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I was shooting my .223 rifle at a waterline at 599 yards to true elevation on my ballistic calc. I did a 5 shot test. When I retrieved the target, I was grouping with 2.5 inches on elevation but was off 18.75 inches off the line. WTH.
Reviewing the data, I realized I made an amateur mistake. I left my ballistic calculator at 650 and not adjusted to 599.
I don’t know about you, but conducting these tests take time and effort in going to the range and loading the ammo. Not to mention calling a cease fire to drive and retrieve my targets. I thought to myself, there must be a way to salvage my results.
I have the target distance (599 yards) and a solid number from waterline to the center of my group (18.75”). I wrote it all down, gave it some thought, and slept on it.
This morning I woke up with an epiphany. I will use the mil ranging formula to convert the distance of my group from the water line to see if I’m on it!
My ballistic calculator tells me I need 5.01 mils to hit my target at 599 yards. I had 5.87 mils (for 650).
5.87 - 5.01 = I was .86 mils off of where I should been.
I need to figure out how many inches .86 is at 599 yards.
I extrapolated a mil target size formula based on a Ranging formula as follows:
Yards x Target Size in Mils / 27.8 = Target Size in Inches.
599 x .86 / 27.8 = 18.53”
My group was 18.75” from my Waterline. I basically moved my waterline up to the elevation I dialed in. The new center of my waterline is 18.5” higher.
Thats a .25” difference, 1/24 MOA, from waterline to my group at 599 yards. I think Im good at that.
Just sharing. It took my feeble brain 10 hours and sleep to process the above and salvage my results. I think its right.
Reviewing the data, I realized I made an amateur mistake. I left my ballistic calculator at 650 and not adjusted to 599.
I don’t know about you, but conducting these tests take time and effort in going to the range and loading the ammo. Not to mention calling a cease fire to drive and retrieve my targets. I thought to myself, there must be a way to salvage my results.
I have the target distance (599 yards) and a solid number from waterline to the center of my group (18.75”). I wrote it all down, gave it some thought, and slept on it.
This morning I woke up with an epiphany. I will use the mil ranging formula to convert the distance of my group from the water line to see if I’m on it!
My ballistic calculator tells me I need 5.01 mils to hit my target at 599 yards. I had 5.87 mils (for 650).
5.87 - 5.01 = I was .86 mils off of where I should been.
I need to figure out how many inches .86 is at 599 yards.
I extrapolated a mil target size formula based on a Ranging formula as follows:
Yards x Target Size in Mils / 27.8 = Target Size in Inches.
599 x .86 / 27.8 = 18.53”
My group was 18.75” from my Waterline. I basically moved my waterline up to the elevation I dialed in. The new center of my waterline is 18.5” higher.
Thats a .25” difference, 1/24 MOA, from waterline to my group at 599 yards. I think Im good at that.
Just sharing. It took my feeble brain 10 hours and sleep to process the above and salvage my results. I think its right.
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