HME RCO Course

[IainWR]

OK its a simplification, maybe an oversimplification. But its not a WAG. The purpose of doing this at short range is so that even if you get it catastrophically wrong (whats the maximum range setting on a typical all ranges scope - 1200 metres?) your shot will still be contained. If you miss the target that in a sense doesn't matter - you have learned that something is not right and will go away and do some checks to ensure that next shot it is right - as long as the shot is contained. The process has to be designed for a specific distance if we are to avoid having multiple target sets, and the possibility of using the wrong target set or other forms of administrative confusion. At 200 yds to a first approximation, the trajectory is flat. The sight elevation required for 1200 yards is a bit under 50 minutes (on my target rifle - I suspect quite a bit less for a HME firearm intended for long-range work). The JSP 403 stop butt for a gallery range, viewed from 200 yds, is (at least) about 100 minutes high. It needs something more than substantial mis-setting to get your sight that far off.

[John MH]

Understand that, but before wasting ammunition a simple bore sighting check with bolt removed will reduce the margin for error. Also worth noting is that not all ranges have a stop butt so you cannot always rely on spotting a splash in the sand to get you on paper.

[IainWR]

John, absolutely agree that a boresight check is a very good idea.

I don't think the HME procedure would apply if you don't have a stop butt. That would imply that the range has a full danger area template, and the only limitation would be the calibre/MV/ME limits of the range safety certificate. But I'm now well beyond any certainty in my knowledge.

Iain

[DanTheMan]

Iain, would a shooter with a 300 Win Mag rifle need a mandatory HME zero before shooting if he intends to use 4000J reloads that fall below the HME ME ?

The way I read it and was taught, the shooter needs a HME zero signed off as the factory round exceeds ME however the shooter is insisting that it's not the rifle that's HME but the load so no HME zero procedure is needed.

Or is there a third answer, he needs to chrono on the range to prove the 4000J ME ?

[IainWR]

Iain, would a shooter with a 300 Win Mag rifle need a mandatory HME zero before shooting if he intends to use 4000J reloads that fall below the HME ME ?

The way I read it and was taught, the shooter needs a HME zero signed off as the factory round exceeds ME however the shooter is insisting that it's not the rifle that's HME but the load so no HME zero procedure is needed.

Or is there a third answer, he needs to chrono on the range to prove the 4000J ME ?

Or a fourth one, buy a .308" in the first place?


I had a phone discussion last week on almost exactly this point. The answer I gave was that if using factory ammunition rated (and marked on the packaging) as below 4500J, then no HME required.

Moving on from that, at Bisley there is a rule, separate from the HME procedure, that one may not use reduced-load ammunition to get on a range that would not be rated for the full-load product, and by extension of that I would want a HME zero for handloads in a .300 Win Mag. Since you can't chrono on the range without the possibility of exceeding the range limit (you don't know the answer until after you have done the test), therefore you have to go to the Zero Range (No Danger Area so HME procedures don't apply and rated to 7000J) to chrono, so you might as well go there and fire an HME zero card anyway.

That would be my take, HOWEVER, I no longer run safety processes at Bisley so the correct answer is that the process is what the Range Office staff, who answer to the Head of Range Services, say it is.

I am pleased to see that what I was saying about the subject in 2011 is mostly reflected in the 2014 / 2015 revision of the HME procedure.