Need help with 2285 yard shot.

[Topshot]

Great pics and report Topshot! It sound to me like you're seeing sub sonic destabilization with some bullets. I'm showing your bullets transitioning at about 1700 yds. I'm wondering if you might be able to set up a target at that range and fire a few to see what happens?

Great stuff! Keep us posted. Makes me wanna get out there and fling some lead gun)

Montana,
I was having the same thought.
I am getting good results at 1100 yards, mixed results at 2285 yards.

So what's it like in the middle?

Only one way to find out. Get back out there with the hammer and bang some pegs in!

Also want to do this range again with the faster load and see if it makes a difference.

 

[gahlizard]

just a question...are you sorting your smks for bearing surface length or trimming the meplats. even having good vertical at 1000, you might be having velocity spreads compounding on you at this very long distance. just a thought

 

[bigbuck]

Topshot, you have one nice place to shoot. I was wandering have you recovered any bullets? If so could you post some pics of them . I think you did a great job for your first time out.

Bigbuck

 

[James H]

just a question...are you sorting your smks for bearing surface length or trimming the meplats. even having good vertical at 1000, you might be having velocity spreads compounding on you at this very long distance. just a thought

+1

James

 

[Eaglet]

Awesome, the bullet is going subsonic for about 585 yards after about 1700 yards, that's impressive. Gets us all excited for sure.

Impresses me how well you can see the target on 5.5 magnification. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Eaglet]

That so awesome, sure looks fun . We have found when shooting LR BPCR that when the bullet is on the edge of stability most will be in a group then a few will flop low. Some times we can push them just a little faster or get a faster twist and they will straighten out.
I re-entered the data into my PPC with Loadbase 3.0 and got 118.5 for the come up, so it's close.

Nice!

I did miss the scope height if it was posted, I used 2.1" for scope height 28° Latitude for the southern hemisphere, Azimuth 45° , stability factor 195.

Using that info. LB3.0 calculated 117.8 MOA

Either way is pretty good. I'm sure glad I got LB3.0!

 

[theodore]

Love the report, keep it coming.

 

[Topshot]

Topshot, you have one nice place to shoot. I was wandering have you recovered any bullets? If so could you post some pics of them . I think you did a great job for your first time out.

Bigbuck

Here you go "Bigbuck" only found one, the rest bounced. This is strange as when I fire into the same spot from 1100 yards they almost all dig into the ground and can be found.

This bullet showed zero deformation and could have been loaded and fired again. (Not that I would do that).

In answer to the other questions. No, I did not sortk them for bearing surface length. I just loaded and shot them as they came out of the box.

Photo below... .338 calibre, 300gn SKM Bullet recovered from dry dirt after 2285 yard flight.

 

[ak1251]

Thank you to all of you posted a reply to this thread. You've all gave me alot of information to think about and a few answers too. This is why I come to this sight.

 

[groper]

ok topshot i have an idea for you, give the predator projectiles a shot at this range, you can buy them here ... Home

claimed BC = 0.82 for 235gr .338 pill
i just shot some of these today from my 338 edge @ 700yds and this is what i ended up with...

rifle has 30in barrel, zero wasnt changed at all from my 300gr SMK @ 2940fps zero.

loaded the predator solids with 97gr h1000 (AR 2217).

@ 700yds i needed 2.3mils elevation to be zeroed at this range, the 300SMK needed 3.2mils (my 2940fps load)

when i use their clamied BC of .82, that means the projectile was somwhere near 3400fps! i know this calc has some error due to the fact that it was not zeroed at 200yds like the SMK load, but still, alot of difference in required elevation at 700yds between the 2 loads as you can see.

There was no pressure signs at this level, and i shot some more with 98grs loaded and still no pressure signs. Im sure i could probably go upto 100grs without too much trouble. Therefore, based on my calculations, you should be able to keep this projectile supersonic at 2285yds.

Best group of the day was 4in @ 700yds using these projectiles too. you should give em a try for you long range experiment

 

[Topshot]

ok topshot i have an idea for you, give the predator projectiles a shot at this range, you can buy them here ... Home

claimed BC = 0.82 for 235gr .338 pill
i just shot some of these today from my 338 edge @ 700yds and this is what i ended up with...

rifle has 30in barrel, zero wasnt changed at all from my 300gr SMK @ 2940fps zero.

loaded the predator solids with 97gr h1000 (AR 2217).

@ 700yds i needed 2.3mils elevation to be zeroed at this range, the 300SMK needed 3.2mils (my 2940fps load)

when i use their clamied BC of .82, that means the projectile was somwhere near 3400fps! i know this calc has some error due to the fact that it was not zeroed at 200yds like the SMK load, but still, alot of difference in required elevation at 700yds between the 2 loads as you can see.

