Long Range Shooting

8/9/2019 Long Range Shooting

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Long Range Shooting & Hunting - Page 1By Daniel LiljaWhen we first published this article section on our web site I didn't include this article on long-

range shooting. Long-range hunting has been a controversial subject in some circles. And I didn'twant to be responsible for contributing to what some might consider as an unfair or unethicalsport. But after thinking about this for a year or so, I decided to include this article. There is acaveat in addition to this introduction at the end of the article too. So read the following for what itis: my attempt to explain methods and detail equipment that other shooters and I have used tosuccessfully shoot at extended ranges, in a somewhat scientific way. This latest revision wasedited in July of 1998 and a few new pictures were added at that time.Note: a few additionalpictures have been added since the 1998 revision including the 1100 yard antelope picture.

The small band of antelope looked a long way off when we spotted them from the ranch road.They were, as the rangefinder later proved, right at 1100 yards. They were far enough away and itwas early enough in the hunting season that the antelope were not alarmed by our pickup truck asit rolled to a stop and Bill and I put our binoculars on them.

We were hunting antelope in northeastern Montana during the first week of the 1988 season.There was one small buck in the band and I decided I would try for him with my last tag. We wereallowed up to three antelope each in the area we were hunting but only one could be a buck.

Quickly I pulled my portable bench from the back of the pickup and set it down. As I got out therangefinder and determined the distance to the antelope buck, my hunting partner, Bill, wasgetting the sandbags set up on the bench and getting out my rifle. I looked up the distance on mycomputer generated drop chart and cranked the appropriate scope adjustment into the 24xLeupold target scope.

About five minutes after deciding to shoot the antelope buck I was setup and had him centeredin the scope. Bill had also set up our spotting scope and was waiting for me to tell him I was readyto shoot. I placed the quarter minute dot just behind the shoulder and centered vertically. "Ready" Itold Bill and squeezed the trigger. "You hit him!" Bill yelled. Indeed I had, as I pushed the rifleforward from recoil I could see through the scope that I had hit the buck in the center of the bodyand that he was down and about dead. The 30 caliber 220 grain Sierra boattail had hit him in the

center of the body and within a couple of minutes he was dead. He never got up after first beinghit.

Antelope like wide open country so that they can rely on their excellent eyes to detectdanger. This picture was 'found' in 2003 and written on the back of the print is "Just after

shooting 1100 yd. antelope buck, 1988."Luck you might say. Well luck has a lot to do with most game shots whether they be long ones

or close in the black timber. In the following article we will take an in-depth look at the type ofequipment and knowledge it takes to consistently hit targets from 500 yards on out to over a mileaway.

We will take a look at the rifles used in this type of shooting and the various cartridges used byserious long-range riflemen. Also, we'll learn how to make a drop chart based on the cartridge andload we are using and also take into consideration atmospheric conditions that can affect bullettrajectory.


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The drop chart is a key element in the shooter's poke. With it he knows how many clicks to dialinto his scope for a dead center hit. Another very important area is the optics used by the long-range shooter. These include rifle scopes, optical rangefinders, and other support optics such asbinoculars and spotting scopes. Lastly we will look at what can go wrong in long-range shooting.We'll find that there are some common problems and pitfalls that can cause misses and poorgrouping at long-ranges.

Antelope country of eastern Montana. The rifle is a 338/416 Rigby and the rangefinder is adependable Barr & Stroud. This 'goat' was shot at over 800 yards. The bench is an Armor

Metal Products unit.To start with we must have a solid shooting platform. The portable bench I mentioned at the

beginning is one made by Armor Metal Products of Helena, Montana. As their advertising statesthese benches really are "rock solid". I have the four leg model and have been very satisfied withit. The designer of the bench, Lee Andrews, is a veteran long range shooter himself and designedthe bench for his own needs. The bench is a very high quality portable and leaves nothing to bedesired. Along with a solid bench the shooter will need a stool to sit on.

The sturdiest bench available is of little use if the rifle is not also properly supported on a set ofsand bags designed for the job. I use a Wichita front pedestal with a flat bag on top and a rabbit

ear type rear bag. The Wichita is easily adjustable for elevation changes but there are others thatwill work as well.(Since I originally wrote this article I've made a modified shooting bench that can be seen in the

photograph below. It allows more vertical adjustment than a conventional pedestal. And theradiused contour of the bench enables shots of to the either side to be made easily.)

Sally and Adam getting ready to shoot. Note the long screw to adjust the front sandbagvertically and the belt drive to the wheel to turn it up or down.

In short, the long-range shooter requires a solid bench and sandbag setup. One that does notmove or tip when he is about to shoot. A lot of game has been shot over the hood of a pickup orjeep but when it comes to serious long-range shooting we must do better.

Looking down-range over one of the sturdy concrete benches at the Missoula, Montana1000 yard range.

I mentioned at the beginning the use of a rangefinder. This piece of equipment is invaluable tolong-range shooting. It is also the hardest piece of equipment to obtain that we will mention. Wewill discuss these rangefinders in more detail later in the optics section.

(Since this was first written in 1988 there are a number of excellent laser range finders on themarket. The optical range finders still work very well but haven't been made since the early1960's. They are also slower to use and much heavier and bulkier.)

Combined with the use of the rangefinder, a drop chart detailing the bullet trajectory is essential.Many shooters today have either a personal computer or have a friend that does. With an exterior

ballistics program a very accurate drop chart can be generated quite easily. There are many goodballistics programs on the market but our personal preference is for the simple to use TiogaEngineering program.

What is needed is a table that indicates the bullets path every 25 yards or less, on out as far aswe care to shoot. The program usually is run so the calculations are based on a 100 yard zero andfrom this the number of minutes of scope adjustment can be determined for any given range. Inmy opinion dialing the adjustment for minute of angle change into the scope is the only method touse for long-range shooting. Holding over the correct amount is impossible. The midrange heightof the bullet for the shot I described at the beginning of this article was over 20 feet.

Referring to my drop chart, to hit the antelope at 1100 yards, I needed to put into the verticaladjustment on my scope 25 1/4 minutes of adjustment, which at 1100 yards is 277 3/4 inches. Had

my range determination been off 25 yards one way or another the bullet would have been high orlow 14 inches or so. Without any doubt the scope used must be very reliable and have accurateadjustments.


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Two developments available to shooters in the last 10-20 years have been a real boon to long-range shooting. They are the proliferation of high quality and relatively inexpensive chronographsand as mentioned above, ballistics programs designed for use in personal computers.

Cartridges and BulletsOne of the keys to successful long-range shooting is in shooting a quality bullet of high ballistic

coefficient at high velocity. As the weight of a bullet goes up for any given caliber and if the shapestays the same, the ballistic coefficient goes up, as does the sectional density. Another way ofincreasing the ballistic coefficient is through stream-lining of the bullet's shape. This is the reasonfor boattails and long pointed hollow points.

For extended range shooting we are interested only in bullets of the highest ballistic coefficient.For example the 30 caliber 220 grain Sierra has a ballistic coefficient of .655. Compared to the 150grain Sierra spitzer with a ballistic coefficient of .409 the heavier bullet is the clear choice for longrange work. Using the figures in the Sierra manual, firing these bullets out of a 300 Winchestermagnum the top load listed will give us a velocity of 3300 fps with the 150 grain spitzer. The topload with the 220 grain Match King yields 2700 fps. At 1000 yards however the 150 are travellingalong at 1254 fps and have 524 ft-lbs. of energy. The 220 however is moving at 1491 fps and has1086 ft-lbs. of energy. Bullets of higher ballistic coefficient are also as a result less affected bychanges in the wind.

Bullets should be selected on the following grounds. They must be accurate at long-range andof high ballistic coefficient. Therefore in making the decision to select a match type bullet over asoft point spitzer or the other way around, I would select the bullet that proved to be the mostaccurate in my rifle. You must hit them first.

Most of the animals I have seen killed at long-range have died very quickly. I have also seenevidence that some of the match bullets have opened up way out there. My friend andexperienced long-range hunter Darryl Cassel and I have discussed this and he reports excellentkilling characteristics from the 200 grain Sierra Match King fired from a 30-378 Weatherby. Iremember looking at a picture of a big black bear he shot, at about 700 yards with thatcombination, that showed a tremendous wound cavity. Darryl said he dropped like a sack ofpotatoes too. I recall a mule deer buck I shot with the 270 Weatherby and 130 grain Ballistic Tip at

a muzzle velocity of over 3500 fps. That buck died as quickly as any game animal I've seen hit atany range - immediately.

I've talked to quite a few hunters that have used the 300 grain Sierra .338 bullet at long-rangeon game like elk, deer and bears. They are reporting very good killing qualities from this bullet.The down-range energy level is tremendous.

The hot 22 caliber cartridges shooting the 69 grain Sierra or 68 grain Hornady make excellentlong range varmint cartridges. Jimmy Knox of JLK Bullets makes an 80 grain very low drag boattailbullet. Sierra also has come out with a similar bullet also of 80 grains. In the 224 Clark thesebullets can be pushed over 3500 fps. They are extremely accurate and make for an excellent long-range varmint bullet. Their use though should be limited to varmints.

