2-Mile target, Sunday morning

[98Z5V]

Sunday morning, we are shooting the 2-Mile target for Proof Of Concept.  Anyone want to jump in?  Get your as to SDTF, and we'll make it happen. 

[98Z5V]

@Magwa - Don't hate me, brother - I need to make sure this thing is up to standards before you come down here...   

[Magwa]

No hate at all i wish you all good conditions and good bullet flight........but if the wind blows a little right at the target well that's shooting lol have fun get er done..

[98Z5V]

Tomorrow morning (Saturday), I'm mocking up our temporary target stand in the backyard, drilling the target plate corners, getting all the hardware set in the target plate, and painting the target plate as it hangs.  Sometime tomorrow afternoon, I'll post a pic of the thing.  It's 5/16" hot-rolled steel plate, 48" x 48", and that fukker weighs 163 lbs.  It's FAT. 

As Fuk.

[Camotruck]

Unfortunately I will be at work Sun morning. I'm off Mon morning for the holiday. Already have plans to go out there to do some shooting Mon.

[Camotruck]

What time Sunday??

[sketch]

1 hour ago, 98Z5V said:

Tomorrow morning (Saturday), I'm mocking up our temporary target stand in the backyard, drilling the target plate corners, getting all the hardware set in the target plate, and painting the target plate as it hangs.  Sometime tomorrow afternoon, I'll post a pic of the thing.  It's 5/16" hot-rolled steel plate, 48" x 48", and that fukker weighs 163 lbs.  It's FAT. 

As Fuk.

I Hope you still have the grade 8 chain I left you ? This would be a good use . 

[98Z5V]

2 hours ago, sketch said:

I Hope you still have the grade 8 chain I left you ? This would be a good use . 

Running some Grade 70 tow chain for this one, brother.  No offense...  Going big as we can.

Someone is gonna MISS a 48" x 48" target - but they're gonna brag their ass off about how badass they were for hitting a chain link at 2 miles, and walk away like they're the sheit...   

I've seen people MISS a Full IPSC target at 450 yards, and talk about how badass they are for shooting the 1/4" piece of 550 cord that was hanging the target - right before they fuckked it up for everyone...  Real life...  

[Magwa]

Have fun lets see how Ivey preforms

[98Z5V]

48 x 48 target is ready to go for tomorrow morning.  Target hanger stand is height adjustable, so we can tune it on the hill and make it level.   

LET'S GOOOOOOO   !!!!!

[98Z5V]

36.8544" equals ONE MOA at 3,520 yards, so we're looking at trying to get close to a 1.3-ish MOA target.  Gonna be Spicy...   

 

Men, we can either talk about it - or get out there and try to BE about it...  I'll pull my Big Girl Panties up real tight before I shoot this thing...   

[Cunuckgaucho]

Looking forward to hearing how Sunday goes.

[98Z5V]

2 hours ago, Cunuckgaucho said:

Looking forward to hearing how Sunday goes.

So am I, brother - I'm actually a little skeered...     Everything is prepped, packed, ready to go in the morning.  We'll see what shakes out.  I have 29 rounds loaded, to play with. Hope it's enough to get close...  

[Armed Eye Doc]

Happy shooting.

[shooterrex]

Sounds like fun.

[98Z5V]

AAR.  Key Takeaways.

First, there was no contact with the target.  Actual elevation at the platform is 1390 feet, Density Altitude was 3900 feet.  Temp was 91*, humidity was 22%.  This is the first time I've shot the gun since putting the Ivey mount on there with the EGW custom 60 MOA rail on the action.  I had to check zero on the gun.  With the elevation turret buried all the way down, I'm 1.3" high at 100 yards - I'll take that.  All the scope travel is UP, all 34 Mils of it.  

With the target hanging system that I cobbled together yesterday, it went up very easily, even though that plate weighs 163 lbs. It's secure, and it'll swing.  Winds were a consistent 8mph from the left.  At that distance, is was an 8 Mil windhold, and Dope called for 71.8 Mils of elevation.  The handload is Vairog new brass, CCI 250 primers, 88.5gr of Accurate MagPro powder, 300gr Hornady A-Tip projectiles, seated to book length, 3.680" COAL.  This gives me 2650 fps muzzle velocity from my 24" barrel.  

Lesson 1. The target location is in some rocky terrain, so spotting any splash is difficult.  I saw some feedback on mine, but there was a 300 PRC on the hill running 225gr projectiles - hard to spot any splash.  Rigo ran his 7 PRC with 195s, and I only saw 1 splash over 5 shots - and he was exactly 1 Mil low, good wind call, on the one I could spot. Can the 7 PRC get there?  Hell yeah it can.  With an Ivey mount.  Does it have the energy or the weight?  Time will tell.  I don't think the .30 Cals are gonna be any good at this, either - just not enough weight going downrange, even if you're running the 250s.

