Practicing with Night Vision

[wigwamitus]

I did phone them in Nov ... they said they would send me an RMA ... they did not ... shame on me ... I have learned my lesson ... no more "proprietary" guns ...

Thanks so much for the assistance!

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-11
2100-2300
20F
5 MPH NW

Goal: check zero for thermal and ir-laser on .22LR

Environment: No moon, stars visible, not much breeze.

Equipment: .22LR, Eley Edge, sling, laser max ir-laser, thermal, eotech w/ 3x mag, primos shooting stick (tripod), Dual 14s on helmet, lrf, 3x 14 mag, .45acp.

Activity: Drove buggy across Turtle Creek and up the hill and whoa, right in front of me were 9 deer, some were big ones! I shut down the buggy and pulled out the thermal and watched them for about 10m. Even though I was 50yds from a couple of them and they alerted to the buggy coming up the hill, they remained in place and resumed eating while I watched. After the 10m, I decided I needed to get on with my agenda and I hollered ... it took a lot of hollering, but eventually they all moved off to 150yds distant. Then I restarted buggy and headed off in a direction to dry around them, never heading towards them and they remained in placed until I cross Signal Hill and went out of sight.
I did not have the DVR, need to make a rule always to bring the DVR.

Setup targets and fired from 30yds ... got a rough zero with the thermal and laser. The thermal mount was a little loose, I tightened it after returning to the house. The last group from the thermal was a 6 and an 8, the last round with the laser was a 9. I'll polish these up tonight and post pics at that time. This was the first time out with new SPW suppressor.

I test fired 5 rds with the new suppressor off the back porch with both the 5.56 and .22LR and not sure I can really tell the difference ... but I'm sure most people could. I'm probably already deaf!!!

 

[wigwamitus]

Reassembled 7.62 and test fired and all is well ... 7.62 back up. Will see how long it is up. Now all five active rifles are up.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-11
2130-2300
20F
0 MPH NW

Goal: Check zero of thermal and ir-laser on .22LR.

Environment: Stars, no moon, no breeze, cool.

Equipment: .22LR, Eley Edge, harris 13-27 bipod (not used except to add weight), thermal, ir-laser, eotech, 3x mag, sling, primos tripod, duals 14s on helmet, lrf, 3x 14 mag, canteen, .45acp.

Activity: Fired 4 rounds at hand warmer and 2 rounds each at two targets with ir-laser. These were 50yd small bore targets. The black circle is 3.75 inches across. All shots off the Primos.

Thermal
G01 - 30yds - 2 rds - 7 + 9 Avg 8
G02 - 30yds - 2 rds - 8 + 9 Avg 8.5

ir-laser
G03 - 30yds - 2 rds - 5 + 8 Avg 6.5
G04 - 30yds - 2 rds - 6 + 8 Avg 7

Results: Not sure whether I want to be dialed up to 30yds or 50yds. Trying to set this up as a "rat slayer". The Thermal seems to be close enough, the ir-laser might be low. But there was a fair amount of bloom. I used the ir illum on the left side of the helmet on lowest power and max zoom to reduce the bloom for G04. I have a filter that slips over the laser to further reduce bloom, for short range like this, it might be needed.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-14
1200-1430
30F
15 MPH N

Environment: Sunny and clear, windy. Wind varying not just in intensity, which can more easily be accounted for, but also in direction, which is tougher to tell from shot to shot while lying on the ground.

Equipment: .338LM, L&S 8.5-25x TMR sfp, atlas bipod, LRF, kestrel, AB calculator.

Activity: Day time shooting, each round a different wind hold and some a different elevation. Trying to build DOPE card for this rifle and ammo.

G01 - 1 rd - 475yds - 8 inches left, 1.5 inches high.
Wind was spiking up to 16 but averaging 10.7 from about 60 degrees off bullet path, plus or minus 10 degrees on either side. I held 0.5 mils right. I could see the splash of dirt on the left side of the so second shot was 0.75 mils right.

G02 - 1 rd 475yds - - 5 inches left, 1.5 inches high.
From an elevation perspective, these rounds were fine. Initial windage estimate was off, but was able to see splash and correct.
Distance between G01 center of hole and center of bull 9.375, distance between G02 center of hole and center of bull 6.25.