The 105 grain custom Berger bullet makes an excellent long-range bullet when fired at high

velocity in a big case. Sierra also now offers a 107 grain VLD type bullet, another excellent choicefor long-range varminting. The 6mm's are on the light side for big game hunting but are suitable forantelope hunting and excellent for varminting. The key here again is shooting a high ballisticcoefficient bullet at high velocity.

Some of my earliest long-range shooting came with the 25-06. I used it to shoot mule deer,antelope, and a couple of black bears from 400-500 yards or so. I used 100-120 grain bullets andthey all seemed to work well for me. The 100's shot flatter but the 120's penetrated better. I alsoshot a bunch of prairie dogs and the occasional coyote with it using lighter weight bullets.

That 25-06 is now a 257 Weatherby and that cartridge is more of the same but better. I usuallyshoot the heavier bullets in it.

Firing 140 grain bullets in a magnum .264 is more of the same. The 6.5-300 Weatherby

magnum used to be a popular long-range cartridge. It is still a very good cartridge with the rightbullets but it has been somewhat over shadowed by some newer developments. Sierra makessome excellent heavier weight Match Kings for this caliber.


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The .270 Weatherby is another good long-range cartridge and is one of my personal favorites. Iuse the 130 grain bullets in my 270 for the simple reason I can get over 3500 fps from my 30"barrel. For shots out to 600 yards or so the 130 shoots flatter than a 150 grain bullet and I use itfor my moderately long-range shooting. I'm on my second barrel now in the 270 Weatherby and itcontinues to be a star performer especially with both the 130 and 150 grain Nosler Ballistic tips. Itis not at all unusual to get sub half inch 5 shot groups at 100 yards with the 130 Ballistic Tip andwith the velocity over 3500 fps. Besides being an excellent deer and antelope cartridge, I havealso used this rifle for shooting rock chucks on out to 800 yards or so.

In Superior, Montana the local gun club once held several dynamite shoots every year. We shotat a half stick of dynamite placed in an orange painted pop can. The close cans were about 500yards and the farthest one close to 1100 yards. The above mentioned 270 Weatherby hasaccounted for many dozens of these cans over the years.

When we step up to the 7mm's the heavier bullets in that caliber start to have enough weightthat their down-range energy levels are high enough to be used for long-range big game huntingof larger animals. In the 7mm's all the magnums will work well with the 7mm-300 Weatherby, andit's more recent counterpart, the 7mm STW (which is the 8mm Remington magnum case neckeddown) giving the highest velocity.

I have also experimented with a 378 Weatherby case necked to 7mm and shortened to 2.540"

with a 30 degree shoulder. With it, in a 30 inch barrel, I can get up to 3500 fps with a 168 grainSierra. A true case of overbore but velocity is the name of the game in long range shooting. I laterrechambered this barrel to a full length 7-378 Weatherby thinking I could get even more velocity.To say that this cartridge was a disappointment is an understatement. I was able to burn morepowder all right in the bigger case, but I couldn't get anymore velocity. In fact with some bulletweights I even lost velocity. I had gone past the point of no return.

The big 30's are the most common long-range cartridges used. Again all of the magnums workwell, as do many wildcats. The 30-8mm Remington Mag or an improved version of it and the 300Weatherby are near the top in my opinion. The 300 Weatherby is another of my personal favorites.In the 1992 hunting season, I used it to shoot a sheep at 760 yards, one shot through the head,and a whitetail deer at 890 yards. The load was a 220 grain Sierra Match King at 2900 fps.

On another hunt I shot a mule deer at just over 1400 yards with an improved 300 Weatherbyand 220 grain Sierra Match Kings. The muzzle velocity from this combination was just under 2900fps out of a 30" long barrel.

Another popular wildcat is the 378 Weatherby case necked down to 30. There are severalversions, from full length down to 30-06 length. Depending on the barrel length and powders used,the full length version is capable of driving the 220 grain Sierra up to 3300-3400 fps.

Another excellent 30 caliber cartridge is based on the 416 Rigby case. I have one that has beenimproved slightly and has a 35 degree shoulder. It basically is the same as the 30-378 Weatherby.Its advantage however, from my view point, is that it has no belt. This fact eliminates some of thesticky case problems associated with the 378 Weatherby based wildcats. Because there is no beltto expand, as on the 378 case, I can boost pressures a bit over the 30-378. In my opinion this just

might be the best 30 caliber long-range cartridge.Another caliber worth looking at is the .338. Starting with the 338 Winchester magnum and

working up to the 340 Weatherby and several wildcats of similar case capacity or the big .378Weatherby case or 416 Rigby necked down, all are potent numbers. There are 250 grain bulletsavailable from Sierra and Nosler that really pack a lot of punch down range. I remember watchinga friend shoot a big 6 point bull elk with his 338-378 at about 600 yards. He dropped instantlywhen the 250 grain Sierra hit him. This Sierra has a ballistic coefficient of .598, which is quite high.We now have the excellent 300 grain Sierra Match Kings for this caliber too. The ballisticcoefficient of this bullet is close to .800, the highest of any bullet available for any caliber notincluding the big 50's. This big Sierra is a true match quality bullet capable of outstandingaccuracy at long-range. And from my experience and that of other long-range hunting friends, it

works well on game too.There is a group of shooters that fire the 50 caliber Browning machine gun cartridge from rifles

for extreme long-range shooting. The 50's are truly big, slinging 650-800 grain bullets at roughly


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30-06 velocities, no other small arm can compare with them. Some would argue that the 50 is nota small arm but technically speaking they are classified that way.

I shot a 50 BMG with some friends at a shot out tank hull at 2000 meters. With it we could easilyspot our hits. With some of the smaller cartridges we have mentioned, shooting something at thatrange would be out of the question.

Historically the 50 caliber (actually .510") has suffered from a lack of match quality bullets. Inthe last several years experimenters have been playing with various lathe turned solids. Theyhave used materials such as brass, bronze and even steel for these bullets. Their results havebeen worthwhile, as accuracy has reached new levels in the fifty. Hornady has made a match typebullet for this caliber called the A-Max. This Hornady offering and the custom lead core bulletsmade by Lynn McMurdo of Wyoming are the best hunting bullets for the big fifty.

A few years ago a friend told me about shooting a cow elk at about a mile with his fifty and theMcMurdo bullet. He got zeroed in on the elk and hit her in the lungs. She died instantly.

I've used my fifty to shoot rock chucks out to a mile or so. Truly a lot of fun when you can hit atarget that small at distances like that.

Cartridge LoadsLarge case capacities and heavy bullets require the use of the slowest burning powders for

maximum velocities. Starting with 4831 on the fast side, some powders that have worked well are

H870, WC872, Reloader 22, H1000, H570, H5010, T5020, IMR7828 and various lots of 5010distributed by several other sources. Not being a canister grade powder, 5010 varies quite a bit inburning rate. When working with a new lot of 5010 start low on the charge weight.

Another good powder source is the slow burning offerings from VihtaVuori. These are cleanburning and consistent extruded powders.

I have probably used more 5010 than the others and have found it to be clean burning andpredictable as one approaches maximum loads. I have also used H1000 quite a bit and like it verywell. In the 300 Weatherby with heavy bullets it has given me excellent accuracy and topvelocities.

I have used the Federal 215 magnum primer almost exclusively and have found it to be a verygood primer for this application. It was developed for use in the 378 and 460 Weatherby magnums

and it does its job well. In the 50's the CCI and RWS primers are good choices with the CCI beinga little hotter.

For a serious long-range rifle I would recommend a tight neck chamber and turning the casenecks for maximum loaded round concentricity. I even have a tight neck in my big 50 BMG.

My 270 Weatherby does not have a tight neck, in fact it even has the long Weatherby freeboreand it still shoots very well. The point being that turning necks is not absolutely necessary but agood idea.

RiflesWhat kind of rifle does it take to handle these cases and hit targets out to over a mile away?

The answer for the most part is a big heavy benchrest type rifle; usually a single shot version witha high quality, high magnification target scope on top.

Single shot actions offer stiffness over a repeater and the lack of a quick second shot is nohandicap for this type of shooting. What is needed is a benchrest type action built to handlemagnum type cartridges and the stiffness to support a long, heavy barrel. Hall Manufacturing ofClanton, Alabama offers its Express action for this type of shooting and it is a good one. Allan Hallrecently introduced another action for the big 378 and 416 Rigby type cartridges. This action isdesignated as the `G' for giant and is basically a bigger version of the proven Express.

A friend of mine, Gerry Geske of Superior, Montana has recently designed and built some bigactions for these big cases. His action features a three lug bolt and two cocking pieces that makefor a very smooth operating bolt.

Another recent entry into the big cartridge - big action game is the very nice BAT action madeby Bruce Thom of Rathdrum, Idaho.

There are just a few actions that will work with the large diameter 378 and 416 Rigby cases withthe big custom types being the best.

