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Range report - new table, new rest, & 221 Fireball

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Range report - new table, new rest, & 221 Fireball

Old 02-26-2017, 08:16 PM
  #1  
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Talking Range report - new table, new rest, & 221 Fireball

Today dawned chilly, but sunny - good weather for both drone flying and handgun shooting. I was eager to try out my new C&J Machine rest together with my new shooting bench and 221 Fireball. My two goals were one, test my completely overhauled shooting system, and two, obtain more chronograph data so I can comfortably map out my Nikon scope's BDC reticle with my handloads.





Once I set everything up, I finally got a good feel for how steady everything was. The crosshairs stayed as steady as those of any of my rifles. Because I was using a radically different rest compared to what I used before, I decided to fire five rounds and see how well the gun groups off a solid rest.

The first group was . . . highly disappointing, so much so that I didn't even take a picture. The roughly 2" group was an inch to the left and 1.5 low, not counting one flier that was even further from the bullseye.

However, I quickly realized the issue. Having never shot off a rest like this, I never learned to grip the gun properly. So, for my next few groups, I decided to try dinfferent ways to grip the Encore while simultaneously making adjustments to the scope. As I did, I made two fairly respectable groups:

0.860"


0.968"


Finally, I got the scope mostly sighted in, and more importantly, discovered what I felt was a good, repeatable grip. Essentially, I added a downward twist to my standard firm grip. With the primary bullseye becoming quite crowded with previous bullet holes, I aimed for one of the other aimpoints on the target. The results:



That, my friends, is my best handgun group to date: a three shot, 0.589" group at 100 yards. That's tighter than 99% of the groups I've ever fired, even with rifles.

While making all these shots, I had my chronograph recording. The average velocity of the 17 shots I made averaged 2513 fps with a standard deviation of 20 fps. That's a bit slower than I got from five shots last weekend, but its standard deviation is almost the same. I entered the data for my bullet, sight in, and velocity into Nikon's SpotOn program and came up with this:



With the Fireball sighted in and shooting great, with the BDC reticle mapped, and with enough rounds for another three shot group left, I decided to go back to 200 yards. After setting up a new target - well, just a paper plate with an orange sticker - I got everything moved back to 200 yards. Once set up again, I placed the bottom of the first BDC circle over the center of the orange sticker and squeezed off a round. I felt something was amiss - I hadn't gripped the gun as I had previously. With my last two rounds, I concentrated on maintaining a uniform grip.



The flier was definitely my fault, but the other two were pretty good shots. Even with the flier, these three grouped just a hair over 2". My only real beef with this group was how far left they went. I initially thought the scope may not be perfectly level, but after thinking back on it, I realized the crosswind that whipped up toward the end of the range session might have been responsible. My SpotOn program showed that even a 5 to 10 mph crosswind could have easily accounted for the leftward drift. Now I just have to wait for a windless weekend afternoon to try another few 200 yard groups.

This new setup was so much better than what I've been shooting off of that I'm seriously wondering why I hadn't upgraded sooner. Between the wooden shooting bench and C&J rest, I'm optimistic I could be shooting my Encore handgun accurately to 300 yards by next deer season.
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Old 02-26-2017, 09:11 PM
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Well kiddo, I'm not usually one to say "I told ya so" butttttt I TOLD YA SO I figure Mercy will chime in with that too See the total difference in having a solid repeatable rest vs that pillow filled pack? Keep practicing your grip and hold and you may surprise yourself with an even BETTER group!
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Old 02-27-2017, 09:47 AM
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Nah, amigo - I wasn't gonna say "I told ya so...."

I was thinking more along the lines of: "you're welcome!"

Only tweaks left you could make to be "as close as possible to ideal," are bag riders in front and back. As you're noticing already, how you grip the pistol and how it recoils on the rear bag make a pretty big difference in your groups, so how we deal with that is to put a big flat, wide forend in the front and a big, flat, wide grip plate under the grip to make everything slide straight back. Then you don't play with down pressure or torque, you just get your grip in line with the pistol and catch it as it comes back. It makes the pistol a little wonky for field shooting though, so if your field set up doesn't suit riders, then you're as close as you can get to ideal.

Now that your testing platform is ironed out, what's your field set up? What are you taking in the hunting field to help transfer that tiny little bench group onto a bucks shoulder?

Good on ya for being a young guy willing to listen and learn though. Good shooting.
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Old 02-27-2017, 10:18 AM
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Yeah, yeah. You guys may be good for shooting advice, but y'all make my wallet hurt.

Originally Posted by Nomercy448
Now that your testing platform is ironed out, what's your field set up? What are you taking in the hunting field to help transfer that tiny little bench group onto a bucks shoulder?

Good on ya for being a young guy willing to listen and learn though. Good shooting.
That's the question. For prone shots, I could always use the backpack. I'm typically hunting from a blind, though, so I'm thinking a tripod based rest would be much better. You mentioned the Bog Pod PSR in the other thread, but it seems they've discontinued it.

What's your opinion of the Caldwell Deadshot line?
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Old 02-27-2017, 10:50 AM
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A buddy of mine has a Deadshot for coyote hunting with a rifle. I WISH it was capable of universal mounting, as I feel the legs of the tripod are a bit thin and offer too much flex. They're nice and light, however.

I'm not sure, but I don't believe the support "head" has a universal mount, so you're stuck with the Caldwell tripod. Not life-ruining, but definitely not my favorite tripod. If that head could be universally mounted to a Trigger-Stik, a Bog-Pod, or a Slik or Manfrotto, then it's probably the next best thing to a PSR.

I like the Caldwell deadshot head better than the Bog-Gear Xtreme rifle rest. For sure. I just wish the legs were stiffer, or wish the head could be transplanted onto a stiffer tripod.
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Old 02-27-2017, 11:06 AM
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There's also a Deadshot Max, which looks a bit sturdier.
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Old 02-28-2017, 07:43 AM
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When I had my Super 14 Contender in 7x30 Waters I was amazed how well that handgun shot. That was before I found this forum. Heck it was even before the internet I think!
As I recall I had a Burris 2-7x scope on it would shoot tiny groups all day long. I shot a couple nice fat young meat bucks with that handgun then the handgun hunting craze left me.
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