Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,746
- 5,810
Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of helping coach a shooter for his first efforts at 500 and 600 yards.
It went so smoothly... I feel compelled to note the steps he took to assure success:
1. He has mastered the basics of marksmanship. Good form, getting behind the rifle, breath control, good trigger squeeze... Etc. He's done his marksmanship homework at more modest ranges.
2. He selected EXCELLENT equipment. It can be so frustrating, working with someone who shows up with a rifle that barely works, a scope that won't hold adjustments, and ammo of suspicious origin... No he showed up with:
http://www.christensenarms.com/products ... mit-rifle/
In 7mm Rem mag, a cartridge long known for excellent longish range performance without excessive recoil.
Topped by a Vortex scope, with a level, and securely mounted in great rings on a strong base. No shifting around here! He'd zeroed the rifle at 200 yards, and fired it to 300 yards, and the rifle has been used this year to take three mule deer, in the hands of three different hunters! With three shots...
3. He knew his ammo! He knew the muzzle velocity. He knew the Ballistic Coefficient. He was ready with a computer-generated drop chart... And yet he was more than willing to work with that chart, and modify it, according to what we saw at the range.
With carefully handloaded ammo - this is actually his first attempt at handloading! And, he got it right. Tried both the 180 gr Berger VLD and the 175 gr Nosler AccuBond, and found that, from his rifle, he got more consistent accuracy with the Berger, so at this point, the Berger is his choice.
4. He came with an attitude of "give me a hand, you've done a lot of this." That was appreciated, instead of "I'm going to show you how cool I am...." :grin:
We started at 500 yards, prone. He got solid behind the rifle. I pointed out the three targets I had set up for him:
A large gong at 521 yards, right in front of a big loose dirt face - easy to see impacts if his shots missed.
My smaller gong, a 2/3 IPSC target, AR500 steel.
Four paper plates, stapled to a piece of wood.
We started with the big gong. First shot was a tad high and right. Corrected and next shot was low, at six o'clock. From then on, that gong was in big trouble.
The rifle/ammo was shooting flatter than anticipated. We both found that interesting, and I mentioned that it was a good problem to have - a flat shooting rifle is a good thing.
Moved to the smaller silhouette target. Got him on there very quickly - and we then moved to 600 yards where we repeated the routine.
Again, the rifle shot flatter than predicted by his ballistics calculator - a nice problem to have.
We also made a minor windage correction. It was real nice, shooting in the still, cool air... Could easily see the trace of the bullet, heading towards the target.
Accuracy? He was shooting prone, off a bipod, using a rear bag I'd tossed his way. He had no problem keeping his shots in about a 3" group, at 500 & 600 yards...
It was funny - I hadn't shot with him before. Wasn't sure what to expect - I help a lot of different shooters. Some are truly basket cases. This one was good - he came prepared, and did a great job. He's got his 500 & 600 yard dope down now! And yes, it was different from what the computer predicted.
A couple of comments on his rifle. He'd bought it for use as a longish range hunting rifle for mule deer, elk and bear. It looks like a heavy-barrel target rifle, but it's actually not heavy - the barrel is thick due to the carbon wrapping. I don't know if that really helps accuracy or not - but his rifle shot very well. I'd never messed with one of those Christensen Arms rifles before. This one works very well!
The muzzle brake is... Effective and Obnoxious... :mrgreen: But it did tame the recoil enough that he could see his bullet impacts, and also see the bullet trace sometimes... not bad...
Just a few thoughts from yesterday's session at 500 & 600 yards.
Regards, Guy
It went so smoothly... I feel compelled to note the steps he took to assure success:
1. He has mastered the basics of marksmanship. Good form, getting behind the rifle, breath control, good trigger squeeze... Etc. He's done his marksmanship homework at more modest ranges.
2. He selected EXCELLENT equipment. It can be so frustrating, working with someone who shows up with a rifle that barely works, a scope that won't hold adjustments, and ammo of suspicious origin... No he showed up with:
http://www.christensenarms.com/products ... mit-rifle/
In 7mm Rem mag, a cartridge long known for excellent longish range performance without excessive recoil.
Topped by a Vortex scope, with a level, and securely mounted in great rings on a strong base. No shifting around here! He'd zeroed the rifle at 200 yards, and fired it to 300 yards, and the rifle has been used this year to take three mule deer, in the hands of three different hunters! With three shots...
3. He knew his ammo! He knew the muzzle velocity. He knew the Ballistic Coefficient. He was ready with a computer-generated drop chart... And yet he was more than willing to work with that chart, and modify it, according to what we saw at the range.
With carefully handloaded ammo - this is actually his first attempt at handloading! And, he got it right. Tried both the 180 gr Berger VLD and the 175 gr Nosler AccuBond, and found that, from his rifle, he got more consistent accuracy with the Berger, so at this point, the Berger is his choice.
4. He came with an attitude of "give me a hand, you've done a lot of this." That was appreciated, instead of "I'm going to show you how cool I am...." :grin:
We started at 500 yards, prone. He got solid behind the rifle. I pointed out the three targets I had set up for him:
A large gong at 521 yards, right in front of a big loose dirt face - easy to see impacts if his shots missed.
My smaller gong, a 2/3 IPSC target, AR500 steel.
Four paper plates, stapled to a piece of wood.
We started with the big gong. First shot was a tad high and right. Corrected and next shot was low, at six o'clock. From then on, that gong was in big trouble.
The rifle/ammo was shooting flatter than anticipated. We both found that interesting, and I mentioned that it was a good problem to have - a flat shooting rifle is a good thing.
Moved to the smaller silhouette target. Got him on there very quickly - and we then moved to 600 yards where we repeated the routine.
Again, the rifle shot flatter than predicted by his ballistics calculator - a nice problem to have.
We also made a minor windage correction. It was real nice, shooting in the still, cool air... Could easily see the trace of the bullet, heading towards the target.
Accuracy? He was shooting prone, off a bipod, using a rear bag I'd tossed his way. He had no problem keeping his shots in about a 3" group, at 500 & 600 yards...
It was funny - I hadn't shot with him before. Wasn't sure what to expect - I help a lot of different shooters. Some are truly basket cases. This one was good - he came prepared, and did a great job. He's got his 500 & 600 yard dope down now! And yes, it was different from what the computer predicted.
A couple of comments on his rifle. He'd bought it for use as a longish range hunting rifle for mule deer, elk and bear. It looks like a heavy-barrel target rifle, but it's actually not heavy - the barrel is thick due to the carbon wrapping. I don't know if that really helps accuracy or not - but his rifle shot very well. I'd never messed with one of those Christensen Arms rifles before. This one works very well!
The muzzle brake is... Effective and Obnoxious... :mrgreen: But it did tame the recoil enough that he could see his bullet impacts, and also see the bullet trace sometimes... not bad...
Just a few thoughts from yesterday's session at 500 & 600 yards.
Regards, Guy
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