What did you do at the range today?

[Tanner]

Shot 4 rounds through my 6 Creed into 1” at 305 yards and then left when a couple fat lesbos started shooting full cans of spray paint with an AR at 10 yards…. That’s what I get for using a public range…

 

[Q_Sertorius]

After getting the .25-06 sorted out, I got out my new Tikka T3 1:10” .223, which I just got cut to 16.1” and threaded. I’m using a SWFA 6x gen2 scope (to match my 6.5 CM). I have a wooden Rokstok lite on order for it. I’m using my .30 caliber AB Raptor 10 w/ 5” reflex on it. It’s 44” long and weighs 9.3 pounds.

I bought a variety of .223 and 5.56 in weights between 55- and 75-grains. I also tried out a few of the AAC 77-grain OTMs I use in my AR. As expected, the 77-grain bullets didn’t stabilize.

The two ADI loads (55- and 69-grain SMKs) shot the best. The 55-grain bullets averaged 2981 with an SD of 34.5. The 69-grain bullets averaged 2754 with an SD of 24.4.

The Hornady Black 62-grain FMJ’s also showed promise. They averaged 2919 with an SD of 17.1.

The Frontier 5.56 62-grain was interesting. I had three that needed to be fired twice due to the harder primers, but they were screaming out of my rifle. They averaged 3160 FPS with an SD of 20.8. They didn’t group super well, but they weren’t awful. I may give them another shot.

The AAC 62-grain 5.56 were decent with 2996 FPS and an SD of 20.5. The AAC 69-grain 5.56 FMJ were also promising at 2748 FPS with an SD of 26.7. I’ll probably give them another shot too.

The rest were rather “meh”. None of them shot particularly well. I’ll include their FPS, but not upload their targets or provide further details.

Compete 75-grain OTM: 2671 FPS
Black Hills 69-grain 5.56 TMK: 2878 FPS
PMC 62-grain 5.56 Green Tips: 3015 FPS
Armscor 62-grain FMJ: 2983 FPS
Winchester 62-grain 5.56 Green Tips: 3079 FPS
Norma 62-grain FMJ: 2975 FPS
PMC 62-grain 5.56 Green Tips: 3015 FPS
PMC 55-grain FMJ: 2865 FPS

I was a bit surprised that the Black Hills didn’t do very well. I had high hopes for them.

The Federal American Eagle 75-grain TMJ were laughably slow at 2533 FPS with an SD of 19.9.

 

[Chris in TN]

Neat thread.

Today I took all three kids. I focus most of my efforts on my oldest (since she has an elk tag) but I try to involve the other kids too. So today I took all three kids right before dark and they shot milk jugs at ~100 yard and closer with their new 6.5CM.

I have some scrap range brass I picked up years ago and some Nosler 123CCs left over from when I used to have a 6.5 Remington Magnum. I've been loading the 123ccs over 38 grains of IMR4895 just to get rid of them. I've noticed that, to my untrained ears, the report from the rifle (it's suppressed) with those rounds, seems lower than the regular load my oldest is shooting. I'm about out of the 123s and then I'm going to try the same thing (possibly with a lower charge) with some 130eldms, just to get rid of them. Recoil on the 4895 loads is ridiculously light and for the deer hunting we do here at home something like a 130eldm at even 2500'mv, would be perfectly sufficient for all of us. So after we get back from CO I may rezero with the 130eldms just for this year, for the kids.

No pictures today. But Thursday while my son and wife were gone the girls and I took a ride around the farm and stopped so they could both shoot from 440 yards:

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I swapped a set of scope rings on a 30-06 tikka so I went and re zeroed the rifle using my 180g accubond loads. Then I shot some steel with my Kimber 308 using some old handloads that I made back during Covid when I first got Into handloading. All of them were loads I don’t use anymore but they all hit the 4 and 6 inch steel plates I was shooting. They were all Barnes and hammer loads, it was fun to burn through 60-70 rounds with the Kimber.

