Truing MV vs BC

s8mdevo

Well-Known Member
I am in the process of validating some shot data from the range yesterday and need some advice. I am shooting my .300WM with 190gr berger vld at 3082fps (magneto speed). At 600yd Strelok gives me a drop of 2.6MRAD or 26 clicks. The data I gathered yesterday actually equates to only 2.3MRAD or 23 clicks. To adjust the data using the adjust BC or MV feature it seems I need to change the values considerably.

Here is my problem - The BC of the 190 grain berger vld is stated at G1 .566 and G7 .290, If i use the application to true the BC it needs to move to G1 .810 and G7 .414.

This seem a massive change. Do you think the magneto speed velocity is on the slow side? To achieve the right curve by adjusting the MV it would need to shift to 3240fps which is 160fps faster. Could the chrono be that far out?

Any help appreciated
 
Well I’m no long range person......done it could of times and very keen to do more .......listening / reading same kind of queries on sharpshooting Facebook group and some say fudge your MV and they get by .....but the more proficient folk. Say no! Do NOT fudge your MV as it’s “known hard data” .....you change BC but I no idea how or what they mean .
Just saying what read and it make sense to me if you have hard data use it .

Sure more target lads be on to help

Paul
 
use Applied Ballistics
Has a truing function built in

I would say you need to verify this at another range, ideally one further out and one closer

at the end of the day only the bullet is correct!

if it is dropping 23MRAD thats it
the rest of the figures are irrelevant so long as the actual drop data is correct
 
Tough one.

I use Strelok and a magneto speed chrono. Firing 210gr Nosler ABLR from a 300WSM it chrono'd at 2860 (10 shot average). The G1 bc given by Nosler for .710 but Litz's research suggested .646. Using this data and measuring the distance from scope to barrel (centres) with callipers provided me with accurate drop data verified out to 1000yds.

3240fps seems very quick for that weight of bullet so I don't think it's a chrono issue. the BC change may fudge it to work but have you measured the distance between scope and barrel? This can make a big difference.

Best,

J
 
use Applied Ballistics
Has a truing function built in

I would say you need to verify this at another range, ideally one further out and one closer

at the end of the day only the bullet is correct!

if it is dropping 23MRAD thats it
the rest of the figures are irrelevant so long as the actual drop data is correct
Does it matter what is altered to true the ballistic chart though? Surely changing bc as much as suggested is incorrect? Would I be better to increase mv for the tables to add up?
 
Tough one.

I use Strelok and a magneto speed chrono. Firing 210gr Nosler ABLR from a 300WSM it chrono'd at 2860 (10 shot average). The G1 bc given by Nosler for .710 but Litz's research suggested .646. Using this data and measuring the distance from scope to barrel (centres) with callipers provided me with accurate drop data verified out to 1000yds.

3240fps seems very quick for that weight of bullet so I don't think it's a chrono issue. the BC change may fudge it to work but have you measured the distance between scope and barrel? This can make a big difference.

Best,

J
Will double check scope height but I'm sure i did it properly with calipers
 
Here is my problem - The BC of the 190 grain berger vld is stated at G1 .566 and G7 .290, If i use the application to true the BC it needs to move to G1 .810 and G7 .414.

This seem a massive change. Do you think the magneto speed velocity is on the slow side? To achieve the right curve by adjusting the MV it would need to shift to 3240fps which is 160fps faster. Could the chrono be that far out?

First off, the BC of the 190gn Berger is NOWHERE near 0.81/0.414, nor for that matter any other .30 calibre match bullet on the market. Those BCs take you into machined monometal 0.338 calibre custom match bullets - and there are only one of two of them achieving G7 BCs significantly above 0.4.

So, there is either something way wrong in your use of the ballistics program, or the base inputs, the main ones being MV and scope click value. The latter is the usual culprit. You rarely get 100% accurate correlations from an uncalibrated out of the box scope and I've seen tests of expensive scopes that were 10% 'out'. These days 3-5% error is more common, but a 100% accurate scope is a real rarity.

Bryan Litz goes into great detail on how this is done using a 'tall target' at a known and very accurately measured short distance, eg 100 yards. It's measured precisely muzzle to paper because your local 100 yard range may or may not see 100 yards between these two points and in fact is more likely on older facilities to not see them.

The rifle is zeroed to point of aim at whatever distance, MV accurately measured, and a tall target used. How tall depends on how far you're shooting and what the calculated come-up from the zero is. I don't work or think in milirads, rather MOA. A typical elevation rise from 100 to 600 for many cartridges will be around 10-MOA. 1-MOA = 1.046 inches per 100 yards, so 10-MOA (as an example) means that with a perfectly zeroed rifle, the group should print just under 10 1/2 inches above the POA at 100 yards (or 62.76 inches low at 600 yards on an unchanged 100 yard zero) when the scope has had that amount of elevation added to the turret. So, let's say that the group centre is 9 inches or 11.5 inches above the POA and that everything has been input absolutely accurately into the program. In those cases, the turrets click values are 1.5 over 10.5 x 100 over or under adjusting the actual elevation setting and a correction can them be built in. For Litz and his buddies in the ELR game shooting at various distances out to two miles, the calculated actual come-up at 100 yards is used on the 'tall target' and the actual scope turret change needed to get there recorded.

