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First PRS match at Alabama Precision

6ARC Load Development, Range Days 2022-03-21

Well, that was humbling… many reasons to underperform and so I did that quite well.

Uhhhhhhh – I could have done better on that one for sure but it sure was freaking fun!

The biggest weakness that could have been avoided was practice on barricades and moving positions, so I will be working on that for sure. This pic sums it up basically.

The poverty pony gets spanked by fancy bolt rifles.
Poverty pony brings up the rear. Still better than riding the couch. Custom bags are now on the build list. I wanted to run a match and see some other bags in use to decide which way to go. I think I have a plan.

The guys at AP were top notch and the facility is amazing LR gem of the state. It’s located in Carbon Hill Alabama.

Carbon Hill Coal
I found this on top of the hill. Nice keepsake, Should have taken a pic with brass in hand.

I grew up in the woods not far away so it was great to travel the country roads from my childhood once again. New phone and funky google maps got me lost only to come across the very spot we used to stop and get boiled peanuts on the way to Grandma’s house. I still remember the rickety old “Nut Shak” on the side of the highway and how they cooked up the good stuff (peanuts and pork rinds) in giant feeding buckets over open coals and dipping your “hot” bag of peanuts right in front of you for a couple of actual greenbacks. I used to trick my dad driving when he asked for more peanuts I’d just give him the hulls of mine in a new bag and pass them to the front seat and he’d get mad and swerve and say “No, I paid for them peanuts I want some more”.

I met some great folks and had a great time, despite my poor performance. I think my squad members were more concerned with my score than I was. After a spring break full of computer ticket work, I was just glad to get out in the sun and run some.

Stage 8 – Thank goodness they gave us target size and distances!

Just like the layers, and Pharmaceutical companies… Disclaimers First:

  • Overweight buffer – Gun was ejecting brass, but not picking up the rounds in the mag, so I had to run my AR like a bolt gun on top of everything else. I believe this was mainly due to me changing the buffer spring and buffer recently. When confirming zero earlier in the week during a very quick range trip, I tried adjusting the SA gas block, but still no dice. So I think it is a buffer thing.
  • Under Bagged – I watched people stream to the store to buy $$$ bags before the shoot. They do work well, but I’m weird and like to run my own, so I just took the old Jean bag with sand, and a Crown Royal bag with plastic BBs. I am looking into making my own waxed cotton bags in the near future, thus the snub of the high dollar bags (I’m pretty sure they sold out anyway). I felt the most comfortable shooting on the Prone stage where I used my backpack as a support bag and the sandbag as a tailbag.
  • No Bipod – one shooter just plainly said he couldn’t believe I was running with no bi-pod. I told him I usually just shoot of bags (on the bench) so that’s mostly why.
  • Skills – I really need to practice barricade positions and changes under the clock. There were many times I thought to myself (duh, why didn’t I just do it like that, it is much more stable). I have a spot to practice that stuff but its so far away I normally spend my time on the long range bench targets working on load development or groups.
  • MOA not Mils – This was a constant topic of humor. As a beginner focused match, the other guys were very helpful and willing to help the turd pull up the back of the pack with wind calls and holds, but they were all in MILS not MOA! I see targets in inches, and that’s how my brain works, so most of that data was ignored while shooting, but after the stage I would figure if I was about right or not. Besides, with everyone running different calibers how much do you want to depend on them anyway. I still see this as a plus, or at least a double edged topic. For if you rely on others wind holds how good can you really become. There was a stage where I didn’t figure ANY wind at 700 yards and yeah that was a big miss. After that I just generally guesstimated wind holds based on my previous experience with that rifle and round.
  • Rucking too much stuff – I took Full backpack with typical range repair toolbag, ammo, clothes, cliffbars. A small tripod stool, shot up and repaired (mostly functioning) BOG deathgrip tripod, Thrift Store Special Sandbag, water, and rain jacket, and rifle. It was a lot of stuff to huck around. I should have left the deathgrip in the car, as it was never used and there were PLENTY of nice tripod/spotting setups to take a quick look at the targets between stages. I felt like Charlie Sheen in Platoon when he was going on his first mission – “your packing too much stuff, I’ll carry it for you… this time,”. I blame the boy-scouts for that one.

