What's everyone working on?

[terri]

Pshaw! Half-pint milk cartons at 300 yards. Feh!<p>The most fun I ever had in competitive shooting was the 1000 yard matches.<p>I had borrowed an accurized Garand from the Coors gun club once --glass bedded, star gauged NM barrel, zero lash military peep rear sight, and went up to the Pawnee National Grasslands once with a buddy to sight it in. He hid behind a hillock to spot my shots and reported back via handie-talkie. We had measured out the 1000 yards with a 100 foot tape. Found 36 clicks up on that peep rear sight brought it right in.<p>Fired a couple of iron-sight 1000 yard matches with it that summer and did pretty well. In one 10-shot string I had hit 6 "Vees," the "Vee-ring" being what is called the "X-ring" in lesser matches. This Vee ring is ten inches in diameter. The bull on a 1000-yard military target is about a yard in diameter.<p>The bullet takes about 1.1 seconds to get down to the target and as I recall, rises about 20 feet in its trajectory in these matches. Almost time enough to get a cup of coffee before the target spotters in the pits wave your score back at you.<p>Pshaw! Half-pint milk cartons at 300 yards. Feh!

Fun, but after I turned the rifle in, I went back to metallic silhouette handgun shooting. Bang. Clank. Chicken falls down. Bang. Clank. Pig falls down. Bang. Clank. Turkey falls down. Bang. Clank. Ram falls down. Sometimes.<p>Not as much fun, but easier to find matches.<p>Pshaw! Half-pint milk cartons at 300 yards. Feh!<p>Nowadays, I, too, make dime shots at 100 yards on casual bets, but I use my cal .223 Remington (cal 5.56 NATO) sporting weight rifle with a 12-power scope on it. Looks hard, but really easy. Sniping at prairie rats at 400 yards is one of my passions, but I don't take shots past that 'cause the little 52-grain SX bullets get blown around too much. Heavier bullets don't do as well in this rifle, which has a 14 inch twist.<p>Even here in Colorado, they're pressuring to shut down all the places to shoot, even in the supposedly multi-use National Forests. I guess the only "legitimate" use of this publicly-owned land will soon be bird-watching, "pure" hiking, and photography, and only if you wear steel-rimmed eyeglases, khaki shorts with big pockets, and Birkenstocks.<p>Anything "hairier" than that is becoming politically incorrect and hence will be verboten.<p>[ December 24, 2004: Message edited by: terri ]</p>

[frhrwa]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>with a 12-power scope on it.<hr></blockquote><p>my sister can shoot with a scope...

[Mike6158]

Well at least you weren't shooting a .50 BMG <p>My daughter shoots with a scope So do I. We just got back from a deer hunt. She took an ok 8-point. For her second deer she did pretty well. If I'm shooting at a living creature, in my opinion, the least that I can do is use everthing available to me to make sure that it is hit in the proper location for a quick kill.<p>Been trying to make Barnes X-bullets shoot consistently in my .270. I'm homing in on a good load but I may have to abandon them in this rifle. I guess that's a topic for a different forum though.

[terri]

My sister can shoot with a 'scope also. But I was bragging about the rifle, not my shooting. I've demonstrated my skill with iron sights already, but as I get older... <p>NE5U: You've got to match the bullet weight to the twist. This factor is usually more important than exact load or type of powder or almost anything else. <p>Lighter bullets, slower twist, and vise-versa. The variable to look out for are the weight of Barnes bullets versus the rifling twist. <p>One reason long range shooters tend to use boat-tail bullets is that the extra length, with the boat tail, more exactly matches the twist of most barrels.<p>By the way, did anyone here ever calculate the RPM of a modern high-velocity bullet? You WILL be surprised! <p>The first time I ever did this calculation, I thought my calculator was broken!<p>And you will learn why the .220 Swift bullet (~4200 fps) sometimes flies apart on the way to the target.<p>[ December 24, 2004: Message edited by: terri ]</p>

[Chris Smith]

Try dimes at 500 yards, with a 223 bull barrel. Only 9 power, cant even see the dime behind the cross hairs.

[frhrwa]

I was trying to stay conservative on my measurement.. but... anyway.. sounds like everyone is having fun and well on their way to a Merry Christmas...

[Mike6158]

To tell the truth, loading for rifle is kind of new to me. I've loaded quite a bit of pistol ammo on my Dillon. It will knock out around 500+ rounds an hour and it does it very well. Not so for rifle. I had to buy a single stage press and new dies (both Forster) for my rifles and I haven't found the time to do any reloading this fall/winter season so my daughter shot her deer with "factory" ammo which of course worked fine.<p>Merry Christmas all...

[terri]

Yeah, loading one-at-a-time is different from using a progressive press. Main thing is to not get distracted, either in setting up or in the actual loading. Especially the setting up.<p>Hm. Dimes at 300 yards, eh? D'ja actually hit any, Chris? Or just try (insert evil giggle here). I'd be tempted to try that with my sporter weight barrel, but I wouldn't bet much on it. By calculation and EJW, I'd hit about one out of four, so I'd go for maybe 6:1 odds on a bet with favorable conditions --no mirage, no wind, no pre-shooting coffee, no looming divorces or like that there stuff.<p>This'd be with one shot, no sighters, no fouling rounds, rifle right out of the case, bipod rest.<p>[ December 24, 2004: Message edited by: terri ]</p>