Lesson 2. Trust your Dope, but make sure you have accurate Dope.  Mine called for 71.8 Mils of elevation, and the really good splash had was exactly 1 Mil low - so I dialed to 72.8 Mils.  Getting a consistent wind of 8 mph really helped - being able to accurately read the wind via mirage was important - the wind hold called for was correct, 8 Mils left.

Lesson 3.  That 163 lb plate is a real bastard to hang, even with 2 guys, and even with a good target hanger system.  I'm cutting that thing in half, horizontally, and we'll use 2" steel 1/4" bar stock to bolt the two halves together, at the target location.  That will make loading it, transporting  it, and setting it up (as well as tear down) much easier.  

Lesson 4.  More target flashers.  We ran 2 flashers, one right and one left, top 1/3 of the plate.  This is a heavy plate - and it's gonna take alot to make it vibrate and wiggle.  And set off a flasher.  The "rock test" on the back of the plate proved that.  A rock on the back of the plate, on a side, would set off that side's flasher, but not the other one.  This plate will have 8 flashers on it.  2 ea, top, bottom, sides.  Evenly spaced.  That'll do it...

Gonna be some fun times coming up for the Fall Shoot.  Over the summer, I'm taking the gun apart and shipping the barreled action back to Savage, and having them install the newer 30" barrel in it, and return the original 24" back to me.  That should give me the potential for another 150 fps mussle velocity, so 2800 fps, and I can back the load down to 2750 fps from where I am now.  In theory. Might as well Cerakote the chassis while the important parts are back at the factory. 

Fun times coming up...     Proof Of Concept is complete.  Someone is hitting this thing this Fall Shoot.  

[shooterrex]

Sounds like this is coming along. 

[98Z5V]

1 hour ago, shooterrex said:

Sounds like this is coming along. 

We'll have to work the kinks out, for sure.  It's different.  Hopefully, we get everything ironed out and running well long before the Fall Shoot.  

[98Z5V]

On 5/22/2026 at 9:47 PM, Camotruck said:

What time Sunday??

It was around 0830 when we got out there, and we didn't leave until about 1130.  Rigo left his place in NW PHX at 6am, got to my place at 0720, we packed it all up and hit the road a couple minutes before 0800.  Moving that plate around really sucks, if I've failed to mention that up to this point...  

Edited 8 hours ago by 98Z5V

[98Z5V]

Interesting data.  First, here's the target, set up. 

It will get WAY MORE BIGGER if you keep clicking it - you can see the hanger system better.  

Interesting, forgot to mention it until I was talking to @Matt.Cross...   Shot the thing today on just under 12x power, on a 4.5-27x scope.  That gave me plenty of clear resolution on the actual target, and a great, wide field of view.  Flight time was around 9 seconds.  Plenty of time to go through recoil management, get back in glass and back on target, see what I could see, with a wide field of view.  Something to think about, that I didn't think about before talking to Matt.   It's a FFP scope, and the target was just over 0.6 Mils wide.  Little guy.  In glass.  

[Camotruck]

1 hour ago, 98Z5V said:

It was around 0830 when we got out there, and we didn't leave until about 1130.  Rigo left his place in NW PHX at 6am, got to my place at 0720, we packed it all up and hit the road a couple minutes before 0800.  Moving that plate around really sucks, if I've failed to mention that up to this point...  

I would suggest building a 2x4 frame with handles to carry it instead of trying to man handle it. Something similar to what was used to carry the Ark of the Covenant... leverage! Work smarter not harder...

[Armed Eye Doc]

Great first outing for the 2 mile quest.  We'll see who can make it to the next area code first.

[Armed Eye Doc]

Tom unless they will not be there in the Fall, make them wait for the reward.

[Cunuckgaucho]

For a proof of concept and initial trial I'd say younguys were succesful.

Now this will not work in the desert but for around the house, moving to the trailer/truck etc

Heavy duty panel dolly, having one has made my life easier

[98Z5V]

2 hours ago, Camotruck said:

I would suggest building a 2x4 frame with handles to carry it instead of trying to man handle it. Something similar to what was used to carry the Ark of the Covenant... leverage! Work smarter not harder...

Nope.  Fuk it, We'll DO IT LIVE!  

I'm cutting that Heavy MFer in half.  Bolt it together.  Then I don't have to build any complicated frames, etc., just to move it around and hang it.