Long Range Varminting in Cornwall .UK.

[john b 38]

Damn fine setup, great pictures.

 

 

Look like fantastic set ups - I particularly like the stool on the right hand one

[varminter 10]

Hi everyone and yes i do not want to bugger up my hobby by taking a silly shot!!! I love my hobby to much than do something stupid. Now lets get one thing straight SAFETY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING!!!!! I know this land like the back of my hand and if you look to the middle of the picture this is where the gorse is where the bunnies come out. The board you see is safe even though we use it to help rangefinding , what you do not see is how steep that field rises up and belive me it equals any target range backstop so all shots taken are safe . If i had any doulbt about a safe backstop and would not squeeze the trigger!!!! Please forgive my seriousness but like all shooters i take my safety very seriously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now back to varminting . as for scopes being used , i use a nightforce 5.5 - 22 - 56 NXS on me 6.5-284 and a leupold MK 4 6 - 20 - 50 on my 6PPC . I am not using a compressed load in either rifle and all my rifles are zereoed for 100YDS . At 700YDS the bullet drops 121.4 inches and drifts 34,9 iches in a 10MPH wind , this is with the 6.5-284 running a 140 a-max @ 2800FPS. You have to ask varmartin what he uses!!!!! Keep it safe and have fun........

[Guest varmartin]

Hi to all , especially dead ive and john b.

First off im real glad you like the stool john b ....i forgot to take it out of the frame when i took the photo..

but beggers cant be choosers as it was a gift from my sister.. i did ask her to paint it camo colours but she just laughed and said piss off!!!! to keep you all happy i will paint it soon and post pics to prove...

Dead ive ..im zerod in at 100yards and with the load im using (58 grn vmax)is not compressed just 44grns of vit 140 powder. 3900fps

At 650yards im holding over -or- dialing up +11.75 MOA ( 47 clicks) just under a hole turn on my leupold 6.5x20x40 scope.( 15 MOA being 1 hole turn up)

The wind was about 5mph left to right from memory and i was allowing about 4 MOA.

Dont get me wrong ..i cannot make one shot kills at that range.. it took me 3 shots to nail my farthest bunny at 642 yards with my mate varminter spotting the shots for me .

We use a leica LRF 900 range finder to get exact distance readings, but note this is not allways possible in bright sunlight, i guess the laser light gets dilluted in bright conditions.

And yes i have spend a fair amount of cash on my setups ,,,but my motto is "WORK HARD AND PLAY HARDER"

 

 

My other setup is a sako 75 .223 remington 1in 8 twist barrel .

load for this rifle is 60grn vmax 3000fps 24.5 grns v140 powder.

longest bunny with this is 442 yrds.

Edited June 27, 2006 by varmartin

[No messin 2]

It wasnt the backstop which bothered me, it was the hedge which you shoot over. I realise photos do not do landscapes justice sometimes, so I will take your word for it that all shooting is safe, I never set out to start any ill feeling and appologise if any has been caused.

I shoot a blueprinted Rem 700 action, border 6PPC barrel with .270 neck, T8 moderator and all pillar bedded into a lamimate stock.

The load I use is 70 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip over 28.5 grains of Vit N133 and federal match primers.

Furthest shots - Crow 450 yards, rabbit 420 yards and fox 300 yards.

[Guest varmartin]

As varminter said, i also take my shooting safety very seriously, and can confidently say every shot i take is SAFE!!. The land we shoot over has no public foot paths or right of ways over it and the only people shooting on it are myself and varminter. We always inform the land owner of our shooting intentions and respect all livestock and wild life.

the pictures show a lot of land in the distance but the bullets allways stop in land we have permission to shoot over..we are not nutters.. just nuts about shooting safely.

ps my shooting comes before my spellin !!

 

Hi no messin, no ill feelins mate and thanks for your concern.

On a different note i am in the process of getting my remmy customised. as follows..

Blue printed action

Dave Kiff bolt and tactical handle

26 in Krieger varmint contour barrel 1in 8 269 neck chambered for 6MM BR Norma

single shot follower

Jewell trigger

bedded in to laminated VLS remmy stock.

 

Do you have pics of your as would very much like to see how it looks!!!

Edited June 27, 2006 by varmartin

[varminter 10]

Hi no messin no offence taken its good you take notice!!! Just like varmartin says this land drops off into a big gully and back up to where we are shooting . The field over the hedge drops off deeply and when we are shooting long range the farmer is always notified and one of us always spots just incase someone is on the land who should not be!!!! As always you can never be too carefull!!!!! NO MESSIN how about a picture of your bit of kit?????? it sounds nice!!!!!!!!!!!! STAY SAFE AND TAKE CARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest varmartin]

Hey varminter dont forget to pick me up at 6 at my house for some more long range varminting on wed 29th.

And yes i will bring some sandwiches my lovely understanding wife made.!!! :realmad: only kidin she is :kiss:

[Guest baldie]

Have you fella,s tried those bullets from g+c custom bullets in devon? i,m using their 68 grain fbhp match, at the minute, i like them so much, i bought 500, they print half the group size of anything else, j4 jackets, made on the same dies as the barts ultra [probarbly corbin] a far superior bullet to anything hornady/ sierra have on offer, and not much more brass. Dont know how they will work on critters, pretty well i guess, if not, a meplat trimmer will get used, and open out the hollowpoint a smidgen Yep, you fella,s have come to the right place, several of us here are sick lovers of the old "sausage shot" too.

