AusVarmint

Hi All , 4th 1000yd Benchrest match just completed for '07 and the wind gods refuse to cut us a break.. As per usual as soon as shoot day came around the weather turned to sh.t.. Gusts to 30knt and wind shifts coming around faster that the pastors collection plate.. TZ and i got target duty 1st up , saw the early targets come down with only 1 or 2 shots on paper .. For those that have not tried 1000yds yet , it sure can be a humbling experience.. I had it in my head that the luck thing was going to change for last weekend so i put in the most effort i have ever done in preparing the 35 rounds i take to the match ,each place that one could think of to measure was qualified to less than a half thou .. It took me 16 hours to prepare and load and about 2 minutes to prove that i had wasted all that time because of the crap winds ..Anyhoo..It was our own Albow that shone in Light gun ,he agged for group at 11.30ins(SG of 8.90ins) and got score with a 76 agg ..Heavy gun was not pretty but the 6 match aggs are fallin in line now with 8 targets so far shot, Tony shot a 95.2 and a 93.1 to win score FIIK how , this has already reset the AUS score record from his old mark of 561.9 to 571.11 and still got 2 matchs to go ..Group agg in H/G is sitting at 7.88 ins average (10 shots) (JR) and Bob Noakes is the only L/G that has 6 up ,he sits at 9.15ins (5 shots) ..Well 2 more targets will give us a chance at fixing it or the other one come NOV 11th..JR..Jeff Rogers

We have a long weekend here in NSW and the wind han't stopped blowing since last Saturday, the last three days have seen, 39, 44, and 59kmh. All I want to do is work out a load for the new Varmit Granades from Barnes. Glad I'm not trying to target shoot in a comp.

Jeff, after one 300m, one 500m and one 1000yd I came to the conclusion that the conditions and my (in)ability to read them would have much more effect than my ammo prep skills. I will still do my best on the loading front but glad to here an experienced target shooter say something along the lines I had thought myself.

G'Day Trev,
to a degree you are right about your (or any any shooters) wind reading ability, but do not underestimate the need to have ammo that goes exactly where you want it. Otherwise if you can read the wind and the ammo is off, how can you precisely aim off to hit the group/centre?

By having confidence in your rifle/ammo combo, means you will learn how to read the wind much more quickly, because it can only be the wind moving the bullet, not because the ammo/rifle is not performing. (all else being equal of course!)

You should have been at Little River on Sunday, it was fairly sporting, I was using 75amaxes in my .223 and at 100yds, i was holding a good 1.5 inches off and still losing bullets down wind by another 1/2", so 2" drift with a VLD. In a let up it was only 1" of drift. God only knows what it was for a 6ppc!

Cheerio Ned

JR,

Sounds like it was a 'long day at the office' now I told ya ya watch that alan hey...good on ya Al you must have been looking at something the others weren't

Ned......ahhhh that beautifull Little River range, I will be back one day .....after the pain has subsided......maybe

Is that goat still haunting the car park ?


KY

Talking about watching and picking the wind, i wish I had my young brother's skill; he reckons over 11,000 skydiving jumps have taught him a thing or three about wind...

tho

Yeah, dont get me wrong either, I wont suddenly let up on my ammo prep because the wind and mirage blew me about a bit.

I am as anal as the equipment I have lets me be. i am yet to measure concentricity and weigh cases but I learn to do more as i go. Just started neck turning, gee isnt that fun!

Hi Kenny

It sure was a tough day at the office but each outing is step up the learning curve and I think a couple of the things learnt in the past crappy weather definitely helped.

Hi Trevort

With regard to long range I have only shot 7 matches since building my rifle but since day one have followed the preparation process that was explained by JR in the threads below. I believe that this has given me the confidence to know that each round fired (even in practice) is spot on and that what ever happened on target was due to me. This has allowed me to learn and understand alot more alot faster.

I really recommend that you have a read and take from these threads all that you can.

http://ausvarmint.kjd84.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=496

http://ausvarmint.kjd84.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=286

http://ausvarmint.kjd84.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=513

Thanks albow for posting those links and thanks Jeff for writing them.

So weigh cases and on my next order from Sinclair a meplat trimmer and concentricity guage!

Now I think the most important thing I learned is that case necks can thicken. I am turning necks now to .196 for a.198 chamber. I had thought it was a once only process. Glad i read this and I will check them each load. It would have been really sad to find a pressure spike and subsequent result was the way i got to know about thickening necks!!!!

G'Day Kenny,
I hope the pain subsides soon Seriously, it was a crappy day but I had to pick up some gear from Pro-cal and give him the permit for the Bat

Alas, I have not seen this goat, and i suspect he is a stooge that is out to put interstate BR shooters off their game, Which I feel we must encourage, particularly those all conquering West Australians

Maybe the goat just wanted to make friends..............

Trev,
if the necks on your cases start to thicken to the point that you are going to get pressure spikes, then ditch them and make new brass.

If you need a good tubing micrometer order one from Russ Haydons as his mikes have the spindle ground to a 60degree angle, allowing the contact point between the spindle and anvil to get right into the neck shoulder corner, so you can measure the case neck right at that point.

Regular tubing mikes cannot reach that far because the spindle is 90 degrees and about 5mm in diameter and so when it contacts the shoulder of the case, the ball anvil is still up to 2-3mm away from the shoulder. That way you can quickly see how much you case is thickening at the at point and as you know your chamber neck size, you can cull the bad cases and keep shooting.

Hope this helps

Cheerio Ned

Hi Trevort

For a meplat trimmer have a chat to JR as he makes the ones that are in the second thread I posted and I have found them to be a good bit of gear.... although it is the only type I have used

I think Rinso has one too so he may be able to let you know what he thinks of them.

Ned, i was advised that the crucial measurement is the od of a loaded round and therefore i bought a standard digital mitutoyo micrometer.

I'll have to check JRs prices!

albow,

Yes I have a aJR meplat trimmer ... good bit of kit ... would recommend them to anyone.

As for price trevort I dont know if aJR can compete with Sinclairs mate.

cheers
Rinso

Trevort

The thing to remember is that JR's trimmer is not just a trimmer.

It is also able to be used to do all of your bullet qualifying measurments which is one of the things I like.... one tool for all the jobs.