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July 1st, 2016

Applied Ballistics Shooters Dominate King of 2 Miles Finals

King of 2 two miles Raton New Mexico Berger Bullets Applied Ballistics Bryan Litz
Applied Ballistics team dominates the King of 2 Miles match: Mitchell Fitzpatrick (1st Place), Bryan Litz (2nd Place), and Paul Phillips (4th Place).

The King of 2 Miles event has come to an end, the scores have been tallied, and Team Applied Ballistics finished first, second, and fourth. That’s dominance. The “Top Gun” was young Mitchell Fitzpatrick, who blitzed the field with his impressive .375 Lethal Precision Arms LLC rifle shooting prototype solid 400gr Berger bullets. Mitchell built this rifle himself using a McMillan A5 Super Mag stock. Remarkably, Mitchell nailed first- and second-shot hits at the 2477-yard target, a full 1.4 miles away. That’s amazing shooting. The photo below illustrates the vast distance from firing line to target.

King of 2 two miles Raton New Mexico Berger Bullets Applied Ballistics Bryan Litz

Mitchell gave credit to his team-mates: “We had the best ballistic solutions possible thanks to the work done at Applied Ballistics LLC by the one and only Bryan Litz. Bryan is also a world-class wind coach and world champion shooter. Paul Phillips, also a world-class wind coach, world champion shooter, and just an all-around class act. Paul was invaluable to making the wind calls we needed to win this match. One of the most important parts of any rifle system is the projectile… Berger’s new prototype .375-cal 400gr projectile we have been developing gave us a monumental ballistic advantage. [It was] without a doubt, a key to our success.”

Berger Ballistician Bryan Litz took second place shooting a .338 Edge (the only .338 rifle in the Finals). Durvin Wick finished third, while Paul Phillips, shooting Bryan’s rifle, placed fourth overall.

King of 2 two miles Raton New Mexico Berger Bullets Applied Ballistics Bryan Litz

Report by Bryan Litz, Team Applied Ballistics
The 2016 King of 2 Miles event is in the books. Today the Top 10 teams engaged targets at 2011 yards, 2477 yards, and 3375 yards. All three Applied Ballistics teams had hits at 2011 yards, and two out of three of us scored first-round hits at 2477 yards! Note that no competitor (from any team) hit the two-mile (3375-yard) target, but that gives us a goal to shoot for next year. Many factors contributed to the success of the Applied Ballistics shooters in this event:

1. Teamwork. We shoot together on the U.S. Rifle Team. The standardized communication protocols between coaches and shooters was a big advantage in this timed event. We had excellent team-work, and are already discussing ways to improve and adapt our approach to ELR events.

2. Science. Applied Ballistics specializes in the science of accuracy. First round hits in this event are scored highly and you can get more first round hits if you know your ballistics. The top two shooters in this event both had first round hits at 2477 yards today which was key, and is not possible without highly accurate ballistic solutions.

3. Ballistic Performance. The performance of Mitchell Fitzpatrick’s .375 Lethal Precision Arms LLC rifle with the prototype 400 grain Berger Bullets solid is unmatched (G7 BC of 0.56 at over 3000 fps). This performance helped Mitch win the match by a sizable margin. The other two Applied Ballistics teams were shooting Bryan Litz’s .338 Edge with the Berger Bullets 300 grain Hybrid. Despite being a smaller caliber (compared to the .375s, .416s, and .50-calibers), the .338 Cal 300 grain Berger Hybrid proved to be a great performer.

There were quite a few big .50 Cals on the line, but a .375 topped the field. Sheri Judd photo.
King of 2 two miles Raton New Mexico Berger Bullets Applied Ballistics Bryan Litz

Thanks to Eduardo Abril De Fontcuberta, Founder of the KO2M Event
We would like to thank all those who worked hard to make this event happen especially Eduardo Abril De Fontcuberta (shown below with Mitchell Fitzpatrick and Paul Phillips). Eduardo has worked hard to organize a great event that pushes the limits of ELR shooting in a fun and competitive way. We’re very grateful for the chance to participate and look forward to competing in the King of 2 Miles event next year. Also, thanks to Kelly McMillan for his support of our team. Kelly has been an awesome sponsor of our efforts here, as well as the U.S. Rifle Team, and the shooting community in general.

King of 2 two miles Raton New Mexico Berger Bullets Applied Ballistics Bryan Litz

Permalink Competition, Tactical 2 Comments »
July 1st, 2016

Beat the Heat: Keep Your Ammo Cool in Summer

Heat Map USA color chart

Well folks, it’s July 1st already — the means we’re moving into “peak heat” summer conditions. It’s vitally important to keep your ammo at “normal” temps during the hot summer months. Even if you use “temp-insensitive” powders, studies suggest that pressures can still rise dramatically when the entire cartridge gets hot, possibly because of primer heating. It’s smart to keep your loaded ammo in an insulated storage unit, possibly with a Blue Ice Cool Pak if you expect it to get quite hot. Don’t leave your ammo in the car or truck — temps can exceed 140° in a vehicle parked in the sun.

