Bret Heidkamp
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Posts posted by Bret Heidkamp
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Yup, what Boats said is spot on. The bench rest shooters believe charges are "thrown" and not "weighed" that I have talked to. Usually they are shooting spherical powders that meter really well.
If you develop a load using a ladder test, what you are doing is finding a sweet spot where a +/- a few tenths of a grain charge weight doesn't move the impact. You will see clusters (nodes, whatever) during the test. Point is, then you can throw charges and not worry if they are slightly light or heavy. Most powder measures will be +/- .2 or .3 grain with the big stick powders and 45 grain loads. This is a bunch. BUT if you are in the middle of a node it won't matter. However, at 1K yards I have not tested loads that are over/under weight. I weigh everything, but use the ladder test to find the load my barrels like. I'll post a video of one soon as I can edit it down. Watching it in fast forward is pretty cool.
FWIW, even with great technique it's easy to throw a couple tenths light charge or heavy charge - but you'll know it since you'll feel it happen with the stick powders.
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Suddenly, Bret is nowhere to be found!
I'm certain there will be lots of interesting stuff to do between the matches, both at the range and in the area.
Hah! I was in Billings with the folks.
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I am going to try to be there for both matches. Just trying to figure out what to do for the days between Ironman and A1.
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Backyard BBQ with lots of beer. Night comes, party still going strong, neighbor is on vacation but has left a severely annoying porch light turned on that shines on your yard (and in your eyes).
Grab bow and two drunk friends, swear you're going to put an end to that damn light. Hop fence, climb up neighbor's back deck and attempt to shoot out the offending light from underneath, basically straight up, with a bow... realize you just missed with a very sharp broadhead...
the 3 of us spent the next 10 seconds in sheer panic...backs tight against the wall waiting for that arrow to return to mother earth...
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Sorry!
If you've been spraying it with gunscrubber that is probably enough, but if you want to check your work just pull the barreled action out of the stock. The trigger group is nicely exposed.
Then just check the engagement surfaces (which you should be able to see) for gunk buildup. -
Be sure to keep the trigger group clean while you are in there. Unfortunately, stock 700s have a confirmed defect of going *Bang* when changing from from "safe" to "fire" if the trigger group gets full of gunk.
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My 2 cents:
For stick powders all measures have a tough time, the Harell, or any other. For spherical they do great without weighing. Load development = ladder test = the only way.
I weigh all my bolt gun loads, mostly since I shoot all UKD courses. There isn't any "under 400" load separation ability for my bolt guns, if that makes sense. 10 rd mags, and it's all long range ammo because of the UKD. I can see myself getting totally confused on what load is in the gun, and it adds one more thing for me to keep track of. Since I'm usually only running 50-75 rounds in a day, it's not tough to weigh each one. I have tested several measures, and kept the statistics, posted to precisionrifle.org but it's a boooorrrring subject. Tried the automatic RCBS measure, but it's slower than me throwing and trickling! Go figure - for $300 bucks I expected it to be faster.
However for 223, I run it on the Dillon in full progressive mode, with spherical powder. I personally am very bored with AR's and only shoot them when I have to. Targets under 600 just aren't interesting anymore, and 1K is approaching that. Odd but true!
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Nightforce will have their MOA reticle scope available in FFP soon so you will have accurate ranging data on ANY power. They also have a few new additions that I am not at liberty to discuss here that are also coming out that will be awesome for the end user at a considerable discount compared to some of the other scopes with like features.
It's really a matter of preference and I prefer MOA.
About the Mildot reticle being too course, I agree 100%. The above reticle pics I posted are in MOA and are equal to roughly .25 MOA marks. 1 miliradian @ 100 yds is equal to 3.6" and 4 MOA @ 100 yds is equal to roughly 4".
