Today was mine.

Shot the best group of my life. I'm not an accomplished rifle shot, but have been doing this for many years. I'll probably NEVER do this again, so it's not skill, if it's not repeatable consistently.

But who cares. I shot a 1/4" group at 200 yds., yes 200, not a typo, with my Dakota Safari 375 H&H, shooting Hornady 250 gr. GMXs. Looked almost like one slightly oblong hole.

I'm going to buy a gold frame to fit the target and hang it on the ceiling over my bed, if my wife appreciates it as much as I do. Not holding my breath...

Anyway, this is the rifle I have chosen to take back to Zambia to hunt with Andrew this summer. It will be a backup for my 458 Lott for Buffalo (350 gr. NF), but it's main mission will be for Sable and Sitatunga, hence, the 250 gr. GMXs, sighted in 3" high @100 for this load. I'll have to see where the 350s go now.

If I have a choice, I think I'd like to be either a German Shepard, or an English Springer Spaniel...

Edited 2/28/18: This was a three-shot group.

Congratulations! No small feat with a hunting rifle.

Congrats, that is very impressive.I’ve never done that at 100...with anything!My best with my .375 AI was 3/8”.....for one shot! memtb

Congratulations! Excellent shooting!

That s wonderful Surefire!! I shoot long range fairly often and with that grouping you could get 1.25" at 1000yd! The world record for 5 shots is held by a friend and its 1.37". My best at 1000yd with my custom .375 is 2.5" and that s after many attempts.

Seriously, I would figure out your ballistics out to 1000-1200 yd because you have a winner for elk and antelope. Or long shots in Namibia desert.

A 1/4" group at 200 yards is not luck, I've never shot one. Congrats!

Very nice. Bring on the Sable and Sitatunga!

that's great - opposite of what biebs can do - 200 yds at 1/4"

quote:

Originally posted by surefire7:
Today was mine.

Shot the best group of my life. I'm not an accomplished rifle shot, but have been doing this for many years. I'll probably NEVER do this again, so it's not skill, if it's not repeatable consistently.

But who cares. I shot a 1/4" group at 200 yds., yes 200, not a typo, with my Dakota Safari 375 H&H, shooting Hornady 250 gr. GMXs. Looked almost like one slightly oblong hole.

I'm going to buy a gold frame to fit the target and hang it on the ceiling over my bed, if my wife appreciates it as much as I do. Not holding my breath...

Anyway, this is the rifle I have chosen to take back to Zambia to hunt with Andrew this summer. It will be a backup for my 458 Lott for Buffalo (350 gr. NF), but it's main mission will be for Sable and Sitatunga, hence, the 250 gr. GMXs, sighted in 3" high @100 for this load. I'll have to see where the 350s go now.

If I have a choice, I think I'd like to be either a German Shepard, or an English Springer Spaniel...

Edited 2/28/18: This was a three-shot group.

Are you sure you didn't hit the target with one bullet, and miss the whole target with the rest of the shots?

................................................................

Very nice shootimg!

OK- Post the target.

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
OK- Post the target.

Agreed, we need to see the proof!

Congradulations

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
OK- Post the target.

And some pics of the guns (and some details), if you'd be so kind to share!

Thanks everybody for the kudos.

I'd be delighted if I could shoot like that consistently. I just think this rifle loves this factory ammo! I'm sure this is no great shakes to all of you reloaders out there who can fine tune loads to a rifle. But I do not reload, so it's just a holiday when someone like me finds factory ammo that is accurate. But this is beyond just ' accurate'. I've never shot a group like that from that distance in my life before.

While the rifle/ammo were fantastic, I did have to go back today to adjust the scope. The 1/4" group yesterday was 3" to the right and about bullseye level height-wise. All went well, and now it prints 3" high at 12:00. My first shot today was from a clean barrel and it printed 2" high and 1.5" left. The next two were 3" high at 12:00. I've noticed on this rifle especially, more than my others, the first shot from a clean barrel is 'off' quite a bit from the succeeding group(s). I can live with that. First shot will be in camp anyway, sighting in the rifle first day for the PH (and me!).

Yesterday, I said I needed to see how low the 350 NF bullets would drop compared to the 250s. The results were consistent with the last time I had the rifle out to compare the two loads back in August. Back then, and today, the 350s dropped very close to 4" lower. I think this may be perfect. The rifle is pretty much an inch low at 100 yards with the 350NF and three inches high with the 250s. I have no intentions of shooting a Buffalo longer than 100 yards, and a lot closer if possible. The Sitatunga may be a longer proposition, so I like where that 250 bullet is printing. Best of both worlds, pretty much what John Taylor talked about in his praise of the 375 H&H.

I also shot Federal Premium 300 gr. SAF. As might be expected, they shot right in between the 250 and 350s. Sadly, neither of the heavy weights are as accurate as the 250 GMXs. But they are certainly close enough for 'minute of Buffalo'. I am happy! I shot all of these bullet weights on one target so I could compare where they landed to one another.

Finally, I shot my Dakota 458 Lott three rounds at 25 yards, standing off-hand, no sling, mainly to start getting used to the recoil by summer. First shot was a clean barrel and I must admit, perhaps a bit of recoil anticipation, as I haven't shot this caliber since last summer. The next two shots were fine after my mind accepted the recoil.

Well, I've said quite a few times on AR that I am photo-posting challenged. But if my friend and techie Ray Atkinson could post the pics for you, I would love to share. Just kidding Ray! If we ever got it figured out, both of our brains would explode...

