There's another match this weekend at Quantico and for some reason I've talked myself into shooting it. They are combining a Palma match with FClass and Modified FClass. Three days of shooting fun. Unfortunately I'm working tomorrow, Saturday has a previous engagement, so it's a Sunday shoot again. The bad part is Sunday is a team shoot day so I'll be squaded up with someone that I've never shoot with before. Hopefully I don't ruin someone's weekend, but I'm still on this learning curve so I expect more improvement over last time. Sierra 107s are going with me again.

That's a 405 2x. I appears I hit an X at 800 too now that the scores are out. When you're at the bottom of the pack there's no where to go but up.

Anyway for this go around, Lapua brass mulitple firings (5), CCI BR4 primers, 37.5gr of Reloader 17, 107gr SMKs, in the 2930fps range. Your milage may vary.

I will be bringing the speed up on these a bit, I believe I have a grain and a half to go before I hit max.

SO I made the trip to Quantico. It was a great day if not ungodly hot. I was stuck in the pits for the first half of the day, pretty uneventful until the pit boss took a riccochet to the glasses. He's ok and made it to shoot even though he had a piece of glass in his eye initally.

Used Bryan Litz's program to work out my drop tables and I have to say they were spot on. First shot at 800 yards was not only on the paper but in the black. I should have just run from there with zero, but I had to play with it more for little gain. 800 was ok shooting even though I danced around the X ring all 15 shots. Shot off of Chris Hill's mat but I should have used mine.

At 900 I clicked up as I needed, first shot 10 ring. Should have just taken it for record and been done, but no, I wasted a shot for no reason. Again I danced all around that X ring. After being uncomfortable with Chris's mat from the first round I decided to simply shoot from the grass, no mat, allot less sweating but still not fun. Ok I lie it was still great fun.

1000 yards, my nemesys. Clicked up as the software said, ten again. Yet again I wasted the second shot for no gain. First five were ok but a gust took me off the center and I adjusted windage. And there I fell apart. The next 5 shots were all 6's far right side of the target. I couldn't see the spotter for the first four of the five, the fifth Chris was able to tell me where the spotter was. The next 10 had me back on the black dancing around the X hitting it once. It was quite possibly the hottest time of the day for me. I used my black mat and left a puddle of sweat on it from runnig down my cheek and cheek piece. I wholely feel if I could see the spotter in the middle of the first ten shots, I would have been much better. Live and learn. There is always next month.

On an after note the guy pulling my target at 1000 yards said it was possibly the most beautiful group he had ever seen at that distance. Oh great all I have to do is keep from seeing the impact and I'll group killer groups.. Now if I could get those killer groups into the X ring and keep my frustration level down I'd be estatic.

Overall it was still a great day for a 405 1x.

Modified F-Class shoot at Quantico, June 6th. Hitting the range and hope to keep myself out of the basement this time. It's been a spell since the last time I was there, heck almost a year. Anyway, going down with Mr. Hill to shoot as a team for Maryland 10th Cav gun club. Lot's of rounds have been shot since the last outing, the barrel is nearing 800 rounds so there's no excuses this time. Wish me and the little 6mm bullets luck at a grand.

"BulletBill...

Great news on my bullets! Thanks for your kind words. I have shot all of my VLDs now, 90gr, 95gr, 103gr, 105gr, 108gr, 113gr in HVLD and TVLD in my 6mmBR 26" barrel with 8" twist and they all shoot pretty well in that. I'm now making 115gr as well. That's 14 VLD designs to choose from! I probably won't shoot the 115s in my 8" twist, but maybe just a few to say I did it. My 6mmBR really likes my 105gr pushed with 29.0gr H-4895, and produces 1/4 MOA out to 400 yards. I've tried numerous powders but didn't have enough case for some. H-414, H-4350, H-4895, H-335, Varget, N-150, and Norma 203-B. Some of those should be good in the 6X47 I'd think. I want to try N-540 if I every find any. You should see what you can do with H-4350 and H-4895 loaded .5gr under max.

Good shooting!
Don "


Thanks for the samples Don. I'll be working on 4350 for a little while a local here found a couple pounds on the shelf. Of course as always I have a last minute decision to make, the next match at Quantico is on May 9th, I don't have a load worked up nor do I have any bullets on hand.. Order up bullets and work frantically to develop a load before heading down or just forgo the match altogether... I dislike it when I put myself in these spots.

Anyway, thanks again Precision Ballistics!


Shoot long.

