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Today was a Barton Road meeting at 800/1000/1200 yards. The weather promised to be good and Christel had announced she would be shooting subject to the sky being cloud free so 07:10 we were ready to go, all I had to do was move the car to outside the house and load the rifles in.

Nothing, not a flicker, the battery was flat. Arghhh... Well it is fair to say we seldom use the car however this was not expected, as luck would have it a neighbour walked out to unlock the church yard so he was pressed into use as a car jump starter. Heh, I doubt the neighbours were too impressed with two 3 Litre 5 cylinder diesels rattling away outside however we were happy as the car had been started, was quickly loaded and we were off.

Being late meant I certainly was not going to be an RCO so I could settle down to some quality time shooting, I had grabbed the Schultz & Larsen and it was working well being shot at 800 yards to 'S Class' format, eg Harris bipod and 12x 'scope at an F Class V Bull target and despite the heat I was quite happy. Christel was there to test the new adjustable bag rider I had just fitted to her 22C and she shot a couple of sighters and then a group of 4" after that she packed up and wandered off to see what was happening.

1000 yards Christel sat out in the shade as she was far more interested in the 1200 bit, I was very happy shooting with a low rifle, rear elevation control was by the single finger I could slide between the butt and the ground, this is a style I picked up from a Danish sniper team a few years ago and I do tend to shoot very low when possible. I am not sure how warm it was today, probably around the 30C mark however I did notice the rifle shooting high if the round was chambered for more than a few seconds so I took to waiting until the last moment, loading and shooting very quickly, 'S Class style....' (This is going to be my summer mantra)

1200 was good, it was still very warm and was pleased to be nicely on the target first shot and finish with one of those 5" V's. One thing I did not see once was mirage as I was shooting at 12x magnification however my trick of load and shoot was not working particularly well and I was getting heavy bolt lift so I decided to call it a day. At least it was a V Finish which given the unfriendly wind was good.

Christel was set up and testing again and with a couple of sighters shot her first 5 shot group only to be told only three had got to the target. Odd, so we watched her second set and saw a couple blow up at around 200m out from the firing point. I cannot remember her ever loosing a bullet like that before so it was certainly a warm day, eventually she succeeded in shooting a quick 6" group having put a string of 8-9 shots down range which she said she was OK however I suspect she would have liked to have seen a slightly better group even if it was with a .224 being shot off a bipod...

Good to see 20 Series with his new tarts handbag .284 RPA with Gemini stock, it certainly seemed to to be settling down to a new world of abuse and I am sure is going to prove to be a very accurate rifle.

I have spent the rest of the day trying to re hydrate.....

ovenpaa wrote:... saw a couple blow up at around 200m out from the firing point. I cannot remember her ever loosing a bullet like that before so it was certainly a warm day, ...

*Baffled*

The rounds were dropping short, ooman ?

Or actually exploding in mid-air ?


*Bewildered*

They were exploding in mid air, basically they were getting out a couple of hundred yards and the jackets were peeling off, what you see is a p**f of smoke and nothing on the target..

*Astounded*

What causes that ?

The bullet is travelling and rotating too quickly and the jacket just peels away, if a load is stable then this is usually seen on very hot days when the bullet is travelling faster than normal. Christels rifle usually shoots at around 3250fps with an 80 grain .224 SMK from a 1:8 twist, it would have been quicker today.

*Gobsmacked*

You mean the bullets you are using are so close to the limits of their yield stress that a small increase in Mr Celsius' graduations causes them to fail?

That's not good...

Although I have seen no evidence, I wonder if the bullets might hold together better through a barrel with rachet rifling. I have a feeling that they don't engrave so deep - My Shilen barrel is certainly sweet to shove a patch through but I've never pushed them hard enough to fall apart.

dromia wrote:

http://www.full-bore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=8918

Try the link tongueout

Badger Bloke, I must admit I have never seen it happen with these loads and yes it is quite a common occurrence with a couple of shooters at Barton Road.

Dromia, some pictures.

This is the adjustable rear bag rider I built for Christels rifle, once the bipod is set all of the elevation controls can be made with the centre knurled adjuster which uses left and right hand threads to keep rotation to a minimum, it gives more than enough adjustment for the frames we use. Shooting to S Class regulations. Someone's very white legs, luckily I was wearing sun glasses...