Most of the commercial actions that come with a standard magnum type bolt will work for thestandard magnums such as the 300 Winchester and 300 Weatherby. Almost all of these actions


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however are repeaters and as a result not as stiff as the big single shot actions. Remington 700actions can be fitted with a large aluminum sleeve, which increases stiffness as well as increasingbedding area, both of which help accuracy. Alvin Davidson makes a good one. An alternative tosleeving a Remington 700 is to use the barrel block bedding method. With the barrel block theaction floats so no bedding problems associated with smaller repeater actions crop up.

Without a doubt one of the most critical components of the rifle is the barrel. Suffice it to saythat only a barrel from one of the makers of high quality benchrest barrels is up to the task ofprecise long-range shooting shot after shot. Barrel length is an important consideration whenlooking for top velocities, especially when burning the slow powders. A minimum length shouldprobably be about 26 inches. I prefer about 30 - 36 inches but some shooters like even more. Iknow some shooters that are using barrels as long as 40 inches and getting very high velocities.With barrels over 32", or so, a barrel block becomes something to think about when building a newrifle. There are always trade-offs, longer length means increased velocities but also increasedpowder and jacket fouling and more barrel whip.

Large diameter barrels are stiff and that is what we are looking for. The barrel on the rifle I usedto shoot the antelope mentioned at the beginning is 30 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter itsfull length. The entire rifle weighs 33 pounds with the barreled action weighing 20 pounds alone.

The long-range shooter is usually shooting the heavier bullets for a given caliber and often

these are boattail bullets too. This means that faster twists are required to stabilize the longbullets. In the 22 and 243 caliber the current VLD type bullets are best with an 8" twist.In 25 caliber all of the bullets available that I am familiar with will work well in a 10" twist. We

may see some newer developments in this caliber that will require a faster twist though.In the 264 caliber everything now on the market will work in an 8" twist and most bullets

including the 140 grain boattails will work in a 9" twist although the 8" is required for the 155 grainSierra Match King.

Until Nosler came out with their Ballistic Tip bullets in 270 caliber, there was not much availablein match quality bullets. The 150 grain bullets will work very well in a 10" twist. And Sierra nowoffers a 140 grain Match King in .270 caliber.

The 168 grain Sierra Match King in 7mm is stabilized quite well in a 9" twist and any bullets that

are lighter in this caliber will also work in a 9" or a 10" pitch.With both the 308 and 338 caliber the 10" twist will be appropriate for any of the heavier bullets

including the 240 grain 30 caliber and the 300 grain 338, both are Sierra Match Kings.In 50 caliber the 15" twist has been standard and it will handle most of the bullets out there.As we mentioned earlier, the scope is an extremely important part of the long-range rifle and we

will take a close look at it later.In stocks, a wide flat fore end for minimum tipping on the sand bags is preferred. Either wood or

fiberglass stocks are entirely suitable although most new rifles being built today are fitted with afiberglass stock. Lee Six of Six Enterprises makes two good unlimited style benchrest stocks infiberglass.

Another excellent long-range type fiberglass stock is the Tooley version made by McMillan. This

stock was developed by gunsmith Dave Tooley of North Carolina. McMillan stocks also makeseveral excellent stocks for the 50

Long Range Shooting & Hunting - Page 2Developing a Drop ChartIt is very important to know the muzzle velocity of the cartridge-bullet-rifle combination. Knowing

the velocity is a key in developing an accurate bullet drop chart. It is essential to chronograph theparticular load to be used. The same load fired in another rifle or barrel might not yield the samevelocity. Also, most of the big game seasons, at least in my part of the world, are in the colder fallmonths. The actual chronographed muzzle velocity on a cold, 35-degree November day might bemuch different than the velocity of that same load fired on a hot July afternoon. It is not uncommonto have a 100 fps difference in velocities due to temperature changes. That amount is easily

enough to cause a miss at long-range.Determine Ballistic CoefficientAfter the muzzle velocity is known, the appropriate ballistic coefficient for the bullet should be

determined. All bullet manufacturers publish ballistic coefficients for their line of bullets. That value


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may or may not be the correct one to use however, for precise long-range work. Like prices on thewindow sticker of a new car, the numbers don't always say what they mean.

Sierra is the only manufacturer to use the multiple ballistic coefficient approach. They havedetermined through firing tests that the ballistic coefficients for their bullets change as the bulletsgo through different velocity zones. Actually, all bullets that have their coefficient based on the G1drag function, and that have a shape different than the original model, have a ballistic coefficientthat varies with velocity. This covers virtually all small arms bullets with a C1 ballistic coefficient.Generally speaking, the ballistic coefficient decreases in value as velocity decreases.

The use of computer trajectory programs, along with the use of chronographs, has been atremendous aid in calculating bullet drop charts for long-range shooting. There are a number ofprograms available. I have experience with some of them. Probably any of these programs whichinclude a bullet path computation could be used for this work.

If Sierra's trajectory program is used to compute bullet drop, it incorporates the multiple ballisticcoefficient feature. Sierra's reloading manual lists the coefficients for each bullet through thevelocity ranges. Two other programs that I have used with good success are one by ProWare andone by Tioga Engineering.

Of the Sierra bullets that I've used, the multiple ballistic coefficients seem to be accurate. This isbased on actual observed bullet drop at long-range. The one exception to this is the 250 grain 30

caliber bullet. Sierra lists the coefficients for this bullet as .697 for velocities above 2600 fps, as .748 for 2250-2599 fps, as .777 for 1751-2249 fps, and as .743 for 1750 fps and less. Myexperience indicates that the ballistic coefficient is closer to the .697 value for all velocities. Thiswas true at least in the barrel I fired them, shooting the bullets over two chronographs to determineballistic coefficient. Actual drop figures also seem to indicate a coefficient of about .700. Sierra hasreplaced this bullet with a 240 grain version and its coefficient will be just a bit lower.

If the program being used to calculate drop does not have a multiple ballistic coefficient featureand Sierra bullets are being used, I'll pass on a tip I learned from Bill Davis of Tioga Engineering.He suggested that the correct coefficient to be used could be found by using the remainingvelocity figures from Sierra's published trajectory data and running them through a computerprogram that calculates ballistic coefficient from two ranges and velocities. Sierra lists velocities on

out to 1000 yards.For example, if the bullet being used is the 220 grain 30 caliber version at a muzzle velocity of

3000 fps, the remaining velocity at 1000 yards is 1706 fps. This 1000 yard velocity is the same asif a .641 ballistic coefficient were being used in lieu of multiple ballistic coefficients. Sierra lists thecoefficients of this bullet as .655 for 2400 fps and above. It is .630 between 1601 fps and 2399 fps,and for velocities less than 1600 fps it is .610. I have also used a dual chronograph setup and firedthis bullet over it. I found the ballistic coefficient to be .640 at a muzzle velocity of 3100 fps. I haveused this value, .640, in preparing drop charts for this bullet and found it to be just about right.

The ballistic coefficients for two other Sierra Match Kings used for long-range work, the 200grain 30 caliber and the 168 grain 7 millimeter were also figured in this manner. They are .597 forthe 30 caliber at a muzzle velocity of 3200 fps and .625 for the 7 millimeter bullet at 3200 fps. I

have not shot either of these bullets enough to know how these figures bear out in actual shootingthough.

The ballistic coefficients for Nosler's Ballistic Tip line of bullets seem to be quite useable forlong-range work. As I mentioned earlier, I have not shot these bullets at long range as much asthe Sierras. When I have, and used their ballistic coefficients, the drop figures seemed accurate.

Walt Berger's 210 grain .30 caliber VLD seems to have a ballistic coefficient about the same asthe 220 grain Sierra Match King. This Berger bullet is another excellent long-range performer.

Now that the correct sea level ballistic coefficient is known, the atmospheric conditions for theshooting trip must be taken into consideration. In general terms, as altitude increases or localbarometric pressure decreases, the density of the air decreases. Also, when air temperatureincreases, air density decreases. When the air is thinner than the standard sea level atmosphere,

bullets will perform better. The bullet will drop less over a given range and the wind will blow it offcourse less. The amount of increased bullet performance can be simulated by assuming that it hasa ballistic coefficient higher than its sea level value. It is the sea level ballistic coefficient that islisted by the bullet manufacturers.


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A change in humidity also has an effect on air density, but it is very minor and can be ignored.Normally, it will change a ballistic coefficient by less than one percent. Contrary to popular belief,higher humidity actually decreases air density. Although it seems thicker to us mortals, for bulletsand airplanes it is really slightly thinner.

Altitude has the biggest effect on air density, followed by changes in air temperature. Whenshooting in mountainous country, altitude changes should be taken into consideration.Temperature will usually decrease however, when altitude increases, each somewhat offsettingthe other.

It should be noted that there are two basic methods that can be used to arrive at the correctballistic coefficient for non-standard atmospheric conditions. Most trajectory computer programshave the capability of handling changes in altitude, and usually temperature changes as well. Iknow of just one that will also account for barometric pressure changes.

