I finally got everything working together yesterday at the rifle range with my savage .243.

I fired my reloads and got a 1.7" group at 300 yds. I blew up balloons to about 5" diameter and was popping them almost every shot. For ME this is wonderful (I know many of you can do much better but at my age and with my eyes and reloads this is fantastic.)

One thing I noticed though was how the group widened up and dropped dramatically when the barrel got hot. After I let it cool back down
it was shooting on target again. I had to limit it to about 3 shots and let it cool. I was using IMR4350/42gr. Sierra 100SPT @2950fps. (my hunting loads) with a free-floating barrel.

My question is - how do guys go PD shooting all day long with hundreds of rounds and not have this problem?

Congratulations on your great reloads. Isn't it great when things all come together and you get a load that really performs well.

I, too, have a .243 (Ruger) and it is a tack driver. I just love it.

Shooting PDs, I single load each shot to make myself slow down and when the barrel heats up I put the gun down and pick up another one.

Usually I bring three or four guns.

Yup, what Fjold said.

You just need more guns. I go with at least 3 or I don't go. 5 is ideal.

Nice work Wayne. I too use the 100 grain sierra prohunter and IMR4350 in my 243. Shoots better than I can and works very very well on deer. If you ever want to try another bullet that is a good deer bullet the sierra 85 grain hpbt is a goody as well.

Thanks guys for sharing my excitement.

I could not believe how much a hot barrel can change the POI as much as I read about it. I am not talking about many shots in quick succession either. I guess the barrel really does bend when it gets hot.

Before I had more than one gun to take Pdog shooting, I would wait one minute by a watch between shots and every five shots, I'd take a five minute break and run a dry brush and dry patch thru the bore. When there was more than one shooter, we would switch from shooter to spotter every five shots, still with the one minute between shots. With more than one gun the same thing applys. Just rotate the rifles.
You do have to be careful with so many targets out there jumping up and down calling "shoot me next" or you could burn out a barrel on one trip.

1.7" @ 300yards will make a thrill go up your leg.

I bought a plain Jane .243 Savage this year. What a great shooter! Best 100 yard groups so far--.47" 3 shot and .74" 5 shot groups with scope at 10X.

quote:

1.7" @ 300yards will make a thrill go up your leg.

I couldn't believe it when I saw it through the spotting scope. I had to walk up to the target (600 yds. up and back) just to see for myself and save the target.

Slowpoke Slim, Translate please:

quote:

Si tantum EGO eram dimidium ut bonus ut EGO memor

aero,

first on varmint shooting, you have a heavy barrel rifle...

secondly, that is why a 223 is so popular..

when I set up, I am usually using the hood of the truck as a shooting platform...

I have Two 223s, set up for targets at 200 to 250 yds and under.. have one 22.250 on standby for targets past 250 yds.....then a 22 LR set up for the close ones...

I load blue dot in my 223s, so they don't get a chance to heat up too bad.. light charge of 13 to 14 grains..still giving 3000 fps or so..

I alternate between each gun, 15 shots then set it aside to let the barrel cool..

the 22.250 only takes about 10% or less of my shots all day anyway.. this is for high volume shooting of sage rats, which are much smaller than prairie dogs..
but this is in environments that you can get 100 shots or more in an hour...

and I am doing this all single shot..

usually I have to call it a day, not because of barrel heat, or running out of ammo...

I have to quit because I have a headache from scope squitting for almost 5 hours straight....

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
Shooting PDs, I single load each shot to make myself slow down and when the barrel heats up I put the gun down and pick up another one.

Usually I bring three or four guns.

quit lying Frank...

like most varmint shooters, you SET UP 3 or 4 guns... while having another half dozen or so in the trunk (or in the truck) just sitting 'on deck' just in case you need those for some reason..

last time I went to Montana, I took 12 guns with me.. used two, and knew I would only use two... but I just wasn't sure which TWO of the 12 I was going to use..