Not to be misleading or trying to start a Mil vs. MOA debate, the Mil scopes I've owned have 1/10 Mil adjustments and are 1st FP. I don't know of any that just adjust in 1 Mil increments. That would be terrible. One was a Horus, which I didn't care for, and the current one is a SB 5-25 PMII which I like. A little coarser than MOA, but results are the same. (.36" vs. .25" at 100) My main point is you should be looking at what you're clicking. Simple as that. I do not advocate folks choosing MOA clicks on a Mildot reticle. I like the fact that Nightforce has a MOA reticle. Even better when it's in the first plane.
My only current gripe would be their scopes should come with a zero stop turret already installed... not an upgrade to what is supposed to be a good scope to start with. I've shot with several people that lost the revolution of their turret without a zero stop ... great fun to watch! Although I've done it in the distant past too!
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Mil-dots are almost worthless for competition. To me, they are too coarse. Great for ranging people, not so great for small steel targets. Mil-slashes (like the MOA scope pictures) can work.
Keeping the "clicks" in the same values as the reticle will preserve your sanity. If your reticle is Mil, that means centimeter clicks (Horus, S&
. For MOA clicks, that's why the NP reticle above works (Nightforce). I can't stand the math of going back and forth! Even better, get the reticle in the 1st plane of the scope and you eliminate worry about what power you're on. (2nd plane reticles are generally only able to "mil" on one power, this is not an issue with 1st plane reticles)
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The "grease ring" or hole is not the determining factor when using the overlay, it is the outside of the line on the overlay. At least it is on my new one, if I measured correctly with my calipers.
LeRoy, you are a wise man!! I never thought of measuring my overlays to see if they were actually PRINTED to the correct diameter! Way to go!
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I shot the fl. open this year with a c class 12 year old and he shot a solid c score> On our squad was E Lawson GM who builds the Keal 9 shorties> The father bought one and this month at the nationals the now 13 yr old shot in the mid 70's beating many A shooters with ease> This jr. seems to be doing very well with a 9 shortie that is light weight and runs 100%. best of luck with his new blaster> old john
any links to pictures of this Keal 9 blaster? I have a jr shooter that wants to shoot open, but mostly it's just the grip size being too big.
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Don't mean crap if you are not within top 10 on big matches?
I'm on top 10 Master class too..but I have yet to prove it
on the match.Good luck!
I can very comfortably say that I have either won or finished in the very top at all Area / State / Section matches that I have entered. That's proof enough for me. Last year's Nationals had 5 stages in the top 16. This year was poor. Two in the top 10. Regardless, I've proven it. Sound to me like you shouldn't be in the top 10?
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Dude, you rock! GM is just one solid classifier away! Of course I've been saying that same thing about M for two months...lol
Glad we got to shoot together in Tulsa....you and James (along with everyone else) were very helpful and fun to be around.
Thanks! It was great shooting with you too. Maybe we'll have sunshine and dry weather next year!
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I just checked the top 20 list ... and to my surprise (shock? horror?) I am ranked as the #1 Master in Open. 94.909%.
Woo hoo !!
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If anyone can help me out I would appreciate it. I have not been to the Tulsa range yet. How long does it take to drive there in the morning from the match hotel? Is there any rush hour traffic?
Thanks!
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Our squad #12 lost Jorge Ballateros to squad 16, and we're down to 10 shooters now. Kind of a bummer, I was looking forward to shooting with him.
On another note, I'm shooter # 69 this year.
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Interesting the Super 1050 does not have a ratchet, at least mine doesn't. What was the purpose of it to begin with? Only to prevent double cycling on the same case?
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My advice:
1) Ditch the muffs. Use plugs. Same for shotgun. If your muffs hit the stock they will do two things: leak sound, make you flinch because of it, and cause you to lift your head for fear of those two things... I guess that's three things!
2) Don't use custom molded plugs, they will leak sound, search for my earlier posts on this topic.
3) Make sure your scope is not set so low you have to cant your head to see through it - and not set so high you have a "chinweld" or worse.
4) I personally don't use the nose-to-charging-handle mostly because I use an extended stock, and have shot SO much long range rifle that my cheekweld is very consistent. I would advise working on your cheekweld until you can be consistent. It won't take very long. At 6'2" and not wearing body armor, I can't shoot a short stock or an M-4 with the stock collapsed.
