Long range rifle accuracy

[Greg Zeilinger]

I was wondering,if any of you guys is shooting your rifles past 700 yards and what kind of accuracy you are getting and with what kind of equipment?I'm using a Winchester Coyote in 270WSM and 150gr Ballistic-Tip and my average  groups at 800yds is 3.5-4.5'' and at a 1000yds it's about5.0" to 7.5" with 5 shots in a group and field-position wth a bipod.I must say i was very surprised to find that kind of accuracy potential in a out of the box hunting rifle.I also have to add that, i was a sniper for 10 years and i was shooting full-time during those years.I sure would appreciate to see if there is any other guys out there who don't think that 1000 yds is not as far as it seems.

[longwinters]

Not me.  A 1000 yds might as well be a mile.  Heck, where I live there are no ranges where you can shoot over 100 yds. :lol:

LOng

[Green3845]

Greg-

In a standard NRA HighPower match, the distances shot are  200, 300 and 600 yards. In a Palma match, the distances are 800, 900 and 1000. These distances are shot with iron sights of course.

F Class in High Power is a fairly new game that some have described as prone benchrest. The original intent was to allow older High Power shooters that have vision problems to copete in a prone match using scopes. It has proven to be very popular with just about everyone, not just older shooters.

In F Class, front and rear rests are allowed, so you don't have to use a sling or a shooting coat as in normal High Power. Since scopes are allowed, the shooter in F Class can gauge wind conditions, see his shot on the target and fire his record shots without having to break position and look through a spotting scope.

The majority of F Class matches are held along with normal NRA Highpower matches, so the "normal" distances are 600, 800, 900 or 1000 yards.

[Big Tom]

Greg that is great shooting at that distance.  :shock:  I did a lot of work hand loading with a .300 Wby last year in prep for an Elk hunt.

When I re-sighted in at Craig, Colo I was really happy just to hit a 24"gong at 500yds. How big is the target at 1000 yds?

[Green3845]

Tom-

The standard NRA target for 1000 yard competition has an aiming black,
( what your eye perceives), of 44 inches. This encompasses through the 8 ring.

The X ring is 10 inches in diameter, and the 10 ring is 20 inches in diameter.

On a day when conditions aren't too bad, a really good palma shooter will clean the target at 1000 and the match will be decided on x's.

F class has no hard and fast rules yet that have been uniformly adopted. Some clubs have the F Class shoot on targets as small as the NRA 200 yard target, that has an aiming black of 13 inches, (through the 9 ring), and an xring of 3 inches.

[Greg Zeilinger]

@Big Tom.
I don't know,if your question was directed at me or Green3845,anyway the target i'm shooting is a metal plate,wich measures 15''x15" and is situated in front of a sandpile in order to help me or rather my spotter to determine the point of impact in case nature throws me a curve-ball.Once i've hit the target,i move on to another one wich is smaller 11"x8" and practice on it.My targets from500 to 1000yds are the same size with a highly reflective 5" dot in the middle of them.You really need a top of the line scope to consistantly hit a target like this.I don't know what make your 300Weatherby is and what make your scope is,but with a bit of practise,you should be able to get it to shoot 5-6" at 500yds.Just recently,i tried out my 9.3x64 250gr Ballistic Tip in a Steyr-Mannlicher ST and a 3-12x56 Swarovsky at 600yds and it groups easily within 4" if i do my part.Of course,the hefty recoil is taking it's toll on me after shooting 30 rounds trough it,since i don't have a muzzle-break installed on it.My advice with bigger cartridges is to just shoot only 10 rounds per practise-session in order not to develop a flinch,but really make 'em count.
Good luck for your future Elk hunts.

[Big Tom]

I have a Wby Mark V Stainless and the scope was a Khales 3X9X42MM with a TDS reticle.
I recently purchased a Sauer mod 202 in .270 Win and am developing loads for long range accuracy. I also have a very accurate Sako in .308 Win. The Sauer has a 4.5-14 Weaver on it and ths Sako a 3X9 Zeiss Conquest.
I shot  a lot of small bore competition at Fort Sheridan in Chicago Illinois. My dad was a great shot and competed for the USAF in .45 Pistol matches.

I imagine at 1000yds good glass is REALLY important!

[Desert Duck]

Greg,    When I retired a short time back the first thing I did was to throw away my golf clubs knowing what a waste of time that was going to be.   After all, if I couldn't break 100 after all these years of practice I knew that wasn't going to be productive now either.    So I have resurected shooting as a pastime hobby---and am interested in long range shooting. Years earlier I had stopped hunting.  I have shot my fair share of game and am content to leave some for the younger generation of hunters.  I had passed down most of my collection of firearms to the kids.  I started target shooting with a .223 and as time passed I have pushed the long range limits of that caliber out about as far as I think possible-----finally achieving a group less than 4 inches at 838 yards  (I wouldn't claim that I could do this again though).   I am now shooting 80 grain bullets single shot in an AR-15 style rifle which I had built with a 27" Shillen barrel in 1:8 twist.  I hand load Winchester brass, neck sized and turned and am using 23.5 grains of Accurate 2230. which chronograph at a bout 2750 FPS 15' from the muzzle.   I am wondering now if I could hold stability a mite further if I had a 1:7.8 twist barrel?    And I am wondering if anyone else out there might be shooting the .223 AR-15 style rifle with long range success---and what information we could share on that subject.  
PS----I am also now having fun with the very antitithis of the above----a C.Sharps 45-70  with 500 and 550 cast bullets---and am interested in sharing info with anyone shooting similar cartgidge rifles at long range

[Green3845]

DD-

Both my wife and I shoot an AR Service Rifle in HP competition. For our Long Range matches, (Our range goes to 1000), my wife shoots a boltgun in .223. I have watched the Service Teams, Army and Marine, shoot their service rifles for a number of years in LR matches. I guess I have a decent amount of experience shootng the .223 at 600 and beyond.

You didn't specify which 80 you are shooting, but I assume you are shooting a Sierra 80. 2230 probably is not an ideal powder for LR with a .223 and heavy bullets. I would suggest either VV 540, 550 or RL 15.

Your muzzle velocity of 2750 probably will not be supersonic at 1000. When the AMU was shooting the SMK80 at 1000, they were looking for a slightly higher MV to be sure they were supersonic. The AMU also found that their 1/7 twist barrels stabilized 80's better at 1000 than either 1/8 or 1/7.7. The AMU has now switched to 1/6.5 twist barrels and shoot JLK90's at LR, as the Sierra 80 just wasn't optimal at LR.

If your current barrel shoots well, you might try the Hornady 75 AMAX at LR. You can drive it faster than the 80SMK, with the same level of accuracy, and their BC's are virtually identical.

You also might want to experiment with shooting either the Berger 80 or the JLK 80 and see if your rifle is accurate with either or both. Both of these bullets have a significantly better BC than the 80SMK.

If and when you decide to rebarrel, I would suggest you contact John Holliger at White Oak Precision for a PacNor 6.5 twist barrel with his proprietary chamber. John was/is the pioneer with the 6.5 twist barrels and 90's. He has done 7 or 8 6.5 PacNors for me and all have been hummers. The advantage of the 6.5 twist barrel is obvious, it alows you to shoot the 90 JLK at LR. It also delivers superb accuracy with any available bullet for the .223. I have used the Hornady and Sierra 52, driven as fast as I can and have not had any blowups in .223, with superb accuracy. (My 6.5 twist 22 BR prone rifle is another matter!)