With all of the above disclaimers, it is now time to report what DID work out well, or well enough to try using it again. To sum it up would be (scope, dope, stool):

  • Valdada 16X Fixed scope: 100-1000 ALL HOLDS, NO DIALING and 600yd zero. I freaking love this scope. If I had to dial like the other guys on top of my gun nit running like a semi-I would have been much worse off. I shot the first three stages with the parallax set at 100yds (from zero range). After that I just set it at the first target of each stage and went with it. The glass is very clear, I could see boils roll around at 1100 yards and read the weeds at 1k. Before each stage I would just remember my holds for the target and adjust as needed on the second shot. I ran out of time on every stage, but I count that mostly to having to come off scope to rack a round. I held on to my Dope card like it was Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. When this gun runs, target transitions are fast. There was one time I had to laugh out loud because one guy said “zoom out, you’ll see it”… I also got to peek through a variety of spotting setups, which was great. One shooter told me that he just uses 15x binoculars to preview/spot and then leaves his scope at 15x “99 % of the time”. That way your are previewing the targets with the same “mental picture” as you will be using when you are actually running the gun. That piece of info alone was worth the trip and the match and it’s tricks like that make the match worth it. It also confirmed that I made the right decision to spend the $$$ on a fixed power with great glass. Actually
  • The bullet and hand loads did work well enough that I don’t think it limited me. I spent a lot of time in load development and dope on the long range and brass prep and such and the consistency and accuracy did show up when the other elements were at bay. The last stage was 600 and 650 targets so I got to just hold “mostly zero” on those targets and was able to score a few hits to end the day. I was running my KANG MATCH rounds: 105 Berger VLDs at 2650 over LL with Starline converted brass. There was one other guy in my group running a Grendel and he did pretty well. We discussed the rounds and agreed that 800 and in, it is a very capable round. Past that you really have to do your part to make hits. I think the better rifle to actually compete in this match would be the 6.5CM bolt gun, but hey I wanted a personal challenge and I certainly got it.
  • The small tripod stool was excellent last minute “ohh I’ll grab that too” addition. With it I was able to setup under and among the spotters and save my legs while eating cliff bars and hot dogs. Assuming I can use other shooters gear to spot, I’ll happily take the small stool tripod over the big old BOG deathgrip.
800-1200 yd prone stage - Alabama Precision March Match - Valdada 16X fixed on top of 6ARC Poverty Pony
I used my bag of gear as opposed to a bipod to shoot the prone stage. I made only 1 hit at 800 on that stage but was able to spot some splashes close to the 900/1k target. Took a couple of shots at the 1100 but ran out of time on the 12. With this Glass I was able to spot shots of the other shooters on that stage.

Other notations:

  • Drive a freaking truck! Not a low slung tiny sports car! I had that little red Miata PACKED to the gills with crap. My BOG legs are shot up and wont compress properly, and won’t even fit in the trunk so it had to ride along side in the passenger seat where I brushed it every time I went into 5th or Reverse. When I got to the match, I found out that we had to drive even farther into the boonies to get to the course. I smartly hitched a ride with another shooter to the actual range and yeah after the first hill and mudhole I realized there is NO way the Miata would have ever made it. I longed for my ’78 Bronco, but thanks to Former Vice President Joe Biden’s energy policy, that is not happening. Plus the sidepipes get annoying after an hour or so.
  • Pizza make a great dinner on the cheap, but make sure you bring paper plates unless you prefer cold pizza for breakfast.
  • Get there for open range day (the Friday before the match) – I didn’t and that would have certainly helped. I packet the Pokemon rifle (300PRC with IveyTron setup) and made up 27 198 PVA solids to maybe try to shoot, but all that was for not because I worked Friday.
  • Was talking with some shooters before the match and was ecstatic to learn he was shooting a Garand at 1200 on the open range day – FUDDRUNNER! I told him how I modified my IHC for more accurate bench shooting and he told me how he uses his flat front sight to hold for wind. His friend was shooting a bold 30-06 in the match too! I happily supported his fuddery….. and they loved my Patton Hoodie.
  • There was some discussion about how some powders may not be the fastest, but being off about a grain made no difference in the groups, where as the more finicky powders would throw your group if you are off .2 gr.