G03 - 1 rd - 590yds - 2 inches right, 3.5 inches high.
I had cranked 11 clicks (3.75 MOA) up, AB said 3.9 MOA, but that was for 600yds and I was at 590yds. And that is for no down angle and I was at 1300 feet while target was at 1150 feet. Wind was spiking to 18 mph and averaging 13.8 and closer to 90 degrees up on this higher ground. So I held 1.0 mils right.
I saw the splash of dirt and I thought I was centered but high. So I cranked down 1/4 MOA. The wind seemed to be really spiking as I was aiming for the next shot, so I increased hold to 1.5 mils right.
Distance between G03 center and bull center 4.25 inches.

G04 - 1 rd 590yds - 11 inches right and 2 inches low.
I got dazzled by the wind near me forgetting that the average along the bullet path was less likely to vary so much.
Distance between G04 center and bull center 12 inches.

Results: I will call the elevation at 600yds 4.25 MOA on the dial, the setting I used for G03. So 0.5 on the dial for 475 and 4.25 for 600. That will be the starting point for the DOPE card. The MV I have at 2707 in the AB and it seems to the observed results.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-15
1200-1330
20F
12 MPH ENE

Environment: Overcast, windy. Today's wind was lower in intensity than yesterday's wind, but was pretty closely aligned with 90 degrees off bullet path, whereas yesterday we were closer to 60 degrees off bullet path. Wind was more variably today in intensity, but I think less variable today in direction.

Equipment: .338LM, L&S 8.5-25x TMR sfp, atlas bipod, LRF, kestrel, AB calculator.

Activity: Today, I switched from HSM 300gr SMK "factory" loads to some 300gr SMK hand loads by a friend. The bullet's were the same (SMK 300) and the brass was the same (Lapua). The handloads have 92gr of H1000. I don't know what the HSM powder is. I thought the handloads might be "hotter" than the HSM loads, but ran the elevation setting at 4.25 MOA per yesterday's decision and we were a bit low. So based on this it is possible these rounds are not as "hot" as the HSM loads. Will try at 475yds before deciding to change DOPE card.

G01 - 3 rds - 596yds
I lased 595, 596, 596, so called it 596. I extended the length of pull 4 full rotations on the adjustment knob, I was having to "muscle back" to get proper eyerelief yesterday.
Today, the image was fuzzier. There was more moisture in the air today and the weeds between me and the target were more numerous. But at 25x I could see the 5 dots I was aiming at. I tried to make sure my horizontal cross hair was level. I cranked up the left leg of the atlas bipod today, didn't realize it wasn't cranked up. This leveled the gun fore and aft much better, so I was only having to use the "rear bag" just a little to adjust the elevation.
Yesterday the gun was "tilting to the right" after each shot. I think the cant tension on the bipod had become losened. So I tightened it up in the house before I went to the field today. The "tilting" stopped. This improves ability to see the "splash" of dirt. I can see the splash whether I hit or miss, the dirt comes up from behind the target if I hit. I used to think I was missing high when I saw that. But from 475yds, on a good day, with a white target background, I can see the bullet holes through the scope, so over the past several weeks I've resumed shooting this rifle, I've learned to tell the difference between "hits" and "misses".

Wind was 10.2 avg, spiking to 13.6 but going down to 7.4. I held 1.25 mils right for the first two shots and could tell I was left, so I held 1.5 for the third shot and I looked centered. Couldn't see the holes, just the splash of dirt comming up from behind the target.

Note the green dots are from yesterday.

Results: The main result is not visible. Since I resumed shooting this rifle, the bolt has been "sticky". I've never had that symptom with this rifle. Two people who don't know each other both told me "large bore Savages are known to have sticky bolts". But I was doubtful, because this particular Savage has never had a sticky bolt. I tried regular cleanings and that would stop the stickiness for 1-2 rounds. Then finally, yesterday after shooting I tried 120 strokes with the chamber brush after several hours of soaking the chamber in Kroil. That did the trick, no sticky bolt today.
I've had stove pipe issues with my 7.62 and now I'm thinking I will do a big chamber cleaning over there as well. The downside is Kroil is smelly and wife doesn't want me to use it in the house. So I'll need to set up a "chamber cleaning station" outside .
This ammo does not seem to be hotter than the HSM ammo, if anything it might be less hot. I need to try at a second distance, 475yds, to be sure. Then might need to adjust the MV or the DOPE card. If I had everything perfect, I should be a little high, because this is an elevation shot. My firing position is just above 1300 feet and the target position is some amount over 1150 feet, maybe 1175. The highest point on our land is 1309, and I've shooting from a little below that point, the lowest point on our land is 1150 and target is a bit higher than that.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-15
2030-22030
10F
0 MPH N

Goal: See if I can find any rats near the bales.

