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JFrank
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Come on by anytime, there’s always another chair around our camp fire…
Long range tuning
- Thread starter JFrank
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Come on by anytime, there’s always another chair around our camp fire…
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JFrank
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In fact you are just in time as I took a few rounds out to the range a couple weeks ago for a quick sight in and charge ladder on the most recent barrel. Starting with a 300 yard zero I sent these iirc twenty rounds at one point of aim.
Obvious problem is they are all so clustered up I can’t read test results so now I’ll have to reshoot them at 500 to get some separation and report back.
Obvious problem is they are all so clustered up I can’t read test results so now I’ll have to reshoot them at 500 to get some separation and report back.
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JFrank
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In a past life I tuned at 100 and sometimes 200 yards and found that while my groups were not influenced by conditions as much, the results didn’t translate as well to long range targets. Now I train how I fight and to add an example, I had a simple primer test awhile back that suggested fed 205 the winner however when I confirmed those results @ 550 yards the 205’s grouped poorly and the CCI 450& BR-4 stacked like cord wood.
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JFrank
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Here’s the tip of the iceberg, Jim Baur is not my range mate but the rest are. We all tune at longer rangeshttps://internationalbenchrest.com/records/longrange-1000#1000-yard-records-broken-in-2020
https://internationalbenchrest.com/app/ibs/files-module/local/documents/1000 - 600 YARD SOY History.pdf
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JFrank
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I had plans to get out to the range this morning but quite frankly I’m just tired of shoveling snow, it’s been going on for the last four months.
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JFrank
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Nature Boy
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The sweet spot for 6BRA is ~2,930 fps. It’s uncanny how often it is shown to be true.
For mine the node is 30.6 - 30.8 of H4896, 108 Berger BT Targets, and you guessed it, 2,930 fps
For mine the node is 30.6 - 30.8 of H4896, 108 Berger BT Targets, and you guessed it, 2,930 fps
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JFrank
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Yes sir it seems to be the magic number, the guy I bought this rifle from won the NBRSA nationals at 2920 ish, ( with a different rifle same caliber) so we’ll see how this plays out but I’m cool with whatever speed as long as it groups small and consistently.
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JFrank
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I decided to weight sort this brass a little bit (nothing to extravagant) and maybe it’ll show a difference in ES and on targets. This is in conjunction with the sorting by FPS that I do.Any body else sort brass by weight, fps or volume ?
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JFrank
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Tough day for seating depth reviews but I think I’ll stay with 1.806 ( black) for the moment. It was just too windy to get quality data…
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I am not as proficient as you are with a rifle, but I do sort by weight the 223/5.56 brass I use for SR competition. I found that 5.56 brass is the most consistent, but it is the hardest to trim. The 223 is all over the place.
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JFrank
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Well thx, the rifle does the work, I just try not to get in the way.
How wide of a weight spread do you find gives you the results you can read on a chrono or see on the target? I’m currently sorting low med and high weights and watching for a correlation between the two.
I have not been inquisitive at that granular level, but I was having issues at the 600 yds. range to group inside the 10" ring, and decided to use the brass from lower to mid, and it helped out to shrink my groupings. All of the brass from 92 grain to 92.5 was used, so, I am sticking to it. One half of a grain of difference is what I am after on my brass. BTW, my brass is not Lapua or any other well known maker. I use one-time fired brass I have collected from previous range trips.
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JFrank
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I might be right about a half grain as well..I was fire forming this new brass awhile back and noted higher FPS with a red stripe, green blob for mid and blue for the slowest, my case capacity haven’t evened out yet so I won’t hang my hat on anything but when I reviewed the weight the red striped brass weighed the most. (I interpret that as less capacity= higher pressure higher speed) imo too early to be certain but lately my small sample ES is single digits.Wow!
I am impressed!
The brass looks like "ready for inspection" polished with Brasso!
My brass looks disgusting! But then again, I just FL it, trim excess, chamfer and deburr it.
I took some 6.5 Grendel brass, and formed it for 6MM ARC. Fired it once, and called it good.
I do strive to achieve single digits ES, but 223/5.56 ammo is making it difficult for me. I do not struggle as much with larger cartridges, and I reload mostly for AR type rifles. Also, my SR competitions are almost half way the distance of BR.
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JFrank
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I’ve heard that about the 223 and wonder if it’s the same for bolt action or the just the AR type or cartridge design etc. I’m not versed in that caliber at all.
No. I think the issue is with auto loaders, since bolt guns have less moving parts, and once fired on one particular chamber, the brass requires less attention, or so I think. I do not have a 223 bolt gun, but my 243 bolt is less problematic when it comes to ES.
kmw1954
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just read it! good stuff.
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JFrank
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I need to re-read the whole thing again myself, I sometimes experiment while tuning and sometimes loose my way, sometimes I get lucky and learn something new but that’s the fun part I suppose.
kmw1954
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After reading I found I do some of the very things he suggests, basically the 3 shot round robin. I also do now better understand the one round one POA ladder test for new loads. As I am still working with different powders and bullets this will truly help.
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JFrank
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I have several barrels but the one I’m working with now I’ve already spent time getting the basic load established so now I’m just reviewing and tuning.
the one shot per increment pressure ladder was the first one I learned to interpret, then I experimented with the OCW style and didn’t really get the hang of at first although I’m more comfortable now, still the longer range tuning especially the Blaney holds my interest. Beware of the faults in round robin testing where some days the target is just a huge puzzle blob… other days it’s tough to beat. I have mixed feelings as I’ve posted.
Stay tuned
Jim
the one shot per increment pressure ladder was the first one I learned to interpret, then I experimented with the OCW style and didn’t really get the hang of at first although I’m more comfortable now, still the longer range tuning especially the Blaney holds my interest. Beware of the faults in round robin testing where some days the target is just a huge puzzle blob… other days it’s tough to beat. I have mixed feelings as I’ve posted.
Stay tuned
Jim
kmw1954
Member
I think you know I have been shooting 223 for the past couple years, this is my second, Still learning and still exploring. So far have shot 5 different bullets and 4 different powders. Also been shooting a wide range of temperatures, like from 20* to 90+*, has proven very interesting to say the least.
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JFrank
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I made it back out to my 500 yard spot today, the objective is to compare the brass lot number 1 vs #2 with a short charge ladder.Looks like 30.9 on both sets will shoot pretty steady and this seating depth of 1.806 ( .026 jump ) has shown no reason for change.
ES of zero is pretty good also..
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horsemen61
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