Took the CZ to the range yesterday along with a few LMI’s to try 1000-yard shooting. It was 8 degrees out and thats pretty cold when youre used to 25-30~ degree weather. On the bright side, heat mirage wasnt much of a concern. Wore the Flectar parka and it was up to the task. Shoulda worn warmer socks though…one of the LMI wore a pair of Mickey Mouse/bunny boots and they apparently served him quite well. Looks like Im going to have to hunt a pair of them down and buy them. I was still getting the feel for the CZ and my 9x scope was no match for the distance of 1000 yards so I just shot 100 yard stuff. The LMI were shooting 7mag and .308. I personally thought the .308 would be pretty spent and thus less accurate by the time it got there, but it acquitted itself nicely. Holdover? Well, the conversation went like this: “Okay, sighted in for 300 yards, so its 25 clicks of elevation for 1000”, “Add two more clicks for the colder temperature”, etc. See, at that range you dont just think to yourself “I’ll hold four feet over the target”…no, you calculate your ballistics on a computer, print a little range card with the various distances noted, and then you mark down the correct number of clicks to adjust your scope. Of course, for this to work you need a very good scope (average cost of the scopes used we $900 each) and your ammo has to be quite consistent. When all that is said and done you head down the range and see a group thats about 6 or 7 inches big and you think “Thats horrible” until you realize thats .7 MOA…the equivalent of shooting a .7″ group at 100 yards…and that those shots all would hit a man sized target at well over half a mile away.
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Took the Mr Heater ‘Buddy’ to the range. It worked adequately enough to warm hands and feet but it really works best in an enclosed space. The brain-numbing cold didnt have much of an effect on it although the Coke I was drinking froze in the three minutes I left it alone to go take a leak. Thats cold.
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Things at the house are a bit chilly too. I was negligent in getting the storm windows up so thats a priority for today. Additionally, I need to make sure theres no under-the-door drafts or anything. Heating bill was outrageous last time.
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Im going to ditch the Remington brass and pick up some Lapua or Hornady Match cases. I may be on the right track with the IMR 4895 but I’d like to try some of the Varget or blc2 loads. Any idiot can hit a playing card at 100 yards…I didnt spend this money for 100 yard shooting. I want the maximum effective and accurate range. Not necessarily 1000 yards but probably 600yards or so at least.
Notes From The Bunker
you have a thousand yard range!!!! now i really hate you
As a kid in Minnesota, I had a pair of surplus AF Mickey Mouses (distinguishable by the air valve on the sides) that I used for my early morning paper routes. They did the job better than anything else available. They were great in fresh snow. They’re clumsy, but they’re very warm. I imagine the newer ones have better insulation than those first models.
The biggest downside was learned in Korea. They don’t breathe, so if you leave sweat in them and sleep in them in the cold, your feet can freeze encased in ice. So they need good wicking socks and attention to dry feet when you use them long-term.
>I imagine the newer ones have better insulation than those first models.<
No, the MM’s are exactly the same. They do issue pac-boots in some area that have the felt liners, but the Mice are identical to the ones issued since the AF began, and in some cases *are* the same ones issued since the AF was incorporated as it’s own branch.
Not that I have any plans or need to do so, but what kind of optics are good for 1000 yard shooting? The strongest thing I’ve played with is a 4x tactical scope, and obviously that ain’t crap past 500-600, and it’s a little sketchy at 600.
If you can’t find the Mickey Mouse boots, try the Baxter State boots from LL Bean. My ex-husband worked on excavation sites all winter and spring in New Hampshire in a pair of those, and they worked extremely well in cold, mud, snow, ice, and cold water. Good traction, too.
One scope was a fixed 20x, the other was a 12-20x. Both were Leupolds and one had new mil-dot reticles installed by aftermarket company. Also, it requires you to useed tapered shims under your bases so you’ll get enough clicks for adjustment. Its arcane. However, the idea of being in a circle one-mile wide and knowing you can hit anything within that circle is pretty cool.
1000 yard benchrest dudes tend to like Nightforce Optics.
However, the idea of being in a circle one-mile wide and knowing you can hit anything within that circle is pretty cool.
Indeed. 🙂
So far, the farthest I’ve been able to shoot was at 600 yards. It was with an CMP Service Grade M-1 Garand (IHC) with standard sights and M-2 ball ammo. I was generally able to keep the shots in the black, but I didn’t have much control over where in the black they went. That gun and load combo works very well at 200 yards though.
I’ve been wanting to get into service rifle high power for awhile and I took that Garand out to 600 mainly to see if I could even SEE the target that far out. Since it looks like I can see OK at that range, now I can invest in a match quality AR without worrying about wasting my money.