Environment: Snowing. Funny, when I first went out, it wasn't snowing and there was no snow on the ground, hadn't been in days. But within 5m it was snowing. When I came back 2 hours later me and all the gear were covered by snow as was the ground. Exposed skin touching the metal gear was "sticking". I wore gloves when I could. I have a ridgid system. If I take off a glove, it goes in a specific pocket, period. That way I know where the gloves are if they aren't on my hands. I learned this the hard way. Usually I have the left hand glove on and the right hand glove off, but there are exceptions in both cases.

Equipment: .22LR, thermal, eotech, 3x mag, ir-laser, canteen, .45cap, lrf, 3x 14 mag, dual 14s on helmet, primos tripod. I wore 4 layers on top, tee shirt, light jacket, sweater and wet suit outer layer and snow pants down below. This is tbe below 10F garb and I was border line over dressed, so I wasn't cold. The only issue was the exposed skin touching the metal.

Activity: We have three rows of bales in one spot and I've seen coyotes here several times, so since it is a source of warmth and food, I figure rats must be around here. I put out 20 kernals of cooked corn and a hand warmer 10 feet in front of the center row of bales. Then I set up 50yds away in a depression, so that even when standing with the tripod I was level with the ground in front of the bales eith my eyes and the rifle barrel.
The rats were smarter than I was, we didn't see any rats. I was facing directly into the snow which was comming down steadily. The batteries failed regularly. I had one pair in the thermal (2xc123) and another pair in the dvr and 2 spare pair in small zippered pockets on my outer layer. I used them all. I think the combination of cold and wet was depleting the batteries. I could get them going again by removing the battery compartment cover and replacing it. But eventually I would have to replace the batteries again. These rechargable batteries don't last as long as the "real" batteries, but they are rechargable. The eotech magnifier fogged up pretty quickly. I had coated the following surfaces with anti-fog juice tonight before going out.
Eotech(both front and rear), eotech magnifier(front and rear), thermal(rear), pvs-14s(rear), lrf(rear). The eotech mag fogged up and the pvs-14s fogged up and bit, but remained usable. I flipped the eotech magnifier to the side and didn't miss it.
To check the weapon system, before I did RTB, I fired 5 rds at hot spots on a near by dirt pile, there were no issues, cycling was normal. I recently, finally, installed the new bolt group PTA sent me and also "tuned" the spring which determines the tension to allow the "bolt" to stay to the rear properly and actually for the first time, thus upper is working perfectly.
The main issue was the thermal batteries, the secondary issue was the eotech magnifier. I'll take "real" batteries (surefire lithium) as the spares next time.


Here is pic of gear ...

Here is pic of outside this .am.

 

[FrankT]

too darn cold for ME!

 

[wigwamitus]

U are in FLorida!

==

2015-02-16
2030-2230
15F
0 MPH E

Goal: Acclimation walk.

Environment: Did not get above 32F today, but some snow melted due to a bit of sun in the afternoon. Snow still on the ground, and no mud yet.

Equipment: .22LR, thermal, eotech, 3x mag, ir-laser, canteen, .45cap, lrf, 3x 14 mag, dual 14s on helmet, primos tripod.

Activity: Went across Turtle Creek and up to Turkey Bluff. Stopped did 360 with thermal, saw no critters. Continued over Signal Hill and down to pond, stopping about every 5m to do a 360. I used the tripod as a walking stick. I think somewhere it says not to do that. But I'm doing it anyway. It is a bit more noisier than my cottonwood stick. Crossed pond dam and ascended Hill 1309, continuing to stop for 360s and a water break. Then down to the creek and back along the South creek bank returning to Turkey Bluff and then down to human area. I heard Coyotes about 300yds to the North, but they did not come my way.
The temperature when I went out was 15F and when I returned it was 20F. The "wind" was from East when I went out, but from West when I returned.

