Back from Bisley...

[martinibelgian]

...And the HBSA long range match last weekend. Saturday was practice day, which was a good idea for me, as it was my 1st time aat LR this year , and the match rifle has a new barrel. I was also taking along some ammo I hadn't tried yet at long range. I actually had 2 loads along for my no.2 Musket match rifle, with a 9-groove gaintwist eichelberger barrel ending at 16" twist:
Load 1:
Reformed Kynoch 500/416 brass
84 grs of Fg Swiss
Thick card wad
540 gr 16:1 L/T groove-dia..450 bullet 1.5" long, faithful copy of the Metford bullet, patched to .458

This load is a proven performer at 300m, but I hadn't shot it yet at 900 and 1,000.

Load 2:
Reformed .470 NE brass
87 gr of 1 1/2Fg Swiss
2 thin card wads
540gr Baco Money bore-dia. PP bullet, 16:1 L/T, .443 bullet patched up to .451

A load which shoots accurately, but at 1st glance, the other load holds the edge at 300m.

Wind satudray was moderate to fresh, a 9 o'clock variable wind on an overcast day. Testing at 900 showed that both loads held promise. Unfortunately, I only could fire a limited number of rounds at 1,000, with not-so-good results.

Match day showed a pretty fresh and gusting 9 o'clock wind, and a start was made with 900 yds. Things went pretty well, except that I got caught out twice, which resulted in 1 miss, and a 1 .
Still, I ended up with a score of 57.2 (out of 75); with which I was pretty happy, as all the other shots were mostly 4 and 5-ring (highest score = 5). This was with load 1, which proved to be a solid performer at 900. Which was why I made the decision to also use it for 1,000

Unfortunately,,1,000 was a disaster: I could barely hold the target, let alone put bullets in the black... I ended with a meagre 33 Was this a load malfunction - but it had performed very well at 900 - , or nut-behind issue? Could also be both...

At any rate, I blew my chance a shooting a good aggregate score. Now for some more searching as to what went wrong. Of course, the load 1 isn't exactly fast (I still have to chrono it though - didn't have a chance to do so), so I'm not excluding it falling apart between 900 and 1,000. But of course, 'nut-behind' is not to be excluded...

Maybe I should have used the other load at 1,000, as it had obviously more oomph - it did shoot 6 MOA lower for an almost identical bullet weight - but that is to be expected with more and faster powder. But that's after the facts of course.

Ah well, the joys of longrange shooting... Some more cogitating, experimenting and frowning to do...

[bpcr shooter]

was this at paper or steel??? At any rate were you able to see how your bullets impacted?? If they are flying fine at 900 they "should" be good at 1000.....

[martinibelgian]

Paper targets - but no means to see bullet impacts, as this was a match. And yes, that was my idea too - my partner did do well with his 45-70 at 1,000, whereas I shot a better score than him as 900.

[desert deuce]

M.B., I feel your pain. Had the opposite problem so to speak in that 800 & 1,000 yard targets were acceptable where the 900 yard target was consistently disappointing. Never definitively identified (proved) the problem but persistent load development and alternative fouling control seems to have cured the problem. (Not to mention shooting more.) Just off the top of my head it sounds like you have made very good choices in barrel and bullet selection. Hopefully Distant Thunder will chime in as he at this point in time appears to have hit on a winning combination with paper patched bullets at long range. Sounds like you shoot on a different target than we do here and therein may lie a different consideration. Good Luck.

[martinibelgian]

Yes,
Target is NRA UK, highest scoring ring is a 5, with a V-bull (x-ring) inside. Black is 48 inches, Bull (5-ring) is 24" The complete target measures 118 wide by 70 high.

[desert deuce]

From MEMORY
The American Creedmoor target is 72" Square
X-ring is 10" in diameter
10-ring is 20"
9-ring is 30"
8-ring is 44" ?
7-ring is ?
Outside 7 ring and still on paper is 6 points

[gunlaker]

Your target sounds quite similar to the DCRA long range target. I can post side by side images of the two targets with moa grids but I have to find a place to put the images.

Chris.

[gunlaker]

Your target sounds quite similar to the DCRA long range target. I can post side by side images of the two targets with moa grids but I have to find a place to put the images.

Chris.

The web site scales the images differently so you'll have to use the MOA grid to get an accurate comparison.


DCRA which I think has the same scoring rings as what MB is using.


NRA LR


Chris.

[dbm]

Bisley long range targets are the same as used by modern fullbore target rifle.
Aiming mark: 48"
V-bull: 14.4"
Bull (5): 24"
Inner (4): 48"
Magpie(3): 72"
Outer (2): 96"
Hit (1): 118" wide x 70" high

David

[gunlaker]

David that's pretty much the same as the drawing I posted except that the DCRA Vbull is 12" and the target size is 96"x72"

Chris.

[martinibelgian]

Chris, the major difference between the drawing and the real target is the vertical truncation - Vertically, you could theoretically shoot a 2 or even a 3, but still be off the target - hence a miss if your shot was centered horizontally.