CHAPTER 23

KEEPING THE RIFLE IN TUNE

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iilustrate this chapter, I will use the actual targets I shot during the 2006
T"
I super Shoot. The winner was Lee Euber, who shot a terrific match. I chose
this tournament as an example because i kept the targets to make load adjustments
along the way. Some were successful and others were not. I thought this might be a
better review than if everything had gone offwithout a hitch.

MATCH PREPARATION
As is my custom before a big match, I had tuned the rifles to give the widest load
window and as much forgiveness to the wind as I could get out of them. When I got
to Kelbly's, the barrel on the rifle I ended up using had about 90 rounds on it and it
looked like it was going to shoot decently. It was by no means a "hummer" but it was
if I did my part it would give me a decent chance.
an honest barrel and I felt that
The weather in "sunny ohio' was plain nasty. one minute it rained, the next
it was cold, then the sun would come out and tease, then just as quickly leave with
clouds and gale force winds on its heels. I honestly love the place!

267
268 THE BOOK OF RIFLE ACCURACY

We brought four rifles to the Super Shoot, two for me and two for Faye. There were
two primary rifles and two backups (it never hurts to have a plan "B"). As Faye does not
like to practice very much, I ended up testing all four rifles. Faye did shoot a little on
the last practice day, but there were other important things taking up her time: social-
izing, and of course going out with the "Red Hattersl' All four rifles had relatively new
barrels-two with less than 100 rounds and the other pair with about 200 rounds.
The plan was to test rifles at least three times a day-morning, noon and late in
the afternoon. During practice days I shoot at 200 yards, as I feel more readily shows
if the load is not right. I still shoot 3-shot groups with the same three loads tested
at my home range. I do not hold because I want to see the full effect of conditions.
I also try to start and finish with wind in the same direction if possible and make
notes ofevery shot.

SAVE YOUR PRACTICE TARGETS

It is very important to retrieve practice targets when the crew changes them so you
have something to compare to your original tune target and the notes. From time
to time there willbe an announcement that the line will go cold in a few minutes.
Be ready and as soon as the line goes cold, go downrange and pick up your practice
target. If you have seen the target crew at Kelbly's working, you know they are faster
than lightning and you must be ready to get out there.
I often see competitors shoot all over practice targets without any rhyme or reason.
I think this hurts them. There is too much dependence on memory and the result is
confusion. They do not pick up their practice targets or make notes while shooting them.
When they get back to their loading area they are not sure what shot well or why.

Tuned shooting flat Tuned shooting with some vertical

Example of different tunes in the same intensity <rosswind.

 CHAPTER 23: KEEPING THE RIFLE lN TUNE 269

ADDING A LITTLE VERTICAL TO YOUR TUNE

I also see shooters who purposely try to have their loads shoot flat with the wind. I
believe this is a big mistake. It is almost like saying you want the load to be as wind
sensitive as you can get it. If they had worked a little vertical into their load the
rifle would have shot better in strong crosswinds. While the wind is pushing the
flat load around and giving them a 1-inch group at200 yards, they might have gotten
away with a .750" group if they had shot it with a little vertical. They look at the big
group and say: "It's my fault, the rifle is shooting well!"
How much vertical are we talking about? At 200 yards, it translates into a bullet
hole and at 100 yards into half of that. Not much, but enough that it seems to buck
the wind better, It may simply mean that the barrel (upon bullet exit) is at a node
with less horizontal harmonic components. Whatever the case may be, the testing
that I have done has confirmed this time after time.

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Examples of wind sensitive loads.

I am more of a crosswind shooter and I do not get great results when shooting
head or tailwinds or when shooting in the dead calm. In head or tailwinds I typi-
cally will get a little more vertical than if I had loaded flat. In the calm. I seldom get
the tiny bugholes that adorn so many loading boxes. This is a choice I have made
because at most ranges there is hardly ever a shortage of wind once the 'tommence
fire" command is given. I know there have been times when this choice hurts me,
but over the years it has proven to be statistically superior day-in-and-day-out over
loading "flati'
270 THE BOOK OF RIFLE ACCURACY

BULLET HOLES
We should spend a little time looking at the shape of bullet holes. It is easyto assume
that a bullet hole is nice and round and the exact size of the bullet diameter. That
would be true if the bullet was perfectly stable as it cut the hole in the target.

o
A
& B

Bullet holes on paper. Bullet A was stable. Bullets B and C were unstable'

Above is an example of a stable bullet (A) which has cut a nice round small hole
in the target, along with bullets that were not stable (B & C). The stable bullet, on
good quality target paper, will not tear the paper around the hole. You will be able
to transition between the paper and the hole. For the unstable bullet
see a nice sharp
(B) the transition is not sharp. There is excessive tearing of the paper and shadowing
indicating that the bullet was not perfectly perpendicular to the paper as it struck.
Bullet hole (C) looks BIG for its caliber-like a .30 caliber hole would look next to a

6mm. That is another clear indication of a bullet that is not stable.