Results: The main result is that there were no equipment issues. I kept the thermal on the whole time and did not need to change batteries. I used the DVR a small amount for a couple of 360s and to supplement the primary batteries.

 

[FrankT]

yeah went from 70 yesterday to 37 this morning...tooo cold!

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-18
2100-2200
0F
0 MPH NW

Goal: Acclimation walk.

Environment: Did not get above 25F today, some snow melted due to sun. Still plenty of snow on the ground. Temperature decreased rapidly after the sun went down and snow was several inches thick and quite "crunchy". Wore wet suit outer, sweater, light jacket, tee shirt on top, snow pants below, balaklava. I was not cold except for exposed skin on metal being sticky. Wore glove on left hand 98% of the time and glove on right hand about 20% of the time.

Equipment: .22LR, thermal, eotech, 3x mag, ir-laser, canteen, .45acp, lrf, 3x 14 mag. 30L RGBW, dual 14s on helmet, primos tripod.

Activity: Scanned bales. Then went across Turtle Creek and up to Turkey Bluff. Stopped did 360 with thermal, saw no critters. Drank 8 swallows of water ( I do 4, 8 and 12 as appropriate ).

Continued over Signal Hill and did a 360. Saw 8 deer, 400-500 yrds to East. Tried to bring up DVR, but by the time I got it up (had to remove and reseat batteries) the deer were not visible with the thermal. I slipped on the 3x mag for the PVS-14 and could not see them. I suspect the crunchy snow and lack of wind gave me away, the deer heard me. Between the 400-500yd gap between us the "central valley" as I call ran across from left to right as I looked at the deer and sound reverberates within the valley especially when there is no wind.

Had some day job work tasks to do, so did RTB.

Results: I reapplied anti-fog juice to rear eye pieces of 14s, thermal and to eotech and magnifier I applied to fronts also. Everything worked tonight except for the DVR. It worked for the first 360 and then died. When I needed it again I reset the batteries (removed and reseated) and the DVR came on, but not in time to see the deer and after a few seconds (10-20) it died again. I tested all batteries before I went out and the DVR an thermal. I test every thing and I had plenty of spares, but either the cable or the cold was killing the DVR tonight or something else I can't think of.

Epilogue: When I removed the dvr memory card, it was loose, I think that explains why the dvr was malfunctioning. I hope so. Works fine in the house this morning.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-22
2030-2200
10F
10 mph N

Goals: Check zero with .22LR.

Environment: Early moon. Cool, with a cool breeze and hard ground with a little crunch. Stars visible but some overcast. Orion visible but couldn't find Andromeda or Cass, too close to the moon and mostly behind trees and clouds.

Equipment: .22LR, Edge, 13-27 bipod, thermal, sling, ir-laser. eotech, 3x magnifier. LRF, 3x 14 magnifier, 30K RGBW, canteen, .45 acp.

Activity: All rounds fired sitting with bipod at 20.5 inches extension. Used 3x magnifier on 14 for G01 and G02.

IR-laser
G01 - 50yds - 2rds
These were low. I tried cranking up a little. Still not sure whether I want to be zeroed at 30yds or 50yds.
After first round fired, there was an FTF. I should have unloaded run a CLP patch and a dry patch and reloaded. So a round fell on the ground. Three rounds expended.
IR-laser
G02 - 50yds - 2rds.
These were a little higher, needed to crank more.

Thermal
G03 - 30yds - 2rds.
I aimed the second one better than the first one. I think the thermal is zeroed at 30yds. I three two rounds to FTF in this group. Had to dig one out of chamber with finger nail. I was able to with no lights.

IR-laser
G04 - 30yds - 1 rds.
Good on elevation after adjustment.

Results: On the way back the moon was blinding me a bit as I had to drive pretty much into it. And it obscureed a tree line that often has critters in it. The so called "Turkey Bluff" area. So with 14s, even a new moon makes a difference. The pasture was more light up by this moon also.
Well, I'd like to get 9s every time, so will keep working this.
In addition top preparing the rifle better, I need to remember to anti-fog juice the optics. The 14s fogged a little.

