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On the range with the .223


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Hi All,

 

I finally got off my bum to have a go at some proper long range shooting with my .223 (I've done plenty with bigger calibres). Something I've been wanting to do for many years with this rifle, but it's usually wearing some form of NV or Thermal rifle scope that isn't really conducive to long range shooting.

 

Anyway the club had a couple of useful booking back to back. One at 100 yards Z&G and then the following week on one of the field firing ranges at Lydd.

 

Being a bit tight, I worked with what I had as this was just for fun and experimentation.

 

The ammunition was duly loaded up from a sack of 500 dirt cheap 62 grain Relcom BT FMJ bullets over N140 in PPU brass and PMC primers. I did a quick bit of man maths and the load is cheaper than my .17 HMR :lol:

 

Next was some suitable long range spectacles for the rifle. I had remembered that I had purchased a Leupold M3 MK4 a few years ago and had some medium QRW rings on the shelf so on it went. Not having a level to hand, I got creative and downloaded a level app for my phone and managed to get the turret within .2 degrees of the action on the rifle when it was mounted up. Close enough.

 

Then using the level again I bore sighted the rifle at 70 yards. When bore sighting I generally work on one plane at a time. Also to increase accuracy, make a small aperture with your index finger and thumb to look through. A bit like making the worlds smallest OK gesture. Looking through this small aperture will bring the chamber, muzzle and distant object into focus so you can get your bore aligned very accurately.

 

I installed the .223 drum on the M3 and zeroed the turrets to the bore sight, making sure to fix the elevation drum a bit high on the turret to miss the zero stop so I wouldn't need any tools on the range.

 

Here is is all ready to go to the range for zeroing...

 

Steyr%20M3_zpsc0iqiegp.jpg

 

 

On the 100 yard range the bore sight was pretty good and it didn't take long to get the rifle zeroed. The conditions were excellent and the ammunition grouped 'all right' at around 1.5 MOA.

 

Here's where the adjustments were after zeroing...

 

Steyr%20bore%20sight_zpsp5eyees6.jpg

 

5 minutes of elevation and 1/2 a minute of windage off the bore sight.

 

I reset the turrets and engaged the zero stop and loaded more ammunition for the 'proper' range day.

 

Also in the interim I downloaded Strelok and plumbed in the data for the load based on the MV predictions, etc. from Quickload because the M3 drum in .223 is for a 55 grain bullet and only goes to 500 yards anyway.

 

Come the 'proper' range day it was clear, but very windy (as it usually is at Lydd). I guessed the wind at about 12mph walking to and from the car getting set up. Next was to recce the furthest target. This is where it got 'interesting'. The range plan had it down at 900 Yards. Then there were 2 other lasered measurements at 710 and 725 Metres. All very confusing. After a quick chat with the Warden, it seemed that 725 Metres was the safest bet and I plumbed 790 yards (close enough) into Strelok.

 

On the first detail I checked the wind prediction using a closer in target at around 450 yards and all seemed good and I found that within 2-3 rounds and could connect 100% reliably.

 

Then onto the furthest target. This was a bit more of a challenge. The wind was stronger than I estimated and it took a bit of finding. The wind was way off and I had 18 minutes dialed in to compensate and had to adjust the elevation another 2 MOA. Once I had this found I could clatter this Fig 12 4 out of 5 rounds. I was really pleased with this considering the amunition was good for 1.5 MOA at 100 yards and the target was effectively 2 x 2.5 MOA and it was rather breezy. :blink:

 

The second detail was slightly less successful. The wind had really got up now and needed 33 MOA of correction which meant I was at full windage on the scope and had to use the inside edge of the 1st mil dot to the left as the aiming point. 1-2 rounds out of 5 was the result. :o

 

I found something useful after returning to the office. A direct feed to the weather station at Lydd airport. On the first detail it showed the wind at 16 mph, on the second detail it was 22. Full value at 90 degrees!

 

All in all, a very enjoyable and interesting process. :D

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Clive

A nice day was had by the looks of it, the serial 45 range is great fun I wish I lived closer its a 220 mile return trip for me but try and get there every month, I have shot at that target with my 16" AR and 62 grain RG ammo it's a lot of fun, it's now a good time of year to go there as you can generally see your own splash thanks for the article.

paul

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