A dumb question

N

nonliberal

Guest
I have a question that is probably a dumb one, but I'm asking anyway.
In short range benchrest why does it seem that more velocity is often a concern? I always thought it was for reduced wind drift but after pouring over the charts it seems that velocity has very little effect on drift at 100/200 yards and BC makes most of the difference. I do the same thing and always prefer to add powder and go to the highest node, but in reality am I just wasting more powder, adding recoil, and pounding my brass for no good reason?

Since I don't care about bullet drop or a violent impact like for hunting applications what purpose does the extra velocity serve?
I'm not trying to question how things are done, I'm just a rookie trying to understand why things are done.
 
Time in flight is a factor. Less time less wind effect.

Ed
 
I was looking and thinking about that.

If I took a known bullet like for a 30BR, say a 115 berger match and I put in 2900 fps the wind drift from a 10mph 90 degree cross wind is= 1.1" @ 100 yards, and 4.6" @200.

If I use the same everything except put velocity at 3100fps the drift is 1.0" @100 and 4.2" @200.

So the difference in 200fps which seems like an extreme example only equals 0.1" @100 and 0.4" at 200.

Is the .4" the only reason for hammering the components?
 
nonliberal said:
Is the .4" the only reason for hammering the components?
Click to expand...

Good question.

All else being equal, you bet, I would hammer my components to get 0.4" less wind drift. It's about hitting the dot every time, and 0.4" is BIG compared to the dot. But that isn't the real reason. What I'm looking for is the most accurate load that will put bullet holes right next to the previous one under the widest range of conditions, which includes low-wind conditions, too. For H4198 in the 30BR, that means a pretty stiff load, in my experience. But the reputation for accuracy at high nodes comes more from VV133 in the 6PPC. The strategy is to go all-out for best accuracy, whether the load is hot or mild, and hope you can read the wind to take care of wind drift.

All you good shooters, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.:eek:

Cheers,
Keith
 
Non,
There are several possible answers you are likely to hear.
One would be some think that is where the best tune is, Wind effect would be another but...
I think though I could certainly be wrong and I am sure I will be told so.....
that some,,, maybe more than a few or even a lot.... are also fast car fans.....fast, faster, fastest cars = fast, faster, fastest bullets....:eek:
Probably not entirely true but I do know some that fit into this category though I wont mention any names:rolleyes:
 
I don't think velocity is a big concern for most in short range benchrest, the most accurate load is but if a faster load is just as accurate as a slower one, most will take the improvement in wind drift with the faster load. It might not be a great improvement in wind drift but the margins of victory are usually pretty small in BR so any improvement can be the difference between winning or not.
 
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