Smile and dial!

bewsher500

Well-Known Member
Had an opportunity today to play with the ballistic app on my phone, a laser range finder and a 300wm with an accurate 208gr load on a piece of ground that disappeared into the distance!

Have never really been able to dial for distances as I was struggling to get matching figures for the data I had for the load
managed to get a good average MV
BC is known
rifle is very accurate (pic is 5 shots at 130yds)

Drop was always a bit more than the app indicated only proven at one distance past 100 yds by 0.5 MOA at 200 yds
have not managed to test it out past that until today

relatively new to the world of dialling and ranging.
having adjusted a 200yd setting and shot a stag this afternoon I found a perfect spot with lots of targets with the slight breeze right behind me

first one was a burn bank, solid mud with a good 6ft of water in front to show any error.
spot on the bank was a perfect aiming point
ranged at 358yds
app said 5 MOA
first shot landed low by a smidge and just hit the water

adjusted to 5.5 and smacked it!!
very happy.

i managed to tweak the zero range slightly and the three known drops at 100, 200 and 350 all lined up.
time to test the app.

rock face with a white spot on it , ranged at 480yds
app said 9.5 moa
dialled
even with the recoil at that range you have plenty of time to get a steady sight picture and see the impact
dust and debris bang on target indicated a clean hit!
impact noise arrived a second or so later!


We're to need more space to play tomorrow!
very exciting
 
Welcome to the world of dialling in. With the right setup it is incredible how well it works. I have most joy out of shooting in the field at different distances seeing if one can achieve a first round hit.
One place (posted pic before) I used to shoot with rocks to choose at all distances from 200m. Arrow is at 960yds, a nice flat rock with a white mark which might be the limit of my little 20" 308. Reading the wind is also a bit difficult at times.

960yds_zps0e463d7b.jpg


edi
 
Welcome to the world of dialling in. With the right setup it is incredible how well it works. I have most joy out of shooting in the field at different distances seeing if one can achieve a first round hit.
One place (posted pic before) I used to shoot with rocks to choose at all distances from 200m. Arrow is at 960yds, a nice flat rock with a white mark which might be the limit of my little 20" 308. Reading the wind is also a bit difficult at times.

960yds_zps0e463d7b.jpg


edi

Are you sure that is not a Sika way down there??

K
:D
 
We'll see if you can hit this reply - open it on your smartphone, place it at 1,000yds, dial in and then see what happens:)))
 
Are you sure that is not a Sika way down there??

K
:D

:D , pity we have no deer in our closer area (very efficient farming). but... shortly after this pic the Dutch tall ship "Astrid" went up on the rocks close to the 960yd spot and between rescue/salvage I never went back since.
edi
 
Great feeling, that first round shot, and well done on taking the dialling in step! These phone apps have made the likelihood of first round hits at moderate distances much easier, no doubt. I've been into my long range shooting (not on live quarry) for a long time, and have learned a good deal from people like Brian Litz but I am still wedded to using ballistic tables I've created for my own bullets and rifles. To fully understand what's involved takes a fair amount of study, but it's well worthwhile as things like internal ballistics, especially things ammunition temperature, can have a significant effect even at 400 yds when you're talking precision shooting.

As ejg says, reading the wind is one of the most difficult things to judge as its an indeterminate factor in long range shooting, so can only ever be a best guess, at best. I have a 6 inch steel gong which I use at ranges up to 400 to 500 yds and use that for practice. Recommended reading includes "Applied Ballsitics for Long Range Shooting" (Brian Litz) and if reading through that doesn't initially appeal, there is a superb set of You Tube videos made by a character who calls himself "Tiborasaurus Rex" who explains in laymans terms in quite some detail over a 100 or so 30 minute tutorials just about everything you need to understand about first shot hits using applied ballistics. Here's a brief clip of him plugging a beer can at 1200 yds!



 
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it's very important to input accurate data or you will get errors that magnify with range , so get an exact zero , and try and use the same measurements throughout , I'm all metric now (metres and mrad) also try and use the G7 data that litz provides because I've found that to be very accurate !
 