Fluctuations in the barometer can be easily simulated. An inch of change in barometric pressureis equivalent to an altitude change of 1000 feet. If the effects of lower barometric pressure isquestioned, the altitude should be increased the appropriate amount. A higher pressure issimulated by decreasing altitude. For example if the barometer reads 30.35", the local pressureis .43" above standard, with 29.92" being standard (30.35 - 29.92 = .43). If the shooting siteelevation is 3400 feet, the above standard pressure can be simulated by entering into the program

or calculations an elevation of 2970 feet [ 3400 - (.43 x 1000)=2970 ]. With this approach, theprogram handles the math in the air density calculations. Letting the computer do the air densitycomputations is the easy way. A disadvantage however is that not all of the programs allow bothaltitude and temperature inputs. And as I mentioned, only one considers barometric pressure.

The other method deals directly with the sea level coefficient before the computer program isused. If this route is chosen, the altitude input in the trajectory program should be zero for sealevel and the temperature should be 59 degrees, standard for sea level.

For example if we have decided to use the 220 grain, thirty caliber Sierra bullet and a ballisticcoefficient of .640, what would the equivalent ballistic coefficient be for an elevation of 4500 feetand a temperature of 50 degrees? Using the formulas for these variables, it would be .737. Thebullet would perform as if this were its coefficient instead of .640. When entering the variables into

the program, the correct coefficient to use would then be .737 and altitude zero. Temperature, if itis a variable, would be 59 degrees.

Uphill-Downhill ShootingShooting uphill or downhill will result in high shots if the angle is roughly 15 degrees or more or

if the range is very long for lesser angles. The actual bullet drop is dependant on the truehorizontal distance to the target not the slant range. Our range finders measure the slant range.Again there are several methods to determine the amount of correction necessary. Most, if not all,ballistic programs can take into account angled shooting and print out the correct drop for anyrange. The Sierra handloading manual in the exterior ballistics section deals with this subject withan example.

The Sierra manual has a table of factors that in use are multiplied by the total drop in inches, for

the slant range to the target. The factors are .034 for 15 degrees, .134 for 30 degrees, and .293 for45 degrees. There are more listed in the manual but these will give the reader an idea of thedegree of change as the slope increases. Their use is simple. Let's say that you were lookinguphill at a mule deer buck that your range finder said was 675 yards away. Looking at your dropchart you read that for that distance you need 11 1/2 minutes of adjustment in your scope. Thecatch though is the buck is uphill at an angle of 30 degrees. Using these factors we take the totaldrop for 675 yards (which is 103.1 inches) and multiply by .134 (the factor for 30 degrees) and theresult is 13.8. That is to say that the bullet would impact about 14 inches high if we did not allowfor the angle. Fourteen inches is about two minutes of angle at that distance. From this examplewe can see that it would be easy to miss that buck had we not taken into account the steep angleto the deer.

Generating Drop ChartNow that we know the appropriate ballistic coefficient and the muzzle velocity for the bullet, it is

a simple matter to run a drop chart from the computer program. Almost all the shooters I knowbase their charts on a 100 yard zero for the bullet. It is from this known zero that all scope


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corrections are made for longer shots. Target scope knobs are calibrated like a micrometer, soonce the setting for zero is known, it is easy to return home. The drop chart might be as simple asthe number of scope `clicks' required for each range or it might be a computer-generated minuteof angle (or `MOA') correction for each range. Whatever is used, it must be a simple and fastsystem for putting the correct amount of adjustment into the scope knob. Emphasis on simple.

It is important when developing the drop chart to have the yardage intervals close enoughtogether that the amount of correction between them is not too great. For example in the samplechart, the interval for the longer ranges is 20 yards apart. This spacing means only about oneminute of change between yardages on the table. If the interval was much greater, a little readingbetween the lines might be required for some distances. The easier it is to use in the field, thebetter. A piece of advice VCR makers should learn.

I am familiar with just one program that will calculate the MOA correction needed for eachrange. This is the program from Tioga Engineering.

It is fairly easy though, to calculate the MOA correction from just the yardage and bullet path orbullet impact figures. For example, if the bullet path was 210.7 inches low at 1000 yards, the MOAcorrection is found by first multiplying the range in yards by .01047. The second step is to dividethe bullet path figure by this number. Plugging in the numbers it would be 210.7 / (1000 x .01047)= 20.12 or 20.1 minutes of angle. Using a target scope with quarter minute clicks, this would be 80

clicks. Using the figure of .01047 above yields the true MOA value with one minute of angle being1.047 inches at 100 yards.The true MOA value should be used if the scope adjustments are calibrated for actual MOA.

Not all scopes are. Surprisingly not all scopes from the same manufacturer are based on the samevalue. Almost all target scopes are calibrated so that one click is worth, nominally, one quarterminute of adjustment.

Another problem associated with internally adjustable scopes has to do with the click valuechanging as the adjustment reaches the outer limits of its travel. One click in the center range ofadjustments may not be worth the same as one click 35 minutes of adjustment away. The onlysure method I know to check for this condition is to measure off 300 feet and set up a tapemeasure or yard stick and start clicking the scope.

If the scope adjustments are not based on true MOA but some other figure, such as 1.000" at100 yards, the actual MOA number can still be calculated. In the example above we multiplied therange in yards by .01047. If the clicks were based on 1.000" at 100 yards instead of 1.047", therange in yards should be multiplied by .01, not .01047. Other oddball click values can be similarlyaccounted for.

External adjustment scopes, such as the Unertl or Mitchell have an advantage over the internalvariety in this regard. If the scope base blocks are spaced at 7.2", the clicks of a Unertl will beworth one quarter minute of adjustment. With any other spacing the click value falls into theoddball category. Another advantage of the Unertl type scopes is the fact that the shooter isalways looking through the optical center of the scope, regardless of how many minutes ofadjustment are dialed into it. This is not true of the internal type. At the extremes of adjustment,

there is some optical distortion in the internals, and as mentioned above the click value maychange.

Despite the advantages of the Unertl scopes, almost all of my own shooting has been with theinternally adjustable Leupold and Night Force target scopes. These have usually been in 24 powerfor long-range work or one of the variables from Night Force.

In this section we have found then, to hit a target, an accurate drop chart with scope adjustmentfigures for each range, based on the individual scope's click value, is required. An accurate dropchart is generated by knowing the `correct' ballistic coefficient of the bullet for the given shootingconditions, and knowing the actual muzzle velocity of the bullet.

Long-Range OpticsThis section will discuss the optical equipment used by the long-range shooter including more

on scope choices. Perhaps more than any other type of shooting the long-range shooter relies onhis optics, not only for shot placement but also for observing the target and determining itsdistance. There are then, three main categories of optics that the long-range shooter is interestedin. The first includes binoculars and spotting scopes used in finding the target and spotting shots.


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The second category is the optical or laser rangefinders used in determining the exact distance tothe target. The third is the rifle scope used on the big magnum rifles for precise shot placement.

Glassing for Mule Deer in the Missouri Breaks country of Montana.Spotting Scopes and BinocularsI have long been interested in binoculars and spotting scopes as well as most types of optical

equipment. Over the years I have used quite a few different types and brands of scopes andbinoculars. Until fairly recently, there were not many high-powered binoculars available, other thanWWII-era Japanese battleship binoculars. Spotting scopes are wonderful for looking at or forsomething at long distances if you don't plan on looking for any length of time. When I squintthrough a spotting scope for very long though, my other eye starts to give me trouble. Soon I findmyself going back to a pair of binoculars to get away from the eye fatigue associated with thesingle spotting scope.

There are two different ways to use binoculars and spotting scopes when hunting. Some shortrange hunters only use their binoculars to look at game animals after they have already spottedthem with their unaided eyes. The long-range hunter, on the other hand, often spots his game onlyafter using his optics. Whether or not you are a long-range hunter, this technique is an excellentway to spot game and then sneak up on it. Much more game will be seen using this technique. In

the areas where I hunt in the mountains, we usually glass open parks and older clearcuts andalong the edges of the timber. In the open high plains country the game is easier to spot, but it'ssurprising how much more game is seen looking through the right optics.

Several different high power binoculars are available today. Perhaps I should first define highpower. I consider anything of 15 power or higher as being high powered. I have a pair of 10x50binoculars that I use frequently, but when trying to judge antlers or tell which animal is the buck inpoor light, they lack power if the distance is too great. I have found that a pair of 15x80 Steinerbinoculars are excellent for general observation at long-range. Once an animal or varmint isspotted with these, I might go to something with more power but then again I might not. With the10x50's I almost always go to something with more power after the animal has been spotted.

A drawback to using too much power for general observation is the limited field of view with

higher powers. When I'm scanning an opening, I like to cover as much area as possible withoutmissing anything. Some of the clearcuts in which we find deer, and occasionally elk, are up to 200acres or so--a big area to look at.

The amount of light that is transmitted to the eye through a scope is dependent on its power,the size of the objective lens, and the quality of the lenses and coating. The overall quality of thebinoculars depends on these elements as well as the care in their assembly and the quality of theoptical design. There are two types of quality pertaining to any manufactured product, the qualityof its design and the quality put into its manufacture.

Coatings for lenses were developed during the WWII period, although most of the optics used inthat war were uncoated. An uncoated lens loses about 5 percent of the light passing through it ateach lens surface. Early coatings cut this loss to less than half that amount. The multiple coatings

of today, however, reduce the light loss to less than one half of one percent at each surface. Eachmanufacturer seems to have a proprietary lens coating that is, in their opinion, the best available.No doubt there are differences in coatings. I think though, that there is very little practicaldifference in the coatings used by the manufacturers of quality products. The emphasis here is onquality optics.

