6ARC, ATN scope, CZ racegun testing
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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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