==

On other fronts I took the 7.62 and .338LM rifles out in the day to resume work on validating DOPE cards, this time at 500yds (476 actual). Fired 6 rounds with 7.62 and no stove pipes. Was a little lower than I expected. But main news is that I think I found root cause of all the ejector problems. The root cause being dirty chamber. Prior to this shot I did two 2 hour kroil soakings of chamber and 80 chamber brush strokes. And I ran wet and dry patches right after returning to base. I'll also run wet and dry right before going out. So the 7.62 was the good news.

The .338LM had sticky bolt on first round and brass stuck in chamber on second round, so did RTB. I was able to get the brass out will cleaning rod. So, last weekend I had done two 2 hour kroil soakings and fired 10 rounds without issue and I thought I was good. But today issue returned. I did NOT run wet/dry patches before going out. But I've fired this rifle over the past two years and never had problem until switching to new batches of ammo recently. I have been firing Lapua/scenar factory loads only for the past 10 months, and just switched to HSM non-Lapua brass recently.
Reading a bunch of threads plenty of people have had sticky bolts and stuck cases with this rifle. I had read some of those thread before getting the rifle and i those days I attributed their issues to overly hot loads. But re-reading all that material I now think most likely problem is headspace issue. Apparently factor lapua ammo has different length than the brass and even reloading dies. And apparently my Savage was head spaced for the Lapua factory ammo. So now I have to figure out how to verify that I have headspace issue and if so figure out how to fix it. Sending back to Savage is not an option at this time as I have an event I am preparing for on 28 March 2015, so need a more local solution. Worst case, temp solution would be to spend $5 per round and get 100 more rounds of Lapua factory loads for the event. I will test with the 17 rds I have remaining of the Lapua factory ammo to verify it still works. But I need a way to find out whether I actually have a headspace problem, so trying to figure out how to do that. So the .338LM is the bad news.
BTW of the people who have had similar problems with this rifle in the past, based on reading threads, some adjusted their headspace, some got new barrels, some never had the problem!!! And some gave up. I'm thinking of switching to .300WM anyway, but I can't sell this rifle until I get it fixed to use spec ammo, not just one make of factory loads as it apparently does now. And no matter what, I really need to get at least a work around for the 28 March event.

Input welcome!

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-23
1100-1200
20F
10 MPH NNE

Activity: Ran a wet patch with six drops of CLP through the .338LM bore and then one dry patch.

Then went out to the field and fired two 2 round groups at 500yds. In each group, the bolt was not sticky after the first round, but was sticky after the second. So even after two weekends of massive kroil soaking and chamber brushing, we are still sticking with the HSM ammo. I also had some scope base movement this time. I'd been expecting it to loosen. I'm thinking about violating my no-loctite rule just this once and using a bit of the really light loctite on the scope base screws to push out the frequency of re-tightenings. I usually check it each time before I go out. I checked it last weekend, but I did not today and of course it was loose.
I hope to try again with a few more round this afternoon. I will fire 4 more of the HSM ammo and then switch to some of the Lapua ammo. Even on a cool day like today, we had significant mirage on the ground.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-23
2130-2300
20F
05 MPH NW

Goal: Check zero of .22LR with thermal and ir-laser


Environment: New moon, but lighting up the pasture and tree lines on East side of pastures. Tree lines on West sides of pastures are in shadows.

Equipment: .22LR, Edge, 13-27 bipod, thermal, sling, ir-laser. eotech, 3x magnifier. LRF, 3x 14 magnifier, 30L RGBW, canteen, .45 acp.

Activity: Cleaned rifle before going to field to mitigate the stopagges experienced previous night. No stoppages tonight. Not as cold tonight. Stoappages could be a combination of cold and crap in the feed path.

ir-laser
G01 - 2 rds - 30yds - 8+8

thermal
G02 - 2 rds - 30yds - 8+9

The precision (group size) of G01 was great, but still off to the left. Is this an aiming issue (me) or an ir-laser zero issue? Not sure. with the ir-laser at 30yds, there is some bloom, so aiming is not perfect, so aiming is a possibility.

G02 got a better score (accuracy) but precision was not as good. Why is that? Not sure. Could be because the site picture with the 3x mag is rather fuzzy, but I think I can see the hand warmer. And one round is pretty much dead center in the hand warmer. I want both there.

Results: I will try again on more nights and see what the consistency is. The thermal died at one point and I switched over to the dvr reserve battery pack. Still didn't come up. I turned off and back on the thermal and it was fine. Thermal batteries had been tested before placement into the unit and unit was tested both thermal and dvr, this is normal process before every outting. So why did thermal fail? Was it cold? It wasn't that cold? I can't think of another reason.