But maybe my friend Frostbit from Alaska could lend a hand. Jim, if you read this, send me an email or PM. I'll take the pictures with my ipad and send them to you, if you think you can post them here. Sorry to bother you Jim! I have three targets that show the results of the past two days shootings that is being requested, mainly the 1/4" group! Oh, and a request for rifle pics too.

I'm sorry that I shot a used target with two previously taped bullet holes on the 1/4" group at 200 yrds. I'm sure some will doubt that it happened, but all I can tell you is that it did. On today's target with the 375, I wrote in different colored ink to show the three different bullet weights.

Good shooting to you all!

Nice shooting for sure. Great when a plan works out.

A few years back when I bought a m70 Winchester Safari Express .375 H&H, I also bought a few boxes of 270 grain Federal blue box ammo. At the range I shot those and some other ammo I had. I was pretty shocked when I looked at the first group from the Federal stuff, the group measured around 3/8 inch. I just couldn't believe how well it shot. Of course I've never been able to quite duplicate that again but it consistently shoots some pretty small groups. I don't consider myself in any way to be the most accomplished benchrest shooter either.

Well, I don't think Frostbit has read this post. I took pictures on my ipad of the rifle and the targets. My wife and I are going to try this imgur thing and see if two non-techie 60-year olds can figure out photo posting. Don't hold your breath. No promises, but if you see some stupid pictures in the wrong places, out of context, with no explanations, you'll know we're lost in cyberspace.

Lord, life used to not be so complex!

Must learn new tricks surefire. Must keep learning...

Hang in there!

When there's lead in the air, there's hope. I have shot bragging rights groups occasionally, consistently no.

Dave

I shot a 30 caliber group at 300 yards..with my 30-06, I do it all the time..I shoot one shot groups btw!

quote:

Originally posted by surefire7:
Well, I don't think Frostbit has read this post. I took pictures on my ipad of the rifle and the targets. My wife and I are going to try this imgur thing and see if two non-techie 60-year olds can figure out photo posting. Don't hold your breath. No promises, but if you see some stupid pictures in the wrong places, out of context, with no explanations, you'll know we're lost in cyberspace.

Lord, life used to not be so complex!

Must learn new tricks surefire. Must keep learning...

It's not too hard, I'll be 60 in 17 days and I figured it out.

I can't shoot 1/4" at 200 yards but I did a three shot .7" group at 300 yards last year.

Really nice shooting Frank! Congratulations!

Well, my wife and I sat down tonight at the kitchen table to see if we were smart enough to read and do the imgur thing.

We're not smart enough...

I think our ipad is too old as well. Imgur gave a message that we need at least 10.0 version to use imgur.

These are the roadblocks that non-techies like us become completely perplexed with as we really don't know what the h*ll we're doing, and the amount of time it would take to educate ourselves, would not be worth the time or trouble.

But hey, we can still type...

Dog,

Send me a PM if you want me to post some pics for you, one or a dozen of them, or whatever, while Imgur is still allowing me to do it.


Rip ...

Hi RIP,

Sent you a pm. I think...

Posting 12 pics, one per post.
Surefire7 may copy and paste these images if he wishes to comment here or elsewhere:

The two images above that have a pinkish tint to the white carpet have been subjected to "auto correct" but all the others have not.
All of them have been upsized from about 320 width to 500 width and "HD" enhancement by Imgur was applied,
hoping to sharpen the focus ...

The images are tiny and a bit blurry, best I can do with them, hope this serves the desired purpose.

Rip ...

I owe RIP a huge thanks for posting these photos. He even added cool text to all of them as well.

As he said, the pics are a bit blurry. The ones I sent him were quite clear, but I think something happens when photos become second & third generation; ipad, email, then the forum.

Thanks RIP. Really appreciated! I have a new friend on AR.


The first target is the 458 Lott offhand 25 yards. Horn. 500 gr. softs.

The second target is the 375 H&H shooting three different weights: 250 GMX, 300 SAF & 350 NF.

The third target is the also the 375 H&H, 3-shot group, 1/4" @ 200 yards. 250 GMX. 'Dog Day!'

Lastly are the pics of the two rifles.

Hope I can return the favor some day RIP. But it won't be in computer help...

surefire7,

Welcome, my pleasure.

Well, if that is OK, great.

But it seems like you sent me thumbnails instead of the full size images.

Images do not degrade like you are saying, in going from your device through email to my 'puter and then to hosting on Imgur.
That is not an excuse for tiny, blurry pictures.

You might want to try again with the target images at least.
I sure can't tell what you are talking about with the different ink colors
The image sizes were like 52k bytes instead of something like a Mega byte.
A Kb is 1/1000th of an Mb.
Check the size of your originals and see.
A 0.5 to 1.0 Mb image would be 10 or 20 times bigger and better than what you sent.
Those would require sizing down to post here, and focus would be improved.
A tiny thumbnail image just gets blurrier when you enlarge it.

Right click on a full-size image on your device and then click properties if that is possible.
What size are they?


Rip ...

Forgive me if I dare suggest such a small group is indeed luck, otherwise you would be shooting them all the time.

If I found a target so imprinted, my first thought would be that a gust of wind may have taken at least one of the bullets right off the target.

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
OK- Post the target.

That's right.

Targets talk, ... B.S. walks

AJ,

You having a bad day or something?