As I've said in earlier posts, for me it's all about first shot accuracy. If I'm shooting at a fox or a pig or a deer, it will be the first shot from a cold barrel that counts.
In the previous post from last week I checked and adjusted zero for my Mauser M03 rifles at 300 meters. For this post I set up a fresh target board at 300 meters, with a 2.5 cm centre square surrounded by 5 cm squares. 20 x 20 cm overall.
I fired one shot at 300 meters with my 30-06, 270 Winchester and 243 Winchester. I'd left the barrels dirty from last week, to ensure that cleaning or oil residue after patching out did not affect the fall of shot. The 30-06 fired a 180 gn Remington Core Lokt factory load, the 270 a 150 gn Norma Spire Point factory load and the 243 a hand-load made with a 68 gn Berger flat base bullet and 40 gn of ADI 2208 powder.
As can be seen from watching this week's video, the first shot accuracy from these rifles is good. The shot from the 270 is a bit off to the left, but my excuse is that I made the final adjustment last week without firing a confirming test shot, to conserve ammunition. The wind also picked up with this shot, quartering from right to left. I've moved the windage turret on the Zeiss Victory HT scope two clicks to the right. I'll ask the next pig or fox I shoot if I've got it right now. Update - Ask this pig!
Later, as the sun was almost setting and casting a low-angled golden light across the long slope of an east-west hillside (geez that's a lot of adjectives), I rested the M03 Deluxe with its Kahles 6-24 on sandbags across the Landcruiser's hood. After some scanning with my binoculars I found three young rabbits. I clicked the Kahles down 6, to set zero at 200m and adjusted the zoom to 16x. The rabbits were at about 150m, so I aimed slightly low. The M03's set trigger was perfect. Three for three. As I was driving home I waved when the farmer's daughter and I passed each other on the road. She would find a shopping bag with fresh dinner for her cat by the back door.
Monday 16 November 2015
Sunday 15 November 2015
Mauser M03 - Zeroing at 300m
I was looking at Google Maps to hunt around on a farm for a nice level stretch of 300 meters where I could fire a few shots with my Mauser M03 barrels, to check where the bullets were going at that range. I was measuring the distance with the ruler tool in a paddock I was familiar with when I noticed a tight group of black lumps where I knew there should only be grass. That has to be a mob of pigs!
By the time I got out there the pigs were gone, so I set up a large piece of really stiff waste cardboard to shoot at instead. The barrels had been oiled for storage and then patched out, so the first shots at 300 meters would be a bit loose. I figured it would take three shots to get the scope turrets adjusted for each barrel. In the end that's pretty well how it turned out, although with the 270 Winchester barrel I only fired two shots, as I have only a handful of rounds remaining of the two boxes of Norma factory loads I bought to make fire formed cases. I wanted a magazine full for walking around later. These Norma rounds have been good ammunition to start with.
Here's the video, with the shots shown as I fired them, changing between rifles. I'm fiddling with the turrets between shots, so there's no tight grouping to admire.
Edit - Look at the video in the next post to see where the first shot from each barrel went, in a test the following weekend.
In the soft evening light just after sunset I scanned through my binoculars and picked up some rabbits on a hillside at 150 meters. I selected the 243 Win and brought the elevation turret back to a 200 meter zero. I'd knocked over three of them when I looked further up the creek line and saw a fox sniffing around on the ground at about 250 meters. It was directly ahead of the Landcruiser so I couldn't rest over the engine compartment. I moved the front and rear sandbags to the ground and settled behind the Mauser and its Kahles 6-24 scope. The first shot slipped just over its back and it ran 50 meters before starting to sniff around again. I aimed a little lower and didn't miss the second time.
By the time I got out there the pigs were gone, so I set up a large piece of really stiff waste cardboard to shoot at instead. The barrels had been oiled for storage and then patched out, so the first shots at 300 meters would be a bit loose. I figured it would take three shots to get the scope turrets adjusted for each barrel. In the end that's pretty well how it turned out, although with the 270 Winchester barrel I only fired two shots, as I have only a handful of rounds remaining of the two boxes of Norma factory loads I bought to make fire formed cases. I wanted a magazine full for walking around later. These Norma rounds have been good ammunition to start with.
Here's the video, with the shots shown as I fired them, changing between rifles. I'm fiddling with the turrets between shots, so there's no tight grouping to admire.
Edit - Look at the video in the next post to see where the first shot from each barrel went, in a test the following weekend.
In the soft evening light just after sunset I scanned through my binoculars and picked up some rabbits on a hillside at 150 meters. I selected the 243 Win and brought the elevation turret back to a 200 meter zero. I'd knocked over three of them when I looked further up the creek line and saw a fox sniffing around on the ground at about 250 meters. It was directly ahead of the Landcruiser so I couldn't rest over the engine compartment. I moved the front and rear sandbags to the ground and settled behind the Mauser and its Kahles 6-24 scope. The first shot slipped just over its back and it ran 50 meters before starting to sniff around again. I aimed a little lower and didn't miss the second time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)