RIGHT VS. LEFT WIND TUNE

The next area the competitor needs to be aware of is how the load behaves in right
to left winds versus left to right winds. In a normal barrel the bulletwill drift more
(move) when the wind is from the left than it does when the wind is from the
right. A lot of competitors dispute this, but over the years I have found that the spin
(clockwise) induced on bullet by the barrel twist makes the bullet "fight" the right
a

to left wind better. It also affects the stability of the bullet. When testing during the
practice days you might find the tune to work perfectly when the wind is from one
direction but not work at all when the wind reverses. You may want to tune your
load for wind direction! That is why I recommend that you get to the range at least a
couple of days early to test the different conditions. If you are successful, it will help
you avoid that first monster group of the morning! Of course if you have a very good
barrel it will give you more "forgive;" the bullet will be more stable and you can relax
a bit more when the'tommence fire" command is issued.
 CHAPTER 23: KEEPING THE RIFLE lN TUNE 271

FORMAT FOR THE SUPER SHOOT

Before describing targets, let us go over how the Super Shoot is run so we can make
sense of the targets. it is a 4-day shoot consisting of Light Varmint 100, Heavy
Varmint 100, Hear,y Varmint 200 and the last day is Light Varmint 200. There is full
bench rotation of l2 benches on every target except the warm-up target (5 record
shots per target). The warm-up and the f,rst record match of the day are shot from
the same bench.
Since there are so many shooters, each rifle/yardage combination takes a full
da¡ unlike most small matches. It is particularly dillicult to maintain your load at
large matches like the Super Shoot or the Nationals. There is so much time between
relays at these shoots, that you must load for what happened to your last target whiie
estimating the next condition! If you have a "hummer" barrel, just keep loading the
same thing...nice but rarel

THE TARGETS
I will be presenting targets for Day 2 andDay 3. The Day I and Day 4 targets were
better, so there is less to show. As you read the target narratives pay close attention to
the target management used and also to the descriptions on wind effect. For informa-
tion purposes I was competitor 235 (yotwill keep seeing that number on the targets)
and shot a Krieger barrel with a hot lot of B20B and Bart's Ultra bullets.
TargetHW (100) (on page 272) is the warm-up for Hear,y Varmint 100 yards.
A warm-up match is a great opportunity to test loads for the day and get a feel for
where things are going. It does not count for your scoring so it is like a free spin of
the wheel. I brought 3 loads to the bench so that I could do some testing, but ended
up only shooting 2 of the them.
I shot a couple of foulers and then went up to shoot the record target. The
condition was a tailwind and I was shooting 51 clicks. The first 4 shots were very
tight. During the last shot the wind let up and the fifth went low, still a good .205"
group.
I then went back to the sighter and, after making sure the competitors near
me were done shooting their groups, shot a 5-shot group with a load of 52 clicks.
It looked a little less well formed, so I decided incorrectly that the 51 click load
was the best.
272 THE BOOK OF RIFLE ACCURACY

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Target HW (.205") and Target Hl (.451") for 100 yards.

Target Hl (100) (above) is the first official target for the day. Again, I shot a

couple of foulers and they looked like the load was oka¡ so I went up and shot the
record. This was a bad group with .451" of vertical. Wind conditions did not create
the group. It was purely load. The 51 click load from the warm-up match was now
too light. To confirm this, I went to the sighter, and shot 52 clicks and the resulting
group was terrific.
Target H2 (100) (on page 273) was the second oficial target. I shot four foulers
on this target. The second and third foulers were shot in a light condition and the
fourth was shot with the wind coming in strongly from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock. This
gave me a good indication of what to expect (and how much to hold). When the
condition for shots two and three came back I went to the record target. There was a
llght 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock wind again while I shot the first four shots. A strong pickup
came along and got me. I did not see it in time, and the fifth shot went to the right
the same way as shot four on the sighter.
 CHAPTER 23: KEEPING THE RIFLE lN TUNE 273

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Targets H2 (.351 ") and H3 (.1 25") for 1 00 yards.

Another target I was not proud of, but at least the load looked good. Even though
you might think the load was a bit too wind sensitive by looking at the target, the
condition change was big enough to cause it. I also knew that this barrel was not as
forgiving with wind as I would have liked, so I knew the load was right. The holes in
the paper looked small indicating a stable bullet.
Target H3 (100) was the third olicial target. After shooting a fouler I again tested
the wind on the lower left hand target. It was coming in from B o'clock to 2 o'clock.
After seeing how much wind affect that condition gave me, I waited for it and when
it came back I started my group. The first four shots I held into it as the wind picked
up. The wind then intensified and I decided to go to the middle sighter bull and try
holding a couple of additional bullet holes to the left. The horizontal hold was good
but the sighter indicated I also had to hold up a bullet hole. I went back to the record
target, held the same horizontally and one bullet up and the shot went right in the
group. The hold was good and the result was a nice .125" group. I decided the load
was still right at 52 clicks, so off I went to load another batch.
274 THE BOOK OF RIFLE ACCURACY

Target H4 (100) (below) was the fourth official target of the day. Two wind con-
ditions were now playing in the range. The left to right wind was not the dominant
wind any longer. It would come by but not hold as much as I would have wanted to
shoot the full group. Still, I had shot it well in the last group, so after testing on the
left sighter bull with two shots with the wind from 7 o'clock to I o'clock and on the
right sighter a letup I decided it was still true.

