98Z5V

I'm still in - JBMatt is loading the 178 EMD-Ms, so I'll buy them from you and sell them to him...

MidSouth shipped these already - FAST service!!! They get here next Tuesday. Kudos to MidSouth...

So, you don't know what your exact drop at those distances actually is? Even for an exact temp? It looks like - from what you're saying, that you have a 100 yard zero. Then you just go another 16" (about 16 MOA, but not, because 1 MOA = 1.047") to hit in the 9-ring at 600? Then, you add another 10 MOA to 800 yards? On top of that 16" from 600? Another 5 MOA for another 100 yards, to 900? That's just confusing. Why don't you know your drop-for-distance, for every distance that you shoot? Not "adding more for more xx-more yards". If you shoot at these distances, you know your drop for each distance, so you can just dial it and be done. Know your drop for distance, dial it, then you only have to account for wind - which is objective, but subjective. Depends on whether you can read it accurately or not, but more in how many times it changes directions between you and the target, if you catch that it changed directions, what it is at the muzzle vs. at the target, etc. There's not always wind flags out there, and there never are, when you're hunting... I know all that for mine, for all my long distance guns, and have charts made up for all of them. On top of that, I have separate charts made up for Density Altitude, for each one, so I can just check my density altitude in the Kestrel, look at chart/check chart, dial, shoot. Hit. It's all covered in the build thread on that gun, in the Members Builds section. Mk11 Mod 0 is the thread to look for.

We'll talk about all that out here - it's actually covered during all the Long Range classes. You'll get to shoot ALOT of shiit during the trip, so don't do anything with your optic before you come out - hit the shoot, hit the info - shoot the guns... decisions come after that, brother.

180 VLD even chamber from a magazine? It's too long to load to 2.800" COL, which is mag-length, minus a few special AR magazines. Single load those things? Have you shot at 800 yards yet? Or further? Honestly... What Highpower competition that you shoot at isn't flat? They're all flat. You guys never shoot at angles that matter (5* up or down isn't going to matter, especially at 600 yards), and all your targets are known-distance, so you never have to estimate range to target. You know what the range to your target is, every time.

The 178 ELD-X are the little heavy hookers that I'm after. Those 178 ELD-X projectiles blow away the previous 178 HPBTs by a far margin, and they even beat the ELD-Match projectiles. How'da thunk it, that the best Hornady 178gr .308 projectile was the hunting projectile?... They did it, though... That custom load that I made up for the Mk11 was all with the 178 ELD-Expanding hunting projectile... Bonus - expands and kills shiit DRT.

@sketch - Mikey 2-points, brother...

I nailed 700 Hornady 6.5mm 147gr ELD-Ms this afternoon. HARD to find, but I got 'em.

All Wilson Combat barrels are Da Bomb, brother. They don't make a bad one.

That thing is sooooo sweet...

Down with the ass-kissin' anyway, ain't ya?...

I type so fast that this question got by you. So, what's your load data on your round, and your drop at 850 yards - or your drop at something close to 850 yards?...

You just said you never shot this thing past 600!...

You, my man, have the 133rd build Bushmaster BAR-10 that was ever built. Ever. Just going off the early serial number, there are only 132 other people in the entire world that have a Bushmaster BAR-10 that's older than what you have in your hands right now. Put that thing in the safe, and don't change it. Shoot it, love it, become familiar with it - but don't change it. It'll only go UP in value in the future. What you have right there, THAT design Bushmaster BAR-10 - is what the Rock River Arms LAR-8 is today. THAT is the design that RRA bought from Bushmaster, to launch their business with Large-Frame ARs. Now, let's talk about what you need to get, parts-wise, to build you a hunting .308AR.

Damn, that's one of the originals, right there, based on that serial number. I wouldn't touch it, as far as modifications go. One day - especially now that Remington killed off Bushmaster - that will be worth something. Keep that gun like it is, enjoy shooting it - and just build something else that you'd love to hunt.

