Guide shoots to 600 yds after watching backfire.

[P7M13]

That was good shooting, and gives an example of the simplicity offered by a calibrated elevation dial. I've never seen the need, but he didn't need to refer to anything, he just dialed the clicks. Nice.
What would you guys estimate the wind to be at the beginning? I'd say microphone and grass put it at less than 3mph, R->L @ ~90°.
The misses at 508, 530 and 560 seemed to be the lack of wind - hence he was slightly off to the right. With a spotter, I think he wouldn't have missed after his first one at ~262.
The bottle spray, IMO, also said a lot about where he hit. Spray to the right if you hit on the right.
He had been checking his barrel temp occasionally, and I wondered about that. It likely contributed to his misses, but perhaps not as much as the breeze.

Lower right was fowler, 20 shots about as fast as I could reload, with max handloads from my factory Tikka. The barrel was absolutely sizzling.

What direction do they typically walk?

I don't have a single barrel that behaves the same way. They walk the way they walk. From memory, my CZ 550 seems to go toward 2 o'clock, my Tikka toward 9 o'clock, my M77 seems to go whichever way the day's horoscope says.
After roaching a barrel while doing fire-forming once, I now slow down and take care to avoid getting them hot.

With a light rifle, chambered in 7 RM, even with a break, I don't think you'll ever be able to spot your own impacts. Always better to have a spotter.

The dust makes it easier. When there is none, I seldom see my impacts, even with MBM brakes to tame the recoil.

[edit to add] I've done water jugs out to 900 on BLM land in the coast range (missing almost all of them past 500), and don't like to do it because it's a lot of time and work to set them up. It's a one hit use, and then a lot of work to take them down. I prefer hanging plates, though my 1/2" AR500 plates don't ring as loudly as I would like.

 

[Bowfishn]

There is a reason why The Backfire Guy used Milk Jugs for the challenge out to 600 yards with a hunting rifle set up. A gallon milk jug like he was using is 6" wide, that means with zero wind your hunting rifle must hit 1 MOA at 600 yards. He already has done challenges at 100 yards with hunting rifles, challenging people to shoot 5 shots into a 1 inch group or smaller, and very few are able to do it using their hunting set up including cold bore shot. That was only 5 shots.
Now we have the odd shooting positions, tough terrain, having to range the distance and wind. I doubt very many shooters could shoot 100 rounds with 100% hits. Of coarse they could hit an animal the size of an Elk at 600 yards into the kill 3 MOA zone with 3 times the success rate.

 

[Bravo 4]

Sorry, in my head I was thinking MASC block 1/block 2. At least the Army still pushes out snipers to their infantry's. That said, I'm sure it's still taught, just not used in the field. At least me and mine haven't since…06?

Knowledge is power and stuff, but It's an extreme back up plan type skill to have. I use to run around Iraq with a little notebook on common sizes of things like a Toyota hilux and what not. Nowadays, snap… and that's it.

It's rudimentary and crude but one can be fairly good and quick with it, with lots of practice of course. We use it quite often for flash-miling/12" drills and speed drop/MPBR for Rapid Target Engagement, even over the somewhat unstable barricades we used at the schoolhouse. Of course the newer Army grid style reticles (and H59 still in service) are quite a bit more suitable for this than the standard mil-dot reticles you and I came into.
I still have a list of common item sizes from that time period in Iraq as well.

 

[Nimrodmar10]

If you'd like to practice in real life situations like this without all the work, shoot rocks. I do it a lot in Wyoming when I arrive for an antelope hunt. It's required to check your dope when you live at 1000 feet above sea level then travel to hunting area that is 5000 feet. Most of the land is Federal land and you can shoot anywhere you like. Find a nearby canyon or butte and you can shoot any hunting scenario you want. The rocks are plentiful, show good hits and leave no trash.

 

[TheSouthpaw]

Come down 3/4 and right 1/2

But seriously, I have only anecdotal evidence from 2 rifles, a 6.5CM and a .300WM.
Didn't notice a direction but the groups roughly doubled in size, from 1/2MOA - ish to bigger than 1MOA, causing misses on the smallish 1150 yd targets we
we're shooting at. Let them cool for 10 or 15 min and were hitting again.

I'm just giving you a hard time in good fun, that's all.

Tikka barrels are cold hammer forged and stress relieved, they don't "walk" when hot. Misses at 1150 aren't a good measure for a barrel being too hot, way too many other variables at that distance.
Go shoot multiple 20-30 round groups at 100yds for a ligitime sample size...one like the one I posted without letting the barrel cool, and another letilting it cool. Let's see the true difference

 

[LRNut]

If you'd like to practice in real life situations like this without all the work, shoot rocks. I do it a lot in Wyoming when I arrive for an antelope hunt. It's required to check your dope when you live at 1000 feet above sea level then travel to hunting area that is 5000 feet. Most of the land is Federal land and you can shoot anywhere you like. Find a nearby canyon or butte and you can shoot any hunting scenario you want. The rocks are plentiful, show good hits and leave no trash.

That is what I do in AZ; do some rock shooting in CO as well, but mostly gongs.

 

[LRNut]

You can't even shoot milk jugs in AZ to to *** holes leaving target trash on public ground, the new law makes no difference as it was illegal to leave trash/targets before the new law. It is a shame as water filled anything is a great cheap reactive target.

Well, at least shooters in AZ can still shoot; in Colorado, nearly the entire Pike National Forest will be closed to target shooting if a proposed rule is adopted.

I remember in 1979 my parents were building a new house so they rented in outside of Bailey. I came home for Christmas break and drove up up to Guanella Pass, put a cardboard box way out there, and let her fly. The good old days - too many people hiking Bierstadt to even think about it. I used to backpack up the Sawtooth, over Mt. Evans, and over to my parents' house in Pine Junction in the summer, and only saw people on top of Evans.

 

[436]

His Wyoming wind doping was spot on, and the misses he had seemed to be water line just over the tops, some very nice shooting for sure. Cheers

 

[Beluebow]

Tikka barrels are cold hammer forged and stress relieved, they don't "walk" when hot.

Unless that is sarcasm..... have yet to see a barrel that doesn't move to some degree once it gets hot.

Having tested multiple barrels that have been cryo'd by 300 Below and others that were heat treated by a company out of Houston. I've had great results with both, but not 100% satisfaction....they all shift during a 25-30 shot string (usually low). YMMV.

 

[LRNut]

Unless that is sarcasm..... have yet to see a barrel that doesn't move to some degree once it gets hot.

Having tested multiple barrels that have been cryo'd by 300 Below and others that were heat treated by a company out of Houston. I've had great results with both, but not 100% satisfaction....they all shift during a 25-30 shot string (usually low). YMMV.

One of my rifle builders shoots F Class and beds the barrel fully free floating, ostensibly for this reason. Cold forging is the most common method of rifling a barrel for factory rifles but it isn't because it is a superior method.

 

[unclecroc]

I use milk jugs like this alot. It's it very realistic practice to just throw them out in a field and go to shooting. I use gallon jugs for my big game rifles and 1/2 gallon or 2 liters for varmint guns.
I can tell you after 350 yards they become difficult to hit on windy days.

 

[WYMIKE]

He should have explained in the video that his custom yardage/windage turret has the wind holds marked on the turret above the yardage mark usually calculated for a 10 mph wind full value specifically for that ammunition. Very easy to duplicate that factory load with Vihtavouri powder and reloder powder.