22LR @ 400y last night

bohem

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Last night I did some long range rimfire shooting. I was out to shoot with my newly aquired 223 tube for my Savage, and decided to give it a rest and shoot some longer 22LR stuff. Normally I shoot to 200y with my 22 rifles, especially during wind conditions to get a better experience shooting in the wind. At 600y a 30-06 or 223 still drifts less than a 22LR does at 200y, so the 22 is an invaluable training tool.

I dialed 72 MOA up (max travel left) from my 200y zero and then held over an additional 5.5 mils (3.435 moa / mil ) and hit the 400y full size torso steel (~ 18"x36" with 6x6 "head) on round 3, the elevation was a little low, and the wind was kinda nasty so the first 2 shots were definitely sighters.

To give an idea of the wind call the 223 was running 3.5 +/- moa of wind with the 55 fmj's @ 3325fps MV.

I had to use the electronic earmuffs cranked up to amplify the sound enough to hear the hits.

Once I knew where the 400y "zero" was, I held low at 200y and 300y and went 2, 3, 4 without any trouble. I was pretty happy about that.

Interestingly, to hit a 4"wx12"t plate at 200y I held under by 10.5 mil from 400y, which definitely shows that the bullet is still "rising" at 200y on the way to 4, as opposed to a "falling" bullet.

Here's a poorly scaled sketch of what I'm talking about.

22%20rising%20falling.jpg
 
Re: 22LR @ 400y last night

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bohem</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Interestingly, to hit a 4"wx12"t plate at 200y I held under by 10.5 mil from 400y, which definitely shows that the bullet is still "rising" at 200y on the way to 4, as opposed to a "falling" bullet.

Here's a poorly scaled sketch of what I'm talking about.

22%20rising%20falling.jpg
</div></div>

Bullets dont "rise" Gravity doesnt act upward on objects.
 
Re: 22LR @ 400y last night

The bullet may not be "rising" but it's trajectory is an arc with line of sight being intersected twice. The location of the intersections determined by the relationship of the sighting device with the bore line. The .22 is not only a lot of fun to exercise but a great education in external ballistics and the effects of wind. Thank you for sharing your results.

Take care,

Danel
 
Re: 22LR @ 400y last night

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: flounderv2</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Bullets dont "rise" Gravity doesnt act upward on objects.
</div></div>

True, gravity doesn't act upward. It's the angle of the gun giving it this "rise". If you look at a trajectory table, the POA is rising clear out to 175 yards if zeroed for 300. That doesn't mean that gravity is pushing the bullet up, just that it was shot at an angle.

Bohem, here's my trajectory with inputs specified. This is a 38gr Federal CPHP. Hopefully the link will work and you just press calculate at the bottom of the page. Not good with the techie stuff. =P

-Travis
 
Re: 22LR @ 400y last night

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: flounderv2</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

Bullets dont "rise" Gravity doesnt act upward on objects.
</div></div>

That's why I used quotation marks around the "rising" term. I made the quick sketch to show the line of sight intersection by the flight, or more appropriately, drop path.

Travis and Platypus hit it on the head to what I was trying to show without going into too many details.

Travis- I'll try out that link you included, thanks. FWIW I was shooting the Winchester Silver box of bulk ammo.
 
Re: 22LR @ 400y last night

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bohem</div><div class="ubbcode-body">FWIW I was shooting the Winchester Silver box of bulk ammo.</div></div>

What are the bullet specs? weight? profile? MV? BC?
 
Re: 22LR @ 400y last night

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: B. Melick</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bohem</div><div class="ubbcode-body">FWIW I was shooting the Winchester Silver box of bulk ammo.</div></div>

What are the bullet specs? weight? profile? MV? BC? </div></div>

40gr HP's and they're claimed to be 1280 fps, be we all know how reliable that is.

BC? Maybe around .147, but really, with how inconsistent the MV's are, BC is rather pointless, go shoot it, write the dope down, and see how it runs from your rifle.

In fact, that's probably the best answer for all of the info you asked for.