Well...it's been a while since I posted anything about shooting the CZ452 at 50 yards. To tell the truth, it started to become more of a habit instead of an adventure on the 50. Maybe I could continue to shrink my groups if I doggedly stayed with it but I needed to stretch it out so that I have that big challenge again just as it was when I started my other thread... New to using a 'F-CLASS BR' at 50 yards...
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...BR-at-50-yards.
I've seen so many people posting groups they've shot on the 100 and saying how challenging it is to maintain small groups, saying how the wind is so much crueler, how the input of the shooter needs even further refinement...basically saying how everything is more of a challenge. So...I needed that.
I couldn't back up another 50 yards and move my bench back there and use my current backstop, that'd put me out in my pasture and behind that fence forcing me to build an elevated platform. That was tempting but just out of the question.
What I did do was to move a little farther down hill from my 50 yard bench and build another lane all together, pushing the backstop back another 50 yards instead.
I built another bench and poured a nice concrete pad and created a new 100 yard lane...
The 50 yard bench is about 35 yards uphill & behind you as you look at this bench. The lanes run parallel. While I was doing the concrete work I poured a nice concrete pad for that lane also. I am not done on the 50 by any means...there is much work to be done there also...vintage rifles & tuning and such.
Here is the new setup at the moment, I haven't built a railroad tie backstop for the 100 yet.
The backstop/lead catcher is my old 55 gallon drum filled with rubber mulch. I hope by next spring I'll have a railroad tie backstop here also. First thing I needed to do is adjust the scope on the 50 bench to somewhere around a 100 yard zero.
Then...it was time to fire the first 5 shots and pray I wouldn't miss the barrel!
Now I'm excited...I'm ready for some general target practice and some fine tuning of the scope.
Next thing is to determine what I want to accomplish shooting on the 100 yard lane.
I set up a target card that I could shoot and try to hit the 3/4" green stickers. If I can hit that sticker, I basically have a true 1 MOA rifle/ammo combination.
I've been warned that this is not an easy task, that's just what I needed...a new challenge!
This is my first couple attempts at that. I was pleasantly surprised, I thought I might do better but I now realize how much more difficult this is. I am a neophyte at this 100 yard business with a .22 BR rifle!
The wind alone is a huge variable now. I bought a new wind meter that I could see the Current wind speed along with the Maximum wind speed and the Average wind speed for the time I am shooting.
I think having this information/data, I can better understand just what the wind will do to my POI. On my range I generally have a morning lull between 0800 & 1100 when the cool night wind coming out of the higher Sierras stops it's night time flow and turns around 180º and starts coming up from the warming of the Sacramento Valley below but at this time of year it doesn't last very long...if it exists at all. In the spring, in the cooler weather I can count upon having almost an hour of almost 'quiet' wind. I know the wind is always moving around even if you can't feel it on your face...there's thermal action and little eddys that can make a shot errant to some degree.
Since those first few cards, I've shot several others. I keep refining the data I am recording on the card...at some point I'll have it standardized but for now it's a morphing project that changes as I learn. Now I am keeping track of the Aggregate group sizes of the card, that number seems to better represent the daily conditions, more so than 'oogling' over a small group that comes ever now and then.
Notice, there's a gap in time between the cards I'll show next. We had a huge fire here in the Sierras and my little town of Greenwood was evacuated for almost two weeks.
I didn't leave, I stayed to defend my home from the fire brands falling from the sky. I had to put a sprinkler on my roof and set out hoses by the barns and ready a backup generator in case the power went out. This property exceeds the required setback from the forest and the fire fighters swear they will defend properties like mine but they are working on the front line and they don't stand fire watch through the night on homes miles away from the fire front. The fire started out 12 miles North of me at about 1,500 acres and before it was knocked down it had consumed 75,000 acres...thank God above that the major growth was NNE & E of my home or it would have over run our little town!
Anyway...enough of that, here's a couple more target cards I've done...
I have been swapping back and forth between the .034" & .033" tuner settings trying to decide which has the least amount of vertical shift but am undecided just yet. How I wish I could have a true 'no wind' condition so I can get my scope windage dialed in just right.
I even tried shooting at dusk...putting a flashlight below the backstop...the wind turns around again at this time and starts the night flow again but there wasn't much of a lull so I haven't revisited a night shoot again. The card dated 9-29-22 was my attempt at this. It is strange shooting in darkness...
Eventually I want to be able to use Kentucky windage and not use the turrets to shoot these green spots.
My goal now is to be able to keep all the shots on or touching the 3/4" spots and to have an Aggregate card of less than .600".
That seems like a realistic goal in this thread...I'll post more as I can learn to improve.
Hope you liked this little story of my current quest @ 100 yards...as always I encourage your input either as suggestions...tips & tricks or you posting your cards of your experiences at 100 yards with your rifle.
Thanks for your comments...charlie