On top of the hill on the main range at Alabama Precision
If you ever want to check out legit glass before you buy, check out a long range match. There were very nice spotting units along the hillside

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From YouTube to Rumble and found another great 6mmARC 1k build success

6ARC Load Development, Range Days 2022-01-16

We all have things to work on… I try to be the person to at least think those words when disposition comes along. I’m starting to feel really great about breaking bad habits. In particular for today is You Tube…

So I started up Rumble and what do you know one of the first things I search for is 6ARC and nothing … dang, then “6mm ARC” and boom!, I’m rewarded with a great video from last month fresh on top of the stack so I clicky it…

Its a video about a budget build AR with a goal of 1k yds. Hooked. It happens, they walk it out from 100 to 1k and ring constant dings on target. Then the spotter pulls up and does the same with his. Dueling 6mm ARCs. Sweet. Great success! I think the total was $1350. Amazing. I was proud to be the first to comment. Here is the link.

https://rumble.com/vrpoc5-1000-yards-with-a-budget-6mm-arc-testing-the-accuracy-of-the-6mm-cartridge.html?mref=wvv3v&mc=7bi58

The scene is changing. More people are tired of being censored (in our case guns specifically which is my current top hobby…) and thus I’m just going to make a pointed effort to just not watch YouTube. I’m sure there will be specific instances, Photoshop tricks, fixing old cars. I have not missed FB at all and I’m hoping YT falls to the same category eventually. I also do think that as more SM emerges people will move more toward managing their own content/servers/sites and just embed whatever they can in actual web pages. If the Video host censors or you want to change, your content structure is still there, just change the embed to the next provider as needed.

I have also posted my very first video on Rumble, Embedded below, it’s not much just a quick mag dump at 300, but we will see how they roll and prepare for more…

Notes: Watching Tim Pool’s show with the CEO of Rumble was what turned me. Currently they are Canada based but are moving to FL this year. If they don’t move to the US and support 2A vids I will leave period and find the next. So its up to you Rumble. Remember even Google started out with the “don’t be evil” mantra…

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9mm Shock Cases with 124 Precision Delta HPs and CFE Pistol

AmmoSmith - Reloading Tips and Examples, Development Log 2021-12-06

Tested some 9mm rounds today. Testing the new shock cases and the small rifle primers in pistol (have more SRP than SPP). CFE Pistol, COAL : 1.112″

  • CCI Pistol Primers over 4.2 gn
  • CCI Pistol Primers over 4.6 gn
  • Winchester SRP over 4.2 gn
  • Winchester SRP over 4.4 gn

Had some feeding issues but I think that was mag related. I only had 10 rounds of each load and was testing each load in each of the 3 pistols. when I tried the CZ mags in the K12 caused feeding issues.

Brass looked fine, shot fine start the piles…

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6ARC 105 testing – 105Nosler CCs, 108 Elite Hunters, 105VLDs

6ARC Load Development, AmmoSmith - Reloading Tips and Examples, Range Days 2021-12-06

Tested these 3 batches of ammo today.

Had some feeding issues with the Noslers.

elite hunters seemed to have accuracy issues.

VLDs seemed to be right on.

These were all ran right around 2600fps. Banged steel 6″ gong @200yds

I ended up holding -13MOA on the scope and holding the left edge to ring hits. Most fun was doing double and triple taps on the plate.

Brass Used was a mix of New, 1x and 2x fired Starline match prepped: converted 6.5 Grendel, annealed, neck turned, inner neck champhered and honed. Brass looked good, Flat primers, slight ejector mark. Max charge decided on previously, this was just to test functionality. Wolf SRM Primers and LeverEvolution.

I did have a few Failure to feeds on the 108 EHs Loading them in the mag they are very long and may need to seat them a bit deeper. It seems like the tips are hitting the top of the chamber and getting stuck and the bolt just rides over the lip to jam in the shoulder.

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300PRC Ladder-loads and Initial Groups

AmmoSmith - Reloading Tips and Examples, Range Days 2021-10-13

Took the new Mile Rifle to Skyline to group in @ 200yds and run the 2n’d round of ladder loads. All rounds with H225 ELDM over 7828SSC or N565. I shot all but the hottest rounds for each powder, making a specific point to leave the hot rounds for next time – enforce the It’s OK to not shoot all bullets. I was expecting bolt lift on some of the hotter rounds but it was silky smooth through all rounds on ejection. There were a couple of rounds that were hard to chamber. In general the slower rounds were pretty soft shooting. Not doubt the EC Tuner brake helping with that. I did notice some recoil on the hotter rounds. All brass looked good with primers starting to flatten out on the hotter rounds. There were ejector marks on bras before I got it, and there are marks on these fired cases, a bit more prominent on the hotter rounds, but I’ve seen worse.

