Dr.308

Lee Pacesetter Reloading Die Sets:$20.00 each. 338 Win Mag, 308 Win, 7MM Rem Mag, 300 Win Mag, 300 Wby Mag, 7mm-08. Please call or text 602-359-4119 Thx, Skip

I agree. The only argument I can give for using holdovers is speed. The military guys like them close in, like out to 500 or 600 yards because they allow them to engage different targets at different ranges quickly. We teach both holdovers and comeups to everybody. I feel like everybody should train on both and use what works best for them.

I should not have said elevation and temperature cancel each other out as an ex cathedra statement. I should have said they "pretty much" cancel each other out. Also that comment was in reference to hunting inside 600 yards, not precision long range shooting to 1000+ yards. There is a difference when we change from shooting in the valley to hunting up north, but for me in the context of hunting elk or mule deer, inside 600 yards, it is not a big enough difference to where I have found I need to change my zero or dope chart. I found this out by shooting all year in the valley and going up north and checking dope out to 500. I retired and started hunting 9 years ago (5 Elk, 2 deer and a pig) so I took nothing for granted. I had shot issued factory ammo for over 30 years, high end, but still factory ammo. I don't reload and I don't chronograph. I don't think I can, nor do I have the time to try to do a better job than the professionals when it comes to premium ammo. I know you can't always do that 500 yard pre-hunt check at the same elevation and weather everywhere you are going to hunt but in the area we usually hunt we have it pretty well figured out so I did it pre-hunt a couple times, now its just a range we can set up when we are up there. Regarding your 1.5 MOA deviation: Have you shot it? Apps are great but they can't tell you exactly what your particular rifle will do. It is all theory until it is in your dope book. This is the core of the issue. I get students now and then that run programs more than they shoot. I don't teach apps, I teach shooting and the less time they spend on their phones the more time they can work on improving their shooting skills. Apps are good but they are theory until you verify it by shooting it. Like so many things about shooting, the altitude and temperature thing has gotten ridiculous. Yes if you got up 5000 feet your bullet will strike higher in less dense air if the temperature is the same. If you zero at 100 degrees your bullet will strike lower at 32 degrees in colder denser air if you are at the same altitude. In the past few years I've read articles on altitude where things are heavier at higher altitude where the air provides less buoyancy, then again, the force of gravity is less at altitude than it is at sea level. I don't doubt these scientific facts but does it really affect how you shoot? It's sometimes just "beers-at-the-BBQ" talk. At some point I believe shooters should take the time to actually go out and shoot the distances and conditions, recording every shot in their dope book and see what their individual rifle, round, scope etc. will do. I see so many shooters go back to an app to see what went wrong with the shot when they haven't shot enough to even miss consistently. The same thing with chrony's, kestrals, integrated systems etc. It's like someone evil elf loaded them up with every toy they could sell them to make shooting an at home game and distract them from the actual work of shooting. Then when a shot goes wrong, they have a dozen toys to blame. People have shot over 1000 yards for over 100 years. That wasn't because of the apps or gear. It was spending time in the dirt, pressing the trigger and filling out dope books. The typical sniper book data book page (Round Count Page) that records the number of rounds fired through a rifle only lets you record only about 30 shooting sessions. That means you should kill a data book about every year if you shoot 2 x a month. At best I see a ratty notebook. I usually see a brand new dope book and a couple pages with random notes. It might be more productive to do the work. It's not a video game.

So here is what I do. I print my exact reticle then write in the holdovers from my app. I also print out the comeups from my app. Then I spend the next several range sessions adjusting the charts to what my rifle & round actually do. Right now I am only going out to 1100 yards. I like using holdovers for faster shooting or transitioning between targets. With the Vortex Viper PST EBR 2 I can only hold over to about 700, past that I am too close to the bottom of the scope image. I can go to my 700 yard dope and shoot a second set of holdovers out to 1200 or more. Using comeups takes a lot longer but it is easier to place a precise shot with the center of the crosshairs than estimating 2/3 of the distance between two hash marks. When I shoot in the valley it’s low altitude and higher temps. I usually hunt 7000-9000 ft and it’s cold so with the thinner air increasing velocity and the lower temps decreasing velocity they somewhat cancel each other out. I have found over the years it’s not a big enough difference to worry about at shorter ranges.

By Casa Grande Range do you mean Elzy Pearson off Trekell Road? Is there another one?

Cowtown range, a few miles past Be Avery, has 7 flat ranges up to 100 yards and 5 long range platforms with steel targets from 100 to 1000 yards. It’s never crowded because you book your range or platform for you or your group. All of Cowtown and GPS Defense Sniper School’s long range instructors are former or current snipers.