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Squad 12 for me.
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You obviously haven't been in a while
They're harder targets than Metrics - they are actually a good shooting test, regardless of any political views around them...
Yup, admittedly last year's Nationals was the first in several years for me. I kept paying for a slot (earned!) and having to cancel at the last minute. New house, job, the list goes on. Plus personally I didn't like to shoot in Barry - but I'll see Tulsa this year. See you there, Dave - looks like a fun match!
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Dude, you need to get out more. We try to include them in one stage every month, just because.
Ouch.
Those are Democrat targets. So there. No club around here believes in them.
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What's up with the mix (not on one stage) of "classic" and "metric" targets? Any word on that really happening? I've never seen the "androids" at a Nationals that I've attended. Now I have to scrounge some of those to practice standards on. I've never seen those at the local clubs either! Where can I buy about 10 of them?
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tpcdvc,
Thanks for explaining. I understand your point better now. Most of our matches are 35 or so shooters, sometimes up to 65. So the palms wouldn't be good in that situation? Are they overkill or ??
So that I better understand the analogy of charging for something to be made available to all clubs, did USPSA pay software development fees for EZWinScore? Or was that done by the programmers pro bono? Do we give it to the clubs - or do we charge the clubs when they decide to install it?
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Is this still "on" to be used at this year's Open Nats? I'm pretty excited to see this in action, it sounds great. Peter, a big THANK YOU for developing this.
My two cents:
1) I think anything to help stats at matches is great. The mountain of paperwork normally associated with stats is astounding, and we all know too well how fun it is waiting for final scores to be posted to check your HF's and points spreads.
2) On a local level, anything to help staff focus on the match / course vs. playing scorekeeper I view as a benefit. I'd rather have those people out on the range having fun with the rest of us than sitting in the clubhouse for most of the day entering scores. Plus, who really wants to aspire to doing that when the current stats people rotate out? There are not really that many people that want to do stats, but I suspect there are many that wouldn't mind printing finals and troubleshooting if scores are already entered.
3) I am all for a continued payment to the software developer. This is the only way programs get updated, and migrated to future platforms. The Palm may not be around in 5 or 10 years. Our rules or scoring may change. We may think that including Steel Challenge scoring (if it's not in there already) would be a great thing. This is the only way we can help make sure the software will be there when we need it. $5 a year? $15 a year? That's not enough to have an impact on anyone in this sport, I should think.
Refusing to pay for development and future expansion / platform migrations will unfortunately get you exactly what you pay for. Not much.
4) I for one, look forward to getting rid of paper score sheets, and anything we can do to increase the appeal of our sport to newcomers and spectators is important. Too many times I been out practicing and had a potential new shooter walk up to me, then seen their eyes glaze over and enthusiasm for the sport wane when explaining there's more than just time involved to them. I don't even do that anymore. Now I just say scores and time are important. It would be great if I could say "your final score is right there on the Palm when you're done, so you can compare how you did with your squad" instead of "you'll be able to see and compare your final score when stats calculates everyone's HFs at the end of the day"
Sorry for the ramble.... I just think the Palm system sounds awesome. Unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to use it.
Then just check the engagement surfaces (which you should be able to see) for gunk buildup.
. For MOA clicks, that's why the NP reticle above works (Nightforce). I can't stand the math of going back and forth! 
bomar schematic?
in General Gunsmithing
Posted
Here's something I'm battling with right now, on a new limited gun I'm putting together. This probably should be included in this topic for reference.
After spotting the elevation screw hole in the slide with a #21 drill, per the instructions, it looks to be around 5 to 10 degrees off vertical. When you spot the hole, it ends up off-center due to this angle. Should the user drill and tap the actual 6-48 hole at a matching angle? Or just vertical to the slide at the spot?
Can you tell I am an Open shooter and don't know a damn thing about Limited guns?
I'll post pics to explain what I'm asking when I get home tonight.
Thanks to all who reply!