that may happen. During the day it is great mirage training and I have had to hold about a foot to the side of the silhouette target in the backstop to get his when the mirage is picking up and letting off.

Glad you like it, thanks much.

 

This is a real Lazarus of a thread but very interesting. The hunting rifle test is a REAL test because there is no feed-back.
Congrats on a valid "Win, Lose, or Draw" test!