Shooting a 223 to a mile accurately..Video posted!!!

WOW, that is pretty darn good. Ever thought about doing camera work for a living??? :)

As long as the ground continues to dry up, we will be able to find good impact areas that can kick up an obvious dust cloud.

I am surprised that this has become such an 'event'. Since shooters have been lobbing bullets way out there for over a century, I didn't think this would have generated so much interest/emotion.

The good part is paradigms are changing which will allow others to push their limits on what is possible. That almost always leads to some pretty cool stuff.

If time and weather allows, I can think of a few guys that want to test the far side of 2500yds with some big boomers. Will be interesting to see what happens at 1.5miles.

Jerry
 
mysticplayer said:
I am surprised that this has become such an 'event'.
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If I could be there in person, I would. It would be neat to meet you and Lionhill in person plus it would be kinda like witnessing a live episode of Mythbusters.... only without the hot redhead. If you could arrange to have her there, well then, count me in!

Best of luck - here's hoping that the weather cooperates!
 
mysticplayer said:
The good part is paradigms are changing which will allow others to push their limits on what is possible. That almost always leads to some pretty cool stuff.


Jerry
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I think this is the real issue. Many people simply believe that some things 'can't' happen, or 'there's no point'. This sport is about having fun, and pushing the limits of your sport. Motorsports, skiing, biking, etc. etc. are all about pushing their machinery to the edge, so why can't you with bullets and rifles.

In talking with Jerry many months ago, he inspired me to build an accurate .223 target rifle too. I took a little heat from a barrel maker, but I want to push the heavier amax's and vld's as far as I can also.

Looking forward to more results/posts.

Keep burning the powder guys!:D
 
Hey Jerry,

Congratulations on a job well done!

Looks like a 30cal or something big would come in handy this time of year! I figured spotting the hit would be tough.

We shooters owe pioneers such as yourself a debt of gratitude. I am sure you (and we Gunnuters) will learn a great deal from your LR adventures!

Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

I bet the 75gr's will work just as well as the 80gr's.
 
Many people simply believe that some things 'can't' happen, or 'there's no point'. This sport is about having fun, and pushing the limits of your sport.
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So true. You wouldn't believe how many shooters think a .22 rimfire is not good past 50-60 yards. Sure if you choose a cheapo rifle and crap optics and shoot offhand with bulk pack ammo ... then that is the limit. But many people use the same rounds effectively to 200 yds and sometimes beyond because we choose good quality equipment and refuse to accept the "conventional wisdom".
 
Lionhill said:
To ensure that there is no "questioning" the image quality of what transpires next month, I took the opportunity (of having the kids to watch this morning) to test the video system.

It was early in the morning - 9:30 AM, and I was shooting along the landscape so there is lots of heat waves coming off the city from the air heating, and heat from buildings.

On the second test, it is a building under construction, and I judge that the image area at 1.39 Miles (measured in Google earth) is about 30 Ft. square.

Metric was avoided in reflection of the thread title.



The upload to Photobucket rendered the video rather choppy compared to the original, so if someone can host a 10 Mb file, it would go a long way to a much sharper video.

LH
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Got your kids playing on a gravestone? You sure know how to have a good time :D

Great vid btw -I'd love to see a pic of how you've rigged a camera to your spotting scope.
 
Suputin said:
So true. You wouldn't believe how many shooters think a .22 rimfire is not good past 50-60 yards. ".
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There's alot of truth there Suputin, though you don't need particularly good equipment to have fun, and the 22 can be surprisingly good even without any equipment to speak of. As I was telling Jerry recently I remember shooting at logs in the Fraser River with my 22 Cooey Single Shot over 55 years ago. There was a very large back eddy across from the Yale tunnel and sometimes a log would get caught in there and sit or drift around slowly. I used to sit on a sidehill on the other side of Yale Creek and shoot across the river at the logs. There was no hazard to doing this because of the terrain. I don't know how far away that would be as I have never measured, but from looking at the situation the past few times I have driven past the place it was easily 700 or 800 meters, possibly more. As I recall you had to elevate the rifle quite a bit and wait awhile to see the shot hit, but the splash was a dead give away. In spite of the temptation to elaborate, I don't recall any awesome feats of sniping, but you could zero in on a log and get close to it once you had a feel for how to do it. Heck you could even hit it once in awhile. The question for me on this thread has always been how consistent Jerry is going to be out there at a mile and beyond with the 223. I don't doubt for a second that he will whack the average rock with good conditions, but consistency might be a task that requires far more punch than the 223 has even in good conditions. Nice thing is I am close enough to get a chance to try myself next Friday...stay tuned...maybe the weather gods will smile.
 
I shot my 22MR (22BR run in 0.300" deeper) at 600 yds for sh^ts and giggles once with a 52g FB bullet at 3750 fps at Nokomis (1704' elevation), needed about 10.44 MOA of elevation to hit the bull. That is about 65 inches high or 5.5 feet high for a hold with a 100 yd zero, without touching the scope. She shoot an real flat line, but used most of the 39" aiming mark (black) of the DCRA 600 yd target in the winds that day!

I can not imagine a 22 rimfire at that distance, but according to Sierra suite, using a 40g Fed. solid at 1080 fps, it would be 101.21 moa or 106" high or almost 9' high! Same thing at 200 yds is 18.78 moa or 39.34" high or a hair over 3 foot high without touching the elevation on the scope, using a 100 yd zero.
 