[varminter 10]

Have you fella,s tried those bullets from g+c custom bullets in devon? i,m using their 68 grain fbhp match, at the minute, i like them so much, i bought 500, they print half the group size of anything else, j4 jackets, made on the same dies as the barts ultra [probarbly corbin] a far superior bullet to anything hornady/ sierra have on offer, and not much more brass. Dont know how they will work on critters, pretty well i guess, if not, a meplat trimmer will get used, and open out the hollowpoint a smidgen Yep, you fella,s have come to the right place, several of us here are sick lovers of the old "sausage shot" too.

Hi baldie i have not tried the G+C custom bullets yet , my friend is hoping to pick me some up!!!! I have tried the FOWLER 66 grain and grainers , these are very accurate and expand good too!!! Have tried BERGER 60 / 68 / 70 and grain MEFS , these are very accurate too with 6PPC . But i must say my rifle loves the 58 v-max - very accurate and really explosive on target!!!!!!!! Let us know how you get on if you try them on varmints baldie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited June 27, 2006 by varminter

[dead ive 0]

Now back to varminting . as for scopes being used , i use a nightforce 5.5 - 22 - 56 NXS on me 6.5-284 and a leupold MK 4 6 - 20 - 50 on my 6PPC . I am not using a compressed load in either rifle and all my rifles are zereoed for 100YDS . At 700YDS the bullet drops 121.4 inches and drifts 34,9 iches in a 10MPH wind , this is with the 6.5-284 running a 140 a-max @ 2800FPS.

A serious piece of kit Varmartin .....Not much change out of £3000 there :whistle: ..........Is that a ballistic program data or in the field observations and if so is the round doing what it says on the tin so to speak .........It's amazing how much a 10-15mph affects certain calibres over 100 yds never mind 700 yds

Edited June 27, 2006 by dead ive

[dead ive 0]

Dead ive ..im zerod in at 100yards and with the load im using (58 grn vmax)is not compressed just 44grns of vit 140 powder. 3900fps

At 650yards im holding over -or- dialing up +11.75 MOA ( 47 clicks) just under a hole turn on my leupold 6.5x20x40 scope.( 15 MOA being 1 hole turn up)

The wind was about 5mph left to right from memory and i was allowing about 4 MOA.

Dont get me wrong ..i cannot make one shot kills at that range.. it took me 3 shots to nail my farthest bunny at 642 yards with my mate varminter spotting the shots for me .

We use a leica LRF 900 range finder to get exact distance readings, but note this is not allways possible in bright sunlight, i guess the laser light gets dilluted in bright conditions.

And yes i have spend a fair amount of cash on my setups ,,,but my motto is "WORK HARD AND PLAY HARDER"

Thanks for the reply varmartin ............Do you find your scope returning to it's original zero after 47 clicks ,I 'm right in saying that both yours and varminters scopes have pretty fine cross airs ......Unlike my smidt good for night shooting but for 1 hole targeting forget it .keep up the long range stuff ...to have the facility to take 700 yd shots on land takes some beating ..the most i can achieve is 200 yds ....heres a photo

 

 

Tikka m595 ,t8 mod and 8 x 56 s/b

Edited June 27, 2006 by dead ive

[Guest varmartin]

Hi Dead ive,

You are right , we a very fortunate to have this land to shoot over. I think the max distance we could shoot to is close to 800yards, but my mate varminter is iching to try 1000yards???

Well he has the tools to do it now and i will soon as i get my 6MM BR sorted.

The leupold and Night force scopes we use are more than capable of returning to zero every time, proven when i go to my local 100yrd range and do a spot of benchrest shooting.!! With leupolds life time warranty if they lost zero thru a tracking / internal fault i would send it to the manufacturer. i supose this is why we use them over other makes. No disrespect to your scope- im sure your is brighter in low light, but they are made for very different uses. i hear the schmidt and bender rep hold there scopes by the objective bell and waks them on a wooden table to prove there robust !!!! id wak him if he did that to my new bench only joking.

PS we do use ballistic data in a print out form and it is very accurate, probably more accurate than i can hold the rifle steady??

try this for a link to the web site.

http://www.eskimo.com/~jbm/ballistics/traj...traj_basic.html

 

Just fill in the box`s and hit calculate then print "easy peasy"" lemon squeezy""find a bunny skin him easy"

Catch you guys latter and keep up the thread!

[Guest varmartin]

Alot of you guys reload your own ammo, here are a few pics of my recently completed `loading shed`.

 

Equiped with electric- lights and a heater , for the colder evenings!

 

Please note, at no time are guns or loaded rounds stored or left unattended in my shed

 

 

Any of you guys got similar set ups-post some pics...

 

cheers varmartin

[dead ive 0]

http://www.eskimo.com/~jbm/ballistics/traj...traj_basic.html[/url

 

 

Yep ...........I use the same one ............Been borrowing a Friends RCBS gear for homeloads mate but i'm hoping to set myself up pretty soon ............Funds always hold me back lately so it'll be the Lee anniversary kit i feel .

 

Nice set up BTW .........bet the wife forgets what you look like

[Guest baldie]

Here,s my bench, i converted the loft....well boarded it out.