 

[wigwamitus]

On the .338LM front ... I fired 5 rounds of reloads, 92gr H1000 at 500yds. Elevation was very precise, less than an inch between the rounds elevation wise, I had to adjust for wind and from left to right the "string" is 8 inches across, with the last group being 4 inches apart. There was a little stickiness, but not show stopping stickiness in the bolt. Elevation was about .275 mils low, so I will need to adjust the MV in the AB down a little. The lowness is consistent with results I got at 600yds where I was also a little low with this ammo.

Then test fired 4 rounds of Lapua/Scenar factory and absolutely no stickiness.

Then test fired 5 rounds of HSM non-lapua brass factory and there was a little stickiness, like with the reloads.

So, I'm hopeful I can get through the March 28th 2015 event at Spear Point Ranch here in Kansas if I keep it clean and shoot with dry chamber.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-27
1530-1700
20F
05 MPH NNE

Goal: Restart with 20x scope and get into the ballpark in the 100-500yd distance.

Environment: Cloudy, cool, breeze at about 60 degrees off bullet path.

Equipment: .338LM, 92gr H1000 300 SMK Lapua brass, atlas bipod, kestrel, LRF, rear bag.

Activity: I was starting over after mounting a different scope, so I started at 100yds. First round was low and splattered dirt and rock onto the target. I cranked up 2 mils, second round was low and left. I cranked up 2 mils, third round was level and left. I cranked one mil right.

Then I moved to 500yds and cranked up 2.4 mils per AB. I was low and left. I could see mirage moving from right to left. I cranked up 0.1 mils and held right .5 mils. Fifth round was level but right 4 inches.

G01 - 100yds - 1 rd - off paper low, splattered target. Cranked up 2 mils.

G02 - 100yds - 1 rd - low and left, cranked up 2 mils.

G03 - 100yds - 1 rd - level and left, cranked right 1 mil.

G04 - 500yds - 1 rd - low and left, crank up 0.1 mil and decided to hold right 0.5 mils.

G05 - 500yds - 1 rd - level and right. 5.25 inches between center of circles. Hold should have been 0.3 mils right, which makes wind about 6.6 MPH at 60 degrees off bullet path for that shot. Or, I over cranked to the right after G03, which is likely. I'll probably crank back 0.3 mils to the left.

Magazine empty, goal accomplished, in the ballpark. Next time I can print out starting point for DOPE card and then proceed to validate.

Results: For day light or dawn/dusk shooting, I would prefer to use the L&S 25x scope. With my sfp scopes, I normally run them either on minimum power or maximum power, that means only two settings I have to memorize and validate holds for. With <=600yds shooting as I do on my land, being "in the ball park" is good enough, but with 1000-1400yds shooting we need to tighten up as much as possible. I'm not sure I would have a good target image through the COLR with 25x, I've been shooting at night with the 25x scope and the COLR at 500yds on 8.5 power and have not had a problem. But it would take a pretty large target to eliminate problems at 1400 yards with 8.5 magnification, I think. Hence I'd like to be able to go higher, but not have to go to 25x. Hence I want to shift to the 20x ffp scope. If 20x is fuzzy, I can shift down to the 16x neighborhood. I've used my 3-18x scope on 18x with the COLR without a problem. So somewhere between 16-20x should be fine. And with the ffp scope I won't have to impact the holds aspect.
Oh and the second round hit the rebar behind the target board holding it up. Cut it in half. That's the second session in a row I've destroyed rebar. If .338LM hits it "head on" then rebar be cut in half. I was able to reuse a portion of it to keep the target up.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-02-28
1500-1600
20F
03 MPH ESE

Goal: Check 7.62 at 500yds

Environment: About 4 inches of snow on the ground now, it has been lightly snowing all day and is supposed to continue through tomorrow. Wind at 120 degrees off bullet path. The buggy trails are quite "slippery" for the buggy and I'm running it in 4WD mode today. They are not slippery due to ice, but due to lots of snow on them. Snow might be 6 inches on the buggy trails in the low ground.

Equipment: 7.62, L&S 3-18x (on 12x) H58, harris 6-9 bipod, 168gr AMAX, lrf, kestrel, canteen.

