At 400 Yard--Hard Cast Boolit

[ronlaughlin]

Screwbolts sent me these boolit, and calls them 289g water dropped wheel weight hard. They are intended to use in a sabot.

It was -4 at the house this morning at dawn. When i left home i intended to shoot from a nice warm truck at 100 yard, and sight in the Optima using the cast boolit. The boolit shot so straight, i thought perhaps i could try them at 400 yard.

Here is the VIDEO of shooting the boolit at an old rotten chunk of firewood.

One can see the wind really dissipates the smoke from the rifle quickly. The temperature up on the ridge was 9 degrees. The gps say the elevation of the rifle was 5094', and the elevation of the target was 5122'. The chunk of firewood fell down before i was ready to shoot. However, i could just so barely see the wood chunk laying down in the grass, so took the shot, which hit the rotten old chunk. Didn't bring a jug to shoot at, because i didn't plan to try a 400 yard shot in the bitter cold.

This next photo shows a puff of smoke from the rifle, and the rotten firewood chunk lying in the grass, with the boolit on the way.

The last photo shows the smoke from the rifle blown away away, and pieces of the rotten wood flying in the air, after being struck by the boolit.

 

[ronald horne]

WOW! Amazing shooting. Good write up and pictures are great.

 

[Aquastang]

That's some pretty nice shootin' Ron. Thanks for the post. Interesting how accurate one can be with just 80 gr. BH and lead.

 

[ShawnT]

Excellent shooting Ron! How much elevation did you have to add to the scope for that shot?

 

[ENCORE50A]

A new long ranger on the way......... Great shooting Ron :yeah:

 

[ronlaughlin]

...How much elevation did you have to add to the scope for that shot?

33 moa above the 100 yard zero. Two and 1/5 revolutions of the elevation dial.

 

[ENCORE50A]

...How much elevation did you have to add to the scope for that shot?

33 moa above the 100 yard zero. Two and 1/5 revolutions of the elevation dial.

It appeared in the video, that wind was stronger ????

 

[52Bore]

Just an FYI. On paper at 100, I found no difference in my group with hard lead wheel weight bullets vs soft pure lead.
We'll be looking forward to your paper targets when the weather warms.
I think everyone is ready for Spring!

 

[ronlaughlin]

....It appeared in the video, that wind was stronger ????

Yes it was stronger, and at 9 degrees, it put the chill below zero, however the major vector was straight to the target. No windage correction was made. It seems out there where the bullet path is below the ridge line, the wind does some weird things, and the bullet doesn't blow one way or the other, the way one would think it would. This caused me all kind of grief two days ago, but today i ignored the wind when i aimed.

 

[ronlaughlin]

Beast Wind

Today the wind was beastly. The first shot hit about 5 feet down wind of the jug. It took 8 shots to hit the jug, with the aim about 12 feet into the wind. The elevation dial was turned 33 moa above the 100 yard zero.

The VIDEO.

The jug barely jumped when hit by the boolit. Seems there isn't near enough energy, to use this load, at this range, for hunting. Nor would it be wise to shoot at a critter at this range in this kind of wind. Me, i can't imagine trying to make a clean kill when having to hold 12' into the wind.

 

[long shot]

heavier bullet will help, it must be one heck of lot wind to move it 12 ft. is that normal wind out there? It would be 20mph or better. If you have windage dial why not use it. If there was that much wind I wouldn't try any way

 

[ronlaughlin]

On open ridges in the hills, and/or the great plains, a 20 mi/hr wind is certainly not abnormal. The forecast for tomorrow, for where i shot today, is 5 mi/hr wind.

 

[ronlaughlin]

337g Boolit

This morning the load was the same for this heavier boolit. There was less wind today, and it was from the opposite direction. The aim for the best shot was about 4 feet into the wind. The elevation was dialed up 30 moa. The VIDEO shows a near miss that made the jug move a tad. Ten shots were all misses.

 

[long shot]

 

[long shot]

why do you not use your windage dial

 

[ronlaughlin]

Probably mostly because it require a coin to adjust. Secondly, i probably would get lost, and not be able to find my way back home. Thirdly, i would be firing for effect, and i just as soon get a rough idea by just doing Kentucky windage. Four feet would require 48 moa; Leupold say my scope has 80 moa adjustment total. Yesterday i was holding about 12', the scope won't dial 144 moa.

 

[52Bore]

I know this bullet is nearly 1/2 the weight of mine, but I don't' think you need that much windage - if so wow..
Here is a vintage chart I had taped in my shooting box for years and I can't recall the book from which it came. There are certainly ballistic tables today you can play with.

 

[ronlaughlin]

why do you not use your windage dial

It looks like i should try it. It appears i don't understand the correct relationship between moa, and inches at 400 yard. It appear that it takes way less moa than inches of hold. My scope should work OK. I will give it a try, after making some calculations.

 

[bestill]

36 moa on turret correction will be 144 moa at 400 yds

 

[ronlaughlin]

Of course. Somehow i forgot about the 1/4 minute marks in between the moa marks. Soon, i will try dialing the windage; hopefully it will help my shooting.