No no you cynical buggers we were shooting gongs. Testing a theory about wind performance downrange after some hints from our first deer & goat hunt with this round.
We don’t want to shoot the 130gr long-term, it was just an opportunistic try-out as it was all we had at the time.
When we drop tested this round, conditions were pretty much perfect… dead still. Bottom line is that the ballistics were rocksolid for the first 250yd. Dead flat and straight. Like a bloody laser, true point and press at this range. The MPBR (6”) for this load is about 330yd.
Today, the problem was the projectiles were slowing down rapidly and really getting screwed around in the wind - we were struggling to hit the 250mm gong at 400yd with splashes going left and right in a 02H00 variable gusty wind. Talk about fickle, bloody things were all over the place! Yes it was windy, and you needed to watch the trees for gusts yet to hit the shooting position, but on a range that we have shot since forever it was nothing unusual and no windier then I would shoot deer with my 6.5 or .308.
We had a look at the numbers, the projectile is losing velocity downrange that fast, that the wind effects are - in practical terms - way more pronounced and variable on the lighter bullet from >300yd than anything we are used to.
None of this should come as a surprise of course. But having been used to high BC bullets for so long now this was a real eye-opener.
But we were saved red faces as the 200gr ELD-X turned up this week, and load development was completed with no fuss. Same wind, bang on at 400yd (centre of the gong) and easy shooting at 700yd. No contest, just brilliant.
So it was an interesting experience trying light and fast copper, but in terms of bankable application for our conditions, it was a fail. Meat bruising at close range is
and gusty wind performance downrange is
. Was fun though.
We don’t want to shoot the 130gr long-term, it was just an opportunistic try-out as it was all we had at the time.
When we drop tested this round, conditions were pretty much perfect… dead still. Bottom line is that the ballistics were rocksolid for the first 250yd. Dead flat and straight. Like a bloody laser, true point and press at this range. The MPBR (6”) for this load is about 330yd.
Today, the problem was the projectiles were slowing down rapidly and really getting screwed around in the wind - we were struggling to hit the 250mm gong at 400yd with splashes going left and right in a 02H00 variable gusty wind. Talk about fickle, bloody things were all over the place! Yes it was windy, and you needed to watch the trees for gusts yet to hit the shooting position, but on a range that we have shot since forever it was nothing unusual and no windier then I would shoot deer with my 6.5 or .308.
We had a look at the numbers, the projectile is losing velocity downrange that fast, that the wind effects are - in practical terms - way more pronounced and variable on the lighter bullet from >300yd than anything we are used to.
None of this should come as a surprise of course. But having been used to high BC bullets for so long now this was a real eye-opener.
But we were saved red faces as the 200gr ELD-X turned up this week, and load development was completed with no fuss. Same wind, bang on at 400yd (centre of the gong) and easy shooting at 700yd. No contest, just brilliant.
So it was an interesting experience trying light and fast copper, but in terms of bankable application for our conditions, it was a fail. Meat bruising at close range is
and gusty wind performance downrange is. Was fun though.