As far as velocity goes, I was able to get almost 3000 fps with both powders. N565 has better fill at 80.0gn @ 2950fps. 7828SSC had 77.0gn @ 2977. I loaded a couple of lower charge test groups with turned necks and shot them as well. The lower charge group of 7828 69.0gn had an excellent 1/2MOA 200yd 3-shot group! It was the first group I’ve ever shot with this rifle. I loaded 5 shots in these groups but the first 2 shots were to get on paper. First shot was way high because I had the base left at 25MOA. set to 0 and took another shot and spotter said I was way low, just above the lower PVC cross-pipe of the target stand. I backed the scope out to 24x where the hashes are 1MOA. I then used the hashes to measure rise to center of target to be 15MOA. Made the adjustment on scope and BANG, first shot dead nuts center. Second shot left me looking but with tighter new 50x F class glass I was able to tell that the 2nd shot piled into the same hole. I spotted it before my spotter actually and started laughing. Third shot was a tad low but I’ll take it!

I need to lower the cheek riser just a tad more if possible. The IveyTron is pretty tall, so I just use a low cheekpiece, tilt my head and use my left side dominant eye. It is just a tad too low and I can see just a shade of the top of the scope looking at the target. It’s a note when using the tall adjustable base. I will say that I didn’t notice the new 4″ brake on the end of the barrel so need to also keep that in mind when shooting LR with lots of elevation.

My shooting buddy/spotter brought his pro chrono that hooks up to blue-tooth and it worked great. Took a minute to get it settled up with the phone, but after that was smooth sailing. Additionally with that setup you can preload your groups to chrono instead of doing that at the range. That can save a lot of range time and keep things moving. The Lab Radar is nice, but the cost and functionality of the pro chrono would be my choice.

Next up is loading up some more of the 69.0gn of 7828SSC, anneal the other cases, then neck turn 40 more cases, leaving 1/2 of them turned and 1/2 1x fired.

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Range Daze

6ARC Load Development, AmmoSmith - Reloading Tips and Examples, Range Days 2021-04-26

I had planned to go Turkey Hunting in the backwoods of Alabama Saturday morning. That got delayed and I ended up riding around with my old friend in the Miata with the top off. Ripping through the gears on the back country roads with new tires on the rear brings grins ear to ear. As 7 yr old kid packed in the back seat of an old blue Ford Escort with my little sister, I had always dreamed of driving a red sports car to Grandmas house – finally happened.

In addition to breaking the 870 down so it would fit in the trunk of the Miata, I also brought the 6mmARC, the Ruger 10″ 22s, and the CZs (ZomBullShadow, SP-01 Racegun, 97B mostly stock). I had planned to also do some target shooting and test some new loads in addition to turkey hunting. – all the gear packed to the gills in the Nimble Ninja (a common occurrence). I decided to stop in just after lunch at Bob Gibson’s Original BBQ house and with Swann Creek WMA range was only 15mins detour on the way back home made it an easy decision.

It was perfect weather, and I was shocked to see the range not even half as full as last time on a Saturday. Parked at the 100 yd pavilion and signed in. I had been suffering a putrid cough and loss of voice – shouldn’t be COVID as I can still smell and taste plenty, but it wasn’t fun – I braved through it and kept my distance.

First up, was the 6mmARC, confirming my “Jam the Lands” load, which worked very well to fire form about 20 cases of converted 6.5 Grendel Basic Brass. Worked great, I thought the single feeding would be an issue but it wasn’t bad at all. A friend happened to be there with his LabRadar, which brings up a question – aren’t all people with Lab Radars considered friends?

We confirmed the velocity of the of my settled load of Leverloution over 105 Bergers to be ~2550fps. I let him shoot a mag and try the rifle and got video using the ATN. Chased down all brass and it looked good. So next is loading a single case until the neck is split (4-8 times will be my guess). Then try same test using the annealer after each firing.

