02-16-2014, 12:40 AM
Some time ago, I bought an app (BAE) for my phone and tablet to help me work out ballistic solutions. It turned out to be very good, and performed much better than I expected.
Today, I had the chance to put it through the paces at a variety of distances. I learned quite a bit, from today's experience.
First, in my defense, the recent weather has kept me from entertaining the idea of shooting for the last 6-8 weeks, so my skills we're beginning to get rusty. Today, though, brought 70' weather, and nearly calm winds! I wasted no time.
Eagerly, I drove out and set up my steel plate. I started at 500. Selecting the load for my .264 LBC, I attempted to get BAE to load the current conditions. After a few moments, I was informed that there was no data connection.
Lesson 1. Get your current atmospherics before going to a remote area.
I decided that i would probably do ok with the data used when I zeroed, and set the range to 500 yards. BAE suggested 2.8 mil of elevation, over my 200 yard zero. I cranked the turret, and settled on the bags. Remembering a recent discussion I'd read on the board, I let the rifle settle to a natural POA, corrected, and checked again. Crosshairs now rest naturally within the 12" plate. I touched off the CCB shot and hit the plate, center high. The next 3 rounds all hit .1 mil to the right. I took out .1 mil of elevation and the next two were vertically centered on the plate. So, BAE was off by +.1 mil at 500 yards.
Satisfied I was very close, I painted the steel again, and backed up to 700 yards. Consulting BAE for 700, it indicated 5.4 mils of elevation. Again, I settled on the bag, allowing the rifle to find its natural POA. The first round was wide left. What? Oh, yeah, a light right to left wind had come up, and I hadn't corrected.
Lesson 2. Be aware of the changing conditions.
I gauged the wind at 3-5mph, and BAE recommended a .7 mil hold off for a 4 mph wind. The next shot was still high, so I backed out .2 mil of elevation. The next shot hit the left edge of the plate, so I held the right side, and was rewarded with three more hits, all roughly centered. The BAE app was high by .2 mil, at 700.
![[Image: 831bb17c-ca08-4c9c-aab7-e3597c802f1f_zpsd19cca3e.jpg]](http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae36/NugginFutz/831bb17c-ca08-4c9c-aab7-e3597c802f1f_zpsd19cca3e.jpg)
Encouraged, I painted the steel, once again, and went for broke, backing up to 1000, for the first time with this rifle. Once again, I checked with BAE, and it recommended a 10.2 mil elevation. Confidently, I settled on the bags, breathed and exhaled partially. I pressed the trigger and hit wide right, by about 1.5 mils. Did I mention no windage changes were made? Yeah - I forgot that, again. (See lesson 2) Corrected and shot. Missed. Repeated this for a total of ten shots, but could not connect with the steel, despite adding left/right windage, as needed and changing hold over.
Thinking I had either reached the limits of precision with my load, rifle, or myself, I drove down to the target. As I feared, the plate was untouched. The crossbar, on the other hand was not. I had apparently been shooting high, and had put a hole through the crossbar, directly over the plate. Which brings me to...
Lesson 3: It helps to take a spotter with a good scope with you for real time feedback, before sending multiple wasted rounds downrange. This is especially true if you haven't yet characterized your ballistics.
By this time, the wind had come up, I was starting to get too much sun, and some dirt bikers had found my location and were too close for safety. I decided to call it a day.
As I sit here and type this, I entered all the correct atmospherics into BAE, which now informs my that on a 70' day, at the true shooting altitude (+35' and +1000 feet from the original zero conditions) it wants not 10.2 mil of elevation, but 9.6! I can't say if that is totally accurate, but I suspect that it would have gotten me close, and perhaps even on steel. The crossbar is about a foot above the top of the target, and .6 mils is about 20" at 1000 yards. (Sigh!)
This brings me to..
Lesson 4: At the very least, put the approximate temperature and elevation into the ballistic app.
If you are to trust your indications, you should at least allow the poor program the courtesy of the truth about conditions.
