The Richard Utting Blog - June Edition
Lately, the weather has turned hot and I’ve been doing a lot to the mile and beyond. Increasingly, people are keen to have a go at the mile and after some training and calibration of their ballistics, more and more people have the rifles to do it nowadays. The half MOA at 1209 is very doable these days and minute at a mile is just a matter of a slightly larger gun. The modern bullets are leaps and bounds better than a decade ago and, with kit like the new Garmin Foretrex 901 for under $600 with full drag modelling through the transonic, it is quite possible for first shot hits to be achieved.
The new 901 has been tested thoroughly now with 9 days of full shooting since it landed with me. I’ve shot up to 2439yds with it and it’s as solid and easy to read and input as the excellent old 701, but with a tremendously upgraded screen and the ability to send over-the-air updates to it from the Garmin app (for updates and maps etc.) and there's AB Synapse app for new ammo profiles.
As ever, it supports the wonderfully reliable, cheap and effective Tempe remote Bluetooth temp sensor.
The screen really is great. Perfectly legible in all lights- simple as that. Superb toughness, top class waterproofing and the battery life is great. Love it! Good kit.
Also, I’ve been testing an interesting new brake from Australia. Instead of a few holes drilled in some steel, they’ve really got into the weeds with the R&D and scienced the sh!t out of it to produce a brake that works much better than normal. And work it does! I did some A B comparisons with a jumpy 308 with an already decent brake on it, and the difference in jump was night and day. They’re called Waters Rifleman Gas Mongrel Hybrids and are available from the ever-helpful Dom at riflemags.co.uk.
Furthermore, useful beyond 2000y is the extra elevation provided by the Cold Shot adjustable base.
I’ve also been setting people up with the lovely Vortex Fury 5000AB LRF bino, getting them talking to the Garmin 901 or the Kestrel Elites. These things are so clever that when you ping the target, it can inform the solver of the range, angle, azimuth AND relative wind angle. Lovely modern kit helping the modern shooter along.
EQUIPMENT
Garmin Foretrex 901 Ballistic Edition Wrist-mounted GPS Navigator with Strap
Garmin Tempe External Temperature Sensor
Cold Shot M.O.A.B 300 Minutes of Angle Gen 4 Extreme Long Range Adjustable Rail
Vortex Fury HD 5000 AB 10x42 Laser Range finding Binocular
BRANDS
Thank you to Richard Utting for putting together this blog post for us. Be sure to check him out at SharpShootingUK.