Next up was the 10″ Rugers. First was the Black Grand-Mamba (scoped). I sighted in at 50 yards and made some adjustments to the scope. It shot very well but then I noticed a bit of slop that I thought was coming from the push button release, but it was actually the scope mount coming loose off the receiver ( I don’t think I locktighted them). Next up was my Bond gun – the Stainless MKII 10″ barrel version with stock trigger and gold Vol Bolt.

The Deuces…. Ohhhhh… Both 10″ 22 pistols with Gold Volquatsen bolt. Black one has Vol Trigger.

It shot good but did have some light strikes which the MK4 finished no problem. I started shooting at small items on the 100yd berm. I was Benched and bagged so it wasn’t very difficult to get the berm targets to dance around a bit. Mostly close/about 2″ off, but also some direct hits.

I was holding the front post about 1/8″ high off the rear sight and using CCI SV factory 2nds. I did notice that hits on self healing plastic targets at this distance did not make the target move very much/at all.

Lastly was the CZ pistols, which the 97 ruled the day. I started with the ZomBullShadow, and the 90gn ammo I had just made. It did not have enough power to cycle the gun.

Switched to new Berrys 115 load and they would BARELY cycle the gun and would ONLY cycle with firm grip (great example of limp wristing).

I DID get one of the bullets to jam the action up tight. looks like the offending round did not get sized or plunked. Bagged the pistol and swiched to SP-01. Quickly realized that my dot battery was out so switched to the 97. 50 roudns of the Standard RN loads and it shot great.

Loads tested:

9mm 90gn Hornady hollow points with nickel cases. They fired fine, shot like a 22, but didn’t have enough oomph to fully work the slide. This resulted in the case being held in by the extractor and not even hitting the Ejectorm just stayed along for the entire ride, keeping perpendicular to the slide, not picking up the next round and jamming the gun with the brass hitting the breechface just a tad off center. But, the highest load that I used I believe DID work the slide, and I remember checking the brass and it seemed OK, cratered, but not pierced – so need to finish making those (~150 bullets) at highest TESTed powder charge and do accuracy/function testing with the Ruger PC9.

The Berrys 115 gn seemed to run GREAT in the ZomBullShadow – at first. Then I got a round that hadn’t been sized at the base and it jammed the gun. I did get to shoot about 3 mags of them and they ran great. The round that locked the gun probably didn’t get sized properly/all the way(short stroking the press when getting case feed adjustements setup maybe) Either way need to plunk all rounds for the gun. The gun was bagged and dis assembled at home, looks GTG now.

Next up was the SP-01 Racegun! – This gun Would have ran great BUT, I left the Dot ON and the battery was dead. DANG!

The 97 came out and reigned supreme on that day. 4 mags shot GREAT with the stock 45 loads I had made (Berrys 230RN over Alliant Power Pistol). Called that a day and packed up to head home.

Other notes and observances: There was one 9mm round that was right on the edge of performing/running the slide. I remember limp writing one of the dev loads and the gun would jam – firm grip it would run. I went back and forth a few times to confirm. I have had a couple of light development loads exhibit this issue before, but not quite this evident. It was actually kind of cool, to be able to make the gun jam jut by having a slightly softer grip, but I don’t ever want to load action match rounds on that hair line verge of not working, better to powder up!

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6mmARC Brass Forming From Straightwall Blanks

6ARC Load Development, Processing Tips 2021-04-13

Disclaimer: do your own research and use common sense when reloading. I am not responsible for your results. Don’t try this at home or at home office either…

Here are the steps that worked for me. I wouldn’t even attempt this without a great annealer. That thing is worth its weight in brass.

Scope footage: 1/2/3/500 yds – watch the scope tap dance like Danny K…
https://youtu.be/zjgycnxhAAQ

UPDATE – 2022: I did a new year run 1/9/2022 run of 250 cases that I found from last year.

For the most part the process was the same. I did have about 20 cases that had a fold/crease in the mouth/shoulder area. I think this would be fixed if you could extend the start of the die funnel or somehow put an initial crimp on the case-mouth. Also I noticed that after sizing and such, when mandrel sizing it, some shoulder were collapsed. I used some neck lube and then all GTG. From there they were swabbed/cleaned and champhered/deburred.

This batch also was sized minimally, so I’m hoping that they will be able to fire normally vs having to jam them in the lands and single fire them. I am test loading 20 of them with a mix of Hornady 100gn and 105VLDs for comparison.