The size of the exit pupil, which is the diameter of the little circle of light seen in an eyepieceheld at arm's length, determines how much light the eye receives. It is always expressed inmillimeters and is found by dividing the size of the objective lens, in millimeters, by theinstrument's power. For example the 10x50 binoculars I mentioned have an exit pupil of 5mmsince 50 divided by 10 is 5. The 15x80 binoculars would have an exit pupil of 5.33mm.

I've also used a big set of Russian binoculars, 20 power with 110mm objectives. The exit pupil

on these is 5.5mm.

Sally Lilja looking for spring black bear with the 20x110 Russian "Big Eyes".


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Under normal daylight conditions, the pupil of the eye contracts to a diameter of about 2mm.When this happens, an exit pupil greater than 2mm in a pair of binoculars is not necessary, someof that light is not used. When the light is poor however, as it is in the early morning and eveninghours, the pupil of the eye will dilate to about 5mm. Under dark nighttime conditions the pupil maydilate up to 7mm. During the poor light hours, when game animals are moving, are when that largeexit pupil will demonstrate its worth.

When looking for a pair of binoculars then, the greater the diameter of the exit pupil, the betterits performance will be in poor light conditions. As was mentioned, generally speaking the eye willnot dilate beyond 5mm, so a pair of 7x35 or 10x50 or 15x75 binoculars will offer about all of thelight your eye needs and can use. This same principle applies to rifle scopes.

If higher-powered binoculars are desired there are two choices. The expensive approach is totry and find a pair of the already mentioned WWII Japanese naval binoculars. The Japanesemodels are preferred because they had developed the lens coatings earlier than the United Statesand employed them in these binoculars. As a result they are superior for poor light use. A commonpower and size for these was 20x120--truly a pair of big binoculars, with an objective lensdiameter of about 4.75".

Another approach is to assemble two spotting scopes together into a pair of binoculars. The60mm Bushnell Spacemasters work very well for this and cost much less than original Japanese

binoculars. The 22x wide angle eyepieces on the Spacemasters are a good way to go. They offera wide field of view and a useable power with good definition. I have a single Spacemaster withthis eyepiece and have used it when walking or riding my horse into an area, and weight is aconsideration. That four legged beast comes in handy for packing out game too.

The 77mm Kowa spotting scopes also work very well for this application. I have used two ofthese in tandem and consider them to be as good or better than anything I have looked through.The large 77mm objectives mean a higher exit pupil value for a given power eyepiece. The set Iused had the 25x long eye relief eye-pieces. I wear glasses, and this eyepiece allows me to keepmy glasses on and still enjoy a full field of view.

The Kowa's really showed their value on a recent elk hunt. We were glassing some naturalopenings near the Montana/Idaho divide one evening. About 15-20 minutes before it was

completely dark, we spotted some elk in a long narrow shoot about two miles away. With the 25xeyepieces, we could see antlers on a smaller bull. In the 10x50 binoculars you could see therewere elk in the shoot but that was about all. With a pair of 7x35 binoculars the elk were barelyvisible. Had we not already known they were there, we would never have seen them with the7x35s. I wish I could have compared the 15x80's but didn't have them along at the time.

A little later that same hunting season we were setup and glassing a semi-open hillside atdaylight. Before long we spotted three elk about 1500 yards away. Looking through 10 and 15power binoculars we couldn't be sure if any of them were bulls. I put the 25x Kowa's on the elk andcould tell immediately, even in that pre-dawn light, that luck was with us. All three were bulls, onewas a spike and the other two looked like raghorns or bigger. As it turned out at least one of thebigger boys was a five point, I tipped him over later that morning with a 300 Winchester Mag.

During the summer and early fall, there is a small bunch of whitetails that feed in an 80 acre hayfield across the road from my house. With the Kowa's I can watch them in the evening until it isalmost completely dark. They are usually 400-800 yards away. I'm looking to the east at themwhich helps in the fading light.

What is the upper limit in power? I believe that for general observation it is about 30x. As Imentioned earlier, as power goes up, the field of view goes down. Also, the mirage that targetshooters are familiar with can become a problem when looking across a big canyon or the openprairie. Once something is spotted and a closer look is desired, 40x magnification is nice andabout the limit in my experience, but not necessary. I'm not much of a variable power fan withspotting scopes. The eyepieces are expensive and often only used in the low to mid power range.With rifle scopes however, I like the big variable Night Force scopes. These scopes have a large

56mm objective, which makes them ideal for use in dim light situations.RangefindersThere are really only a couple of optical rangefinders that can be considered usable for long-

range work. They are the Barr & Stroud manufactured model and the Wild. Baush & Lomb also


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made one during WWI but it is not as reliable or as easy to use. There are two basic models of theBarr & Strouds. The smaller version, referred to as the 250 model, begins reading ranges at 250yards. It has a 31.5" baseline between objectives. The second model is the 500 yard model. Asmight be guessed, it starts reading distances at 500 yards. It has a longer baseline of one meter.Both models read out to 20,000 yards--farther than any shooter needs.

As I recall, the Wild has a 70mm baseline. The optics in it are of high quality too, like the Barr &Stroud.

The 500 yard model B & S is actually more accurate than the 250 for use over 500 yards. Thewider baseline allows it to be a bit more precise.

There are a few variations of these two basic models that I'm familiar with. There are some 250yard models that are built on the one meter frame. I believe that these were all naval models. Also,there are some 250 models that actually read in meters instead of yards.

The Barr & Strouds are a very high quality optical instrument both physically and optically. Theyare of 14 power magnification. The image is of such quality that I have used the rangefinder attimes as a spotting scope while shooting. In use, two images are seen in the right eyepiece. Theupper image is upside-down; the lower, rightside-up. An object, such as a prominent rock or tree,is found in the image. A thumb wheel is then turned which will bring the two images into

coincidence. When they are lined up, one on top of the other, the range to the object is read in theleft eyepiece. Accuracy is quite remarkable--within about 5 yards at 1000 yards or so. They can behand-held, but I've found that they are easier to use and more accurate if a tripod support is used.The same is true of the big binoculars.

With the naval models, both images are upright.The Barr & Stroud rangefinders have not been made for many years. Their quality was such

that if they had some amount of care, they are still very serviceable after 50 years or so. They areconstructed primarily of brass and glass.

Since the militaries of the world have converted to laser rangefinders, no new opticalrangefinders are likely to be made again unless a manufacturer feels there is a sufficient demand.The eye-safe laser rangefinder has been developed however. I've used the European models, the

Bushnell, the North American Integrated Technologies model, and the Lieca 800 and 1200models. All are good within limitations. The newer Leica models are very lightweight anddependable.

Rifle ScopesOnce the target has been found and ranged, it's time to launch a bullet at it. To be able to hit

that target, a quality target scope is required. It must be of sufficient power so that the target is welldefined in the scope image. The image must also be bright enough that the target is visible in poorlight conditions. Perhaps the most important aspect of the scope is the reliability of its clickadjustments. Long-range shooters don't hold over their target, they click the vertical adjustment ofthe scope up the correct amount and hold dead on. Knowing what the `correct' amount is, was

covered earlier. Not all adjustments are what they are supposed to be or what the manufacturerstates they are, though.

As an example of the importance of knowing what the click value is worth, I ran a drop chart fora friend recently for his 338-378 Weatherby Mag. He thought the clicks were .25 MOA and that iswhat I used for the input in the ballistics program. In checking his drop at 1325 yards, he foundthat he was hitting about 5 feet off the mark. The error was caused by his scope click value notbeing .25 MOA. It was about .282 MOA, and that difference meant quite a bit at this long distance.

I have used the Leupold target scopes for most of my own shooting and have been satisfiedwith their performance for the most part. A disadvantage with the standard target models is thelimited amount of `up' adjustment they have. On my 338-378 rifle, I use a 24x Leupold scope withthe scope bases milled on an angle, higher in the rear. This gives me more `up' adjustment but I'm

still limited to about 1500 yards with this setup. With a 6.5x20 Leupold on another rifle, 1000 yardsis the maximum amount of adjustment I can get. Both are good scopes, but they are lacking inadjustment capability for truly long-range shooting.


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Another scope made by Leupold that does have more up adjustment than almost anyone needsis the current Mark 4 model. In the 16x version it has a total of 145 minutes of `up' adjustment.This is also the only scope I have used that has its click value calibrated for true MOA. Thatmeans that one click moves the image in front of the crosshair .262" at 100 yards, not one quarterinch (.250") or as is often the case, some other value close to one quarter inch but not quite. It hasa unique focusing knob on the left side of the turret housing, opposite of the windage adjustment.This system is very easy to use, and it also eliminates parallax at the focused range. Some mightconsider 16x as being shy on magnification and I might agree with that for some types of shooting.Dick Thomas can do a power boosts on the 16x Mark 4. We'll discuss power in more detail a littlelater.

