Really nice day out to 635

[CZ Varminter]

Went out yesterday afternoon with father and brother in-law, on some land we get too shoot out too way over a 1000yrds.

Today we shot small skeet clays out to 635yrds.

I had gone out two days previous to set out some clays at random ranges in different inclines etc with different back grounds making the overall set up interesting as we had to spot for the clays also...good practice i think. As a quick introdction i would like to say that this land is a big valley which is EXTREMELY interesting to shoot as the wind plays havoc on shots, as it was the wind was a gusty 6-16MPH on our side of vallley. On average windspeed is usually another 4MPH more on far side (known through previous shooting and local knowledge  ).

 

 

 

 

Maximum range, across valley went to 490yrds for the safest shots. We had spotted approx 6clays out at 410yrds exactly. First few shots were missed trying to guage wind on other side third shot was a hit (shot made by brother in law with his Ronin special .260 REM cracking piece of kit and he’s not a bad shot either.) I had my second shot 1inch right handed of target. I will get there! I took another shot bang on target. At this point wind was blowing at least 13MPH on that side of the valley, makes a lot of difference on a 55gr bullet. (shot from my 22-250)

 

We moved to a different set of targets having plucked a little confidence from this set we moved immediately out to 635yrds! Wish I never bothered! Only ended up getting one clay out at this range with ten shots!!! Father in law using his 22-250 managed to get one in 7shots. Brother in law took 6 shots. And bagged two. The wind out at this range and in that position we found that with a stronger wind it had actually pushed the bullet up by 3inches and obviously off by a little more. I was scratching my head quite a lot as first 5 shots were within a few inches at this range and I was happy with that then it was everywhere! After a little head scratching between us all we basically figured out (well we think anyway) that the wind was blowing up the hill side through the ride between the two hills.

 

A quick picture of scree slope clays were located half way up on left side.

 

 

Lunch break persued after more discussion on what was happening to POI with all three rifles.

 

After a short break we carried on this time we decided to pull in the shooting too exactly 490yrds. There is a nice large white rock you can see on the pic above half way down the hillside. This had two small skeet clays placed on the face. We took several shots at this with the .260 REM. Five or six shots later we got a hit! Wind had picked up and was gusting a lot more from 8-14MPH so was very good experience trying to pull trigger on right wind call! 

 

After several shots with my own rifle and the father in law having a few shots we managed to hit one clay! We called it quits on that distance! I was running low on ammo at this point, need to save some for my varminting trip in a few weeks. No powder left and waiting for my three tubs to arrive, I needed to keep a few.  So borther in law moved on to some paper bashing out at 400yrds. He wanted to see what his rifle would group like at this range. Turned out it wasn’t bad…2.25inch 5shot group. He seemed reasonably happy with this.

 

 

 

After several shots after on another target we called it quits as wind was picking up to over 14MPH pushing up to 18MPH. A little too much for my liking with my little 55grainers!

 

Overall day was a cracking good laugh and plenty of little competeive shooting between us all. Think if im going to get into this stuff past 500yrds im gonna have to go for some heavier bullets or completely different calibre. Would anyone recommend me using some heavier rounds in my current rifle or wait for a while and get a Ronin special?

 

Will upload a few video links soon. Need to get them uploaded to my channel first.

 

Please take a look at my pics of rifles being used by myself and brother in law.

 

 

 

My CZ 550 in 22-250 I love this rifle! 

 

 

 

Brother in laws custom built .260REM (Ronin special) he loves this rifle!  

Thanks for taking the time too look guys hope you enjoyed pics and I tried to get you involved in my afternoon outing. I can honestly say that I can seriously get into this! I think that on the day I had a lot of fun and tried to take some sort of data down but got too carried away trying to hit things! I have to admit that my software I have been using on my phone is VERY good. Elevation is spot on everytime and the hardest thing to read is the wind!

 

James

CZ Varminter

[CZ Varminter]

Bloody pictures didnt work!!! Grrrrrr.....HELP please....

[CZ Varminter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DakDDxKvhj0

[sir-slots-alot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DakDDxKvhj0

 

Nice write up CZ - But you have set you you tube vid as private - so we cant see it

 

 

ATB

Alan

[Ronin]

Hi James

 

 

nice write up, pity I was working.

 

 

You need to host the pics on photobucket or a similar web based site then post the link into the body of the write up.

 

 

There is a "how to do it" guide on the site if I recall.

[CZ Varminter]

Will sort out ASAP

[v-max]

Well done sounds great fun & i might do the clay thing my self & i have some bits of plate for gongs. Im just kinda set up to start plinking & cant wait to start getting into the 600m + ranges my self.

[Guest richness]

It's great isn't it mate Sounds like you're now in a great deal of trouble: new big rifle, scopes, long range bullet testing etc etc! But it is totally worth it and you sound like you'll enjoy every minute of it.

Thanks for such an exciting report and I hope to read many more mate

In answer to your question re bigger bullets, yes working up a load for a high BC bullet will help in the wind significantly mate. However, there is a limit to the weight your barrel will fire, determined by its twist rate. A fast twist barrel like a 1/8 will stabilise v high BC bullets over 75gr and that will really help. I doubt your gun is 1/8 or anything like it if it is stock. It may be worth looking into 65grs perhaps? I'm sure many people here will be able to give you exact specs for your rifle and what it will stabilise. Whatever you choose, make sure it shoots an inch at 300 or a very very very small cluster at 100y or it won't be good enough past 600y. Your load development is the absolute key mate. Then, as you say, it's all about your wind reading and marksmanship And every minute of it is great fun Keep us up to date! Rich