  1. Use Pilot 01 for all annealing and RCBS #3 shell holder – the H45 was too tight and the other RCBS was too loose letting cases slip and fall in the annealer to be turned upside down and picked out. RCBS#3 just right.
  2. Analyze to find Annealing Code A:
    • Took me a sec to get the hang of the Annealer again which menu to get to in order to do the analyze.
    • Annealing Code A LOGGED: 0116
  3. Anneal all brass using Annealing Code #A – this was very quick ~1 sec each.
  4. Lube – lanolin mix in bag and did find that swabbing the interior casemouth helped quite a bit when the expander ball is coming back through.
  5. Size (single pass) – Shoulder Bump noted – 3.152″ (taken/matched from another previously fired case) with H comparator on shoulder and calipers. BUT keep in mind shoulder is not fully formed yet so that reading is close but not exact. THE heavy duty RCBS press at the range was defiantly a help and it did size smoothly but did take some effort.
  6. Anneal to relive stress after sizing. Discussed with local wildcatter and and decided to do another round of annealing. Analyzed to find Annealing Code B LOGGED: 0149
  7. Anneal all brass using Annealing Code #B
  8. Trim – With normal brass, the trimmer trims down to 1.485” but it was leaving the new brass at 1.495” with is /5 thou too long. So I had to adjust and then thinking about it – most likely due to shoulder variation.
  9. Champher/deburr – used the hand tool
  10. Clean (if needed – blow dry chips away)
  11. Prime – RCBS hand primer
  12. Drop powder – 25.0 Gns of W748 – 6 test rounds
  13. Shot bullets – Failure to Fire – no primer indentations at all.
  14. Local wildcatter advised on seating the bullets long to make sure the casehead was up against the breech so that the firing pin would activate. Seat bullets (jammed) too long to load in mag, need a sled mag. Single Feeding jammed lands worked and rang plate ~ 6″ low @100yds (I didn’t care about accuracy just that it fire formed)
  15. Fire Form Results – WORKED for 6 cases will test more – looks good. Can still see some faint stretch marks on the brass in the shoulder/neck area but seems GTG.
  16. Dissection Results
  17. Load repeatedly to see how many firings it will take (> 4 = grins).
  18. After Fire Forming, Analyze to find final Annealing Code C. This code will be used after every firing until brass is toasted.
  19. Next Batch of processed brass will be using a slightly different die setup.
    1. Remove the decapping pin from RCBS SB 6ARC die
    2. size lubed case in single pass
    3. then use Sinclair mandrel 6mm dies to form necks – less stress on the necks
Headstamp ideas welcomed!

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Queen of Hearts – 6mmARC load Dev with W748

6ARC Load Development, AmmoSmith - Reloading Tips and Examples, Range Days 2021-03-22

I was 4 or 5. Hauling down the old country roads with mom and dad in back in ’80 in old Val (the white station wagon my mom traded her green 68 firebird on). The radio starts playing my favorite song (basically the only one I know) – Queen of Hearts by Juice Newton. “Playing with the queen of hearts, knowing it ain’t really smart, the Joker is the only Fooo-oohh-ooolll that will do anything with you!” then I’d start making the guitar sounds.

Well today, I went to the local range with a small pile of Berger 105 BTTs over W748 (I had already done a ladder load to determine/confirm pressures/velocities) using the 103 grain data (Hodgon has recently added W748 to their 6mmARC online recopies). I had a feeling this would be a decent powder for the ARC(based on the burn rate chart) and landed a couple bottles a few weeks ago.

I have decided to settle, that is for an easy/cheap round that I can pump out on the 650 for short range targets (< 500yds). I created a new profile in the ATN Scope for this ammo at 2500fps. I used to bring 2 sticks to the range and staple pizza boxes between them, but alas I have shot up all my sticks, and only had this “good half” to go in my target stand at 200 yds. So I did this. I stapled the plate to the stand along the left edge, then stapled the playing cards to the right side of the plate. Theory being that if you are good (enough) you won’t shoot the stick.

I had to boresight and re-zero a couple times, but got on at 200. Benched and bagged, I started letting them fly. about every second. with a bag on the fore-end and a bag on the buttstock toe, it was very stable and easy to hold position and pump them in one after another. I tried to take a video, but mashed the button to take picture instead, so all my humorous narration was a waste.