There was no pressure signs at this level, and i shot some more with 98grs loaded and still no pressure signs. Im sure i could probably go upto 100grs without too much trouble. Therefore, based on my calculations, you should be able to keep this projectile supersonic at 2285yds.

Best group of the day was 4in @ 700yds using these projectiles too. you should give em a try for you long range experiment

Groper,
Good idea. I have half a box of them in the shed.
I will send them a Email and see if they can provide any better data for me to use. They are made only about 100km from my home so getting more is no problem. Will try them when I get the data.

I am going out to try again tomorrow at first light. Wind is up at the moment but it should drop overnight. Plan to try with a hotter load with the 300gn SMK that I have worked up. (2900fps) see if this works any better. Might even hit the thing this time?
My calculated drop with this load is 108.8 MOA using the Litz G7 data. 104.7 MOA with the Sierra data.

Also hope to fire a few shots at a bit closer range if I get time. Not sure of the distance yet. Has to be less than 2000 yards or my Exbal for PDA will not give me a firing solution in the field.

Firing at latitude 38 degrees South to answer another question.

 

[gahlizard]

in my limited experience when sorting 300 smk's. i had about 1/3 be within .002 for bearing surface length. the majority of the rest was in a batch that encompassed .004....the thing that surprised me was i ended up with about 6% of the bullets that were much shorter and much longer. those ended up being in a group i use for fouling or barrel break in and had as much as .021" variance!

i would be concerned about picking one of those wild ones out of the box for your very long range testing.
fyi....it was while sorting a batch of 2000 of the 300smks

 

[4xforfun]

in my limited experience when sorting 300 smk's. i had about 1/3 be within .002 for bearing surface length. the majority of the rest was in a batch that encompassed .004....the thing that surprised me was i ended up with about 6% of the bullets that were much shorter and much longer. those ended up being in a group i use for fouling or barrel break in and had as much as .021" variance!

i would be concerned about picking one of those wild ones out of the box for your very long range testing.
fyi....it was while sorting a batch of 2000 of the 300smks

On the flip side, I measured and weighed a box of 500 30 cal 240 SMK's....they were + - .0015 on bearing serface and all weighed either 240.0 240.1 or 240.2. This is by far the tighest tolerances I have seen. I guess it might be true that the quality of the .338 bullets might not be up to that of the 30 cal. For all practical purposes I could have thrown them all back in the box and shot them in a match.

 

[Topshot]

Well I went out to the location again this morning and tried to shoot the 2285 yard target again. The load I was using today was 96 grains of H1000 behind the 300 gn SMK. Measured velocity of this load was just over 2900 fps.

At this velocity I could get the target into the box at the very bottom of the R1 reticle on 11 power if I dialed in 60 MOA elevation, so that is how I aimed this time.

Today conditions were different to the first day. Temperature was 17 degrees C and 995mb. I had pre worked out a drop for this load at 108 MOA for 14 C and 992mb.
Wing was coming in at 6 to 8 mph at 9 O'clock up over the trees but where I was it seemed calm so I held dead on for windage, hoping to see the bullet impact on the first shot and then dial for windage after that.

The first three shots I could not see impact so I drove up and had a look. I eventually found the impact points way off to the right so I marked them with plastic bowls and drove back to the start.

Looking back at the bowls it was obvious that I needed about 10 MOA of left windage and about 2 MOA less elevation. So while conditions seem stable I fired off my last five 96gn loads. Packed up and went for a look.

The results were three shots in a group about 24" but landing in the dirt just over the target and the other two shots fell about 5m and 8m short. These results were similar to the first try and indicate that some bullets are unstable.

Sorry boys, but at this stage I have to admit defeat, and say that the distance is just too far for me and this load. I will work up a new load with the 235gn Perdator projectiles and see how they go. I will post the results when they are done.

Anyway the morning was not lost. I still had a dozen 92gn loads so I went off and found a spot where I could shoot a more realistic 1543 yards. This time I was shooting into a 6 or 7 mph wind coming up hill towards me at 1 o'clock.

My PDA was now in range so I calculated 53MOA elevation and 2.5MOA right windage. I took off .5MOA for drift and fired two shots. It was good to be back shooting with the scope set on 22 power.
From the dust flying behind the target I could see I was a bit high so I dropped 1.5MOA elevation and fired off three quick shots. Packed up and drove down for a look.

The results are on the photo below. First two shots top right. Next three at the right height but with a bit of spread in the windage. So height wise all is well at this velocity. It is only at the extreme range below the speed of sound where things go haywire.