[Mike6158]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>This'd be with one shot, no sighters, no fouling rounds, rifle right out of the case, bipod rest.<hr></blockquote> Hopefully you would at least check the temperature and your little book <p>I have a friend that is a sniper for a PD north of Houston, TX. Bullet holes inside bullet holes is the norm for him. My ole .270 is an out of the box Remington model 700. The only thing that's been done to it is my buddy adjusted the trigger for me. It was like someone gave me a new gun Since the place that I hunt offers little to no chance for anything outside of 170 yards I'm happy with MOA accuracy at that yardage and if I'm paying attention, sub MOA though only for the first 2 or 3 rounds. Now the guys that I hunt with are a different story. They are all shooting glass bedded, accurized, bull barrel, 2 oz triggers, yadda, yadda. I've seen one of them consistently hit a relatively small target at 500 yards (laser rangefinder) but he's been shooting long range (out to 1,000 yards) for a very long time.<p>It takes me forever to get to the point where I'm dumping powder. I weigh it, weigh it, and weigh it again. If they are the same each time I finally drop the powder into the case. I neck size only and load only brass that has been fired in my gun. I like loading for rifle. It feels like I am doing something other than yanking a lever.<p>BTW- Transistor... capacitor... resistor... just so we keep ourselves on the topic of electronics

[terri]

Well, I was about to knock off posting for a couple of days. "Uses up" (not "wastes") a lot of time. However, the banner on the home page mentions "electronics and technology." Shootin' certainly is technology. I like your comments about the prominent Texan in re eloquence vs intelligence. He sure is canny, and is not glib with mere platitudes. <p>However, I have discovered that this past election has destroyed more friendships than anything I can think of besides women --so I'll shut down now and let the finals cool off.<p>With that, QSY 145.31 CUL NE5U DE WD0EDW 73

[Chris Smith]

terri <p>Actually I shoot bud bottles at 500 yards. The two inch wide targets completely disapear behind the scope cross hair, and a heart beat will pulse the scene two magnitudes of off screen from left to right, if your not careful.<p>But, a bud bottle can be cut three times by the 223 bull barrel, cutting off the top, then the waist, and coming back for left overs.<p> A dime shot may be off center with a 9 x scope, even at five hundred yards, but thirty out of thirty hits with my bull barrel, on 10 single bud bottles is swat qualifications. <p>The 11# bull barrel and 223, speak for them self.

[terri]

Darned fine shootin', Chris, which attests not only to the accuracy of the bull barrel, but to your skill in handling --breath control, concentration, trigger control, wind doping, etc. As the saying goes, "the match goes to those who can solve their problems best."<p>But for myself, for some reason I do not like using "specialized" arms, although I admire them and appreciate the refinements they offer. For example, NE5u mentioned the .50 BMG.<p>Not for me. Nor are the specialized bench-rest rifles. No offense, but I figured if I could not carry a slung rifle around the woods on my shoulder all day, I didn't want the rifle. Again, even so, I admire the one-hole ten shot groups these rifles can produce.<p>As an example of my feeling about specialized guns, one irksome thing to me while I was shooting metallic silhouettes was the fact that I entered the "factory" classes, using my Smith 19. Lo and behold, there were "factory" arms with all kinds of specialized enhancements specifically for handgun metallic silhouete shooting --and of course these "factories," though official, may have only "manufactured" three or four arms a year. <p>Humph! <p>I regarded the use of these so-called "factory" guns in the Factory Class Matches as, well, not exactly "cheating," but at the very least an unfair subterfuge.<p>As a result, my scores with my out-of-the-box Smith 19, compared to those using those specialized arms, were not great, but after a while I kind of resolved my conflict about them by figuring I was shooting in a one-man match. Me, against my last set of scores. I was shooting for my "personal best," without (mentally) going up against some of those so-called "factory" pistols you couldn't buy a holster for. Some of those guns you did not "hold." <p>You put them on. Like a glove.<p>Anyhow, I had a couple of minutes here to see what was happening, but I've got other biz to which I must attend, and I'm going to have to disengage for at least a couple of days. <p>Thanks for your comments, and truly, I admire shooting like that, but my whole rig, with scope and bipod, weighs less than your barrel, and I can carry it around until I find a nice comfy spot (preferably in the shade) to thin out the prairie rats.<p>Or win dime-shot bets at 100 yards.<p>With respect and admiration,

[dacflyer]

Philba >> yes i am doing this by hand..
cannot find anyone that makes boards that big,and besides..i probably couldn't afford it..
i had to make the circuit board by hand too..point to point wiring..
i am doing the same with the leds..wish there was a way i could post fotos for all to see..N&V should add this option soon..
anyway , i might send fotos to N&V..maybe they might do an artical on it. i dunno.
i got 3 more wires to solider then i am ready to assemble the whole thing. but 1st i need to find me some old blank IC Headers..i need 3 of them, 16 pin types.
need them so i can plug the display onto the circuit boards ic sockets , if anyone has any let me know..will pay,

[Mike6158]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>
i am doing the same with the leds..wish there was a way i could post fotos for all to see..N&V should add this option soon..[/QB]<hr></blockquote><p>The photo has to be stored on the web somewhere but photo's are "postable" here. Use the image tag below. It has a format of "" without the quote marks but the image button (below) makes it easy. All you need is the URL of the photo.
There are lot's of freebie storage sites on the web. I use a pay site (fotki.com). Unlimited storage for a pretty low annual fee. I literally have over a gig of photos there.<p>

[Mike6158]

They aren't as big as you need but they are cheap so maybe you could use a couple to do what you need to.<p>Check out these 8 x 8 LED matrix board prices:<p>LED Matrix