Hey Shooters,

I wanted to get the forums opinion on long range shooting; specifically with the Ar15 and 556 platform. First off let me introduce the rifle:

14.5" P&W Faxon match gunner 1:8 wearing a Steiner P4xi; that chronos at 2850 FPS with American Eagle 55gr.

This is my competition rifle that typically gets used at 0-400 yards. Because my local matches are range limited to 400, I have never felt terribly handicapped with the shorter barrel, but when the winds start picking up there has been times when I wish I had a faster bullet to buck the wind a little. I recently signed up for a (new to me) match called "accurized AR" where they claim to lay out each stage with either more precision oriented targets if under 250, and over 250 they say the targets are generous but can be as far out as 700 yards. I mentioned this to my shooting buddy and he said that my rifle might struggle going transonic at the longer targets. I punched the number into Strelok and found my rifle goes transonic at 600 yards with 55gr and 700 yards with 77gr loads. My buddy suggested I shoot my 77's but I dont like how much those actually drop. They are 223 pressure reloads and only making like 2450 outa my barrel. Currently the rifle is zero'd at 50 yards with 55gr Horandy M193. Thats the lot of ammo I was thinking about taking to this match, but wanted to hear the boards feedback.

Im even willing to chalk this up as a learning experience if my 55gr loads isn't ideal, but 'good enough'. Because of the market I can't easily pick up new ammo before the match and have to use what's on hand. What should I expect?





The target in the reticle is at 600 yards with 0 wind value. If I add 2 MOA to my zero it will make that bottom hash mark 550 yards.