Using Aimpoints and other red dot optics at extended ranges seems to come up on a semi-regular basis around here. Same thing goes for SBRs and longer distance shots. I paid a visit to a new range in my area today, and was pleased to find they had a rather nice 300 yard rifle range available. Since my girlfriend and I were the only ones using the facility today, it gave me a great chance to run my Mk. 18 RIS II clone at 300 yards (a first for this build), and get some photos.
Here's a view of the 300y bay, as seen from the shooting bench.
(Click photos for larger views)
The 100y target rack is on the far right, with 200 yards in the middle, and 300 yards on the left. If you look carefully, you might see the silhouette target up on the 300 yard board.
If not, this should help...
For comparison, here's a view through my Aimpoint M2. I think I had the dial on 6 or 7 at the time of this photo.
The dot is only really visible in the photo if you open it full size.
As I have discovered before, longer distance shooting with the M2 really benefits from cranking the dot down a notch or two on the brightness, as it keeps the dot from washing out the area around it, or from looking too fuzzy.
Here's a quick rundown of gear and conditions...
The Aimpoint is zeroed at 50 yards, and is mounted in a LaRue LT-129 cantilever mount for a lower 1/3rd cowitness. I was shooting PMC Bronze 55 grain .223 (Optic is zeroed with Federal XM193, which I neglected to bring with me). Upper is an LMT 10.5" CQB upper with a 1/7 twist, chrome lined barrel and Daniel Defense Mk. 18 rail. Shooting from off the bench with my Tango Down stubby resting on the sandbag, no sling (again, something I left at home - D'oh)
For 300 yards, I was holding high about 12-18" - with the bottom edge of the dot sitting roughly on the shoulders/collar bone area of the silhouette target. I knew that this hold should give me a roughly mid-chest POI.
Weather: A slight breeze from 12 o'clock, with temps in the upper 80s to about 90. Not sure on the humidity, but I'd guess upper 80s to 90s. Altitude is probably 100 feet above sea level, maybe less.
Since this was my first time shooting my SBR at this distance, I initially only fired 4 test shots at the target. Time between shots varied from 1 to 2.5 seconds.
Here's the result...
(Side note: The silhouette target itself is just a shade under 40" top to bottom (measuring the paper), and just shy of 37" line to line vertically. Width is just under 19.5" at the shoulders, with the black vertical outline being 13.5" wide at the horizontal line in the middle.)
The missing shot was a flier high and left, just left of the head.
Once I knew I wasn't potentially launching projectiles into the next county or the bay to the south, I returned to the bench and sent the rest of the box screaming for the berm. Again, 1-2.5 seconds between shots - just enough time to get the dot back where I wanted it and squeeze.
Here's the result of the entire 20 round box...
(Note - photo taken at home after the range, as I forgot to take photos before pulling the target. Large holes around the edge were from the staples that held the paper up.)
18 out of 20 on paper, with 12 inside the lines and 9 in the upper chest area. 90% overall hit rate, with over 50% inside the black lines. Overall, I'd say that's not bad at all.
Next trip will involve pulling the Centerpoint 4-16x variable off my Marlin .22 Magnum and tossing it on the SBR to see what kind of groups I can get at that distance.
Lessons learned:
1) An Aimpoint and a short barrel are still more than capable of giving someone a very bad day from 300 yards away.
2) In THIS barrel, 55gr works just fine with 1/7. Most of the hits are inside the coverage of a 4MOA dot, so I can't expect much better from this setup.
3) PMC bronze is still dirty ammo, but accurate enough for range use.
As Old_Painless says - "Shooting stuff is fun."
That is an awesome SBR and a great looking range!
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