But all is not lost. I got some meh groups on the fast fire, then moved to more slowly timed focused shots on the playing cards. I was zoomed to 20x for these shots, there are a couple that are pairs. I moved to the lower target, “The Queen of Hearts”. After only a few shots it was cold range and shadows growing so I retrieved target and laughed immediately and started singing the song once again…

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6mmARC Chrono Results Berger 105 VLDT/BTTT /LeverLoution

6ARC Load Development, AmmoSmith - Reloading Tips and Examples 2021-03-10

Chrono Results from the Strategic Edge Range 3/7/2021

These bullets are very similar, the VLDT is more pointy(spensive) and the BTT is more traditional(cheaper). The original load with Hybrid Target have been hard to find, hence using these bullets.

Chrono results are below. It looks like the lower charge weights are the most accurate, so its a toss up. I guess close range use the lower velocity with smaller groups, but on the longer range, may be better off with the higher charge weights that give less drop/drift but also smaller groups at range due to vertical stringing that comes from ES and SD.

Berger 105 VLD Target – 3 round groups to conserver components

Second Grouping…

Berger 105 BT Target

105 BTT and W748 coming up next! Maybe throw in some CFE 223 as well.

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6ARC, ATN scope, CZ racegun testing

6ARC Load Development, Range Days 2021-03-08

Chrono Results are listed HERE!

Where the radio runs out, in the hills of TN, there is a cove tucked in the woods that lets you shoot up to 1250 with live large Screen Impact monitors. It’s the safest rage I’ve been to, and its worth packing all the guns I can into my tiny red convertible and working the gearbox just one more time.

A surprise to me! A fellow shooter wit a new 6mmARC in the wild! He was shooting the first shots down the bore cool build!

First up the 6mmARC Load Dev and ATN4k 5-20 NightVision Scope. This gun shot small silhouette groups at 750 last visit to this range (with the Nikon Buckmaster2) so the bar was set. I started at the short range with a confirmation zero at 100/ then quickly went to 2/300 with little issues. Shooting my Cultured round of LeverLoution and Berger 105 HTs. Then the cold Range Buzzer goes off. I setup the chrono using the BOG and a wood attachment and then run the dev batches to get velocities. In interest of saving components, I loaded 3 round groups at paper(groups A&B), mainly checking for velocity with these new profile bullets (comparing to the previous 105HT that shot great). I used the aluminum angle and carbon arrow (pointy stick) to change strings and it worked great.

The Pirate’s Booty Chest is FULL of rare 6mmARC rounds!! AYE! Mate!

With those chrono results done I moved over to the long range and back to the Berger HT load. With the rifle zeroed at 100 and target yardage set to 100 yds in the ammos BCsetup (for previous chrono testing/groups). I then changed the zero to 300 and then took a shot at the 300 yd target. I was way low – thought that’s weird, went back to 100, boresighted it again, confirmed zero at 100 again, then back to 300 and same thing. This time I realized what was happening (I think). So Here is the deal, I was thinking that the changing your target yardage setting in the ammo BC setup would automatically adjust your zero, but it doesn’t. BUT If you use the Ballistic Calculator option in the scope, you Can have it ZEROed at 100 yds and show the POA for 600yds (for example). Basically I thought this calculation (elevation at least) carried over when you adjust your zero from 100 to 300, but it doesn’t.

Alum Angle iron and carbon arrow shaft makes a great mode selector during hot range. Big fan of the BOG/ bought itself again today.

Not a huge deal, but you need to be expecting it and here is why. I was planning on just getting it zeroed on the 100yd sighting plate, then moving straight to 600/650/1k. I think the proper way to do this would be to have it zeroed at 100, find/estimate your drop for 600, rezero the rifle with that hold over, then set the target distance to 600 and take a shot to rezero rifle. IF you do not make those adjustments and try going straight from 100 to 600 changing ONLY the target distance, you would be seeing 600 in the scope display (zoomed in most likely around 12x) and your bullet’s elevation would be stuck at 100 yds. Once I figured out what was going on with that I figured OK, trying to spot little holes at 600 yds, by myself with a 5x scope – ehhhh….Not a great plan for conserving ammo. So I decided to play with/use the onboard Ballistic Calculator to show where to aim for 600 yd hits.