As I mentioned earlier, I've also been using the excellent Night force scopes. My favorite is the5.5x 22 with the 56mm objective. I've been able to see .50 caliber bullets holes at 1000 yards withthis model set at 22 power. That is exceptional performance for a rifle scope.

A Nightforce NXS 5.5-22 on a McBros 50 BMG rifle.The big 2" Unertl scopes have long been favored by extended range shooters, and with good

reason. The advantages include a large 2" diameter objective lens, comparable to the current cropof 50mm scopes. This size allows for an increase in the exit pupil for a given power, as compared

to the more common 40mm objectives. Another advantage is the large range of verticaladjustment in the mount system, allowing the correct amount of adjustment for long-range shots.Also, when a good deal of `up' is dialed into the scope, the shooter is still looking through theoptical center of the lens system. Not so with an internal design. The suspension-type mountingsystem also handles recoil well.

A 2" Unertl scope mounted on a barrel bedding block.The rifle is an improved 300 Weatherby with a Remington 700 action.

The Unertl scopes work best with either a barrel bedding block or a long receiver or sleeve. Theidea is to keep the scope off the barrel. Because of the length of the Unertl scopes, the onlyalternative to conventional bedding and a short receiver is to put the front block on the barrel. It

has been proven that this can cause unusual vibrations in the barrel and cause flyers. The Unertlscope in the photograph is mounted on the bedding block. The barrel is glued into the block andonly the block is bedded into the Lee Six fiberglass stock. The action and barrel float.

Some long-range shooters have said they've had poor experiences with internally adjustablescopes because of recoil. They say that the best internal models available just won't handle thepounding that the big magnum cartridges produce. That hasn't been my experience, but I don'tdoubt that some have had the trouble they reported.

Thinking about this potential problem a little, I wondered just how the recoil of a heavy magnumlong-range rifle would compare to a 6PPC 10.5 pound bench rest rifle. To find out, I ran somenumbers through a computer program that calculates recoil. I think that most of us would agreethat there are no problems with the internally adjustable scopes attributable to recoil on the 10.5

pound rifles.There are three elements of recoil that add up to a given amount of `kick'. The first is recoil

impulse, measured in pounds-second. The calculations for recoil impulse do not involve the weightof the rifle and it is more a measure of the cartridge, perhaps somewhat like measuringhorsepower in a car. How the car will perform with that horsepower depends on its weight,gearing, wind resistance, etc. The second ingredient is free-recoil velocity. This is a measure ofthe speed at which the rifle comes back at the trigger puller, and is measured in feet per second.The third characteristic is free-recoil energy, which is measured in foot-pounds as is bullet energy.

In comparing the recoil of the two rifles, I used a typical 6PPC 10.5 pound rifle firing a 68 grainbullet at 3150 fps from a 27.5 grain charge. Recoil impulse was 1.4 lbs.-second. Free-recoilvelocity was 4.4 fps, and free-recoil energy was 3.2 foot-pounds. Most of us are familiar with this

amount of kick and wouldn't consider it excessive by any means.For the heavy long-range rifle I used as an example a rifle of my own, which is pictured in this

article with the Unertl scope on it. It is a tight neck 300 Weatherby that weighs 42 pounds. Theload is a 220 grain bullet at 2900 fps from 76 grains of powder. With it I found that the free-recoil


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velocity is 4.2 lbs.-second. Free-recoil velocity is 3.2 fps (less than the 6PPC) and free-recoilenergy is 6.7 foot-pounds (about twice that of the 6PPC).

After shooting both of these rifles one after the other, I find the 300 Weatherby no lessuncomfortable to shoot than the 6PPC. I suspect that much of the reason for this is the low free-recoil velocity of the big thirty. I consider both rifles pleasant to shoot.

My point is, I sure can't see either from the actual felt recoil or from the computer's numbers thatthe recoil of the big gun is so punishing that it would tear up an internally adjustable scope. I alsoknow that quite a few big gun shooters are using rifles that weigh considerably more than my 42pound example. This would even further reduce the recoil. On the other hand, going to a biggercartridge such as a 30-378 Weatherby or heavier bullets would increase it.

Eric Williams, the former editor of the Fifty Caliber Shooters Association's magazine VERYHIGH POWER, reports on another potential problem with scopes on muzzle braked rifles.According to Eric some of the brakes on today's fifties are so efficient that for a moment they areactually pulling the rifle forward. It is a very brief but forceful jolt and it seems as though it puts thescope into a kind of reverse recoil situation. Some of the target type scopes are not designed totake this forward thrust and soon develop loose parts inside. Eric did say that the Leupold Mark 4seems to hold up, at least so far. It was Eric's fifty, with a Mark 4 on top, we used to shoot the tankhull at 2000 meters. This rifle had one of the type of brakes on it that can cause the forward thrust

I mentioned. The scope seemed to be working just fine for me and it takes a lot of clicking to geton at 2000 meters.The Night Force scopes have held up well to braked fifties too.So far we have looked at some of the advantages and disadvantages of internally and

externally adjustable scopes. Now we'll take a look at rifle scope power. Before using the 16xLeupold Mark 4 scope, I considered 20x to be about the minimum magnification for long-rangework. I have used 24x scopes for the majority of my own shooting. An experience I had onehunting season caused me to alter my opinion on this a bit, though.

I was elk hunting in an area that had a few open parks, and the elk were using these openingsin the early morning and evening hours. We had spotted a cow early in the morning, before thesun had risen over the mountain. A large antlered 6 point bull poked his way into the grassy area

soon afterward. I picked him up in the pair of Kowas; he was a splendid bull. We quickly set up theportable bench and sand bags and positioned the rifle. I ranged the bull at 1010 yards through theBarr & Stroud rangefinder. I dialed the correct amount of adjustment into the 24x Leupold scopeand found the elk in the small field of view. In the poor early morning light, I had troubledetermining which elk was the bull in the scope. We were facing east which didn't help at all. Tofind out, I grabbed a pair of 10x50 binoculars that I'd laid down nearby, and with these Iimmediately could tell the bull from the cow. There was no wind blowing and I was very confidentof a lethal hit. I knew my rifle and load well, so hitting a target at this range wouldn't be difficult. Iwas getting excited. Just as I reached for a 338-378 Weatherby round to place in the chamber, thebig bull stepped into the trees. He never came back out.

The morning sun shows a glare in the photo much as it did in the rifle scope.I wondered later, if I had been using a scope of lesser power and with a resulting larger exit

pupil and brighter image, would I have seen which elk was the bull without going to thebinoculars? If I had, I would probably have had plenty of time to fire a shot. The point is, lesspower may have been better in that situation. The exit pupil of the 24x scope is 1.67mm. A 16xMark 4 has an exit pupil of 2.5mm, an increase of 50% over the 24x. A 2" Unertl scope in 24xwould be about 2.1mm. In choosing a particular rifle and scope for just paper target work or smallvarmints, I would want at least 24x. On a rifle that may see some big game hunting however, lessmay be more.

It seems somewhat ironic to me that I do prefer the 16x to 24x power scopes for long-rangework. On several of my 10.5 and 13.5 pound bench rest rifles I have scopes that have been

bumped in power by Wally Siebert to 45x. These are used at just 100 and 200 yards. Why then,the lower power for long-range? I suspect that it is the increased field of view. It can be difficult tofind a target at long distances with a limited field of view, especially if the target is uphill ordownhill.


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When clicking a scope knob up or down, it is very important to be able to keep track of whereyou are from a pre-established zero point. As I mentioned earlier, most shooters use a 100 yardzero as their reference point. The important factor, however, is being able to easily return to zero.In this regard, the Leupold adjustment knobs are superior to the Unertl system, in my opinion. TheLeupold knobs have each minute of adjustment so indicated and they have a vertical mark foreach click. One revolution is worth 15 minutes and each revolution up reveals a numberedhorizontal line on the main body of the adjustment. With this system it is easy to keep track of yourzero reference point.

The Unertl system on the other hand is difficult for me to keep track of. I almost have to counteach click. The knob is numbered every two clicks, or half minute with conventional 7.2" spacing.This is not a big complaint, but my philosophy is that simple is better.

There is an alternative to clicking a scope up which some shooters have used successfully.That is to have a multiple dot reticle installed in the scope. The idea is to have a dot or cross wireplaced a predetermined distance from another dot. The spacing might be, for example, 10 minutesapart. Another method is to have the dots placed for a certain range. I had Dick Thomas ofPremier Reticules set up a 3.5-10 Leupold scope for me with 4 minute diameter dots at 300, 400,500, 600, 700, and 800 yards. The cross wire is on the 300 yard dot. There is also a 3/4 minutedot above the cross wire for 100 yards. Using a system like this the shooter can also click between

dots and gain some precision between dots or extra elevation beyond the last dot.Earlier we mentioned shimming the rear base to gain `up' adjustment out of a scope. Thisprinciple applies to both internal and external models. Actually a better approach to this, with aninternal scope, is to mill the scope bases on an angle. The rear base should be higher. If just therear base is elevated, as it is when shimming, the scope rings are no longer in line with each otherand should be lapped. If both bases are milled together, then the rings will be automatically in line.

