Need help with 7mm dakota

[snojnke]

So I was out zeroing and trying to verify drops today, I should add that I am new at this. I was working with a new load using berger 180gr hunting, 73gr of H-1000 at 3070fps. I was at 5000 ft. temp was 46. There was about an 8mph wind at 11:00 look angle was 1 degree. First issue I encountered was a zero of 1.25" high at 200 yards; I forgot an allen wrench to remove my turret to adjust my zero, remember i said I'm new at this. So I pretended that it was dead on at 200 and entered data into my ballistic program which by the way of is Shooting Sollusion...adjustments were as follows:

396 yards 3.86 moa which shot 2.5" high
505 yards 6.02 moa which shot 3.5 high
590 yards 8.01 moa which shot 4.5" high

So do you think if I could have corrected my zero the correction would have been closer? Also all shots at all ranges past 200yrds were 5.5" right and no calculations called for more than .21moa of windage adjustment. I can understand if it was just a zero problem but what about wind?

 

[johnnyk]

I think a correct zero would have made things a bit less complicated. Even after you get a good zero and get all your data plugged in to your ballistic program, sometimes you still have to tweak your come-ups. As for the wind, welcome to the most fickle part of LR accuracy. Not sure about all ballistic programs and whether or not you can plug 3/4 or 1/4 wind value in, but the one I use is for full value wind. Hope this gives a little insight. JohnnyK.

 

[snojnke]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I think a corrected zero will help immensely. I plugged my data into the shooter program last night, which allows for sight in distance and height, it came up with .5 moa difference which would have made hits almost dead on. It also called for .75 moa wind dope which also would have made hits a lot closer. I think I'll go out again and correct my zero and use the Shooter program from now on.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

So I was out zeroing and trying to verify drops today, I should add that I am new at this. I was working with a new load using berger 180gr hunting, 73gr of H-1000 at 3070fps. I was at 5000 ft. temp was 46. There was about an 8mph wind at 11:00 look angle was 1 degree. First issue I encountered was a zero of 1.25" high at 200 yards; I forgot an allen wrench to remove my turret to adjust my zero, remember i said I'm new at this. So I pretended that it was dead on at 200 and entered data into my ballistic program which by the way of is Shooting Sollusion...adjustments were as follows:

396 yards 3.86 moa which shot 2.5" high
505 yards 6.02 moa which shot 3.5 high
590 yards 8.01 moa which shot 4.5" high

So do you think if I could have corrected my zero the correction would have been closer? Also all shots at all ranges past 200yrds were 5.5" right and no calculations called for more than .21moa of windage adjustment. I can understand if it was just a zero problem but what about wind?

Your dope and drops look good to me. Just need to get your 200 yd zero squared away and verify again. Also, I'm confussed as to how your groups are all 5.5" right at the 3 different ranges. Something is not right there. BTW, my calculations showed .88 MOA winadge correction @ 590 yds. Wind also could easily have been different down range. Did you have any wind flags up?

 

[snojnke]

Yes flags certified 10 to 11 o'clock wind. I was only adjusting .25moa for it though.