200 yd postal match Nov-Dec 2019

[DAG4570]

Woody

I just use a blow tube. And my 2 3/4" group was the last 10 shots of a 40 shot string. I would shoot a couple of fouling shots and run a string of 10. Change target and shoot another string. No cleaning or wiping.

Dave

[Woody]

A man after my own heart. My technique also.

Woody

[Woody]

On the way home from a VA Med apt today, I stopped at the range and ran four more rungs of the ladder I've been building. The first rung put five rounds into 1.950 inch. The other three rungs, not so good. I've re-loaded that load, (64 grains), and if the weather continues to cooperate, will give it try tomorrow. I also gave the SK Long Range .22 a 200 yard workout. Nine went into a 4 inch group, with the second shot being the spoiler, opening it to a six inch group. I'm going to sort the rest of the brick by weight and see what that brings.

Woody

[semtav]

took my military rifle with me to see how it would fare at 200 on paper. Looks doable - maybe best 5 out of 10 ??
I really got to get a range at a different direction if I'm gonna shoot in the afternoon !!

military.jpg

military setup.jpg

glare.jpg

[BFD]

the closest thing I have to a military rifle is a Krag .30-40. It is all original except the wood and the sights. Wish I knew how to get it ot shoot. It might hold 10 shots on a largish sized piece of paper, but not much more than that.

I'll stick with the single shots I guess.

[John Bly]

I got out today to do a little shooting. I was testing my new 425 Grain 40 cal BACO bullet in the 40-70 SS and fireforming new BACO brass at the same time. If I turned in the target it would be holding up the bottom. It looks like a long road ahead on that one. I went ahead and shot some other loads on the same target just to get the brass empty and they were much better.

[Aviator]

Well, I had a pretty good target today, but couldn't touch Distant Thunder!

2.47 inches center to center extreme spread

IMG_20191227_152342110.jpg

I was getting cold, and forgot to take a picture of the setup (but it is the same as my previous entries).

Shiloh '74 45-70 w/ DZ Arms scope

[desert deuce]

If anyone can Engineer a sub MOA group with a 45-70 @ 200 yards I suspect that mortal is no other than Aviator of Northern Indiana fame.

I commend you for your efforts and achievements young man.

As for you D.T., as I recall, you too have a 45-70? (or at least at one time you did.)

[Woody]

I got back to the range today to try a group of the 64 grain rung of the ladder I've been building. Nine shots went into a 2.445 inch group, but I missed a wind puff that opened it to 3.520. The good thing is that it was 1.945 tall for all 10. I think I've gone about as far as I can with this rifle for now. Congrats and thanks to all who have at least shared their attempts with us this past month plus. Good shooting today Steve. If your wind was anything like mine, I was waiting 1 to 2 minutes between shots. With the heavy overcast today, I never saw any mirage, so I had some wind tape out.

Of interest, for possibly next month, I did some testing of the SK Long Range .22 ammo. Yesterday, in basically the same conditions as today, I shot a ten shot group at 200 yards. Not very impressive. The group measured slightly over 6 inches, (my caliper was maxed out), It looked like a shotgun pattern. Not something I would want to take to the silhouette range. This morning, I sorted some of ammo and found that weight variance was 1.2 grains. Most of the rounds were within a .6 grain range. I further sorted these into three groups of .2 grain and took the heavier, (51.6-7 grains), with me to the range today. I fired these as carefully as I can at 200 years. They grouped at 4.341 inches, with 7 within 1.870 inches. Interesting. I'll have to retest and also see if the other two groups I sorted will group.

Woody

[gunlaker]

Nice target Aviator!

Chris,

[Aviator]

Well, thanks for the kind words! I keep trying for that elusive sub-MOA group..... Maybe next month.....

Woody, today was challenging! My other 10 shot group opened up to over 5 inches due to a couple shots, probably due to wind gusts.

It kept getting colder as the day wore on, and I got a bit chilled by the end. I may have overdone it a bit today, firing 71 45-70 rounds, mostly doing load testing trying to find a better load for long range. I guess I am desperately working on it before it gets really cold..... May go back tomorrow to give three promising loads a second chance. Maybe one of them will still look promising!

[semtav]

2.187 D.T.........CS75........40-65............72 gr Swiss 1.5.......PP
2.470 Aviator.....SR74........45-70............57.5 gr Swiss 1.5....PP
2.540 Aviator ....SR74.......45-70............57.5 gr Swiss 1.5.....GG
2.550 Beltfed.....HW.........40-65............74.5 gr Swiss 1.5.....PP
2.648 Kurt........CPA ........40-65............64 gr OE 1.5 ..........PP
2.740 Woody......HW.........40-65............62 gr Swiss 2 F.......GG
2.830 Kurt........CPA.........40-65............64 gr Swiss 1.5.......PP
2.900 D.T.........CS75.......40-65 ............72 gr Swiss 1.5........PP
3.160 Aviator....SR74........45-70............57.5 gr Swiss 1.5F.....GG
3.250 Kurt .......CPA.........44-75............82 gr OE 2F......... ...PP
3.265 Kurt .......CPA ........40-65............57.5 gr OE 3F...........PP
3.473 Kurt........CPA.........40-65............64 gr Swiss 1.5........PP
3.700 Woody......HW.........40-65............63 gr Swiss 2F.........GG
3.740 Woody .....HW.........40-65............62 gr Swiss 2F.........GG
3.875 Aviator.....SR74.......45-70............57.5 gr Swiss 1.5F.....GG
4.030 Woody......HW.........40-65............60 gr Swiss 2F...... ..GG
4.220 Kurt........CPA.........40-65............64 gr Swiss 1.5........PP
4.300 Woody......HW.........45-70............61.5 gr Swiss 2F... ...GG
4.875 BFD.........HW ........38-72............80 gr Swiss 1.5........PP
5.750 BFD.........HW............??..............82 gr Swiss 1.5........PP