Bruce Baer now manufactures a set of tapered bases for the Remington actions.It is easy to calculate the correct amount to elevate the rear base. Let's say that a 24x internal

scope has been installed on the rifle. After zeroing the scope at 100 yards we find that twocomplete revolutions (30 minutes) of adjustment have been `wasted'. We can gain back most ofthat adjustment by raising the rear of the scope. Thirty minutes of adjustment at 100 yards is about

30 inches. Now, we don't want to use all of that 30 inches in case we later change loads and findthe impact has changed. We may need some of it later. Let's say that we want 20 inches of itback. So, how much do we want to change the bases?

First we need to know the spacing between the rings. In this example we will call it 6 inches. Tofind the correct amount to raise the rear ring we divide the 20 inches of elevation we want back bythe number of inches in 100 yards (3600). This is then multiplied by the ring spacing in inches (6).This looks like (20/3600) x 6 = .033". The rear ring should be raised .033" for the correctadjustment. As mentioned, this same principle applies to Unertl mount systems if the maximumamount of `up' adjustment is desired. The Unertl scope in the pictures is mounted on a base whichhas the front mounting area surface ground .075" lower than the rear.

The long-range shooter has quite a few good choices when it comes to selecting top quality

high power binoculars and spotting scopes. With the optical rangefinders, there is really only onesuitable choice, the no longer manufactured Barr & Stroud models. Fortunately these are excellentinstruments, very well designed and constructed. They can be difficult to find but are indispensablefor true long-range shooting. Like scopes and binoculars, there is a fairly good selection of riflescopes available for accurate long-range work. They will perform their job well if they are carefullychosen for the task and their limitations are recognized. Long-range shooting depends heavily onquality, no compromise optics.

Looking at What can go WrongWe spotted the cow elk up high in a big semi-open alder patch of probably 20 acres or so in

size. She was a long way out, just on the short side of a mile. We were hunting in northwesternMontana near the Idaho line. Soon another cow seemed to materialize in the brush. It had frosted

several times early in the season and all of the leaves had dropped off the alders and brush. Therewas also snow on the ground so we could see into the brush fairly well with our binoculars andspotting scopes. Then behind the second cow came a 5 point bull, his yellow coat giving him awayalmost as well as his antlers did.


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He worked his way down the mountain in our general direction and soon stopped to paw forgrass in a small opening. I found him in the 14 power eyepiece of the already mentioned Barr &Stroud rangefinder and ranged him in at 1340 yards. I had my 338-378 Weatherby Mag rifle setup, and when I found him in the scope he was standing broadside. The angle indicator on myrangefinder read about 17 degrees. I had drop figures for 20 degrees and fudged just a bit for thelesser angle. I grabbed one of the big shells and chambered it. There was a slight mist falling fromeven higher up than the elk and it was coming straight down. I squeezed the trigger and both myspotter and I thought I hit him. The bull flinched a little and jerked his head to look downhill. Ithought I had him.

This section will deal with causes for misses and poor grouping at extended ranges. As anyexperienced target shooter knows, it isn't always as easy as it looks. This is even more true with

long-range shooting. There are some probable causes for shots not going where they weresupposed to, though.

Some of the reasons for misses include rifle inaccuracy, incorrect range readings, wind drift,scope zeroing problems, and using the wrong velocity or ballistic coefficient or scope click valueon the drop chart. Another possible cause comes from the effects of shooting uphill and downhill.We'll find out how changes in our rifle, load, scope, and drop calculations can cause a miss at

long-rangeLong Range Shooting & Hunting - Page 3Rifle InaccuracyEarlier we discussed the building of an accurate long-range rifle but one of the most common

reasons for missing a target or for poor grouping at long-range is a rifle that just isn't up to snuff.Accuracy in this game seems to be like many temporal things in life, you just can't get enough of it.Actually, we can divide the accuracy problem into two distinct areas, rifle inaccuracy andammunition inaccuracy.

The heavier a rifle is, generally speaking, the more accurate it is. We can't expect an eightpound sporter to shoot as well as a 40 pound bench gun. The shooter must decide first, I believe,when building or modifying a rifle for long-range shooting, how much he wants it to weigh when

finished. If he plans to walk around with it at all, then probably a 10-15 pound rifle is the maximumweight. It will most likely be closer to 10 pounds, too. If though, he plans to shoot it exclusivelyfrom a bench or stand, weight is not much of a consideration. As we said, heavier is better (atleast in the accurate gun world) because the component parts are bigger and stiffer. Also, aheavier rifle will have much less recoil. On a lighter weight rifle, a muzzle brake will reduce recoilconsiderably though.

The rifle must be built around a potentially accurate action with a good trigger. As I mentionedbefore, I like the custom actions but something like a Remington 700 will work well. If the actionwill be bedded conventionally then the amount of weight in the barrel must be looked at closely. Itis quite possible to bend a commercial magazine-type rifle receiver by hanging 10-15 pounds ofbarrel from it. Again, the big single shot custom actions are the best for this application. My 338-

378 Weatherby Mag, which is shown in the picture, is an example of a big action. It is a single shotand is made from 2" diameter steel. The barrel threads into the action for almost two inches, too.An action like this will handle a big barrel. Use big actions for big barrels.

An alternative to the big action - big barrel philosophy is the use of a barrel bedding block. The300 Weatherby in the photograph is built on an unsleeved Remington 700 action converted tosingle shot with a Davidson ramp. The barrel is 1.450" in diameter for 30". It is actually larger indiameter than the action. The barrel though, is epoxied into the block with the action andremainder of the barrel floating. In this example the barrel is glued but some rifles use a split blockwith the barrel clamped in the block.

If you are going to put weight into a rifle, the barrel is the best place to do it. The larger a barrelis in diameter the stiffer it is. Barrel stiffness or rigidity increases with the fourth power of its

diameter. This means that a 2" diameter barrel is 16 times stiffer than one of 1" diameter since 2^4is 16.

Conversely, barrel stiffness decreases with the third power of its length. As an example, a 30inch long 30 caliber barrel with a 1" thread shank and 1.450" in diameter its full length is much less


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stiff than the same barrel glued into a block. If we compare it to the same barrel mounted in an 8"long block with a 1/2" space between the block and action, we are comparing essentially a 29"long barrel to one 20.5" long. In this example the blocked barrel is 2.8 times stiffer. That's right, thedifference in rigidity is almost 3 times in favor of the shorter one. Stiffness means, potentially, moreaccuracy.

The points here to remember are that a barrel increases in rigidity with the fourth power of itsdiameter and decreases with the third power of its length.

In the big magnum cartridges burning shovels-full of slow burning powder, barrel length meansbullet velocity. Bullet velocity means less wind drift and less bullet drop. Decreasing bullet dropand drift probably means increased accuracy but extra barrel length can mean decreasedaccuracy because of decreased rigidity and an increase in fouling inside the barrel. To someextent, blocking the barrel lets you have your cake and eat it, too.

The rifle stock must be one that is easy to control on the sandbags and be large enough tosupport the weight of the barreled action. Laminated wood stocks are both pretty and functional orthere are a couple of good fiberglass patterns that work well with these big guns. The weight of thestock should be distributed so that the rifle is not muzzle heavy due to a big barrel. Some haveadded weight to the butt of the stock to counter this tendency.

The above few paragraphs highlight some of the important areas to look at in modifying or

rebuilding a long-range rifle. We won't discuss cartridges, as that was covered pretty well in thebeginning of this article and seems to be a topic of ongoing discussion in most firearmpublications. A magnum cartridge of some persuasion is the best way to go.

The rifle may be very capable in the accuracy department but is being fed the wrongammunition. Bullets are extremely important. They must be true match quality bullets if any degreeof accuracy is expected. As an example of bullet quality, the 300 Weatherby in the photo iscapable of sub .200" groups at 100 yards with 220 grain Sierra Match Kings seated to the correctdepth. With a 200 grain soft point hunting bullet from another manufacturer, the very best it will dois 3/4" groups. Shooting groups at 100 yards is not always the best test for accuracy with one ofthese rifles but this example indicates the importance of best quality bullets.

The cartridge must also be loaded with the correct amount of the right powder. For most

shooters the fun part of building a new rifle or rebarreling, is load development. I turn the casenecks for my serious long-range rifles. I feel that it does help accuracy and as I said, we need allwe can get. Pick a good quality bullet first and then find a powder that delivers maximum velocitywith minimum velocity variation and good accuracy. Don't do all of your initial testing at 100 yardseither. Usually a load that performs well at 100 yards will also do well farther out, but not always.Shooting paper at 1000 yards can be an eye opening experience with surprises in store. Althoughnot a long-range rifle, I had a heavy varmint 6PPC that shot about the same size groups at 200yards as it did at 100 yards. Groups in the 3's and 4's with an occasional one in the 2's won't getyou much in 100 yard matches but at 200 yards they look mighty good. Why this barrel behavedthat way I can't say but the proof is on my targets.

Vertical grouping at long-range may be an indication of pressure problems in the load.

Changing the charge weight or powder type may cure it, as might trying another bullet weight orseating depth. It could also be an indication of high velocity variation with that charge. We willdiscuss an example of extreme spreads in velocity a bit later.

