Thread: superpig, bushpig grand ambitions

When you chronograph your load I think its really really important to validate the velocity with a drop test if you anticipate using the rifle on game past a couple of hundred metres. If you want a reliable rifle out to 600m, I'd drop test at 300m and 500m.

Chronographs are usually pretty close, but they can also be out by a fair bit. I've used two in the last 4-5 years, one expensive, one cheap, and both were prone to bad days and pretty ordinary performance. Some will say you've gotta get a posh chrono, which usually means spending gazzillions, but it only costs 5-10 rounds to get a validated velocity from a drop test.

So case in point, I took my .308 into the field the last couple of weeks, new load, shortened barrel, so a few changes. Chrono velocity was a fair lower than I expected. Hmm. Shot 5 onto paper at 300m, measured the average drop from the point of aim, and using the trajectory validation tool in Strelok it corrected velocity to a number a bit higher than what I expected from the load data, and quite a lot higher than the chrono average.

Went up the hill, and happily bowled goats out to 360m+. Once I was convinced the data was spot on, I took one final goat with the .308 at 500m exactly, holding right on the top of the reticle post. Smack, tumble, done.

When I got back to the homestead for something to do that evening I recalculated the holds I was using from the Strelok data, but using the old chrono velocity. Assuming a point of aim on the shoulder, It was clear that from ~325m I would have been hitting those wee goats very low, or shooting front legs off, or missing under the brisket.

So yeah, just a simple, practical step. Trajectory validation with Strelok has markedly improved my field accuracy with my other rifles as well. I first did this back in the day as a kid in the UK with the Old Man, using his slide rule, algebra, differentiations and trigonometry... log tables, an abacus, counting beans and a sun dial. Strelok and a Galaxy 9 were the stuff of Star Wars and Doctor Who back then. Couldn't have imagined what was to come.