Data Cards — Don't Leave Home without One
Three-gun match competitor Zak Smith employs a simple, handy means to store his elevation and wind dift data — a laminated data card. To make one, first generate a come-up table, using one of the free online ballistics programs such as JBM Ballistics. You can also put the information in an Excel spreadsheet or MS Word table and print it out. You want to keep it pretty small.
Below is a sample of a data card. For each distance, the card includes drop in inches, drop in MOA, drop in mils. It also shows drift for a 10-mph cross wind, expressed three ways–inches, MOA, and mils. Zak explained that “to save space… I printed data every 50 yards. For an actual data-card, I recommend printing data every 20 or 25 yards.” But Zak also advised that you’ll want to customize the card format to keep things simple: “The sample card has multiple sets of data to be more universal. But if you make your own data card, you can reduce the chance of a mistake by keeping it simple. Because I use scopes with MILS, my own card (bottom photo) just has three items: range, wind, drop in MILS only.”
Once you have the card you can fold it in half and then have it laminated at a local office store or Kinko’s. You can keep this in your pocket, tape it to your stock, or tie the laminated card to your rifle. If you regularly shoot at both low and high elevations, you may want to create multiple cards (since your ballistics change with altitude). To learn more about ballistic tables and data cards, check out the excellent “Practical Long-Range Rifle Shooting–Part 1″ article on Zak’s website. This article offers many other insights as well–including valuable tips on caliber and rifle selection.
The new cartridge was conceptualized by Dave Emary, Hornady’s Senior Ballistician, and Dennis DeMille, General Manager of Creedmoor® Sports and two-time NRA National High Power Rifle Champion. Dave and Dennis wanted to provide factory-loaded ammo that would be 100% competitive with any High Power chambering, including the 6XC and 6.5×47 Lapua. The 6.5 Creedmoor was purpose-built for match rifles, including the Tubb 2000 and DPMS/Panther Arms LR Series. Its case is shorter than the 260 Remington, so you can load even the longest bullets into .308-Win length magazines. Pushing a 120gr Amax at 3000+ fps, the 6.5 Creedmoor offers a nice, flat trajectory plus good wind-bucking ability. Dennis Demille has used the prototype cartridge for many months now in a Tubb 2000 rifle. He says, the load is “moderate and very reliable. There have been no issues with stiff bolt lift or primer cratering.” The factory ammo runs “under 60,000 psi” according to Emary, and uses Hodgdon H4350 powder–43.5 grains with the 120 Amax and 41.2 grains with the 140 Amax.