I really enjoy long range target shooting too and it's quite rewarding to do all the calculations and pull off a first shot hit at 500m+. Tiborasaurus' videos on YouTube are really good and he goes into a lot of detail regarding internal and external ballistics. Once you've got a good consistent load for your rifle and you know your drops, the hardest part is factoring in wind and atmospherics. It really is surprising the difference they make.
 
208gr 78gr H1000
300wm Tikka
zeiss 4-14x50 conquest
"bullet drop" app

mv is low for cartridge and load, think that is down to shorter barrel and roomy Norma brass
personally don't car when it is this accurate!,

So Today was otherwise uneventful and I was determined to shoot something on the way home
rangefinder was working overtime until I found this loch
ranged the rocks to the lower right at 950yds
back adage was testing the limits of the rf
Am guessing anywhere between 975-1025yds

With a stiff breeze of well over the standard 10mph stock setting but coming over my left shoulder at about 45deg.
(recounting the script of "Shooter", I believe this is a "half value" wind!!)

app says 31.2 for 950 yds (guesstimate on reduced actual range due to down angle)


scope maxed out on 22.75MOA!!! (Note to self, find a 20moa rail!!)
22.75MoA is the setting for 810yds
difference in drop in inches between 810-950yds is 110"

plan to holdover 9' or so to compensate
gave it 2moa for wind

aimed for a small rock on far right edge of water to allow huge expanse of water to show massive guess work for wind and drop!!

squeeze. Watch for splash....

right on the vertical of the reticule but about a foot or so low (probably 2' at that range estimate!)
found another rock on the left edge of the upper part and squeezed off another this time aiming a foot or so further up.

slight wind drift to the right but bang on, certainly within 12" of where I was aiming

very pleased. Now to sort the elevation shortage out and get learning to read long range read.....may be some time!!!,


 

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208gr 78gr H1000
300wm Tikka
zeiss 4-14x50 conquest
"bullet drop" app

mv is low for cartridge and load, think that is down to shorter barrel and roomy Norma brass
personally don't car when it is this accurate!,

So Today was otherwise uneventful and I was determined to shoot something on the way home
rangefinder was working overtime until I found this loch
ranged the rocks to the lower right at 950yds
back adage was testing the limits of the rf
Am guessing anywhere between 975-1025yds

With a stiff breeze of well over the standard 10mph stock setting but coming over my left shoulder at about 45deg.
(recounting the script of "Shooter", I believe this is a "half value" wind!!)

app says 31.2 for 950 yds (guesstimate on reduced actual range due to down angle)


scope maxed out on 22.75MOA!!! (Note to self, find a 20moa rail!!)
22.75MoA is the setting for 810yds
difference in drop in inches between 810-950yds is 110"

plan to holdover 9' or so to compensate
gave it 2moa for wind

aimed for a small rock on far right edge of water to allow huge expanse of water to show massive guess work for wind and drop!!

squeeze. Watch for splash....

right on the vertical of the reticule but about a foot or so low (probably 2' at that range estimate!)
found another rock on the left edge of the upper part and squeezed off another this time aiming a foot or so further up.

slight wind drift to the right but bang on, certainly within 12" of where I was aiming

very pleased. Now to sort the elevation shortage out and get learning to read long range read.....may be some time!!!,



Well done, that's good shooting, For info, the half value thing is not really correct. I know that it's taught in various quarters, but the more accurate way of determining drift is to use the cosine of the angle, so 45 degrees would be 0.707, The correct figure to take then for say a 10mph wind would be 7mph. That 3mph difference over 900 yds is a lot. Enough to throw your shot out to miss by 12" at your shooting range. If it was coming from behind, then it also affects elevation slightly, reducing effective bullet drop as drag is slightly reduced (you add the cosine value of wind in FPS to your muzzle velocity when using your app). Theory is fine but over that distance, who knows what the wind is doing above the shear layer (it will be higher) and also further downrange towards your target.
 
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