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Target H4 (.308") and Target H5 (.21 4") for 1 00 yards.

When I started the group the wind was a moderate 9:30 to 3:30. The first four
shots went well as I kept holding up and to the left the wind intensified. A sudden
letup caught me on the fifth shot. The bullet went high and to the left. From every-
thing I could see on the target the load still looked good, I had simply missed a letup.
The result was a .308" group.
I did not clean the rifle after target
Target H5 (100) n as the last target of the day.
H4 so did not need to foul the barrel. I fired two shots on the lower left sighter bull,
again testing the wind effect, and when an B oilock to 2 o'clock condition came along
 CHAPTER 23: KEEPING THE RIFLE lN TUNE 27s

I went to the record target. The wind for the first four shots was from otlock to 2
B

oilock. It suddenly did a complete reversal, coming in from 4:30 to 10:30. I stopped
the group (in the old days I would have just held for it) and shot one shot on the
middle sighter. I then went up and held. The fifth shot was a bit high but the group
was still a good .214". Since it was the last group of the day I shot the last two rounds
I had into the middle sighter bull so that I could reload all the rounds in my block.
That concluded the day. I only had to make one load change. The rifle stayed
in tune for the last four targets, all I had to do was shoot better. Temperature and
humidity spiked up early in the day but stayed nearly constant after that, unusual
for the Super Shoot.

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Target H2 (.873") and Target H3 (.466") for 200 yards.

We pick up again on the 200 yard stage of Healy Varmint after the warm-up and
first record targets have been shot. There was nothing significant on those targets,
so let us go to target H2.
276 THE BOOK OF RIFLE ACCURACY

Target H2 (200),was shot in a 9:30 to 3:30 wind condition with 51 clicks of powder.
Again, I tested conditions on the lower left sighter bull. The test conditions were mild
so I was fooled by the load. I waited for the same condition to come back, but after
a bit it seemed all that was coming was strong wind. It looked steady so I decided
to go with that. There was a letup on the fourth shot, and even though I held what I
thought was enough the load was too wind sensitive and the bullet printed left and
high. I had a load with me that was one full click hotter (52) so I tested it. I tried to
shoot the same condition (letup and pickup) and the resulting group was better. It
printed higher on the target and the wind effect was significantly less. I went back
and loaded with 52 clicks.
Target H3 (200), was shot with the wind primarily coming from 8 o'clock to 2
o'clock. There was a bit of direction change while the group was being shot which
accounted for some of the vertical. I was happy with the load.

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Target H4 (.596") and Target H5 (.345") for 200 yards.

 CHAPTER 23: KEEPING THE RIFLE lN TUNE 277

TargetH4 (200), was a definite indicator that the load was too hot. The wind
condition of 9 o'clock to 3 oilock held steady, but the load was spitting shots. I got
away with a decent group but feel that had I not changed for the next target I would
have gotten a big onel
TargetH5 (200), was a good group. I had gone back to my motor home and
loaded 51.5 clicks. There did not seem to be enough weather change to warrant a
bigger powder change, so I settled on .5 clicks down. The wind was still blowing but
I adjusted the scope to bring the bullets more into the center of the mothball. The
condition was still a 9 o'clock to 3 otlock. The bullets all printed well.
This was an up and down day. The range of powder was 5 1, 52, 52 and 5 1.5 clicks.
It would be easy to look at the targets and presume that had I stayed at 51.5 clicks
all day the results would have been better. Unless you are the one shooting and see-
ing how much bullet will move for a given change in conditions, that would be an
a

incorrect assumption.
Effectively managing loads comes from experience. You have to have a good feel
for cause and effect in the wind department and enough experience that you can see
minute but significant changes.
The best way to do this is to tune seating depth correctly and practice all through
the day. As weather conditions change, you will notice that you must change the
powder load to keep up the tune. You will start to see the patterns a rifle will shoot
when the load is too light or too hot. You will be able to carry this knowledge to the
field of competition and succeed.
As I described the targets, you probably noticed that the load and the wind are
married to each other. It is almost impossible to break them apart. That is why prac-
tice in a tunnel or a honey hole is only addressing half of the equation. You need to
get out in the wind. Only that will make you a complete shooter.