Thread: Test load temps

Originally Posted by sneeze

Ok. Im not saying that looking for a flat spot in the velocity wont be good place to start, I am saying you cant find it with a single shot per charge weight. You might fluke it but getting really lucky would be your best hope. The optical chrony you are using will hinder that process even more ,as light changes so will the readings.
Yes you are looking for a node in the velocity range that has the muzzel in the quietest/motionless faze as the bullet exits. How you find it is pretty big topic, books have been written on it.

First up though , what is your goal? what are you trying to achieve with this rifle and ammunition?
If its hunting deer to 300 yds then the group you described above is ok. Load up and go shoot some targets, a few groups at 100 to establish the genuine accuracy of you,the rifle and load and then out to 300 yds from different positions to see what your limitations are. You will benefit a hell of a lot more from shooting an ok load a lot than trying to tune a 1/2moa load.

You know that scene in the movie shooter were he shoots the soup can at over a mile to be able to do that's the dream.

But realistically I am just wanting to learn and improve, yea my groups and load are fine for hunting, i have never actually shot past 180ish while hunting big game, i shoot further in the summer practicing on hares as shot placment isnt to critical, as long as I hit the hare it's dead fast. And i shoot much further on paper. I can punch less than inch groups at 100y easy off good rests etc. One day I would like to be confident to take say a 600y shot if that shot is the only one available and it's an animal of a life time. But I mostly just want to improve and learn, I have no set goals, I am happy to hunt within my limitations and I'm probably much harder on myself than most.

What I would like to do is keep improving and if that's just trigger time that's fine I can do that, but the reason I came here was to find out what the guys that can make thos 600,800 and 1000y plus shots are doing. If no one is worried about the different velocities they get from different load temps and they are making thos shots consistently then it probably does not matter, but it may also be the reason why i can hit way out some times and not others, as the day cools off am i lossing enough veocity to make my load hit 1 inch lower at 500y? Should i have a seperate drop chart for when the temps drop? It is a subject I have researched around a bit and found not much information.

When I was involved in motorsport the quickest way to get your self into a top 10 positions or podium was to learn from the guys in the top ten positions, once I started asking them questions they let me into small secrets that can make massive differences in vehicle setup and how it behaves, things I found out 90% of the competitors didn't know and were I'm guessing, to embarrassed to ask about. This is where I assume the top shooters hang out so I'm asking the dumb questions trying to speed up my learning. It's much easier to have a handful of guys that know what they are talking about set you straight rather than have to test it all and learn from the beginning.

I am trying to learn what others are doing and what sort of standards they are holding themselves to before making thos long shots, in saying this though I can understand why people are not so keen to come forward with advice on some of the finer points as there is always differing of opinions and the discussions can get pretty nasty, I have read some of the old threads where people got absolutely ripped into for sharing thier opinions or results. I have had some great help over the years from some of the members here but it is ushally via a pm after I have asked for help, I do believe most members are very helpful but also worried to point sombody in the wrong direction, that is why I say things like "it appears to have worked" I haven't gone as far to prove it has worked yet so I say appears and then hopefully nobody takes my word as gospel that it is the best way to do it.

In saying that it's good to have a bit of discussion saved on the forum and i really appreciate your input, that way when people come looking the information is there for them.

Sorry that became a bit of a novel I just thought I if I explain where I am coming from it may be easier for people to add some input.

Cheers