Shawn Carlock
Sponsor
A friend and I went to scout a hunting spot and test the LRKM for an upcoming rifle match at the NRA Wittington Center that will have targets from 600-2200 yards. I started at 856 yards and predictably was on the money. I was using the G1 bc's I developed for the 300 gr Berger Gen 2 out of my standard Canyon Rifle @ 2862 fps. I was sure that despite the fact that the LRKM was spitting them out at 3137 fps that all of the 3 digit shooting would probably be the same so far as BC's were concerned. The next shots I shot were at 1408 yards and again first shot hits even though I had predicted and dialed in 3.5 moa of wind. My group size at this distance for 3 rounds was about 10-12 inches using the reticule to measure.
Our next target (rock) was at 2224 yards, have I mentioned I love my Vectronix? I ran the numbers / conditions and got 70.25 moa for elevation and 8.25 moa for a full 10 mph wind. Our target rock was large 2 moa square (4'x4' roughly) I looked at the wind gave it my best educated guess and called it 8 mph and half value, I dialed in 3.50 moa right. I stood from the rifle and looked at my hunting partner and said why don't you take the first shot? He had never shot past 1000 and was all too eager to try. He got behind my lefthanded LRKM despite being RH and settled in. I took a last look at the wind and we he was set told him to send it. At the crack of the rifle I watched the rock yawned, took a bite of my sandwich and almost 4 seconds later watched the bullet impact the rock, center for wind and about 1 moa low, not a bad first attempt for over 2K. I got behind the rifle and shot 3 shots the first being level for elevation and 8" right, the second was 8" right and 4" low, the third was 6" left and about 4" high. All in all I was impressed with the performance of the rifle to shoot a group of roughly 3/4 moa at over 2200 yards.
There are some interesting observations in this kind of shooting:
1. a hit of 6-8" off center is still in the group size of a perfectly centered group.
2. every 1 mph of wind is roughly 18-19" of wind drift, so looking at my group that was very wide compared to the verticle is it capable of groups that are 8-10" at that distance assuming that the wind changes were resonsible for the remainder of the lateral group size? Or are groups shaped like that just part of the nature of spinnig projectiles and extreame distances?
3. I was lucky to nail the wind just right on the first shot, I mean really can you tell the difference of 7 mph or 8 mph across a canyon over 2200 yards? Even looking at the difference of the wind coming from 40 degrees or 60 degrees makes alot of difference. At these distances you just cannot mess around with not being exact when it comes to the winds effects.
4. Even though the BC's developed for the std 338 Edge were at 2860 fps or so jumping the velocity to 3137 had no apparent effect on trajectory so far as BC was concerned.
5. It is tough but what a good time.
Our next target (rock) was at 2224 yards, have I mentioned I love my Vectronix? I ran the numbers / conditions and got 70.25 moa for elevation and 8.25 moa for a full 10 mph wind. Our target rock was large 2 moa square (4'x4' roughly) I looked at the wind gave it my best educated guess and called it 8 mph and half value, I dialed in 3.50 moa right. I stood from the rifle and looked at my hunting partner and said why don't you take the first shot? He had never shot past 1000 and was all too eager to try. He got behind my lefthanded LRKM despite being RH and settled in. I took a last look at the wind and we he was set told him to send it. At the crack of the rifle I watched the rock yawned, took a bite of my sandwich and almost 4 seconds later watched the bullet impact the rock, center for wind and about 1 moa low, not a bad first attempt for over 2K. I got behind the rifle and shot 3 shots the first being level for elevation and 8" right, the second was 8" right and 4" low, the third was 6" left and about 4" high. All in all I was impressed with the performance of the rifle to shoot a group of roughly 3/4 moa at over 2200 yards.
There are some interesting observations in this kind of shooting:
1. a hit of 6-8" off center is still in the group size of a perfectly centered group.
2. every 1 mph of wind is roughly 18-19" of wind drift, so looking at my group that was very wide compared to the verticle is it capable of groups that are 8-10" at that distance assuming that the wind changes were resonsible for the remainder of the lateral group size? Or are groups shaped like that just part of the nature of spinnig projectiles and extreame distances?
3. I was lucky to nail the wind just right on the first shot, I mean really can you tell the difference of 7 mph or 8 mph across a canyon over 2200 yards? Even looking at the difference of the wind coming from 40 degrees or 60 degrees makes alot of difference. At these distances you just cannot mess around with not being exact when it comes to the winds effects.
4. Even though the BC's developed for the std 338 Edge were at 2860 fps or so jumping the velocity to 3137 had no apparent effect on trajectory so far as BC was concerned.
5. It is tough but what a good time.
I hope to be able to do some testing at 2500-3000 yards in near future. Based on what we saw last summer testing at 2568 I have high hopes for this setup at those distances.
