The 600 yard Rifle Range at Nashua Fish and Game was the place to be yesterday.  The day began bright and sunny with little wind and the temperature was in the 60’s, ideal for long range shooting.

While setting up the Savage 10/110 Predator in .243 Winchester , I photographed some of the custom target shooting rifles (Below) that were too heavy to handle. Note the white strip above the barrel is a heat diffuser to reduce scope distortion. This rifle is likely shooting 6mm (.243) or .308 ammo. The Scope is set up for ultra long range beyond 25x. I think the shooter said this scope can crank to 50x if he wanted it.

The camo rifle below had no scope just a sophisticated peep and front site.

Back to my story, I had just proven some loads a few days before for the Nosler 90 grain e-tips using an accurate starting load of IMR 4350 using CCI Benchrest Primers.

The new Savage 10/110 .243 Winchester shot sub-moa groups of around 3/4 inch with a trigger pull of 2lbs 2 oz. I could likely do better if I fussed with the powder or seat depth of the bullet but this was satisfactory at the get-go. Below is the Savage 10/110 Predator.

I switched out the Nikon Coyote Special scope with circle reticles to the Leupold VX-1 I was testing. The Leupold had the crosshairs I needed for such a long distance. So in the rainy downpour yesterday I got the scope and rifle to bullseye the Nosler’s at 100 yards.

Being such a stickler for details, I did not want to go the 600 yard range and guess at how many clicks up on the Leupold to get me to 600 yards so I calculated it. Here is how I did it.  Using the Hornady Ballistic Calculator in my web header above, I entered the caliber, speed of the bullet from the Nosler loading book and the ballistic coefficient for that bullet, in this case I chose the G1 drag function is for a standard bullet shape. I could have chosen the G7 Drag Function for a Long range boat tail but didn’t know enough about these functions to mess around.  I chose the range to 600 yards in the Calculator and hit the Calculate button.  Reading the resulting upclicks for 600 yards it read 14.9 MOA (Minute of Angle). To calculate the upclicks multiply that number times 4 for a scope with 1/4 inch MOA per click at 100 yards, the answer was 55 clicks up. I knew it was not perfect because I was not able to Chronograph the bullet speed but the data in the Nosler manual was good enough to get me on paper and in the black. I shot the first one at about 15 inches high and adjusted the scope down 5 clicks after 5 shots and that put me in the 10 ring where I was happy to just shoot for group.  I watched the flags for when to shoot between small gusts of wind and was pleased to place all but one in the 10 ring and 2 in the x-ring. The group of 7 shots is estimated to be less than 6 inches vertically. That is excellent making the group sub- Minute of Angle.  Note: A five mph wind can blow the bullet sideways 10 inches at 600 yards.  The combination of the Savage Rifle , Leupold Scope, bullet, powder was a good match RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX.

After the shoot, I went back to my club range and cranked the Leupold dial back down 50 clicks and shot a 3/4 inch group in the 100 yard bullseye. The Leupold VX-1 is a fine scope   indeed for a hunting scope and proved itself today. The LR Long Range Reticle is explained below (it is a bit pixelated sorry) but at 600 yard they were too short for my use and would have to be proven in with each load. I believe you need access to a range that allows you to experiment with loads to get the Reticle to work properly at long distances. My club rifle range is only 150 yards.

This rifle is a top long distance rifle. I would take this out west for antelope at 300 yards with the load I was shooting or 400 yards (1000 ft lbs) with the Nosler Custom Factory Loads for the 90 grain e-tip that drive the bullet to 3200 fps. Expansion on game is ideal!!

Good Hunting and Good Shooting! ©