IRON


2.750 DAG45-70...SR74.....45-70..............64 gr Swiss 1.5.......GG
2.937 SFogler......CS74.....45 2.6 .............87 gr Swiss 1.5......GG
3.062 ian45662....SR74.....45-70..............83 gr Swiss 1.5.......PP
3.500 DAG45-70...SR74.....45-70..............64 gr Swiss 1.5.......GG
3.501 semtav .....HW.......45-70..............38 gr BH209...........PP
4.000 semtav......HW.......45-90..............95 gr Swiss 1.5.......PP
4.187 ian45662....HW.......45-70..............82 gr Swiss 1.5.......PP
4.375 DAG45-70...SR74.....45-70..............64 gr Swiss 1.5.......PP
4.500 DAG45-70...SR74.....45-70..............64 gr Swiss 1.5.......GG
4.625 semtav......HW.......45 2 7/8..........108 gr Swiss 1F........PP
4.750 SFogler......CS74.....45 2.6.............84 gr Swiss 1.5.......GG
4.751 semtav......HW.......45 2 7/8..........108 gr Swiss 1F........PP
4.875 semtav......HW.......45-90..............95gr Swiss 1.5........PP
5.125 DAG45-70...SR74.....45-70..............64 gr Swiss 1.5.......GG
5.250 semtav......W#1......45 2.6.............95 gr OE 1.5...........PP
5.500 SFogler......CS74.....45 2.6.............87 gr Swiss 1.5........GG
5.500 semtav.......HW......40-82..............90 gr Swiss 1.5........PP
5.750 TAA..........SR74.....40 2½.............70 gr Swiss 1.5........GG
6.187 ian45662... SR74.....45-70..............83 gr Swiss 1.5........PP
6.250 John Bly....SR74......40-65.............56 gr Swiss 1.5........GG
6.250 John Bly....SR74......40-70.............56 gr Swiss 1.5........GG
6.375 Woody.......SR77.....45 2.4.............63 gr Swiss 2F.........GG
6.500 Kurt.........AX77.....45 2.6.............90 gr OE 2F.............PP
8.750 TAA.........SR74......40 2 ½............68 gr OE 1.5...........GG
9.125 Kurt.........AX77.....45 2.6.............88 gr Swiss 1.5........PP
10.50 SFogler .....RB........44S................72 gr Swiss 1.5 .......PP
10.75 semtav......HW.......45-70..............40 gr BH209...........PP
12.50 TAA.........SR74......40 2 ½............69 gr OE 1 1/2.........PP


NIce shooting Aviator !!

[semtav]

Just grinding gears today waiting for the family doings and have a question for those that do a lot of testing with iron sights

How much do you factor in for human error and wind when testing at 200 yds.

When i started and did a lot of testing with my 40-65 at 100 yds, I found when i could get a sub 2 moa load with iron sights, i could reduce that to sub moa load when i mounted a scope. So i always factored that in to my testing

Same held true with wind. if i could go out on a calm morning i could always get better results than in the afternoon. Even at 100 yds.

[TAA]

Brian,

This may not answer your question but....

In 2005 I and a fellow benchrest shooter and gunsmith,who built my gun, were discussing load testing practices. I explained the powder, bullet, primer selections, etc. Then he told me that if I don't use my windflags during the range testing, I'm wasting my time and components. So from that point on my 100-yard range testing has always involved the wind flags....except I've never used them in testing my BPCR, but I need to rethink that. The smokeless BR loads are .30 cal. 160-180 grain cast bullets at 1800-2100 fps and the wind does affect their flight. The BPCR 40 cal.400-grain bullets at 1300-1400 fps going 200-meters, have to be impacted by the wind. Something to re-visit in upcoming 2020 range testing.

People who do not get as involved with attempting precise or accurate shooting, seldom believe you when you try to explain to them that the wind can move a bullet around. I can appreciate that it can be a hard thing to get your arms around.

On another note....this Postal...look at this...25 pages and counting....wow! I may have missed this last year but maybe this is the first year trying this? This is a great diversion and gets you away from match shooting and conversing with shooters of a like mind. I've learned a lot just following along...and participating. Thanks, Brian, for putting this together!

Tom

[Woody]

Brian,

Even with my cataracts, I can shoot irons as good as I can the scope on a proper target and with sufficient light. I plan on shooting at least two rifles in this postal with irons, if the weather cooperates. The day that I attempted to shoot my 77 with irons, was too overcast to give it a good test. Just look at the results for the few iron shooters we had this month. At 200 yards, the aiming bull should be 12 to 13 inches across.

Woody