A fellow Long Range shooter put this device out at the 1k target area. They put up a 52″ target as well and said that it worked out to 1700yds, worked great, and calculated group size and all. They also have a cheaper 300yd version. The versions are not upgradeable. Looked DAF, Stuff you just don’t see at the local public range…I would NEVAR set that up at the other Redneck range I shoot at for obvious reasons.

The Ballistic Calculator icon/dot – Here is my opinion so far and what to look for an how to use it. Things that I noticed that can be confusing, but aren’t mentioned in the manual. You just have to play around with it to “discover the hardships”.

  • Dot doesn’t show up unless you are in the specific reticle type
  • Dot is hard to see in full sun on display (not using eyecup)
  • Dot is hard to see/hidden by the vertical bottom reticle – If you are only dropping a couple inches and no wind left/right, the dot can be hidden by the lower reticle

Using the BC I took a shot at the 600 yd plate, but I couldn’t confirm a hit so the 600-1k ARC dream will have to sail another day. I think my plan for next time is walk it up from 1/2/3/500 using that sighting/zero method. Another plan of attack is to have 2 separate profiles for each ammo type. I need to try exporting what is in the BC to computer, then duplicate it and rename for LR (long range). Then I can have a 200 yd zero for short range, use the different reticles for holdovers or whatever out to 500. Then when shooting 600+ switch to the LR profile and have it zeroed @ 600 but use the BC for out to 1k maybe.

With some good and bad resutlsin on the new scope setup, I decided to break out the old 6.5 and make sure it is back on target and sighted in.

This rifle was my “pinky toe in the water” of LR. About as cheap as they get really, RAP, 20MOA base, Nikon Buckmaster II (4-12) BDC. It has shot 1k before but it has been years. Having recently remounted the scope to the rifle, shooting 1k was the defining goal of the day. Shooting 143ELDX plinkers at 12x zoom, I boresighted it at 100, then confirmed yardage. the VERY first thing I noticed about this scope after shooting the ATN is the clarity of glass v.s video screen[Edit:after thinking about it more I never adjusted the parallax bell on the ATN and left it tat 200yds from last range visit so clatity comparison will be done another sunny day]. The first thought that popped in my head was “ohh this is going to be cackewalk, OK..” and this is for a $150 scope range. I made a couple dialing errors in elevation getting to 600, but once I was dialed for wind/elevation the hits were dropping in. I held third circle for 750yd and hit/hit/hit/miss/hit. I could see the hits on the impact monitors. The ones for 600 were not up that day.

Time to try for 1k. Now in order to do this but keep the 600 yd zero, I just zoom out to 8x and hold post. First shot was 1’oclock hit on the big plate about 24″ high. Adjusted 6 clicks down and ended up with about 10″ group al around the center plate. Move to some of the smaller swingers with my last 3 shots and missed. The old bearded dude next to me and helping spot me a bit reminded me of Jesse Duke. He then shot his PRC at the center plate and kept a .3moa – amazing.. yep, that target is still in calibration!

pretty smooth setup – LOVE the trashy holster!


On to the CZs – With the rifles done for I decided to pack them up and work on pistols now. I unpacked the SP-01 open racegun and the old ZombieB build for testing. Started off with some 9mm pulls for practice. These are pulled bullets that have been repurposed due to, well duh, the ammopocalypse. I had a jam with a couple, but was to be expected. Both guns ran fine generally but seemed to shoot low. I noticed I had to hold to the top of the plates to hit. I thought about adjusting sights, but this visit was mostly for functionality, so in the interest of growing shadows, I skipped it and just held high. I did notice that on the 75B that resting the dot on top fo the back blade (as opposed to IN it) got great results. Getting the plop plop of the plate rack was fun again. The racegun still needs grip attention as the mags were having issues dropping and I’m sure it is due to my custom grips/long screws. I took the Cajun spring pack to potentially adjust the rate, but skipped that too in the interest of fun. The $60 Ace/Race holster did work great! I’m sure once my grips and draw are down it will be a cheapo smoothie.

This gun shot great today. Except the Front site rod fell out. It’s my fault/design so I LOLed. I could actually get a ghost sight picture with the rod gone. No biggie, this gun will soon be dramatically *enhanced.

Lastly, I went back to pick up brass. I might not be doing that much more for the raceguns. More on that later. But for now, as for today, it was wrapped up with a cool drive down the country backroads weighted down ~20,000 grains less, smiles all around.

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