Things to do when going to a new location/match.

[Religious Shooter]

What should you do when you go to a new location to shoot? Basically:

I'm zeroed at 680'. The match will be at 1650'.

I won't have any hard dope for the match's location.

Match will utilize MOA targets.

I'll probably be able to zero at the match. Should I zero at the new range?

I don't have any hard dope for the match's location. What should I do... or try to do?

What do you guys do to when you go to a match that's not at your home range?

Also I went from 680' to 2400' and I found that I had to click .2 mil down at a 100 yards. Another shooter pretty much said the same thing. He went from about sea level to 2400' and he said he had to click 1 MOA down(?). But with Exbal when I set the sight in conditions to my home range (680') and set the field conditions to 2400'... it's not showing any change to the dope at 100 yards. I'm I doing something wrong? Or is another variable (temp, velocity change due to temp change, etc.) other than elevation causing the shift?

[TRG65]

Unfortunately, the Army and moving to Kansas have put a damper on much of my shooting both LR and USPSA. However, much of the LR practice shooting I did in WV was done at different elevations. My home practice range was at 1000 asl. The venue for most of the LR competition I did was at 3000-3500 asl, about the same change as what you are looking at. I only noticed what you are talking about once and that was in the spring and very much temperature based. I was shooting a more temperature sensitive powder and was shooting a slower 308 load. The best cure is to know how your load reacts to temperature. The load for my 7wsm, which is what I have the most data for, is pretty stable. I figured about 21.25 MOA to 1k at 1000asl at 60F, normal baro pressures which were about 28.7, and humidity would run about 60%. For every 20F away I would either add or subtract .75MOA at 1k. When I would get to location of the competition, I would enter the field conditions from my Kestral, and based on the amount the temp was away from 60 do a little mental math and then take the shot.

Have as the best data you can have for how your load changes with temp, baro pressure and humidity at your home range. Make the data you shoot on your practice days matches Exbal when you enter the actual conditions of the practice day. Eventually you will see when you have to start changing velocity and by how much, or as I did it, just remember when to add or take away some extra elevation.

If you haven't developed the data and it is very hard to do, because you need a fairly long practice range that you frequently use to get the various weather data. If you have a program like Quickload and your results match its calculations, then run the temp change feature in it to see how your load will respond to temp and then be prepared to change the velocity in Exbal. But this will only help for the longer shots in giving you better drop data that should only be off by the amount your zero is off. Exbal still "assumes" a good zero.

If you have the time and access to get some data at the shooting range in fairly current conditions, ie the day of/day before/ or sighters--take it. Actual shot records are better than computer programs any day of the week.

[JKSNIPER]

Always always always re-zero if given the oppurtunity to do so.

Record your results and then you can refer to them if you shoot there again.

Had same thing happen to me a few years back and it cost me.

Went back to the same range under almost exact same weather conditions and made a correction before firing and it gave me a win.

Good luck!

JK