I've been meaning to post this since Gary and I went out shooting last but haven't for a couple reasons. One, demands on my time have been silly; and two, Gary had all the pictures as I failed to take my own. Thanks for formatting and sending the pics Gary!

While we were out enjoying contrails, we were all about the long range shots. I set out a target at 75 yards in case one of us needed to sight-in but we never used it. The field was short and we could have set out a bunch of the steel critter targets but it was nasty, slick yet sticky muddy out so we went for targets with a little lower maintenance (as in less walking through the muck).


I had the truck in two wheel drive and got stuck on level ground. Apparently 7500 pound trucks don't do well on mud... Then, my automatic hubs refused to engage and I had to manually lock the front hubs, thank goodness for the manual option! Once locked in 4WD, I drove out no problem.


Because the field was so soft and the risk of doing damage or being bogged down was so high, Gary had to manuever the trailer into a decent firing position while not going in a ditch or blocking the access road. He did a masterful job.


This is a normal view of our initial target set. The closest board is 75 yards. The next board is 106 as my pacing was pessimistic. The first fox is 112 yards and the second is 130 yards, all lasered.


A zoomed in view of the targets. The 75 yard target was a waste of effort... Who shoots at that close a range?



As Gary's posts made clear, 130 yards wasn't enough so the steel fox was moved out to 150 yards. Even at that range the Yukon absolutely smacked it down. This target is no wimpy design, it's 3/16" steel at least and the big guns beat the heeck out of it. It took one shot to bend it and a couple more in ther body left it "taco'd."

Time to move out to 200 yards... This was kinda unfair to Gary as he couldn't get a sight picture at this range. Well, he was using a scope after all and there's a price to pay for that! My zero magnification holographic sight allowed a no adjustment picture that gave decent aimpoints from 50 to 200 yards. The downside is that this is clearly not going to provide the precision needed for groups like Gary shot at 106 yards. I've shot some nice groups with this set-up but they are never going to be as tight as what can be done with a decent scope. That said, they are so easily inside kill zones and so easily repeated that I will never take this sight off this gun again! This sight was not cheap but I think it was worth every penny. (BTW, I have a hugely expensive Nightforce scope I'm willing to trade for a 1" tube scope with excellent optics and a mildot reticle,,,)


After taking a couple shots at the wood fox at 200 yards and just hearing the hits we walked up on this. Sweet! Wish I'd taken three shots, might have had a group! BTW, circled you will see a group of three shots taken with the Woodsman at 150 yards before the target got moved to 200.


A close up... Easy to see the difference between .32 and .62 hits!


So, how good were those shots? I'm pretty happy! Two consecutive shots (after nailing the steel fox) put two holes in the target about a quarter's diameter apart. Bear in mind that this is at 200 yards with zero magnification where the dot itself is bigger than this spacing. And, I had to repeat a consistent holdover. I doubt that's easily repeatable but if I were shooting deer...easy!

I've shot a lot of tiny groups with Gary's guns at long range and I really enjoy that kind of precision shooting. I think the best way to do that is not out of the trailer but off a bench but even out of the trailer, I've seen good groups. But, blasting big, high power shots through targets at 200 yards with zero magnification is awesome! My old eyes are barely able to discern differences at that range (it seems like moving one pixel at a time) so the challenge is at least the same. Repeating a hold based on less than a precise picture is just cool and I think it might help if I ever manage to hunt anything besides a stationary Gary special!


A view back from 200 yards. It looked a bit brighter in real life but it was late in the day...


This view is artificially brightened and shows the 150 yard and 75 yard targets in the distance. It's a decent walk out to service the 200 yard targets!


I think this is an awesome picture! Gary saw and snapped this on our 50th walk up the hill...

Awesome shooting ................

Excellent shooting Jerry! You were dialed in that day.

Yeah ... scopes are over rated ... hahaha.

Hey ... I have a nice one inch tube scope with mil-dots! ;?) I'd need some "kicker" though, along with your Night Force ...

