RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

Good shooting, you are getting her figured out

RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

I plugged the 90 grain T7 load (1800 fps) into Handloads.com's ballistic calculator (http://www.handloads.com/calc/) using Hornady's listed ballistic coefficient for that bullet (0.199) and a zero of 125 yards, and got this.

Looks pretty good, although the energy is falling off out there at 150 yards.

RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

Semi,

For what it's worth, I shot a 4-point buck 3 years ago with the 200 grain .40 cal XTP.
The range was a little over 100 yards, muzzle velocity was 1850 fps, so according to your chart, impact velocity would have been around 1500 fps. At this velocity, the XTP performed PERFECTLY- it was a quartering-to shot-
bullet entered just behind the shoulder, carved out a 50 cent-sized hole through both lungs, part of the liver and exited the far side, leaving a golf-ball sized exit wound. The buck spun around, collapsed, kicked a couple times and it was all over within about 10 - 15 seconds.

From my limited experience, I think the 200 XTP performs BEST at impact velocities of 1400 - 1800 fps. It performs adequately at higher velocities too, but I've had some very rapid expansion and not as good penetration (although still adequate for deer) at impact velocities north of 1850 fps. Hornady claims the bullet is rated to 2,200 fps or so- That seems a bit optimistic from my albeit limited experience. My current load is launching the XTP at about 1950 - 2000 fps and it's worked well for me, though I would be sure to aim behind the shoulder for a "boiler room" shot if it was a close (under 50 yard) shot.

RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

Nice shooting and an excellant report. Although I plan on using P-RS exclusively with my CVA Hunterbolt, I think I will follow your format for testing different loads and bullets.

Question about the Simmons4X ProDiamond scope you have mounted . . . pros and/or cons? This is the one I have been considering. Most of my shots will be in the 75-100 yard range.

RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

Hey Dusty, I have that ProDiamondon that Renegade barrel, and one on my Omega X7.

Pros: Long eye relief (5 inches for me) - wide field of view - clear, sharp optics -very wide adjustment range for elevation and windage -light & short - inexpensive. The last one I bought has what Simmons calls a"fast focus eyepiece" which allowsyou to quickly focus the scope to suit your vision andquickly focus on an objectat any distanceby turning a focus ring at the very end of the rear lense - kind of like the focus ring on binoculars. It's a real nice feature. My older ProDiamond does not have that feature.

Cons: You're limited to the 4X power, of course. So it's less useful than a higher magnification scope for things like evaluating the size of a buck's rack out there at 150 yards.Not too big a deal if you carry binoculars as I do - but still a limitation.It's a shotgun scope, so parallax is set at 50 yards rather than the standard 100 yards used for rifle scopes. That meansonlongshots if your eye is not lined up perfectlywith thecenterline of the scope you could have a parallax sighting error. But it's so small (an inch or less at 200 yards)as to be meaningless to me. Because it's a shotgun scope, the cross hairs are thicker than on most rifle scopes. If you look at my targets above, the four black squares are one inch apart. When I sight on that target at 100 yards, the cross hairs fill up the white squares between those blocks - so they are covering about one inch at 100 yards. Not suitable for fine target work at long ranges (but dang nice in low light hunting situations).

Hope this helps. I like them and suspect you will too. EDIT: Best price is here - http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=SN5 67793&CFID=15912872&CFTOKEN=78592655

Hey SmellyDog ;), thanks for that report on the 200 XTP. A real world report likethat is always comforting. I'm a boiler room shooter just about all of the time. On a really close shot, like under 50 yards, I sometimes take a neck shot if I have agood rest and a relaxed animal. If I don't have a good shot I just won't take it.

RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

Semi,

I forgot to say- that is some really nice shooting. I have the Simmons ProDiamond 4X too and I really like it- with the limitations that you already spelled out very nicely,

I usually take boiler room shots too- I don't like shoulder shots because of the meat damage.

I took a doe a couple years ago at 100 yards with a neck shot with the 200 XTP (80 grains loose T7). A little longer than I would prefer for a neck shot, but she was perfectly still and her body was obscured by a bunch of multiflora rose bushes. But the bullet flew true, and completely severed the spinal cord- dropping her instantly.

RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

Well OldHound, that's good shooting. Did that lady know you were hunting in her rose garden? :D

RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: Semisane


Hope this helps. I like them and suspect you will too. EDIT: Best price is here - http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=SN5 67793&CFID=15912872&CFTOKEN=78592655


WOW!!!!! Was $206.01, now $39.95 ??????????

RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

I have two inlines with a Pro Diamond 4x and one with a Pro Sport 2.5x20 mm and I have tried to shake that apart and have not done it yet. That one coasted a Whooping $19.95. I like them inexpensive scopes. If they break I get to argue with a scope company, and if they don't I get to shoot and see if they can work.

RE: Sunday Afternoon Sidelock
 

Not hardly Dusty. :) A misprint for sure. I've seen them priced most places at around$69.