Custom 338 LM
300 gr Berger OTM
Got up this morning and decided that I would try something different in my shooting routine. I decided that I would try to enter everything into shooter without the help of my Kestrel 4500 and see how I do. I also decided to go out at around 11am so that the mirage would be going good. Basically wanted to see how I would do in some bad conditions. I went back to 1280 yards and the wind was blowing pretty good and the mirage was pretty ugly. I guessed the wind at about 9 mph from 3 o'clock. The barometric pressure is pretty much the same in the mornings around here so I entered in what it usually is. I entered temp. from prior history of these cool mornings and humidity is usually around 20-30%. I entered 25% to be in the middle. Plugged that all in and it gave me 33.5 MOA for elevation and 4.2 MOA right for windage. I plugged that in and let one go and it was about 2 feet to the left of the whole target! I guess that I was a little off on the wind! I go to 5.5 MOA right and let one go and it is the round that is high left on the target. I am still off on wind! I go to 6.25 MOA and let one go and that is the round that is high and above the orange circle. I let another one fly and it is just to the right of that one. So after all being said and done...i suck and judging wind and am dependent on that kestrel! It was actually a 13 mph wind which makes a huge difference at 1280 yards! I was also about 1/4 MOA off on elevation due to me being off on the temp. by about 12 degrees haha.
I break out the kestrel 4500 and get all the data and it is showing that the wind is now at 11mph and the temperature is a little warmer than I had entered. I re-enter everything into shooter from the kestrel and it gives me 33.2 MOA elevation and
right 5.5 MOA for windage. I get down and let one fly. I hear the sound of the bullet smacking the steel plate but I cannot see where the bullet hit due to the mirage. I let 4 more rounds fly and each time, I hear the report back from the bullet hitting the steel plate but I can only see sign of one bullet hit which is the one low and to the left of the orange circle. I could see dirt flying up from below the target and thought that I was hitting low but it turns out that 4 out of the 5 shots were in the orange circle and 3 of those were hugging the white bullseye which is about 2" in diameter! The bullets fragments were just splattering into the dirt below the target after they hit the target making it seem as if I was hitting low. I guess I pulled two shots a little but not much!
I moved to 1000 and got all set up and input the data into shooter and then adjusted the turrets accordingly. I only shot one round from here and it hit inside the white bullseye! Moved to 800 yards and did the same and hit a little low and left of the bullseye but still in the orange 10" circle.
I have learned that I suck at judging wind and I am dependent on my Kestrel! My hat goes off to all of those military guys back in the day that were making these shots without all of this equipment! Sure gives you a reality check!