I said if everything has been input correctly into the program. That is actual scope height above the bore centreline, not the default 1.5". if your set-up is significantly different, calculated bullet drop will be wrong especially at modest distances such as out to 600 yards. Then there is altitude, ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure - modest effects at 600, very significant indeed at beyond 1,000. (There is a just over 1-MOA difference between 308 1,000 yard FTR settings for Diggle (~800 ft ASL) and Bisley (100? 200?) That's 10.46 inches difference in bullet strike. Double that between Bisley on a cold winter's day and Diggle in a hot summer's day (yes, the Pennines occasionally see them!).

You don't say what your load is or your barrel length. The MagnetoSpeed may be giving you bum data (check battery voltage - they apparently work when the battery gets low, but reliability goes to pieces). However, loads data and/or QuickLOAD will give a pretty good handle on whether your actual MV is higher or not.

Finally, small errors / changes can make 100-600 yard rise calculations way out, especially actual scope height. Another factor is group size. You are measuring from group centre to group centre. If single shots are used the rifle / load is only capable of 1-MOA groups then a 100 yard test can be 2-inches wrong if one is unlucky enough to have one at the low end and the other at the high. 2 inches is a big error at 100 yards. A frined who used to do a lot of scope testing for publication including the 'round the box' shots (one shot then +20-MOA - right 20-MOA, down 20-MOA, left 20-MOA should produce a true square with holes 20.9 inches apart and shot 5 touching shot 1) used a full-house 6PPC HV benchrest rifle capable of shooting groups on or under a tenth of an inch. Anything that produces say half-inch groups at 100 immediately risks producing a significant error through shot dispersion.

Is the scope correctly mounted? Any degree of cant affects both windage and elevation click accuracy, not that much at 600 yards, but it adds up.

At longer distances conditions on the day can have a major effect. Going back to Litz and his tall target calibrations, the ambient conditions are very carefully measured then settings are adjusted in the actual field / competition conditions - when you're talking about 1 to 2 miles distances a change in range altitude, a few degrees temperature difference, higher or lower atmospheric pressure can see you shoot many feet high or low at the target if not correctly accounted for.
 
Thanks for such an in depth reply Laurie, plenty there to take on board when setting up a new scope and verifying drop charts for long range shooting.
 
So basically with all the correct info everything being perfect it will never be exact.so many variables in the equation.
 
It was pointed out to me some time ago on here that the ballistic apps can take a little driving .
I may well be wrong , but I'm sure I read that a bullets BC lowers as the velocity drops which could have been the cause of shooting high as the distances grew . I adjusted the BCs against velocities in the settings and after a little trial and error the app is spot on to beyond 600 yards.
Not very scientific, I know, worked for me .:thumb:
 
Last edited:
I would note drop data from one range and then compare with data from a different terrain. In our lumpy terrain with some wind, drops can be all over the place.
One place I shoot one can never take the drops serious.

bk553q.jpg


edi
 
Shooting up and down hill also changes things.
When I shot a 308 at 1000yds from summer to winter temperatures would see up to around 4 moa with the same load.no 2 days are the same.the ballistic calculator is very good guide.no substitute for realtime data.i guess if you shot at the same distance every time and record all your finding I expect a pattern will form and reading the data may let you predict a more accurate plot than your ballistic calculator.
 
Laurie, thanks for the in depth response. I have everything input correctly (I think!), scope height is measured with calipers centre to centre, magneto speed chrono velocities should be OK but I will check them again next week. I had not thought about the click value being incorrect. The scope is a new IOR lutaz 3-25 and I had just assumed it would be bullseye straight out the box. I will run a check as you say to see how it holds up. I think I need to get out to 1000 yards on a nice calm day and get a little more data to compare.

Would it be an idea to zero at 100 yards, then set out a long vertical paper with a target close to the top, shoot 3 shot groups at the same target but do not change my scope settings and move back to 300, 600, 800, 1000, and then measure the actual length in inches the bullet drops over these distances. That should be more than enough info to give me the bullets actual arc.
 
Shooting up and down hill also changes things.
When I shot a 308 at 1000yds from summer to winter temperatures would see up to around 4 moa with the same load.no 2 days are the same.the ballistic calculator is very good guide.no substitute for realtime data.i guess if you shot at the same distance every time and record all your finding I expect a pattern will form and reading the data may let you predict a more accurate plot than your ballistic calculator.

See I had assumed that once everything dialled in the differences would be minimal but from what I gather I am going to be wrong. Still very new to the long range stuff and probably need some more time at the range at different times of the year to gather more data on what the rifle/round is doing.
 
If your trajectory is off
in the supersonic range, then you need to true your muzzle velocity. If your trajectory is off in the
transonic - subsonic range, then you need to true your BC
 
It's gotta be way more than that.my bal cal tells me with conditions this minute with my 7mm Saum with 180gr scenar I's doing 2970fps drops 266 inches.i expect yours are well past 300 inches.
 
Back
Top