Activity: Decided to spend about 30s setting up getting into position and then fire 6 rds in six seconds (or there abouts it is tough to count seconds for me when I am shooting).

G01 - 6 rds - 500yds

First round was in the dirt, I could see splash, so I held up 0.5 mils and fired next two rounds, then decided the splashes I was seeing comming up from behind the target were to the left, so I held right. Couldn't decide if I was high or not. "Precision" (group size) 13 inches (counting miss as 9 inches below the bull), Accuracy 40/6 = 6.67 inches (avg distance between holes and bull).

Results: I will try this again tomorrow, I cranked up 0.5 mils on the scope. I need to get better at reading splash. I see the top of the splash come up from behind the target and it doesn't give me as much information as seeing a full miss splash where I can see the base of the splash.
I'm liking this scope more and more. I did not have a problem at all with the scope today, I could see both splashes and hash marks for holding just fine. This is very clear glass. I'm on the verge of saying it is the best scope I have. And it can crank and hold more elevation than any other scope I have. The new Vortex 1-6x G2 might be as good or even better for what it can do, but the scopes have very different capabilities so hard to compare them. But I need to get the mount for the V/O scope, which I've been waiting for, for over a month now!




==

2015-02-28
2130-2300
20F
03 MPH ESE

Goal: Check .22LR at 30yds with ir-laser and thermal.

Environment: Pretty heavy overcast, but near full moon still blasting light through all the clouds and with the snow on the ground, lighting things up pretty brightly.

Equipment: .22LR with thermal and ir-laser, eotech and 3x magnifier, Eley Edge, 13-27 Harris bipod. Dual 14s on helmet, lrf, 3x magnifier, 30L RGBW, canteen, .45acp.

Activity: 2 shots at the lower right target with the ir-laser and two shots at the lower left target with the thermal. WIth the thermal I was the eotech reticle and the eotech 3x magnifier. The image is fuzzy but it is large and fuzzy.

ir-laser
G01 - 2rds - 30yds - 8+9 avg 8.5

thermal
G02 - 2rds - 30yds - 9+9 avg 9

after flipping up the hand warmer, I could see that the thermal score was just barely, 9+9. I use the Army scoring rule, center of bullet hole must be inside the white (in this case) line.

Results: The goal is all 9s, we're getting closer, 3 out of 4 this time. Probably time to try 50yds now.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-03-01
0930-1100
25F
02 MPH NNW

Goal: Check .338LM at 500yds.

Environment: Partly cloudy, snow on ground, but no new accumulation last night. Snow not "sloshy" yet, but will get there this afternoon.

Equipment: .338LM, L&S 6.5-20x, 300gr SMK 92gr H1000 Lapua brass. Atlas, kestrel, rear bag, lrf, canteen.

Activity:


G01 - 4rds - 500yds
Precision: 7 inch inches
Accuracy: 7.5 inches
First group did not hold for wind. Cranked .2 mils right after observing fall of shot.

G02 - 3rds - 500yds
Precision: 5 inches
Accuracy: 2.5 inches

Second group, measured wind at 2.2 MPH for 2m avg at FP. Direction 330 degrees off bullet path. Hold would be 0.04 mils left or .72 inches.
Did not hold for wind. Center of G02 is 1 inch right. So for now I will call the windage good.

==

1200-1300
25F
05 MPH NNW

Goal: Check 7.62 at 500yds, check .338LM and 600yds.

Environment: Snow melting due to sun, starting to get muddy.

Equipment: .338LM, L&S 6.5-20x (20x), 300gr SMK 92gr H1000 Lapua brass. Atlas, kestrel, rear bag, lrf, canteen. 7.62, L&S 3-18x (12x), AMAX 168gr.

Activity:

7.62
Cranked up 0.3 mils. I wanted to verify the elevation change, so I tried 0.3 mils first. I did not hold for wind. No rear bag.

G01 - 2rds - 500yds
precision: 3 inches
accuracy: 11 inches

Then cranked up 0.2 mils for a total of 0.5 today which is aligned with results from yesterday. And decided to hold 0.5 mils. G02 was fired quickly about 1s per round. No rear bag.

G02 - 4rds - 500yds
precision: 7 inches
accurancy: 4.25 inches

.338LM
cranked up 1.2 mils per DOPE card.