Wow it's been awhile since I posted anything here. It's been a great winter/spring season so far just to busy to post much. As it goes with most hobbies it leads to new hobbies. In an effort to try and make my own parts and do some engraving I've ventured down the CNC mill path. It's been fun so far. I'm spending allot of my time learning how to se things up and break lots of carbide bits. Hopefully someday I'll get good enough to show off my work.

Anyway back to the gun stuff...

So I've run through the Precision Ballistics VLDs and I will say I am very impressed. Right now I'm struggling to come up with power or at least a powder I've used before. So loading Don's VLDs had me using two different powders and charges, simply because I couldn't get any RL17. That being said my barrel really likes these bullets. I'm not posting load data or chrono data as I don't think it would do any good being the difference in powder and the inability to work up loads for each weight of bullet.

It supprised me to see that the groups were remakably similar. At 100 yards the groups were under an inch in size with a load I pulled out of my hat. Bullet weight was extremely consistent, as was concentricity. The most impressive part to me however was the pointed meplat. I truly believe this is what makes Precisions Ballistics bullets different than any other manufacturers 6mm bullets. They are almost a work of art to look at. I'm going to be interested to hear what Mr. Bryan Litz's take and testing proves out for these. My hunch is they're going to have outstanding BC numbers.

Anyway I just wanted to make sure I wasn't dead.. As I'm sure most of you thought that, it certainly looked that way.. I have got to get back to work here.

Shoot Long.

I'd Like to thank Don Lahr at Precision Ballistics LLC for providing me samples of his new VLDs. I have the 95, 103, 105, and 108 gr to test out. I'm measuring and weighing tonight with hopes of getting some test results in the next few weeks. I'd like to test them this weekend but there's still two feet of snow here in Baltimore and the 200 yard range is closed until further notice.

My initial impression was pure admiration of how something could be done so well. These things look awesome. I'm sure they'll shoot just as good if not better.

Don Lahr has made a couple of over in the forums in the past few days announcing his new VLD design bullets. His specs are listed in the posts or you can take a look at his web site at Precision Ballistics. For a limited time he is offering a small batch of bullets for you to test. They are to be offered in target and hunting configurations. the text of his message is below;

"Hi all! I would like to offer anyone interested in trying my bullets, some free samples. Perhaps you just want to see if the twist rate you have will stabilize various weights or perhaps you'd like to compare my bullets with the ones the big companies sell. If you visit my site you will see all about how I make them and what I have to offer. A simple email to me with your shipping address and what bullets you are interested in trying would work fine. I am prepared to mail anyone who requests a small amount of anything I make, 66grFB, 66grBT, 68grFB, 68grBT, 74grFB, 74grBT,80grFB, 80grBT, 85grBT, 88grFB, 88grBT, 90grFB, 90grBT, 95grFB, 95grBT, 90gr Hunting VLD, 90gr Target VLD, 95gr Hunting VLD, 95gr Target VLD, 103gr Hunting VLD, 103gr Target VLD, 105gr Hunting VLD, 105gr Target VLD, 108gr Hunting VLD and 108gr Target VLD. That's 25 different styles to choose from. I'm in Marion Indiana and am a one-man shop, building these pills one at a time with as much care as a sculpter. If you have any such needs click the banner link on the top right of this Homepage, or my Homepage is http://www.PrecisionBallisticsLLC.com and my email is Bughole©PrecisionBallisticsLLC.com . If I can be of any help please let me know. Thanks!"

I know it's hard to change from what you're used to shooting and what is possibly working for you but I'm telling you guys his bullets are worth a look. They are hand made, inspected, and finished. Simply put I don't think there is any other manufacturer that puts this much detail into their bullets. He's a competitor and he's building his bullets to compete plain and simple. So go see what he has to offer, you won't be disappointed.

Got to shoot over the chrono last weekend. The results put a smile on my face though I wasn't expecting the speeds the chrono's put out. When my first cartridge at 38 grains of powder sent the projectile over 2900fps I thought it a fluke so we set up Chris's chono and shot anout ther round and it confirmed the results. So needless to say I was happy when we got up to 42 grains and the speed topped out at 3248fps. The last increments over the last grain saw the speeds increase very quickly so I believe I am near the top of the range. Plugging the upper number into my chart program sees 35 inch less drop than 3050fps at 1000 yards. Definately enough to smile about.

I'll be posting a few shots from this summers shoots. Something to keep me warm in the winter here....


The rig..




Waiting to get back here ASAP..




The line at 1000