I just swapped the rings on my tikka 6.5 so I’ll go out tomorrow and get that sorted out.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I installed a zero stop set in the SWFA 10x gen1 scope I have on my FN .25-06. I only had eight rounds left in my ammo bag, so I just made the most of it. Since it is a new barrel, I cleaned it this morning.

I made a -.3 mil elevation adjustment and fired the next four.

I’d say that this rifle will be ready for deer season, even if I don’t have the time to work up a load for the 123-grain ELDM.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

This is the remainder of my shooting from yesterday afternoon. After shooting the FN .25-06, I confirmed the ADI 55-grain and then went through the potentially promising, but not great .223/5.56 factory loads from the day prior to see if any would do better.

The ADI 55-grain shoots so well in my rifle that I really think of buying a pile of it too, but I think the 69-grain is a bit better for the ranges at which I plan to practice.

The Frontier 5.56, as I suspected, did really well with me as a fresh shooter and no mirage.

The Black Hills 69-grain TMK continued to disappoint me. I guess it will just have to go through my AR.

The AAC 69-grain wasn’t great, but about what I have come to expect from this budget ammo.

The Hornady Black was respectable.

The AAC 62-grain was also respectable for budget ammo.

 

[Chris in TN]

Late yesterday evening.

Teaching kids to shoot a rifle from prone (Harris front/sandbag rear) is easy. Teaching them to build positions in the field is much more time consuming. My goal this summer isn't to get her building her own positions, it's to get us working together to build her position. Which means that I'm trying to train myself into a support role. Which means that eventually it hits me that being able to shoot, and being able to teach someone else to shoot, are two different things.




She's also doing some offhand training (rimfire and centerfire) and she's actually got pretty decent at holding the forend against the side of a small tree trunk and leaning into the rifle to shoot semi-supported standing. We're also incorporating a single shooting stick (uh, trek pole) to lean her chest or belly into, to help steady her. I've used small trees in the past to make shots I couldn't have made otherwise and think it's a position worth learning.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I've used small trees in the past to make shots I couldn't have made otherwise and think it's a position worth learning.

Absolutely agree! Teaching a kid to be adaptable and look for every natural advantage is giving her a great skill. A fence post, tree trunk, stump, log, even a grape vine can provide some stability.

The number one thing my dad made us practice was dropping onto our butts for a hasty seated position (knees up, feet down, elbows on thighs) whenever terrain allowed for it.

The Marine Corps later taught me how to quickly drop into an even more stable seated position with my legs crossed. Again, it won’t work in every terrain or at every angle, but going seated doubles the potential accuracy of a shot.

Edit - I don’t watch many hunting or shooting clips, but one of the things I hate is seeing “gear dependence.” People who can’t see terrain at all and insist on trying to force their bipod or tripod into working without realizing that a tree, rock, fencepost, or whatever (supplemented with a hat, backpack, etc. as needed) can provide enough stability faster than their gear setup. It’s one of the reasons I hate tripods, even if I objectively know that they can be a very useful tool.

 

[Chris in TN]

Absolutely agree! Teaching a kid to be adaptable and look for every natural advantage is giving her a great skill. A fence post, tree trunk, stump, log, even a grape vine can provide some stability.

The number one thing my dad made us practice was dropping onto our butts for a hasty seated position (knees up, feet down, elbows on thighs) whenever terrain allowed for it.

The Marine Corps later taught me how to quickly drop into an even more stable seated position with my legs crossed. Again, it won’t work in every terrain or at every angle, but going seated doubles the potential accuracy of a shot.

Edit - I don’t watch many hunting or shooting clips, but one of the things I hate is seeing “gear dependence.” People who can’t see terrain at all and insist on trying to force their bipod or tripod into working without realizing that a tree, rock, fencepost, or whatever (supplemented with a hat, backpack, etc. as needed) can provide enough stability faster than their gear setup. It’s one of the reasons I hate tripods, even if I objectively know that they can be a very useful tool.

100% agreed.

Nothing has refined my skills at identifying and using improvised rests more than squirrel hunting with a .22lr. For pure low-key enjoyment, in a whole lot of ways, I enjoy it more than hunting big game.