So, you're a Bench Rest shooter, giving gun advice to someone that's asking about a hunting rifle... Got it. mpo I can read wind... Well, too. 13.9mph Full Value wind, shooting 5.56 75gr handloads at 850 yards... That was 5 3/4 mils of wind hold, off-target, just to repeatedly hit it. Like I said, reading wind is an art... It takes practice (and weather, ammo, and money) to get a grasp on it, until you get good at it. Nobody ever "masters" it. Because wind is unpredictable.

Details of your gun are gonna be important - as well as pictures. The original Bushmaster BAR-10 is a different platform than Armalite AR-10 and DPMS LR-308 platforms (which are different from each other). The original Bushmaster BAR-10 IS THE DESIGN for the Rock River LAR-8, though.. Rock River bought that design from Bushmaster, and Bushmaster switched over to the DPMS LR-308 design after that. We need to know what you have, and pics will help. That's not even "Long Distance" right there. Wind barely affects a .308 Win round at 600 yards. I measure my loads, and know what they're gonna do at different distances, different elevations, different Density Altitudes (weather). Wind is what you have to account for, and can't truly just calculate. Reading wind is an art. But a 10mph Full Value wind at 600 yards on that load is still only 1.4 mils of hold for my gun. At 600 yards, 50*, my drop is 4.7 mils.

Lake City once-fired brass with CCI 200s, and Accurate 2495 powder. Not even CCI 34s or magnum primers. Here's the gun:

What's your .308AR drop at 850 yards - or close - for your long range load?

Well... he's talking about hunting here. That's the main focus of his first post in this thread... Check it:

My handload for my 18.5" AR is a 178gr Hornady ELD-M, with a muzzle velocity of 2530fps, in 50* weather. That's cookin' for a 178gr load. In 50* weather, it's 8.5 mils of drop at 850 yards, and it's supersonic to 1050 yards, and that's in 1390 feet of elevation. That exact same load is crushing 2630fps in 105* weather, and that's 7.0 mils of drop at that same 850-yard target - and that's all from the change in density altitude. The extreme change in density altitude from 50* to 105*, same load, same elevation, same gun. Density Altitude is where it's at, for Long Range shooting.

It's Mat Best - he'll be okay...

That's gotta suck for hunting. That long of a barrel isn't easy to carry all day, if you're walking for/to game, doesn't clear brush or veg easily, and the swing-weight on a 24" barrel is tremendous. That's alot of barrel hanging out there in front of you, and moving it from side to side is alot harder than swinging a shorter barrel.

No reason for a flaming at all, man. None. Different things for different people. The longest barrel that I have on any .308AR is 18.5", and that gun is a dream to shoot. I've got another 18" gun, a 16" gun, 13.5" gun, and a 12.5" gun - all in .308 Winchester, and all ARs. None of them are horrible to shoot, in the least, and they all have a different use/purpose. That 13.5" gun only has a red dot on it, and I can accurately run that thing out to 400 yards. There's a thread here somewhere on that, specifically. Hell, I've got a Ruger GunSite Scout Rifle, and that thing is pure badassery, right there. Bolt gun, 16" barrel, mag-fed... With a comp on the end of the barrel, (and only red dot) that thing is actually peaceful to shoot. The 12.5" only has a red dot on it as well, but this fall, I'll mount a magnified optic on it and take it out to 850 yards, just dialing the scope for that. Gonna be an interesting test, but it will blow away some of the theories that are out there... An accurate gun is always an accurate gun. The shorter barrel of an accurate gun, compared to the same accurate gun with a longer barrel - well, that accurate shorter barreled gun just needs more drop at distance, due to a slower initial muzzle velocity. That doesn't mean it any less accurate - you just have to hold or dial more, and that's purely from the muzzle velocity lost due to the shorter barrel. Everything else you told him was spot-on. "Height over Bore" is what gets people...

I hear ya, brother. Fuckin' Doubters will LEARN!... https://giphy.com/gifs/ftr4ee1obbdJCXeeGb