G03 - 4rds - 600yds
If it wasn't for that one round out in left field, this would have been a decent group. But as it is:
precision: 11.5 inches
accuracy: 4.75 inches

It looks like I am 1 click high, but this is an elevation shot. I checked on AB just now and AB does say to click down 0.1 mil due to the elevation. When we shoot out West, the shots will not be elevation. We will be shooting a little bit down hill, but not enough to count as an elevation shoot.
Oh that giant "disturbance" near the orange dot is where the rebar that holds up the target poked through. Apparent the four 300gr SMKs banging on the target pushed the target back with enough force that the rebar tried to break through These target board thingies aren't going to hold up too well with this 300gr ammo.

Here is pic of rifle at 600yd FP

Results: Did not use rear bag, actually meant to for the .338LM but forgot it. I'm not a big fan of rear bags, but they do help a bit. Looks like elevations are pretty solid. Had some stickiness with the .338LM but no disruptions. Could not see splash today, ground too wet, berm dirt too dark.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-03-04

2130-2200

15F

03 MPH NW



Goal: Check .22LR at 50yds



Environment: Full moon, a few wispy clouds, but they dissappated as time went on. Orion highly visible, Cass/Andromeda hard to see this time of year in the WNW when I am usually out.



Equipment: .22LR, Eley Edge, Thermal, ir-laser, bipod, primos g2 tripod, lrf, 3x 14 mag, dual 14s on helmet, eotech.



Activity:



ir-laser/tripod

G01 - 2rds - 50yds - 8+7 avg 7.5

precision 0.5 inch



thermal bipod

G02 - 3rds - 40yds - 8+7+5 avg 6.67

precision 1.5 inch



thermal bipod

G03 - 2rds - 40yds - 9+9 avg 9

precision 1 inch

Results: Able to see target fine with 3x magnifier and ir-laser. Precision was good but accuracy was off high. Need to continue to repeat before changing the zero of the ir-laser.

I could not clearly see the handwarmer with the thermal from 50yds, so I came closer to 40yds.

First thermal group was ok precision but accuracy was to the left. So I fired a second group and aimed differently. Basically I noticed that the eotech dot looks to my eyes like it is broken into 2 pieces. I might have aimed with the left piece of the reticle the first time. I know I aimed with the right piece of the dot the second time. The second group was much better on accuracy. So in terms of repeatability I need to continue to practice this and use the right hand dot if it is fragmented.

 

[wigwamitus]

2015-03-07
1000-1100
50F
10 MPH WSW

Goal: Check 7.62 at 600yds.

Environment: Sunny, warm, breeze from WSW, 270 degrees off bullet path.

Equipment: 7.62 rifle, 6-9 Harris, 168gr AMAX, lrf, kestrel.

Activity:

Measured wind at avg 10.2 for 2m. DOPE card said to hold 1.7 mils left, so I did. I had cranked to 8.9 on the elevation dial.

G01 - 2 rds - 600yds
Precision: 9 inches
Accuracy: 5.5 inches

I keeping looking for signs of "cold bore" round. Got lucky on the wind call this time. Made no changes for second group. I could not see any splash of dirt today. There were too many weeds in the LOS, so target too fuzzy.

G02 - 3 rds - 600yds
Precision: 4 inches
Accurancy: 9.5 inches

Well the wind was obviously lower on average along the bullet path for this group, but precision (group size) is decent. Looks like that high round in the first ground might be a cold bore round. So I need to try to remember the cold bore round from this gun, with this ammo might be a couple of MOA high. We will see if that pattern ever repeats.

Measure wind at avg 6.5 for 2m, changed wind hold to 1.1 mils left.

G03 - 3 rds - 600yds
Precision: 8.5 inches
Accuracy: 4 inches

I fired this group quickly and thought the second shot might not have had the correct wind hold, so that might be the round to the left. Precision not so good this time, but because I straddled the target (the four orange dots) the accuracy shows as decent.

Results: I have to go on a work related trip for a week, so I only have 2 weeks to continue to prepare for the LR shoot out West. I'll be taking the .338LM and this 7.62. We can shoot out to 1,400 and I want to try to see how far I can get without just throwing ammo away. And we will be trying both day and then at night. We won't have so many weeds and trees to block the LOS out there!