Thread: superpig, bushpig grand ambitions

Practice is key. I will be doing a bit of range shooting out between 500-700m when my 284 gets back home. Mates mate shot a red stag @ 907yds with his 30-06 and I doubt that barrel is much longer than yours looking at pics of the rifle. As the guys said load some ELDMs and give them a whirl.

Ryan was correct, you will have been offered enough advice by now to be confused

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.

Validation is key. Chrono for my rem mag said average of 2950fps but when I validated real world drop it was 3000fps.

Originally Posted by stagstalker

Validation is key. Chrono for my rem mag said average of 2950fps but when I validated real world drop it was 3000fps.

I'll be doing confirmation loads at the range next Thursday with my 284 for this very reason with Gongs at 270, 450,570 and 620y.

Chopping and changing cals can be a pain the arse and if you're like what I've done you eventually going round in circles hahaha so KISS :-)

A "drop test" ismt gonna give you 100% accurate information either, the bc of your bullet could be different than what you are using, there is other factors to take i to account also but I wouldnt be relying on information from drop testing only, may be accurate on the day then totally screw you when you really need accurate information.

I had a 19 inch Tikka T3 30 06 suppressed N560 208gr and a long throat got me 2600fps

As far as validation goes I sighted in, then ranged 600 yards clicked up 56 clicks (from memory) and bang 60mm from aim point. Chrono must have been good.

if your happy with it just use it as is, I use a 200 grainer at 2470 and its effective to at least 500yards.

Key things to record in your validation session are:

Range needs to be within 5m at 500m. 0.1 mrad click is 8m for me there. This is important if using a target board some distance out from the backstop behind or if the ground is curving and you can't range on the target itself.
Pressure. Most new phones have a barometer so get an app to display it.
Temp . Within 5C is enough
Slope if >10 degrees

Paper is better than gongs. Shoot 5 shot groups and measure in inches or cm. Best is to set sights for 100m and use a tall target so you aren't including scope adjustment error in your observations.

Put these into your app when back calculating your velocity and BC.
If possible get your G7 BC from Litz data.

It goes without saying that you have already standarddinsed your load and dont change components.
Barrel and batches of components can change a little over the years so check every now and then.

Then put in your estimated BC and MV and use the app to get a trajectory for conditions you will do the long range shots in. Often they are 1000m higher altitude and 10C colder than you do your trajectory test at. Day to day variation in barometric pressure is small but variation with altitude is very significant. Either use the ICAO atmosphere or just record the pressure on a few days hunting on the tops.

I have a tikka 280 (7mm 30-06) for the same bracket, light and pointy but a big step up from my .243 for heavy bodied animals. big reds or thar at distance

the dirty 06 will do a fine job of 0-600 the hard part is the right scope for the job for that. I went with a march 2.5-25 and it was perfect for thar hunting but I sold it to buy some big game fishing gear which is more handy in my end of the country.

you can gain a lot from hand loading, and short barrels are good in the tight stuff
have a think about where 80% of your animals are shot distance wise and set your gun up for that, the final 20% will likely be where you have to make sacrifices either real close or 4-600m

what and where are you hunting?

And just to reiterate another point made on the first page.
You probably need to look at 2 different projectiles.
1 for in close to say 300 mtr with a stiffer jacket (ie ELD-X or similar) and then something softer for the 300-600 mtr range (ELD-M, Berger hunter etc).
Distance numbers are just me pulling something out of the air as I don't shoot 30cal so have not observed bullet damage.
Z
No one bullet does everything. Last year my 6mm had a pencil though at <30 mt on a large red hind and a mate had a surface blow up with an sst in his 7mm.