DocRhino wrote:Have I mentioned YOU'RE KILLIN' ME HERE!
One question: The pictures on your post, were those targets set at 50 yards or 100?
The pics in that last post were set at 50 yards. My first range trip was shot at 100 yards, but I did not take any pictures. I chose 50 yards this time quite deliberately for the two reasons mentioned previously: 1) I can't see the target well enough at 100 yards on 5X to be able to tell where my shots are hitting
relative to one another; and 2) I wanted to see if the height of POI above POA at 50 yards matched what my ballistics table said it would be. (At some point, I' going to find a place I can shoot where I can measure the POI at 250-300 yards, to see if
that matches what the ballistics table predicts.)
When I shot it at 100 yards, I averaged around 2" for a four shot string shooting the 165 grain Federal Fusion....and predictably, the 4th shot is the one that always opened the group up.
But even at 50 yards, 5X is not enough magnification for me to shoot at my best, which when combined with the less-than-match accuracy of this rifle makes it very unlikely that I could match that which I take for granted in my Remington or my AR10. The Remington has 4.5-14x scope, and I usually crank it all the way up at 100 yards. The AR10 has a 5-20x scope, and I try to shoot it at 15x.........so magnification is definitely one of the accuracy limiting factors for me with this rifle. I've just spent $599 on the scope, not to mention the cost of the rings, so I'm not likely to change it out.....and for my intended purpose, which is for a practical hunting/truck gun rifle, this scope is sufficient. I am pretty confident that I could take an average sized adult hog at 200 yards with it......if I can
see the hog. Eyesight is really the issue, and it really boils down to philosophy of use.
On my AR carbine, I have a Burris 536 reflex sight which has a pretty cool reticle with a BDC calibrated to take a 62 grain penetrator all the way out to 600 yards. Well, I can't
see anything at 600 yards, so that is not really within my practical range of usage. However, with a "Santos Improved Battlesight Zero" at 50 yards (
http://aesirtraining.com/home/rifle-zero/), POI is never more than 2" above or below POA all the way out to 250 yards. This means that, all other things being equal, and there being no crosswinds or other inputs to bend the trajectory, all I have to do is put my center dot on the POA, without using holdover, and that bullet will never be more than 2" high or 2" low all the way out to 250 yards. That means that you don't have to treat each shot like you're a trained sniper. Instead, you aim, and you shoot, and you have a high probability of scoring good hits.
That is exactly the philosophy of use I am pursuing with this Ruger. I already have two extraordinarily accurate precision rifles. I wanted
this one to be set up for use more like my AR carbine in that I can be certain of scoring a good hit within a reasonable distance simply by placing that red dot on the target and squeezing the trigger, and not having to do any calculations. So with a 175 grain Matchking and a 200 yard zero, POI will never be more than 2.3" high (@ 125 yards) or 3.7" low all the way out to 250 yards. That's a 6" vertical spread over the same distance as opposed to the 4" vertical spread of the flatter shooting 5.56 round, but it is still a fairly small amount of drop, making this a point and shoot hunter with that bullet, at that distance. This rifle seems to perform best with heavier bullets. I have a box full of 180 grain SSTs I'd like to work up a load with and see how that performs in this rifle, simply because that is a better choice for a hunting bullet and that is the primary purpose for this rifle. I've already worked up a precision load for my other bolt rifle, and so now I'm going to work up a good "working hunting rifle" load for this rifle.
A methodical hunter will, it possible, pre-range the distances to various objects and/or terrain features around the property he's hunting in, so that he can have a quick reference to how far away an animal is from his position by comparing that animal's position relative to the pre-ranged objects. And then, based on that, he or she will have a sense of what their bullet is going to do over those distances. Whatever I can do to simplify that process will increase my probability of hunting success.
Certainly it is fun to think of the RGS as a TEOTWAWKI rifle, but that is not my primary intent here. I just wanted a light and handy, carbine length .30 caliber bolt action rifle with reasonable accuracy, quick to get on target, and enough grunt to take whatever I'm likely to shoot with it............including a zombie hippie if necessary.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT
