F T/R Competition F-Open...First day out.

[DropZone]

Well, the weather here has been horrible. Monday and Tuesday the winds were in the 20-30mph range so no shooting was done. Today, the wind finally died down to a tolerable 15mph out of the north (directly into my face when shooting). Then there was the drizzle. Oh and it was about 40 degrees. LOL! But I just HAD to get out to the range.

So I took the new rifle out to shoot for the first time at 100 yards after breaking it in recently. Here a pic of the rifle just so you remember.



The groups were not bad considering I could not shoot off the ground due to the 2" of rain we had last night. I shot off a rather rickety shooting table and the wind kept blowing my last shot off even though I was shooting as though I was trying to "keep it in the pits" as my friends Mark and Bob have instructed me. The last shot kept eluding me...

This rifle is a .240NMC and I'm pretty happy with it. You can see the load data next to the targets. I was shooting Sierra 107 SMK seconds that I sorted by ogive length. Not sure it mattered as the last target I shot was as good as the others. But it mattered to me. Also, I should note these were fire forming rounds.

Anyways, here is the first target shot. It had six shots on it including the sighter:



Here was the third target shot. The first four were all in a cluster. Then I let the wind catch me on the old table and well...the last shot happened:



And here is the entire sheet of targets if you can see them:

 

[wadebrown]

I think most of us would call out fliers due to the wind if the horizontal was off, I bring this up as your deviations seem to be vertical and maybe you need to look for causes other than wind for those fliers.

 

[northern50]

I think most of us would call out fliers due to the wind if the horizontal was off, I bring this up as your deviations seem to be vertical and maybe you need to look for causes other than wind for those fliers.

How do you figure?? DropZone said the wind was directly in his face while shooting, this would cause the vertical.


If only the snow here would go away so I can shoot a match next weekend!

 

[bodywerks]

How do you figure?? DropZone said the wind was directly in his face while shooting, this would cause the vertical.


If only the snow here would go away so I can shoot a match next weekend!

Not at 100 yards. Head wind doesn't account for a lot of elevation change as it is, let alone at only 100 yards.

 

[DropZone]

Bodywerks, with all due respect sir, the wind was a major factor due to it blowing up under the table I had to shoot off of because of the rain we had the night before. But no worries. I'm gonna shoot this gun again in the next couple of days at 100, 300 and 600 from prone and I'm pretty sure I have the loads figured out now. Guess you'd have to see the table to understand. ;-)

 

[bodywerks]

Bodywerks, with all due respect sir, the wind was a major factor due to it blowing up under the table I had to shoot off of because of the rain we had the night before. But no worries. I'm gonna shoot this gun again in the next couple of days at 100, 300 and 600 from prone and I'm pretty sure I have the loads figured out now. Guess you'd have to see the table to understand. ;-)

Now that i can totally are with. Wind was affecting the gun/shooter, not the bullet so much. At 100 yards, headwind accounts for only about 0.015" of vertical deflection when blowing at 15mph. You get more vertical dispersion from minor differences in muzzle velocity than a head or trail wind

 

[9H_Cracka]

Have fun with it - get out to some matches.

Just for comparison, a friend was breaking in/fireforming for his 6 Dasher F-Open gun this past week at 100 yds - it was shooting in the 1s.

 

[wadebrown]

I will repeat what other posters have said that head- or tailwinds will have no measurable vertical dispersion at 100 yards. By measurable I mean the other error and unknowns will be far larger than the headwind induced vertical affects at 100 yards.

Move out to 1,000 yards and you will see vertical dispersions due to head or tail winds.

 

[jwf100p]

I just shot in a 600 yard match yesterday. On the 3rd and 4th relay, the wind was blowing in our faces about 3-8 mph. If you didnt watch it, it pulled the bullet out of the x-ring and into the 10 ring or worse.

 

[Killshot44]

Just for comparison, a friend was breaking in/fireforming for his 6 Dasher F-Open gun this past week at 100 yds - it was shooting in the 1s.

Yes, Dashers tend to shoot well even when fireforming. The above are ten-shot groups at 200yds....

Drop Zone, put some teflon "stock tape" on the stock's butt and forearm where they ride in the bags, it can help with vertical.
Also, a rail-mounted or scope-mounted bubble level is valuable when shooting beyond 300, canting can kill scores.
If you can, get your hands on Berger 105 Hybrids. They'll beat any VLD or SMK.

Have fun, F-Class is the FunClass.

 

[DropZone]

Thanks Killshot44. I'm having a lot of fun with this rifle. Took it out today to sight in my new March scope and ended up shooting several groups in the .2's and .3's at 100 yards with fire forming loads! I have switched to some 105 Berger BT Targets that I have as well as some Lapua Scenars. Both are shooting very good. Also have a scope level on the way. Looking forward to shooting at 600 on Thursday and then another match this weekend!

 

[stubbicatt]

Thanks Killshot44. I'm having a lot of fun with this rifle. Took it out today to sight in my new March scope and ended up shooting several groups in the .2's and .3's at 100 yards with fire forming loads! I have switched to some 105 Berger BT Targets that I have as well as some Lapua Scenars. Both are shooting very good. Also have a scope level on the way. Looking forward to shooting at 600 on Thursday and then another match this weekend!

Wow it is so cool that you got the March scope. Really cool. I'm still sorting through all of these variables in process of building an F class open type rifle.