Most rangefinders can compensate for angle but hers a cheat sheet. 5-10 degree slope = 98% of slope distance 15-20 degree slope = 95% of slope distance 25-30 degree slope = 90% of slope distance 35-40 degree slope = 80% of slope distance 45 degree slope = 70% of slope distance

F-Class rigs are really impressive and they get to a crazy level of accuracy. Most of our students shoot most of the courses prone and stick with Harris bipods on the front and rice bags on the back. A lot of our hunters work with bog-pods, shooting sticks and the occasional hog saddle. We try to stick to using stuff they are going to carry in the field. We see a wide range of long guns from Howa's and Rugers to Surgeons and AI's. I'd say about 3/4 are using Vortex glass. In 3 days most of our students are about an inch or better at 100 and getting consistent hits out to 700-800. Less than half get consistent to our farthest target at 1100 yards. Definitely not F-Class shooters but they are on their way. My school gun right now is a production Remington in 6.5 Creedmore and I use Hornady's match factory load. It's a 5/8" gun so I'm ok with it. I did have to get rid of that horrible X-Mark Pro Trigger.

The biggest concern I have while mounting my scope levels was getting it in a spot where I could see it out of my left eye, without taking my right eye out of the scope. This ended up being on the scope behind the side focus turret. I can still reach the focus/illumination turret and I can check it by just opening my left eye. Since you level your scope to your rifle, it shouldn't make any difference if you mount it on the rail. I also found that he nylon model by Vortex is a lot harder to get on perfectly level because it only has one bolt to tighten which moves the level when you tighten it. The metal model with two bolts is easier because you tighten slowly going back and forth just like the scope rings and it doesn't "walk" out of level.

The only thing I would bring up is the barrel weight. If it is a light hunting barrel, the 7rm with a good bullet can definitely work to a grand and farther but you will have to keep your shooting tempo down, like shoot no more than 3 rounds and wait a few minutes to let the barrel cool down. It’s a lot of fun to buy new gear but I’d rather see shooters spend their time and money on training with what they have instead of chasing the next dream gun. I know Rio Salado in East Mesa doesn’t let you shoot magnums on their steel range which only goes to 550 yards. At Cowtown Range up by Lake Pleasant we let you shoot up to 50bmg and have 5 long range platforms that have steel out to 800-1100 yards. Archangle Range out by Mobile goes out a mile but you have to bring your own targets and steel. And they often have sustained crosswinds up to 20 mph. C2 Tactcal has some precision rifle and long range hunting courses held at Cowtown in April and October. C-2, Cowtown and GPS Defense Sniper School all let you schedule private or small group courses that focus on what you want to work on instead of the standard courses which are based on the Military and FBI Sniper Courses. There are a lot of good schools in the valley, I just mentioned the ones I work with. When looking at a school make sure the instructor was actually a working sniper. Ignore NRA, Designated Marksman, Contractor or “I was in the military”. Military personnel have DD-214’s to prove they went to sniper school. Police snipers will have a certificate from the sniper school they attended. We require this proof when we interview new instructors and you should too.

Ruger M77 338 Win Mag. Blued Barrel with wood stock, barrel channel free floated to 1/8". Ruger scope rings, Leupold VX- II 3-9 mil-dot scope with long range turrets. Whit Machine muzzle brake. Karstens Custom Kydex adjustable cheek riser. About 200 rounds through her. Beautiful inside and out. We got apx 1" groups at 100 yds with Winchester Ballistic Silvertip 225 Gr and Hornady 225 GR. With the mil-dot scope and the current 200 yard zero you can use hold-overs to 750 yards. The scope has 31 inches of elevation which gets you a little past 1000 yards if you are doing dial-ups. $650 Skip. 602-359-4119.

POWDER: Imr4198, 8 lb. Bluedot, 1 Lb. Unque, 2 lb. RL 19, 2 lb. RL 22, 3 lb. Imr 4831, 3 lb. H4895, 1 lb. PRIMERS: 2k Winchester large pistol primers.. 1k S&B 5,3 LR Boxer primers. BULLETS: 200 Nosler accubond 30 cal 308 spitzer 180 gr. 200 Speer 30 cal 308 165 gr btsp. 100 hornady 7mm 139 gr sst interlock. 100 berger 7mm 168 gr classic hunter. 100 berger 7mm 180 gr match targed vld. 200 harnady 7mm 120 gr hp varmint. 100 hornady 7mm 120 gr v max. 50 hornady 7mm 139 gr v max. 50 nosler 7mm 150 gr hunting spitzer. 300 sierra 22 cal 224 53 gr hp match. 400 22 cal 224 55 gr hpbt. 50 Nosler accubond 338, 225 gr. 50 speer 338 225 gr btsp. Prices negotiable. Skip 602-359-4119. Local pickup, Chandler/Gilbert area.