BTW ... all, I mislabeled the first landscape pic. The more clear one is @ 150 yards. Second is the 200 yard.

OH ... AND ... I have CONTRAIL VIDEO of Jerry's 200 yard shots! Except the one where he nailed the steel fox. I asked ... "should I tape this one too?" ... and Jerry said .... nah ... Of course ... I listened!! hahha.

Fine day. Wonderful shooting. Great video of some evidently rare footage.



Gary

Great post and story and shooting YOU 2. U guys know how to do it for sure. Love the downrange pics of you guys shooting area. Those two foxes sitting there look like 2 real foxes walking out of the woods. NICE!

Thanx for another great post guys

Guys,

Those slugs are still flying perfectly, even out to those distances. They punch perfect holes.

Lon

Glad to see that you're getting in some exercise.

Some people shoot on level ground...just so you know.

Level ground? Where? That sounds so relaxing!

Arizona? Texas? parts of Utah?

Plenty of flat ground out west, don't even have to shovel it before you can use it, most of the time.

Where can i sign up for about a square mile of that there ground, and a mule? Heck, i heard Ted Turner owns most of it ....

200 yards, no scope......what next?!
Nice work Jerry!
Cheers
Neil

Ted Turner owns so much of the west that you could easily put up a couple of decent subdivisions just alongside the driveways to his ranches. I'll bet he's lost more land to utility easements than any of us will ever own.

I hear he likes buffalo, maybe you could trade him a nice Bison for a couple acres somewhere...

Great post Jerry, glad to see you are still knocking them out at uber range. I would expect that you would know why the powder burners don't show the contrail? I know they see the distortion of the air, but no contrail, what to hot? disruption from sonic wave? Do you see it on the rail guns? I would guess the rail guns are shooting a "cold" bullet? I've not seen this before.

Kent

As far as I know, rail guns are still pretty much science fiction/ lab curiosities. I know that there was some noise about the new generation of Navy destroyers having all kinds of excess electrical power to spare for gizmos, but I seriously doubt it's gotten past the research stage.

Of course, I could be wrong...it sure would be interesting to see one fire when they finally do get one working.

Sean,

Rail guns are way past science fiction! Not only has the concept been proven but several early tech development projects have fired at tactical velocities. Those projects exposed the materials and technologies that still need advances for a fully practical system and have since been put on hold. This was before the huge budget cuts about to hit. It's not a bad thing either, the Navy discovered what they needed to know and moved to align rail gun tech with development of platforms that can carry it and advances in materials/etc. That's a smart decision that will largely go unnoticed by an amateur press that only wants to focus on the mistakes anybody but them makes.

I've actually seen the contrail thing many times. Getting it on "film" with airgun slugs was a neat thing but not a new discovery. I've seen the same thing live with 500 pound bombs tossing fragments and several other weapons. It's just an environmental thing that isn't always common.

Interesting update on the railgun front. I've also seen a couple of articles on developments with both tank main guns and artillery that use liquid propellent for extra velocity and adjustability, but neither of those ended up being fielded.

It's notable that the newest generations of naval ships are going to electric drive for the propshafts, generated either by diesel engines or by gas turbine, or both. Since it takes huge amounts of power to drive a conventional displacement hull past its natural hull speed those generators are extremely powerful, matched to the power requirements to meet their top speed. Those ships are going to have enormous amounts of excess electrical power available while running at low to moderate speed. I can't imagine that the Navy is going to let that excess power go unused for weapons related purposes indefinately.

Sell the excess back to the grid to power Chevy Volts. Drag a huge extension cord on the ocean bottom. WAIT ... use a trebuchet to fling Chevy Volts at enemy ships. This would increase the sales prospects for Chevy Volts beyond the 8,000 units currently sold. Just imagine the fireball if a fully charged Chevy volt was fling onto the bridge of an enemy war ship!!!

hmmmm....might just work. They're supposed to be vey quiet, they wouldn't even hear them coming.

Great Shooting Jerry, so much for 100 yard,s. Do not have a range past that distance. Guess I will have to shoot with the powder burner,s.