Preparations for LRH

[*WyoWhisper*]

Tis the season for practice and developing loads, techniques etc. SO I am following Len and Darryls lead....

Here are some questions I think we all have answers too. However there are alot of new guys here so they may be wondering...

Preface all of these questions with the constant variable that it is all in preparation for LRH and L O N G range shooting. So thngs may have a differnt twist to them.
This may turn into long responses but I feel a good review for this time of year.

1. Brass prep your procedure and techniques. May vary according to cal.

2. Load development; where do you start where do you like to end up and how did ya get there? Also may vary depending on cal.

3. Your practice sessions. How often, do you have a goal before you start, What techniques to you use ie; Trigger technique, breath control etc.

4. You can add your range ritual ie; How many rounds fired before you clean, your cleaning technique etc.


Hope this get some good responses. Lets try to keep away from the, Well I hear that so and so says do it this way and well my daddy taught me this way... Lets try to get a feel for how many different ways there are to do this stuff then we can get into whats best and why..... fair.....

 

[Ian M]

Good questions and topic. Here goes.
a. Brass - wipe it after the shot if possible and only clean if it is really grungy and the primer pockets are still tight. Did the match prep thing, have neat tools and don't feel that I need to do that for the accuaracy I require. Don't like to burn that time on finiky stuff, more interested in loading a bunch of good ammo that shoots well in my rifles. That is why I switched to progressive presses. Need lots of ammo to shoot as much as I like to, will give up a bit of uniformity to get the loading done.
b. Again, have Oehlers and use them to develop loads but keep it simple. No time to play with a bunch of powders, primer brands etc, just use a few proven types, usually know about how much powder to start with and where to get accuracy, play with seating depth or simply load so ammo fits into mag well. I shoot a fair bit of BHA match ammo, try to get my loads close to that accuracy if possible.
c. Practice sessions are for fun. Don't want to become obsessed with this stuff, just having a great time hitting target a long way out there. Enjoy sharing this with new guys when possible. Usually shoot steel plates out to 1000 depending on location.
Shoot the positions and marksmanship stuff taught at schools, really works and gets the most out of me and my gear. Spend almost as much time as spotter to improve windcalling skills, seeing trace etc.
Prone shooting is straight behind the rifle, elbows low as possible. Makes for sore muscles and a few smacks on the collarbone but it is the best shooting position off the bench.
d. Try to clean every forty or fifty shots. Usually shoot ten rounds, then switch rifles and shooter/spotter position. Might go to twenty shots if the shooting is tough but don't like to get the barrels too hot. We record turret settings for every shot, call and hit locations. Made up a simple 8 1/2x11 paget with three columns, each column is composed of four vertical lines for elevation setting, windage setting, shot call and shot impact location, has twenty horizontal lines so each column is good for twenty shots - 60 per page. Call is usually "broke clean" so a dot is put into the middle of that box or whereever the call was made, then the bullet hit is marked. Also includes a large scale diagram to plot each bullet relative to others. Need to write down each elevation and windage setting, too easy to forget and good for reference. Also keep info as to shooter, rifle, scope, load, distance, wind, light and mirage conditions.
Also use Ballisticards to get my comeups if I don't have my data book along.
Cleaning is simple - put rifle into a cradle that is built into the plastic box. Remove bolt and put bore guide in place. Put Shooter's Choice solvent on a patch and run through bore, repeat several times till crap is mostly gone. Moisten brush with same solvent and run ten or twelve passes. Moisten brush again when it first comes out of muzzle to ensure solvent is equally dispersed. More solvent soaked patches until pretty well clean. Dry with a couple of patches. Soak two patches in Shooter's Choice Copper Solvent and run down bore. Wait ten minutes. Put standard solvent on patches and run down bore, check for green/blue and repeat until no copper signs.
While waiting for copper removal I toothbrush the bolt face, put some solvent on the brush. Then lube the lugs and camming point on the bolt. When bore is finished I clean the lug recesses, dry the chamber, wipe the muzzle and replace the bolt. Don't do the coper removal thing during most shoots unless the barrel fouls. Normally the entire process takes about 10 minutes or less, much longer if copper removal required.
Barrel cleaning is a chance for the barrel to cool a bit, time to get the hell off the ground and move around a bit.

 

[Tim Behle]

1. Brass prep your procedure and techniques. May vary according to cal.

When ever I get a new box of brass, I trim them all to the same length, Chamfer the inside and outside of the neck. Then Debur the flash hole and uniform the primer pockets. I give the same treatment to all new brass R-P or Norma.

2. Load development; where do you start where do you like to end up and how did ya get there? Also may vary depending on cal.

I like to start with the bullet just touching the lands. Then look up starting loads for the bullet I want to use, with the powder I want to use. I then go up to book max. or a little above. Looking for pressure signs. For 17 caliber. I move up .2 grain per shot, others get moved up .5 grain per shot.

I'll make each shot with a slightly higher weight than the one just before it. Until I span the range of weights listed for that powder bullet combo. I then shoot each shot over my crono. Marking each bullet hit at 100 yards. Somewhere in that 10-15 shots, I find the makings of a group. Usually three to four shots fairly close together. I then go back to the bench, and load three shot groups of each of each of those loads. I pick the best of those groups and make five more three shot groups each with the bullet set a little further off of the lands. I take the best group from these and see how well they group at 300, then 500 and 800 yards.

3. Your practice sessions. How often, do you have a goal before you start, What techniques to you use ie; Trigger technique, breath control etc.

As often as possible. I generally shoot early mornings, before the winds get strong. I don't practice in heavy winds, as I don't hunt in heavy winds. I've been practicing a lot at 1,000 yards lately. My goal is under 5" right now. If I can get it down to 4", I'll start hunting at that range. Right now I have an 800 yard self imposed limit.

4. You can add your range ritual ie; How many rounds fired before you clean, your cleaning technique etc.

I always seem to catch hell for this. But I am not a frequent cleaner. I think cleaning a gun messes up my accuracy. The first 5 shots after cleaning never group nearly as tight as the next 5 shots. So why would I want to go hunting with a clean barrel, and know that my first shot wasn't going to hit exactly where I aimed?

If I can get 100 rounds through my barrel before accuracy starts to drop off, then I will clean it after 75 rounds, and shoot five fouler shots before putting it away.

It works for me.

 

[Len Backus]

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There's some good info here.