Black Diamond 408
Well-Known Member
Well i have been wanting to get out to the big range and do some testing on my 338 Snipe-Tac rifles (338-408IMP) Today was a great day for shooting. It started off at 40 deg with a very light wind and by mid afternoon it was 65 deg, still hardly any wind to speak of. I have been wanting to run some loads through the big chrono and test the rifles at long range. My range at my place is only 500yds at the longest and the corn has not been picked yet so im stuck with 200yds for now.
It took a while to get all our stuff set up, we had to take down the steel targets and replace them with a cardboard backing. I put up a 4'x4' target to start with, the rifles were sighted in "dead on" at 100yds. My Exbal program says 17moa is needed for 1K, so i adjusted the scope acordingly. I fired the first sighter shot, looked like it was just off the right side. We drove out to take a look and yes, it was 10" right of center, dead on the horizontal line. I made a 1moa adjustment and fired three shots. Again we drove out to check the target, the group was still on the center line but now it was left of center. I moved the scope back to its original setting, the clean oily barrel must of produced the off center shot.
The group was right at 9", not bad but was looking for better. At 100yds this gun shoots ragged hole groups. There was no prep work done on cases or bullet sorting of the 300 Sierra MK's.
We drove back to the bench and my bud Doc Jones set up to shoot his 408 chey-tac rifle. He let three shots go down range at the same target. We checked out his grouping and it was 11" with the Barnes 419grn bullets, velocity 2700. He used no fancy rest, just a coat wadded up. After letting the Snipe-Tac cool i fired another 3 shot volley at the 1000yd target, about the same group size, 8.5". We took a break to clean the rifles and the local Sheriff's dept shooting team showed up for practice. They were checking out the big rifles and a lot of chatter was going on. They have two snipers in the dept, one uses a Rem 700 308cal and the other had a AR-10 type in a custom 308 cal.
They were doing most of their shooting in the 100-300 yard range. Here is a pic of the building and down range.
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The top of the picture shows the 1000yd target we were shooting at. The ranges vary from 100yds to 1000 in 100yd increments. This range is used for national qualifing, Police & Sheriff sniper teams. Its allways fun to show off a bit /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I loaded up the 338 Snipe-Tac and sent three more to the 1000yd target. The load i was using in this gun was 140gns of H-BMG50 with the 300MK bullet. Chrono showed average 3250fps. SD 9. All the guys piled into the trucks and drove out to see what the group looked like...
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I was very surprised to see the results, the measurement was just over 6" at 1000yds. This gun is a hunter, 15.5# total weight, it was shot from a Bi-Pod and rear sand bag.
I let the sheriff's guys all take turns shooting my personal rifle, it was punching groups in the 8" range by guys never shooting anything bigger than a 308 before. It looked like a bunch of kids with their first sled, giggles and grins! I had no problem letting them empty all my shells. They wanted to shoot the steel targets, but i told them its not allowed as this makes nasty dents and holes in the expensive silouetts.
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Mike Jones and his 408 Chey-Tac target, 1000yds.
The day was fun for all, we got to swap stories and talk about long range shooting.
[image]http://
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One of the Sheriff Dept snipers shooting his semi auto 308 Win. The shooting range is set up for year round, a small wood stove provides all the heat you need on those cold days here in Iowa.
It took a while to get all our stuff set up, we had to take down the steel targets and replace them with a cardboard backing. I put up a 4'x4' target to start with, the rifles were sighted in "dead on" at 100yds. My Exbal program says 17moa is needed for 1K, so i adjusted the scope acordingly. I fired the first sighter shot, looked like it was just off the right side. We drove out to take a look and yes, it was 10" right of center, dead on the horizontal line. I made a 1moa adjustment and fired three shots. Again we drove out to check the target, the group was still on the center line but now it was left of center. I moved the scope back to its original setting, the clean oily barrel must of produced the off center shot.
The group was right at 9", not bad but was looking for better. At 100yds this gun shoots ragged hole groups. There was no prep work done on cases or bullet sorting of the 300 Sierra MK's.
We drove back to the bench and my bud Doc Jones set up to shoot his 408 chey-tac rifle. He let three shots go down range at the same target. We checked out his grouping and it was 11" with the Barnes 419grn bullets, velocity 2700. He used no fancy rest, just a coat wadded up. After letting the Snipe-Tac cool i fired another 3 shot volley at the 1000yd target, about the same group size, 8.5". We took a break to clean the rifles and the local Sheriff's dept shooting team showed up for practice. They were checking out the big rifles and a lot of chatter was going on. They have two snipers in the dept, one uses a Rem 700 308cal and the other had a AR-10 type in a custom 308 cal.
They were doing most of their shooting in the 100-300 yard range. Here is a pic of the building and down range.
[image]
[/image] The top of the picture shows the 1000yd target we were shooting at. The ranges vary from 100yds to 1000 in 100yd increments. This range is used for national qualifing, Police & Sheriff sniper teams. Its allways fun to show off a bit /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I loaded up the 338 Snipe-Tac and sent three more to the 1000yd target. The load i was using in this gun was 140gns of H-BMG50 with the 300MK bullet. Chrono showed average 3250fps. SD 9. All the guys piled into the trucks and drove out to see what the group looked like...
[image]http://
[/image] I was very surprised to see the results, the measurement was just over 6" at 1000yds. This gun is a hunter, 15.5# total weight, it was shot from a Bi-Pod and rear sand bag.
I let the sheriff's guys all take turns shooting my personal rifle, it was punching groups in the 8" range by guys never shooting anything bigger than a 308 before. It looked like a bunch of kids with their first sled, giggles and grins! I had no problem letting them empty all my shells. They wanted to shoot the steel targets, but i told them its not allowed as this makes nasty dents and holes in the expensive silouetts.
[image]
[/image] Mike Jones and his 408 Chey-Tac target, 1000yds.
The day was fun for all, we got to swap stories and talk about long range shooting.
[image]http://
[/image] One of the Sheriff Dept snipers shooting his semi auto 308 Win. The shooting range is set up for year round, a small wood stove provides all the heat you need on those cold days here in Iowa.
