Cooper at 200

I really don't know how some of you get the little tiny groups I've seen posted at 200 yards. I had time for one round at the range today.... Same load 93gr by weight of BH, CCI-M primer and a 300gr Parker Ballistic Extreme. The temperature was about 58/60 degrees and a slight swirling wind, first left then right but maybe 3/4 mph. It measured 2.8 inches. I am confident in the load for elk but want to see if I can shrink it a bit more before the hunt in October.

It takes practice, lots of practice. Practice builds confidence. Confidence builds consistency and repeatability.
The very best equipment is only as good, as the confidence of its shooter.
Keep shoot'n......... :wink:

Much is the load (which in your case you might not have hit on yet) but I agree, much is the shooter. I used to be a pretty decent longer range shooter...now, not nearly as much since I don't get to shoot that often. My skills might still be there somewhere, but I am so out of practice all my mistakes magnify when I get out to longer distances. I honestly can't imagine how bad I'd shoot at 300-400 right now.

You might also try dialing it down a smidge and see what it does. Sometimes a 5-10 gr change can tighten things up.

You look like you're doing fine, nothing wrong with that.
Seems your load is a little stout, but if you can handle the recoil - then no issue.
Experimenting to find what a rifle likes is part of the fun.
Good luck.

That is pretty good shooting at 200 for that stout load. I too think you should try dropping back a bit and see if it tightens up. Any little mistakes will just get amplified the farther out you shoot. But if you can handle the recoil, more power to ya.

Thanks for the advise. I will play with the load a bit more. I already know what this load will do with me behind the trigger so I can always go back to it. Fortunately I live ten minutes from the range and now have Thursdays off to beat the crowds. One day a week isn't much but it's better than nothing and I still have until October for the hunt.............

You must have better Temps to shoot in than us. It has been in the 90's here for 2 weeks with a ton of humidity to go along with it. :evil: Not supposed to break any till next week. :cry:

Shawn I don't know how you guys handle the heat combined with the humidity. I was in Louisiana once in February. It was about 70 degrees and I was sweating!!! I can handle all kinds of cold but not your kind of heat...

I live at the beach in central California with 55 to 70 the norms and we don't have that much humidiy. Most of the time it is overcast in the mornings. The wind does kick up around 10. I like to get to the range when it opens at 8 and usually leave around 10/10:30 if the wind kicks up. The wind just make it frustrating. Our weather is the most boring on the planet and I love it

This is a little unusual for us here on Long Island, last Sat and Sun real feel was 105 to 110! Last year was mild. This heat wave is miserable and at work it can be bad. As a Service Technician I sometimes have to go to Un-Air-conditioned Warehouses. Those calls are hard to take, I feel sorry for the people that work in those places.

My club recently changed our range times. We can't fire first shot till 9am now, used to be 8am. :evil: But the way it has been the last 2 weekends I never went out, same this weekend. Just too miserable.

Get some Wind flags. They help with shooting in the wind.

Actually the range has flags. I am very fortunate we have an excellent range less than 10 minutes from my door. The rifle range has targets out to 700 yards. Way out of my talent zone I have been an archer most of my hunting life and the range served me in that capacity also.

Here is a link to the range for the curious....

http://www.slosa.org/content.aspx?page_ ... _id=976845

Wow! Thats some range there coaster. I have to drive an hour just to get to a 200yd range. Good luck with the cooper.