A very educational day for me, and I finally GOT TO GO SHOOT!
Today, I had the chance to put it through the paces at a variety of distances. I learned quite a bit, from today's experience.
First, in my defense, the recent weather has kept me from entertaining the idea of shooting for the last 6-8 weeks, so my skills we're beginning to get rusty. Today, though, brought 70' weather, and nearly calm winds! I wasted no time.
Eagerly, I drove out and set up my steel plate. I started at 500. Selecting the load for my .264 LBC, I attempted to get BAE to load the current conditions. After a few moments, I was informed that there was no data connection.
Lesson 1. Get your current atmospherics before going to a remote area.
I decided that i would probably do ok with the data used when I zeroed, and set the range to 500 yards. BAE suggested 2.8 mil of elevation, over my 200 yard zero. I cranked the turret, and settled on the bags. Remembering a recent discussion I'd read on the board, I let the rifle settle to a natural POA, corrected, and checked again. Crosshairs now rest naturally within the 12" plate. I touched off the CCB shot and hit the plate, center high. The next 3 rounds all hit .1 mil to the right. I took out .1 mil of elevation and the next two were vertically centered on the plate. So, BAE was off by +.1 mil at 500 yards.
Satisfied I was very close, I painted the steel again, and backed up to 700 yards. Consulting BAE for 700, it indicated 5.4 mils of elevation. Again, I settled on the bag, allowing the rifle to find its natural POA. The first round was wide left. What? Oh, yeah, a light right to left wind had come up, and I hadn't corrected.
Lesson 2. Be aware of the changing conditions.
I gauged the wind at 3-5mph, and BAE recommended a .7 mil hold off for a 4 mph wind. The next shot was still high, so I backed out .2 mil of elevation. The next shot hit the left edge of the plate, so I held the right side, and was rewarded with three more hits, all roughly centered. The BAE app was high by .2 mil, at 700.
![[Image: 831bb17c-ca08-4c9c-aab7-e3597c802f1f_zpsd19cca3e.jpg]](http://s955.photobucket.com/user/NugginFutz/media/831bb17c-ca08-4c9c-aab7-e3597c802f1f_zpsd19cca3e.jpg.html)
Encouraged, I painted the steel, once again, and went for broke, backing up to 1000, for the first time with this rifle. Once again, I checked with BAE, and it recommended a 10.2 mil elevation. Confidently, I settled on the bags, breathed and exhaled partially. I pressed the trigger and hit wide right, by about 1.5 mils. Did I mention no windage changes were made? Yeah - I forgot that, again. (See lesson 2) Corrected and shot. Missed. Repeated this for a total of ten shots, but could not connect with the steel, despite adding left/right windage, as needed and changing hold over.
Thinking I had either reached the limits of precision with my load, rifle, or myself, I drove down to the target. As I feared, the plate was untouched. The crossbar, on the other hand was not. I had apparently been shooting high, and had put a hole through the crossbar, directly over the plate. Which brings me to...
Lesson 3: It helps to take a spotter with a good scope with you for real time feedback, before sending multiple wasted rounds downrange. This is especially true if you haven't yet characterized your ballistics.
By this time, the wind had come up, I was starting to get too much sun, and some dirt bikers had found my location and were too close for safety. I decided to call it a day.
As I sit here and type this, I entered all the correct atmospherics into BAE, which now informs my that on a 70' day, at the true shooting altitude (+35' and +1000 feet from the original zero conditions) it wants not 10.2 mil of elevation, but 9.6! I can't say if that is totally accurate, but I suspect that it would have gotten me close, and perhaps even on steel. The crossbar is about a foot above the top of the target, and .6 mils is about 20" at 1000 yards. (Sigh!)
This brings me to..
Lesson 4: At the very least, put the approximate temperature and elevation into the ballistic app.
If you are to trust your indications, you should at least allow the poor program the courtesy of the truth about conditions.
A very educational day for me, and I finally GOT TO GO SHOOT!