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.455 Webley,
I recommend the Hornady 75 grain, 77 grain Nosler, or 77 grain Sierra bullets for 200 and 300 yards. You can use the more expensive Berger and Lapua bullets of the same weights but there is no need unless you a high master shooter. Seat the bullets to an overall length of 2.250 so that they will feed through the magazine. If you want to use heavier bullets at 600 yards, I would use the 75 Hornady AMAX, the 80 grain Nosler, or the 80 grain Nosler. I seat these bullets so that they are about 20 thousandths short of touching the rifling. You can experiment to find an optimum seating depth but it is a lot of work for minimal benefit unless you are a top notch shooter.
I have used Wolf small rifle magnum primers, Remington 7 1/2, CCI small rifle match primers and CCI small rifle military primers and saw no difference in the results. All these primers have harder cups and are more resistant to slam fires than some of the other brands. I would avoid Federal primers and Remington 6 1/2 primers. Pick one and go with it.
I have used Alliant RL15, Varget, VV N140, and H4895 powders for 200 and 300 yard loads and they all outshot me. Those are probably the four most frequently used powders but there are some newer powders that may be useful such as TAC and 8208 but I have not used them. I have used H4895, N140, and N150 at 600 yards and each of them were capable of shooting perfect scores with high X-counts at 600 yards. You can start at about 22.5 grains with any of these powders and work up from there. I never exceeded 24.0 grains with any of these powder/bullet combinations except for N150 with the 75 grain AMAX and 80 grain loads.
I would not waste a lot of time searching for the perfect load. Pick a powder, primer, bullet and work up a load. Unless you have a bad barrel just about any of the combinations will shoot into an inch or less at 100 yards which is far more than adequate for high power rifle competition. Unless you just have a lot of time on your hands and want to go all out on brass prep I would recommend simply full length resizing the brass (I use Lake City or WCC military brass and Winchester commercial brass). I trim the cases and sometimes clean primer pockets.
All my short line ammo is loaded on a Dillon 550B set up with an RCBS case activated powder measure. All of the above mentioned powders will drop within plus/minus one-tenth from the RCBS powder measure most of the time. The long line ammo starts with the same brass but powder charges are weighed. Having said that, one of my friends who is a great shooter loads his ammo on a Hornady progressive and drops his charges from a powder measure even for 600 yards.
Your time will be better spent practicing than trying to squeeze the last bit of accuracy out of your loads/rifle.
For more information go to usrifleteams.com and then open the National Match forum. There is a wealth of information on the site and plenty of people who are knowledgeable about Camp Perry and the upcoming CMP matches.
Gus
Gus Youmans
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WI FORCE competitions link https://wisconsinforce.org/events
Lodi is a very nice range that goes out to 1,200 yards north of the peoples republic of Madison.
Racine (RCLRC) is on the Racine/Milwaukee county border right by lake Michigan. One needs to come in off of 6 1/2mile road even though it is on 7 mile road.
WI FORCE site link https://wisconsinforce.org/
Illinois state association site http://www.isra.org/
They usually post a ten state schedule, which I don't see it yet.
They have a nice 600 yard range in Milan by the quad cities that isn't anywhere near Chiraq.
They also have a state assn. owned range and a 1000yard which range I have never visited.
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Thank you for all the great information.
I am far enough north in Wisconsin where the UP route seems like a good idea. By going south past Madison we can stop off and let our little one visit her Great Grandpa and who knows how many chances we will get for that.
I have been thinking about the logistics of moving all my gear and rifle around this range. How do most people do it? How do you keep an eye on your gear when you are working the pits or going broke in commercial row? Does something like this seem like a reasonable answer? http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-37-...9261/203668066 It seems like that should hold it all except for my rifle.
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The variations of carts used by competitors was truly amazing. Google shooting carts (images) to get an idea of the variations, some amazing craftsmanship put into some of them. A two wheel dolly with a milk crate base is common. The folding (collapsible) two wheel carts get used a lot. Two and three wheel carts based on (or made from) strollers or golf bag carts work good. Folding wagons. Just about anything with wheels will make things easier. Take a plastic tarp and bungees to cover your stuff when you go to the pits. Keeps the sun and rain off.
I never heard of anyone having any problems with people messing with things while they where in the pits.
Commercial row is a high traffic area LOL I would drop my gear off at the vehicle and then head there. Besides you can carry more stuff that way LOL
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PS make sure what ever cart you buy/make fits in the vehicle your taking. It is a good idea to check that BEFORE your packing to leave. Carts tend to take up a LOT of room
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Made some real progress this weekend. I had some high quality range time with the AR. I have the barrel pretty well broken in now and worked out my sight settings to 200 yards. I scored an invite to a private club near by that was having an offhand match the next day. I put up some respectable scores using a batch of factory second 68 grain bullets and IMR 4895. The real treat was getting to work the target pits and learning how to paste and mark.
Thanks again for all the help here guys.
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No one messes with your stuff. It is crawling with guns and is the safest place in America that week. I've seen people hand complete strangers their rifle to watch while they were in the PX. 1500 dollar match rifles.
That cart from Home Depot seems a bit much. A two wheeler dolly and a milk crate with a bungee and some padding to hold the rifles is common. I just slung my rifle and carried a shooters stool in one hand with lunch in it and the spotting scope in the other.
At noon on the sun is directly behind you. You can see .30 caliber bullets going down range with the naked eye.
Mendozas restaurant in downtown PC is worse than a one dollar Banquet TV dinner in the microwave.
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Get a Perch boat at the Jolly Roger restaurant, the best meal in all Ohio. Every time I left Perry, I would have the perch boat on my mind for a year.
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What do you guys like to use as far as score books go? I hear good things about the Jim Owens score book. Anyone here use one?
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The Jim Owens book is good I used the one sold by champions choice in Laverge tennesse for years also.Champions used to have 2 versions a "match" rifle version and a service rifle version.
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Also make sure the wind charts are for what your shooting.
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+1 on the Jolly Roger. Also, if it's a family vacation, and time allows, there is a cracker jack of an air museum just east of Camp Perry. Nice folks, very, very neat & historic stuff, and even a good enough restaurant on the grounds. Air planes, PT boats, motor cycles, armament, and even stuff like Clark Gables discharge papers w/ photos. In general, one of the nicest areas in the country.
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Thanks for the tip 725 we will have to go. My 16 month old girl goes crazy for airplanes. Anytime something with wings goes over the house we have to go outside so she can point at it and scream.
Country Gent: Does the Owens book have wind charts in it or will that be another purchase?
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I think it does I haven't competed since 2003 or 4 when the Multiple schlrosis made it to hard to hump gear. I seem to think it had charts for both 308 and 223. I made my own wind charts for my loads with a ballistics program on the computer. You want a book that holds the information not just so you know it the next day or next week but next year or maybe even the year after. With good score books you can find the days conditions at a previous match and have very close to the best data.
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Getting ready to head out to the big match. I just want to thank the members here for all of the help they have given me preparing for this.
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I wish you luck and great shooting! Have fun is what counts.