late this morning a friend called and said he wanted to go test out his new 7wms at some extended ranges. i was not really ready but i did have 25 rounds of .284 loaded and 25 rounds of 308 that a friend gave me. the .308 loads were virgin lapua brass, 45.0 grains varget, br2 primer and 175 smk. i shot the .308 load the other day and confirmed it was safe. if i was going to use this combo, i'd probably back this load down to 44.5 grains as it would probably be a bit hot in the summer.
i had the scope off the .308 yesterday so i shot 5 rounds first at 100 yards to get a zero. then we moved up to our firing position 1500 yards from where we set up the 20" round steel target. i started out with the .284 shooting 175 smk's at about 2850 fps. this spot has some weird winds coming up the side of the mountain and it makes for very tricky conditions. i shot into the soft dirt in front of the target at first so i could see where i was impacting since the target had bushes around it making misses hard to see. i put 50 minutes of elevation and 10 minutes left wind for my first shot. that was 1 minute low and about 4 minutes to the left of the target. i made a correction and fired into the dirt again. it hit where i was aiming so i moved to the target. the next two rounds hit the target. then i had several misses, and a few more hits. i think i only had 6 to 8 hits out of the 15 rounds i actually fired at the target. this is WAY beyond what i intended this rifle for but i was happy to get some hits in the conditions out there.
after all the .284 ammo was gone i moved to the 18.5" barreled .308. i built this rifle for 600 yards and in but i figured what the hell, it made it to 1000 yards just fine, why not give it a try at 1500 yards. i don't know the velocity of this load so i made a wild ass guess and dialed up my elevation to 65 minutes and 12 minutes of left wind. i made my first shot at the soft dirt in front of the target. i was way low but my wind was not all that bad. i went up to 75 minutes of elevation and backed the wind down to 10 minutes. that hit where i was aiming in the soft dirt in front of the target. third hit was at the target and a hit. i think i only had 3 or 4 hits on target with the remaining ammo. considering i wasn't expecting any hits at that range, i am happy with the results.
i'll let my friend tell his story about how he did with his 7wsm so i don't embarrass him
nothing like sipping a cup of starbucks while doing some long range shooting out in the woods
i had the scope off the .308 yesterday so i shot 5 rounds first at 100 yards to get a zero. then we moved up to our firing position 1500 yards from where we set up the 20" round steel target. i started out with the .284 shooting 175 smk's at about 2850 fps. this spot has some weird winds coming up the side of the mountain and it makes for very tricky conditions. i shot into the soft dirt in front of the target at first so i could see where i was impacting since the target had bushes around it making misses hard to see. i put 50 minutes of elevation and 10 minutes left wind for my first shot. that was 1 minute low and about 4 minutes to the left of the target. i made a correction and fired into the dirt again. it hit where i was aiming so i moved to the target. the next two rounds hit the target. then i had several misses, and a few more hits. i think i only had 6 to 8 hits out of the 15 rounds i actually fired at the target. this is WAY beyond what i intended this rifle for but i was happy to get some hits in the conditions out there.
after all the .284 ammo was gone i moved to the 18.5" barreled .308. i built this rifle for 600 yards and in but i figured what the hell, it made it to 1000 yards just fine, why not give it a try at 1500 yards. i don't know the velocity of this load so i made a wild ass guess and dialed up my elevation to 65 minutes and 12 minutes of left wind. i made my first shot at the soft dirt in front of the target. i was way low but my wind was not all that bad. i went up to 75 minutes of elevation and backed the wind down to 10 minutes. that hit where i was aiming in the soft dirt in front of the target. third hit was at the target and a hit. i think i only had 3 or 4 hits on target with the remaining ammo. considering i wasn't expecting any hits at that range, i am happy with the results.
i'll let my friend tell his story about how he did with his 7wsm so i don't embarrass him
nothing like sipping a cup of starbucks while doing some long range shooting out in the woods
