Does good at close mean good at far?

[indyjoe]

While I don't shoot at 300+ yards anymore I have had stability issues with bullets really open up groups at 150 that looked good at 100. Marlin 1894s do this in 44 mag with bulllets when they start getting heavier that 250 grains. I have not tried the Lee 300 RNF but would imagine this would have this problem in 44 mag. One of my planned retirement projects is to try this bullet in 444.

Heck, some 250 grains in my 1894 .44 keyhole at 100. But great point. It is only applicable if spin rate is enough to continue to stabilize out to the desired distance.

 

[randyb]

Not all rounds will perform will at long range. I.E. I have some of the 60 grain .22 lr rounds which under 25 yards do very well, but beyond that the barrel twist is all wrong and the bullet quickly keyholes.

 

[shibumiseeker]

The other guys have addressed SD and ES very well, but bullet selection is also important from the standpoint of stabilization and maintenance of stability over time. Generally speaking flat based bullets will do better at shorter ranges because they stabilize more quickly, and boat tail or scenar bullets take longer to stabilize, but their higher ballistic coefficient gives them longer range before they go transonic. I know all of this is textbook stuff, but my personal load development bullet selection for 100 yards is very different from the loads I'm developing for 600+ yards. I've been developing my .50bmg loads at 200 yards and I get much tighter grouping with the boreriders at 200 yards than I do at 100. I've also noticed that flat based .308 bullets I've got sub-moa at 100 yards open up a little more than linearly at 400 yards, even once vertical stringing is accounted for, while the SMKs do better at the longer range than at the shorter range.

All of that information though was lost in the noise until I got other factors under control.

 

[rem338um]

It all matters

As a long range shooter and reloader....yes it all matters! The more perfect the brass ,bullet and load, the better /more consistent which in turns makes it more accurate. This becomes more apparent at 300 yds and beyond.

 

[1946]

My experience with one particular rifle in .308 was: it shot sub moa at 100 yds but didn't start to settle down until 200 yds. Groups would shrink by up to .5 in. and would stay there out to 600 yd.
So, when I was developing a load for long range p dogs,the 100 yd target was giving me a false indicator of what the rifle would do at a much longer range.
When I tried to dial the rifle in for the 100 yd target, my long range targets would suffer.
Lesson learned for me was all rifles have their own particular set of unique values. You've got to as said earlier, test test test.

 

[42769vette]

Groups would shrink by up to .5 in. and would stay there out to 600 yd.

you know thats a world record. are you sure you dont mean .5 moa not .5 inches. .5 in is imposible to believe @ 600 yds

 

[lf19]

The information shared by everyone is fantastic. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.