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The weather has been pretty lousy here lately. Was hoping for another one or two sessions during this holiday but that is not going to happen.

So far, I have been out 3 times and pushed a couple of hundred rds out towards a mile in moderate to very strong winds.

I have also tried a second lot of 80gr Amax and that shot well too so...

I can conclude that the 80gr Amax and Berger are making it out to a mile (ballistics are near identical out to a mile - I used the drop chart for a 80gr Berger for both). The Amax is by far the more consistent and driveable bullet. The Berger, although shooting very well out to 1200ish yds, starts to show ALOT of vertical dispersion further out. Due to availability and cost, I will shelve testing these further. They shoot superbly at short range so certainly worth a test in any new barrel.

My load uses Varget (measured to the same tenth - it matters!!!), CCI 450 primers, 80gr AMax, in Lee collet neck sized Win brass. The brass has gone through basic BR prep and measures little to no runout. Shoulder bumping duties are performed with a Redding body die. Seating is done with a RCBS 221 Fireball seating die. The seating stem just happens to be a great fit with the Amax. Muzzle velocity is around 2850/2875fps which is within SAAMI specs.

The barrel is a 5R (although any rifling method will work) 7 twist 28" no taper Pac Nor SS super match. Prechambered and threaded. A very nicely made pipe. At 200yds, this barrel and bullets are shooting 1/4 min or under with little vertical dispersion.

The CCI BR4 primer will also work in warmer weather but I like the additional case volume available with the 450. Hotter primer requires less powder to reach the same pressure/velocity/accuracy.

You really have to pay attention to vertical dispersion in LR loads. I want the groups to be flatten circles if possible (sideways football). Windage you can drive. Vertical you can't.

I also do all my testing at least 200yds out. You just will not see the vertical dispersion at 100yds. 300yds is even better.

As far as accuracy goes, I can say that in light or constant winds, MOA or better, out to 1600yds is very possible. Out at a mile, I am shooting into a top of a hill which is very turbulent. I have shot MOA, maybe better but if there are gusts, I get bounced around ALOT.

Will not be a surprise that in stronger winds, wind drift is extreme. The last time I was able to shoot, conditions started mild then went nutso. Started with a couple of minutes and was dropping bullets accurately on my target rocks. When the winds picked up and I was blown off a ways even after putting 18mins of wind..time to quit.

Turbulent air will also affect your drops dramatically. Besides being blown sideways, a headwind will cause you to fall short and a tailwind will push you over your target. You know this is happening when your bullet lands in no consistent manner despite your best efforts to drive it.

Some call it 'spray and pray'...

In order to shoot well with a low BC slow bullet, you really need to have conditions that are not turbulent or gusty. The drift is pretty much 1 min for every mph so in variable gusty winds, groups can span several feet. Doping this set up is challenging to say the least but the Amax is driveable.

I will continue to do more shooting and try to improve consistency/accuracy more. Testing with annealing is next to try and min any dispersion due to the case.

The goal to shoot accurately at a mile with a high BC 223 is possible. If you have interest in building a similar rifle, just follow the receipe above and try and get the best pipe you can.

I feel you need to be shooting 1/2 min and under at 200yds in order to have success that far out. Better accuracy is always a good thing. More then 1/2 min of vertical and you are wasting your time. Ideally, 1/2 min or less sideways and 1/4 min vertical.

More info to follow... I will test the 75gr Amax soon.

Jerry
 
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BC_Guy said:
Great vid btw -I'd love to see a pic of how you've rigged a camera to your spotting scope.
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+1

Lionhill: perhaps you can start a new thread somewhere documenting how you rigged up the camera? I'd love to capture some footage of long range gopher carnage this spring.
evilgrin.gif
 
CanFire said:
+1

Lionhill: perhaps you can start a new thread somewhere documenting how you rigged up the camera? I'd love to capture some footage of long range gopher carnage this spring.
evilgrin.gif
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Where to put it? Optics?

It's pretty simple, I have a Manfrotto elbo joint that looks like:

D0010_f9b33d813e70dc75e15f215bb0030f37_L.jpg


I put the superclamp on the tripod head. Mount the video and scope on the two ends of the "magic arm" (Locking elbow bracket mount) point the scope at the subject, then put the video camera lens into the eye cup of the scope. Lock up the elbow bracket, and use the screen on the video to first manually focus the scope, then use the video manual controls to fine tune the focus sharpness.

Simple, eh? Still want a photo?

LH
 
Here are pics of the Stevens 223. You might be able to make out the gap under the scope base from shimming. It isn't that much but it gets these slugs out there.

Again, the conditions were the pits with strong gusty winds that shifted 180degs every 15mins or so. A royal pain. Got some good hits but a lot of close calls. Then some real zingers into the wild blue yonder - really got to try and get some flags up there.

What I did find out is the 75gr Amax will happily make the journey too. It seemed to drift a bit more then the 80gr but with the gusty conditions, not confirmed.

I was able to get some consistent air for 6 rds at 1400yds, and the 75gr Amax did go into a nice cluster. At the mile, I just saw them hit around the target rock. Was too windy to even attempt a 'group'.

So start shimming those Savages and pointing them to the moon.

Jerry

223001.jpg

223002.jpg
 
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