Ammo cool storage

Bosch Insulated tool caseTo learn more about how ambient temperature (and primer choice) affect pressures (and hence velocities) you should read the article Pressure Factors: How Temperature, Powder, and Primer Affect Pressure by Denton Bramwell. In that article, the author uses a pressure trace instrument to analyze how temperature affects ammo performance. Bramwell’s tests yielded some fascinating results.

For example, barrel temperature was a key factor: “Both barrel temperature and powder temperature are important variables, and they are not the same variable. If you fail to take barrel temperature into account while doing pressure testing, your test results will be very significantly affected. The effect of barrel temperature is around 204 PSI per F° for the Varget load. If you’re not controlling barrel temperature, you about as well might not bother controlling powder temperature, either. In the cases investigated, barrel temperature is a much stronger variable than powder temperature.”

Powder Heat Sensitivity Comparison Test

Our friend Cal Zant of the Precision Rifle Blog recently published a fascinating comparison test of four powders: Hodgdon H4350, Hodgdon Varget, IMR 4451, and IMR 4166. The first two are Hodgdon Extreme powders, while the latter two are part of IMR’s new Enduron line of propellants.

CLICK HERE to VIEW FULL TEST RESULTS

The testers measured the velocity of the powders over a wide temperature range, from 25° F to 140° F. Hodgdon H4350 proved to be the most temp stable of the four powders tested.

Precision Rifle Blog Temperature Stability test hodgdon varget H4350 Enduron IMR 4451

Permalink Competition, Tech Tip 2 Comments »
July 1st, 2016

Crosman All-American Field Target Championship Next Weekend

Field Target Championship Crosman Rush New York

The largest field target event in the country comes to upstate New York next weekend. On July 8-10, the Crosman All-American Field Target Championship (CAAFTC) will be held at the Rochester Brooks International Skeet and Trap Club in Rush, New York. 0ver 100 air rifle and air pistol competitors will participate in the event hosted by Crosman Corporation. This event attracts top Airgunners from across the nation (and some foreign countries). Along with regular Field Target matches, there will be specialty side matches, plus a factory tour. The event is free to the public.

Field Target Championship Crosman Rush New York

The CAAFTC is sanctioned by the American Airgun Field Target Association and is a featured AAFTA Grand Prix event. The 120-shot match has competitive rifle divisions based on allowable gun and support equipment. Here are the main air rifle classifications:

Hunter Division – rifle fires at a maximum 20 foot pounds of energy (FPE), shooter may use a non-attached bipod, non-restrictive clothing, and sitting stool.
Open Division - maximum 20 FPE maximum rifle, shooter may wear a body harness, no bipod, 6″ maximum height seat.
World Field Target Federation (WFTF) – similar to Open but shooters compete according to international standard of maximum 12 fpe for rifles.
Freestyle Division – 20 FPE maximum rifle, no other restrictions. (This is new for 2016).

The pistol competition includes similar divisions based on shooting styles. Both rifle and pistol divisions include sub-classes based on the air rifle powerplant: piston driven or precharged pneumatic.

“If you want to see some of the country’s finest airgun shooters, this is the hottest event of the summer and it’s free for the public,” says Chip Hunnicutt, Marketing Manager for Crosman. “Alongside the world-class shooters, we’ll have enthusiasts simply having a good time and even parents bringing their kids for some good fun outdoors.”

The weekend begins on Friday, July 8th with the PyramydAir Gunslynger match at noon followed by the Quigley Bucket Challenge at 2:00 pm. A facility tour will be available at 1:00 pm at Crosman’s world headquarters located at 7629 Routes 5 & 20 in Bloomfield. The first round of the rifle match begins Saturday at 9:00 am.

Field Target Championship Crosman Rush New York

Tech Talk: Why the Big Side-Wheels on the Scopes?
Field Target rifles shoot pellets propelled by compressed air. These light-weight, low-BC projectiles drop very quickly, with a looping trajectory. In order to hit targets at distances out to 50 yards or so, you have to adjust your scope to compensate for pellet drop. But you can’t set the scope correctly without knowing the precise range to the target. This is the function of the big wheels on the side of the scope. Field Target Competitors use the parallax adjustment on high-magnification scopes to determine target range. The big wheel allows quick, yet precise parallax adjustment. Markings on the wheel show the shooter the scope settings required for the distance “dialed-in” via the over-size parallax wheel.

Permalink Competition, News No Comments »