Long range day

Jawbone and I were out yesterday shooting at ranges of 715 and 925 yards. We were elevated above the targets 75 feet. We had a full size IPSC silhouette at 715 and a 12" diameter plate at 925. Rifles were an AR shooting SMK 77's, and a bolt gun in .260 shooting 123g SMKs. The wind was almost dead calm when we got there, and Jawbone shot a 6 round group of about 6" at 715. He hogged the rifle until the wind came up and then let me have a crack at it. Once the wind came up, we were holding anywhere from 4" to 24" of wind. We also saw some big variations in elevation, like a foot or more. We eventually figured it must have been a combination of some updraft from the wind blowing up our hill in our faces, and thermals popping off. You could hold the same elevation for three consecutive shots spread out over a couple of minutes and get variations of 12" to 18". I'd never experienced it before, and it was quite an eye opener.

Hits on the silhouette were stupidly easy even with the scope dialed back to 6X. Once we got the wind figured, we hit as fast as you could pull the trigger.

The target at 925 proved to be harder than we thought. The wind was strong and shifty by the time we got around to it. We had flags on the 715 target and at the shooting position. One shot would show wind left to right and the bullet would move as predicted. The next shot would show the same wind, but the bullet would move the other way. It was pretty crazy, but we had fun trying to connect. Through pure luck, we did get a hit and knocked the target down, so that was the end of that.

The shooting position
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...lin/photo9.jpg

Jawbone banging away
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...in/photo10.jpg

The targets
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1.../photo2mod.jpg

Zoomed in view of the targets. You can just make out my Toyota Tundra where Jawbone is setting steel
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...lin/photo3.jpg

Jawbone's group at 715
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1.../photo8mod.jpg

Pretty sweet guys, I am jealous for sure! I you ever need a spotter give me a shout, I sure could use the practice. [Beer]

How would you guys like to put together something? I'm still new to long range/ presicion shooting and would love to shoot with some people that have a lot more experience than me, I know of a couple forum members that would probably be down with the idea as well. Just a thought.

Love the location. If you ever need a 3rd wheel let me know. ;)

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Originally Posted by JMBD2112

How would you guys like to put together something? I'm still new to long range/ presicion shooting and would love to shoot with some people that have a lot more experience than me, I know of a couple forum members that would probably be down with the idea as well. Just a thought.

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Not shooting down the idea, but you can have what you want the third Saturday of every month at the Pueblo PD matches. Lots of guys willing to help, including myself.

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Originally Posted by Tim K

Not shooting down the idea, but you can have what you want the third Saturday of every month at the Pueblo PD matches. Lots of guys willing to help, including myself.

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+1 for Hoser's match, and you can do the CRC match 4th Saturdays too!

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Originally Posted by JMBD2112

How would you guys like to put together something? I'm still new to long range/ presicion shooting and would love to shoot with some people that have a lot more experience than me, I know of a couple forum members that would probably be down with the idea as well. Just a thought.

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[Coffee] I am so down for this one.... and getting it out there for sure

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Originally Posted by Tim K

Not shooting down the idea, but you can have what you want the third Saturday of every month at the Pueblo PD matches. Lots of guys willing to help, including myself.

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Hey Tim.... we need to go to this spot [Tooth]
I noticed Jawbones jacket is a TAD gear... Nice! I shop for the same type of sh*t myself [Beer]

... and we (JMB and I) also have a few steel plates to make it even more interesting [Coffee]

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Originally Posted by Tim K

...third Saturday of every month at the Pueblo PD matches. Lots of guys willing to help, including myself.

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There anything north of CastleRock that does the same thing?

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Originally Posted by wax_job

There anything north of CastleRock that does the same thing?

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CRC matches on the fourth Saturday.

The CRC match is a really good one. Small targets and lots of wind. Come out and bring your rifle.

Yep, you guys want to put something together (outside of one of the matches) PM me, I'm in and have about 10 pieces of steel from about 4" to 66% IPSC. Will drive to have some fun! I missed the last time some of the guys went down to Chaffee.

Sh*t.. I would love to join, but if a lot of snow hits the ground... it'll make it a little tough to drive out anywhere...

I usually head up to Pawnee on Friday or Saturdays... I'm actually thinking about heading up there on New Years Day depending how much snow hits the ground...

The other problem with snow is seeing your splash from a miss. I need to run out there and see how much snow is on the ground.

if you don't mind me asking where were you located? thats a sweet spot.

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Originally Posted by tmckay2

if you don't mind me asking where were you located? thats a sweet spot.

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Ancient Chinese Secret...

+1 for the p dog match!
your first competition will be a real wake up call...you need to get that out of the way

Dam it is apparent you guys are having to much fun with out me.. ha ha nice shooting

925??? you guys are just animals! Very impressive! Thermals are a PITA for sure. I have tried to read the "mirage" and all that cool stuff, and its still a lot of mystery to me.

I went out again today with a new shooter. We were both shooting AR's, both with scopes in the 5-6X range. We set the full size silhouette out first at 525 yards, then moved it out to 675. I'd have gone farther, but it's a heavy bastard.

I shot first and found the wind to be 1/2 and then 2/3 value. The crummy little 77g bullets don't make the target move much and usually left very little or no splash in the dirt. Getting the wind figured out was tricky at 675. It took 4 or 5 shots just to spot some splash. Once we got it dialed, I was hitting about as fast as I could get on target and break the shot.

My friend was shooting a new AR I helped him build with a Leupy 1-5X scope. The elevation turret was calibrated for M855, but it proved to be very close for the ammo he was actually shooting. That was the surprise of the day. He was using blaster ammo out of my Dillon 650. Hornady bulk 55g over Varget. He hit surprisingly well considering that ammo is 1 - 1.5 moa at 100 yards.

I need to figure out how to see or hear hits better. The target is so heavy it doesn't visibly move at those ranges. I have a Swarovski spotter that we were using, but the mirage was pretty bad. I'm thinking about either a bike flag or a cowbell stuck to the back of the target to try to get some more motion and noise.

It was a gorgeous day and we didn't see another soul the whole time.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ps21f114f5.jpg

Awesome... I'm drooling over here [Beer]