120 gr Match Burners at 500+

[StoneHendge]

I bought a bunch of these with hopes of attaining MOAish for use as practice on steel out to 550 yards (500 meters). Did a quick ladder with AR Comp and was quite satisfied with the results. The below groups are slightly under MOA and were with Magnetto strapped on and they patterned so they could get better.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18420[/ATTACH]

I figured 26.6 gr at 2500 and an SD of 2 was more than good enough (and the group patterned 2 left then 2 right) so I loaded up a bunch and hit the steel range. They did great on small targets at 220 yards and 6" poppers at 330. The only misses were on me. I took a couple of pokes at 10"ers at 440 yards and they went where they were supposed to. Then it was onto 550 and I saw nothing from my first shot. I dialed my magnification back a bit and took another to see it fall woefully low. My elevation hold should have been 4.3 mils and I worked up to 6.0 mils and was still low when my mag ran out. I scratched my head and got back to drills at closer range with the ammo I had left.

I'm normally a 100% G7 user, but there isn't a G7 I can find. I know a G1 starts getting iffy past 400, but shouldn't result in a 1.5 mil difference- especially with 440 being relatively on. It's almost as if they started tumbling ......

Barrel is an 8 twist 22" JP. Wind that day was 5-12 mph from between 11 and 1 o'clock.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this experience or has successfully taken them to 500 and beyond. I have been otherwise relatively happy with them given the price point and availability.

[StoneHendge]

No one?

Well, I made it back out with them this morning and they did everything they were supposed to do. Had freshly painted targets so I had no problems seeing where I was hitting. The G1 of 0.46 actually put them 0.2 mils high at 400 meters (440 yards) and a hold of 4.3 mils was spot on at 500 meters (550 yards). Wind was almost non-existent this morning - maybe 2-3 mph from 6 o'clock. I must have done some wrong math or maybe I was looking at the wrong data last outing.

Decent bullet at the price point in this market and a pleasant surprise. The lengths are a bit inconsistent but that doesn't seem to affect their accuracy or dope. I don't know if they'll shoot tiny little groups, but they are fine for positional practice on 2-3 MOA steel.

[Longbow]

I wouldn't Bitch ! Nice groups.....and you can ogive measure the bullets to lots and be that much more consistent.

[LRRPF52]

G1 is fine out to 600yds with most Spitzer bullets traveling decent speeds.

Use G7 drag model past 600yds as a general rule where it will give you better predictions.

This is for bullets without doppler Radar data.

If your SD is truly only 2fps, that’s world-class SD. How many sample sizes for that SD?

[StoneHendge]

G1 is fine out to 600yds with most Spitzer bullets traveling decent speeds.

Use G7 drag model past 600yds as a general rule where it will give you better predictions.

This is for bullets without doppler Radar data.

If your SD is truly only 2fps, that’s world-class SD. How many sample sizes for that SD?

Yeah, it's kind of crazy - especially since they are Chargemaster 1500 drops. I did 4 shot groups and this was the ladder (velocity/sd/es). 27.2 and 27.5 strung horizontally and 27.5 was getting a bit warm and 27.8 was too much. 26.6 seemed the spot to go since +/- 0.3 gr were only +/- 20 fps.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18441[/ATTACH]

Temp was 82 for the ladder and about 72 this morning. It was a lot easier to see impacts on the 440 this morning than the 550 and the first 2 I did were a few inches apart at the same elevation. I adjusted the 0.2 mils and put one right on the other dead center. It'll probably be 2 weeks, but I'm definitely interested in seeing what a 10 shot string does. Also interested to see velocity when it gets down into the 50s.

[lazyengineer]

Neat. In my own experience, I didn't get great results so low with 120's, and my lot of AR Comp really since with 120 SMK at 27.8 gr. Where I shot a perfect 200 point 20 round match at 600 yards. Sounds like yours likes it milder. I'll admit, 27.8 is on the warm side for sure. I run Hornady brass.

[Robpiat]

Is the L/R groups a common occurance?....I observed this in a 12" grendel barrel.

[StoneHendge]

Is the L/R groups a common occurance?....I observed this in a 12" grendel barrel.

In this case I attributed it to having the Magnetto Speed strapped on, but I've had it happen for a variety of reasons including a trashed scope with a shifting reticle, weak scope mounts (see: aeroprecision), inconsistent grip, etc. I once even made 2 bugholes 1/2" apart - turns out my Atlas bipod was on loose and it was getting loaded onto one side or the other with each shot instead of straight forward.

[s3silver]

Picked some up a few months ago to try out. I did a brief workup with them and they shot really good at 100 yards. Just haven't had time to shoot lately.