K
2019-01-21
1100-1500
25F
15-25 MPH E
Goals: 5.56(14.5) DOPE building
Environment: Cool, windy, very overcast.
Equipment: 5.56(14.5) B1.5-8x CQ MIL FM(R) 77gr ... Zeiss 10x45 LRF Binos Alaska Guide pouch ... RRS Tripod ... 4-wheeler ... COMTAC3 headset ... I/O Recon Goggles
Activity: This carbine is my least used ... but becuse it is the closest thing I have to a M4 I guess I keep it for sentimental reasons. The 10 inch carbines do carbine better and the 18+ inch rifles do rifle better.
But today, was the day for the 5.56(14.5) and on it :)
First, to zero at 100yds.
I setup at 100yds, firing off the RRS. The wind was about 15 MPH dead ahead. I was shooting in to the wind.
First 3 rd group.
Barely on paper. In the past, I've most shot 62gr Lake City out of this carbine. And zeroed at 25yds with double zero 385yds. But with the 77gr and the optic I have on there, I was going to try 100yd zero.
I clicked left 0.5 mils, and wanted to click down 1.5 mils but the scope was already at the zero stop. So I had to head in to the house and change the zero stop.
Back from there and now down 1.8 mils.
Second group
The wind was moving me back and forth and mostly throwing off the left to right aspect.
I won't bore you with every group ... but the wind picked up ... 20 mph for several groups and then 25 mph for the last few ... the wind mill feathers itself at 25 mph .. and I use that as an indicator as well as I'm used to the sounds the wind mill makes at the various wind speeds. Of course the wind mill lives 60 feet up in the air, which is different from down on the ground.
The final two groups are on the dot to the lower right. The sixth group is the 3 rds N/NW of the dot and the final group 1 rd to the left and two rds to the right, slightly high.
These last groups were at 25 mph and I was getting buffetted back and forth, left to right quite a bit. I had parked the 4-wheeler right behind me and I backed up and lean back onto the front guard rails of the 4-wheeler to steady me and that helped a little.
So, based on how many rounds I had and what I wanted to do, I decided to head on out to the pasture.
About half way out to the firing point ... looking east at the main pond, now frozen over. The cattle still have the creek and a running spring we developed.
==
The basic idea of the next sequence was to try to develop DOPE at 200, 300 and 400yds. Due to the config of this carbine I can't get the MSv3 on it. I don't have the MS rail mount. I will get one. But it still might not work on some of my carbines as they have their ir-lasers forward on the 3 o'clock and the MS rail mount might not latch. But I will get one. It will help in some cases.
So I forgot to take pics at 200yds, but here I am at 300yds looking at the targets.
These are IPSC (2/3) 6x6 inch face and 12 x 18 inch body. At 200yds I had aimed dead center and was left 4 and down 4 inches ... throwing snow up in the air and determined the wind was almost directly behind me ... which was a surprise as that is SSE ... Not the Due East I had a half mile away. But this is a different valley and has different wind.
At 300yds I aimed right side center of the face and the hits were centered down 12 inches.
So, plugging that data into AB on my phone ... That gave me an approximate MV of 2600. And that told me to hold 2.6 mils (36 inches) at 400yds. That worked. I was a little low, but on the steel. I was wiming up over the top of the head and left about lined up with the chain about 4 inches of wind hold.
So to find the positions, I drove the 4-wheeler around and used the Zeiss binos to lase the range. The binos worked fine. The only two issues were, I had a little trouble reading the distances off the display. Need to find the brightness adjustment. And had trouble finding the "fire" button with my gloved hand without looking. This just needs more practice.
The position I used was to turn the 4 wheeler broadside to the targets, sit on a running board and size the tripod to support that position. I've used that position before and it is a decent compromise.
I'd had slapped CLP on the lube points before I went out and run a dry brore snake. No problems with the gun or ammo. The Freedom munitions 77gr Remanufactured rounds were 52 cents per round. Their MV is lower than the Black Hills or others, but I've never had a problem with one round. Of course FM is long gone now, so I'm shooting up the last 1,000rds of this stuff now. I've switched to IMI 77gr for my carbine 5.56 ammo.