Range ErrorsAnother possible reason for missing a shot way out there is an incorrect range reading. The

Barr & Stroud rangefinders really are the only optical rangefinder available to accurately determinedistances. They can go out of adjustment though. The farther out an object is, the less accuratethese rangefinders are too, and the more difficult it is to correctly bring the images intocoincidence. Because it has a wider baseline, the 500 yard model is more accurate than the 250yard model for distances beyond 500 yards.

I missed a shot at a nice bull elk once because of an error in reading the range to him. I was

hunting in the Bitterroot Mountains and there was about 6" of snow on the ground at my elevationwith even more in the higher mountains near the pass. The elk had moved down because of it,and they were relatively easy to spot across the big canyons. I looked over about 40 cows that


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morning but hadn't seen a bull other than a spike about 2 miles away. I soon saw another cow andwas looking at her through my 10x50 binoculars when, lo and behold, I finally found a bull.

I quickly set up my 250 model Barr & Stroud rangefinder and found the bull in the field of view.He was pawing through the snow for grass in a small opening in the trees of about an acre or so insize. Earlier, at home, I had checked the calibration of the range finder on a power pole a surveyormeasured for me at 999 yards. It was right on the mark, and after checking it I left the rangefinderset on 1000 yards. When I put the Barr & Stroud on the bull, he was moving a little as he fed. Itlooked to me like he was exactly 1000 yards away; I hadn't adjusted the rangefinder at all. Great, Ithought; my scope was already set for 1000 yards, too. I was sure I'd soon have a few hundredpounds of excellent meat on the ground.

I found the elk in my 24x scope and launched a 338 caliber bullet at him from the 338-378. Well,to make a longer story short, I missed. I missed with my second shot too. He didn't stay in theopen after that and with a long face I started putting my equipment away. To be sure I missed, Iwalked over where he had been. If I had hit him it would have been very clear in the fresh snow.Walking back I wondered why I had missed. Well, it turned out that I'd made an error reading therange to the bull and learned a lesson, I hope. I rechecked the range to a bush that was rightwhere the bull had been standing. It read 960 yards. I had been fooled into thinking the bull was1000 yards away because he was moving a little when I ranged him and the rangefinder was

already set close to what he actually was.With the bullet and load I was using, the difference in drop between a 960 yard zero and one for1000 yards is about 25". I had shot right over his back. For those not familiar with the Barr &Stroud system, it might be hard to visualize how the images are displayed in the eyepiece. Believeme though, it can happen. Take the extra time required to accurately read the range to any target.

Wind DriftThat old tricky wind has always been one of the bigger reasons for inaccuracy at extended

ranges. When target shooting at long-range, a horizontal dispersion of the shots is a sure indicatorthat the wind was playing out its hand. It is difficult to judge wind way out there. Mirage is a goodindicator and sometimes the only one. I remember looking across a big canyon once while therewere a few small cumulus clouds between me and the other side. It didn't seem like the wind was

blowing at all, but those clouds were drifting very slowly left to right. There have been other timeswhen I was hunting and it was snowing. Snow just might be the best wind flag there is. It is easy tosee and probably extends all the way to the target. Hopefully it isn't obscuring the target too much.

If mirage is the only indicator of wind direction it can be difficult to determine exactly whichdirection the wind is coming from. Usually we can see if it is running from the right or left or boiling,but that is about all. Here is a little tip to determine exactly what direction the wind is blowing from.Looking through a spotting scope on a tripod, rotate the scope around the clock until the mirage isboiling. When it's boiling you know that the wind is coming either directly at you or blowing away; itshould be easy to determine which. Out on the plains country this can be a big help.

With my 338-378 Weatherby load using the original experimental 320 grain Sierra, a 10 MPHdirect cross wind blowing the full distance to the target will drift the bullet about 43 inches at 1000

yards. At 500 yards it is less than 10 inches. Other cartridges and bullets will probably drift more,so the wind is definitely a factor. It is for this reason that the heavy bullets for a particular caliberare preferred. The heavier examples have a higher ballistic coefficient and as a result will drift lessin the wind. A lighter bullet may drop less, but it will also probably drift more in a breeze. Using therangefinding and scope adjusting techniques we have discussed in the earlier segments of thisarticle, eliminates most of the problems associated with bullet drop. All this boils down to the factthat it is much easier to determine the distance to an object with a rangefinder and compensate forthe bullet drop at that distance than it is to guess how hard the wind is blowing.

For example, if we compare two 30 caliber bullets fired from a long barreled 300 Weatherby ourpoint will be shown. The 168 grain Sierra Match King has a ballistic coefficient of .475 and can bedriven at close to 3300 fps in the big Weatherby. The 220 grain Sierra Match King has a ballistic

coefficient of .655 according to Sierra. In my experience the BC for the 220 grain bullet is closerto .640 and I use this figure for my drop charts. To see how the wind drift compares, I ran thesenumbers through a Tioga Engineering ballistics program that computes drop and drift for a 10 mphbreeze.


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At a muzzle velocity of 3300 fps the 168 grain bullet will blow about 15.5 inches at 500 yards,38 inches at 750 yards, 75.5 inches at 1000 yards, 130.5 inches at 1250 yards and 206 inches at1500 yards. The 220 grain Match King will drift 13 inches at 500 yards, 31.5 at 750 yards, 61.5 at1000 yards, 103 inches at 1250 yards, and 160 inches at 1500 yards. At every yardage the drift forthe same 10 mph wind is less for the higher ballistic coefficient 220 grain bullet. The drop for the168 is less though. About 11.4 inches less at 500 yards, 23.2 inches at 750 yards, 34.7 at 1000yards, 32.4 inches at 1250 yards (its starting to catch up now) and at 1500 yards, they are justabout even (1 inch more for the 220 grain).

If anything, this example is skewed in favor of the 168 grain bullet for two reasons. First weused Sierra's ballistic coefficient figure for the 168 grain bullet but lowered theirs for the 220 grainbullet. Secondly, going with a 400 fps difference between the two bullets is being a bit generous.In reality, the difference would probably not be quite that great. Giving the 168 grain Match King a3300 fps muzzle velocity is being a little optimistic.

The point is, a higher BC from a heavier bullet of the same basic shape means less wind drift. Italso means more drop, but if we know the exact range to the target, actual drop is not as importantas wind drift is. Hence, the high BC bullet is the best choice, provided it is also accurate.

Using Incorrect VelocityAs we mentioned earlier, using the wrong velocity on the drop chart can lead to misses. There

are several reasons why the actual muzzle velocities in the field from a proven rifle may bedifferent than expected. Changes in powder lots or types or even primers can have an effect onvelocity. They might not always cause a big change, but they can sometimes. Another possiblereason is throat erosion. Usually velocity will decrease as a throat moves forward. A loadchronographed early in a barrel's life may not produce the same velocity several hundred roundslater.

Changes in temperature can also affect velocities. With my 338-378 I have checked the velocitiesfor my load from about 30 degrees up to 85 degrees. As an example of what temperature changes

can do I'm listing what I found my velocities to be at different temperatures. The powder is IMR5010 ignited by Federal 215 primers, and the bullet is the experimental 320 grain Sierra Match

King. At 29 degrees it averaged 2696 and 2722 fps, at 40 degrees 2717 and 2720 fps, at 50degrees 2735 fps, 2774 fps at 60 degrees, 2796 fps at 76 degrees and 2802 and 2784 fps at 82

degrees. The trend is obviously an increase in velocity as the temperature goes up. The differencein velocity from the high 20's to the low 80's is about 100 fps. That is easily enough to cause a

miss at extended ranges if the wrong velocity is used on the drop chart. With this load, a change invelocity of just 50 fps translates into a difference in drop at 1000 yards of about 12 inches and at

1500 yards it is almost 3 feet.Other cartridges and powders might show a much different picture, but the general trend is for

velocities to go up with temperature. It's best to know what the load in your rifle is producing forthe conditions you plan to shoot in.

Ballistic Coefficient Errors

As an example of using the wrong ballistic coefficient, if we use the Sierra 338 Match King inthe 338-378 Weatherby and compare C1 ballistic coefficients of .775 and .825 (.050 difference) wefind the difference in drop is 7 inches at 1000 yards and 33 inches at 1500 yards. This bulletactually has a BC of about .800.

As we mentioned earlier, ballistic coefficient changes with velocity. When shooting over a longdistance the bullet will go through several different velocity ranges. The best way to know wherethe bullet will hit is to take it out and fire at many distances. It's fun, too. I frequently take myequipment out into the mountains near my home and shoot at rocks or stumps or bears way outthere and compare actual MOA scope corrections to those indicated by the computer printout. Bydoing so, I can fine-tune my charts for the existing conditions. Coordinating scope clicks with therangefinder also insures correct scope settings even if rangefinder is out of calibration or the

scopes click value is not what it is supposed to be.Scope AdjustmentsEarlier I emphasized the importance of knowing the exact click value of the particular scope

being used. Most manufacturers design their adjustments to have a nominal one quarter minute of

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Long Range Shooting