I have been upgrading my .308 to shoot 1500 yards and wanted to tell you about it.
I got a Model 70 Stealth .308 about 6 years ago and had a small 2.5-10X44 Mil-Dot Tasco scope and 20 moa base on it that did very well out to 1000 yards, It had problems fogging up when it sat out in the frost or rain and the target turrets were the sort of mushy, off the hash mark type, the scope served well and took a beating because I really didn’t care about it much .As I started shooting beyond 1000 with my big guns witch are a lot more suitable for this, I kept thinking why cant I do this with my .308 ? I would dial up to the 1000 yd setting and then hold over using the mils to reach 1500.
About 3 month ago I decided to upgrade the .308 with a 25moa base that I made from a weaver gunsmith bar stock , Burris XTR low rings SS10X42 rear focus and a new paint job with the gripping surfaces covered with black wrinkle paint. I set the trigger at 2 pounds, installed a oversized bolt knob and put a nice recoil pad on .
This gun is not anything special, it is the Model 70 Stealth .308 and it has the factory 1-12 twist 26” heavy barrel. I paid about 650 dollars for the gun and about 1100 for the total set up.
I knew I needed around 75moa adjustment from the 100yd zero to reach 1500yds.
When I say moa I am talking in inches not the 1.047”.
The SS 10X has almost that when centered but with a 25moa base it would keep the internal springs from being compressed too far.
The ammo I am using is reloaded 168gr Amax bullets with CCI BR primers, 44gr of Varget, Winchester brass at just
at just over 2700 fps.
Even though I have had many ½ “ groups , this gun typically shoots around ¾” to 7/8” groups at 100 so as you can see it is about average with most off the shelf heavy barrel 308 rifles.
The target I built is about 4 foot by 5 foot tall cardboard with a big 18” red dot painted on it.
I have to shoot early in the morning as the sun is coming up because the air is very calm almost stagnant until about 8am after that the 168 is effected by the wind too much to make accurate hits.
I have found that it is kind of hard to find a good place to shoot 1500yds .
Currently trips to the range have been cold and muddy, Just walking around I sink a couple of inches into the mud and the little road around the range that I use to get to the 1500 mark is in very bad condition so I have to use 4 wheel drive just to set up the target.
During my first 1500yd test with the new scope I shot 10 rounds with the elevation set up 70moa, all of the bullets hit in the mud about 10 feet in front of the target. I decided to call it a day and try 74 moa next trip out.
My second trip out, I set the SS up 74 moa and fired 12 rounds at the target, 5 of them I aimed low at the bottom of the target and the rest I aimed directly at the top of the big red dot. Out of the 12 fired 5 of them hit just right of the 18”dot and 3 of the low ones hit in front of the target and ricocheted into the target sideways.
As I continue my testing or make changes I will post my updates .