One of my other passions. Long range shooting.
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Reach out and touch
- Thread starter chino1969
- Start date
That's one hell of an expensive hobby. I had a Ruger Precision Rifle once in 6.5 Creedmoor. Man those rounds were expensive!
I only bought one box of factory ammo, it was the Hornady X line for $1 per round. Since then I reload and use Lapua brass. Wonderfull consistency with that brass. We get bored shooting at 2 1/2 inch plate at 220 yds, as it should be. My current range does not go any longer.
Not only is it expensive but time consuming. I could spend as much time researching scopes as I do the TJ. Currently have a very cheap Leupold 3-9 on it that I had bought for an AR. No need for more scope until I get more range.
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Chris, I hand load. Not only is it much cheaper but allows one to fine tune a load for a particular barrel. You have the choice of powder, charge, bullet, seating depth, primer and once the brass fire formed to your chamber it is a glove like fit.
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I've followed Bergara since Ed Shilen helped them get their barrel production set up and was pretty impressed. How does it shoot?
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I ended up putting a Nikon 4 - 16X P223 on one of my HBAR's. I'm very happy with it. This is a 5 shot group at 100 yds. with hand loads.
Shoots like a dream. Cant find any group pics right now but the rifle is simply awesome.
This is a screen shot from my chronograph hooked up to my phone when I was doing initial load testing. I had 5 rounds but one did not register. Three shots at identical velocity and one that was 5 fps faster.
Depends. One of my match guns was a 20" .308 with a straight 10x scope. Did 1k no problem. I have run up to 25x max scope but generally ran it around 18 due to mirage. Winter shoots I could run it full power but still preferred around 20x.
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Yep, me too. The only time I have the magnification cranked up is in low light situations like dusk. 14X to 20X is plenty enough magnification to put rounds in the vital zone. Like everything else many think more is better.
No. those are my reloads with Lapua brass. The specifics are pretty much at the top of the screen. 41.5 g H4350 loaded to 2.800 OAL. 140 gr Hornady Match bullets. NOT ELD. The Lapua brass uses small rifle primers.
I hear you on that! Ultimately the reason I gave it up was due to too many expensive hobbies. Jeeps, playing guitar (and collecting them), and RC cars. It was all adding up to way too much time and money to add yet another hobby unfortunately. Maybe when the kids are all in school!
Although the only spec I gave for my scope was the magnification its not all that could be improved greatly in the scope I have for that rifle. Like I said, its from the Leupold AR line. Pretty cheap. Still boring hiting 2 1/2 inch steel at 220 yds.
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That is excellent. I've never seen SD that low on hand loads. At least I've never been able to get that close and I weigh every charge.
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One of the two ranges I belong to goes out to 500 meters and I have several farms that afford shots out beyond 800 yards. I zero my bench/accurate rifles at 200 yards and begin stepping out from there. The wind and mirage, as you well know, become significant factors at the longer distances.
Longest I have ever shot was 600. That was at a Navy Service Rifle match. Borrowed AR with match peep site.
For sure. For what I was doing, accurate movements were a top priority. We were constantly dialing elevation and to a smaller extent windage. That and toughness; we didn't baby our gear, stuff got banged around all the time. Optic clarity was not as important as many make it out to be. Coatings to reduce glare, ca, etc were far more important.