Yeah, the hold over was ridiculous, and yes I had a spotter. It was at a range in the NM desert and was snuggled in to a small canyon like area and the wind was usually negligible. 18" steel plate at that distance was tiny and very hard to see.Beiruty wrote:]mewalke wrote:400m at a 18" steel gong with an AR-15, 20" bbl and A1 style iron sights. It was a hoot to shoot irons at that distance (after walking it in over a few shots) and hearing a delayed...GONG! Actually with 5.56 at that distance it was more of quiet "ping"
How in the world you can shoot at 400 yrds/m with Iron sight??!!!
First, the drop of the 223 even at 400 yrds is 27" (6 MOA) and the wind drift at moderate 5 MPH is 10" (2.5MOA)
Even if you get the drop perfect, the wind would make you miss at 400-500 yrds.
Did you have an "aiming" target and an "impact" target?
Did you have a spotter?
What made things easier is we had started at the 50m gong and worked our way through the 100, 200, and 300m gongs before trying the 400m. Allowed me to get used to the bullet trajectory over the various distanced before getting to the 400m. I think I hit 4/10 at that distance. Took 4 shots to walk to the target and hit 4 of the remaining 6.
We tried the 600m next, but I couldn't see the gong at all (that one was a 36") so I had no chance of hitting it.
edit: I check with my good friend who is still a member at that range and he corrected my memory (this was a range trip in 2003). He said the 400m gong is 36" not 18" like the 300m and below. He did confirm that both of us were able to hit the 400m that day, but said he hasn't been able to replicate that since.
This was my first time shooting any gun since I was a teenager going through hunter education, and the experience is what got me excited about shooting and made me decide to buy my own AR a year later.