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Shooting the perfect group: When stars align

We all go to the range with hopes of besting our last time out. What happens when you finally do? Let’s say your significant other shoots an amazing group, then you follow suit, and get it all on camera: what do you do then?

It’s what we always dream of, but never seems to happen. What manufacturers always advertise, and yet we can’t ever obtain. For accuracy like that it takes more than good ammunition, rifle, optic, and gear. It requires EVERYTHING to be in sync. Good mental state, good health, good wind, and good lighting. We always chase groupings like this, but rarely are they ever seen. The group seen in the video is rare, but we’ll spell out the ingredients for you.

The rifle was the Midnight Dragon from Doublestar. If you’ve read the linked article you know that it is far from a basic AR, and yet we have done nothing to it. It hasn’t even been properly cleaned! The ammunition was from Nosler. Nosler has been known for their precision for decades, but the ammunition used was their varmint load in 62gr. The rifle was held steady by the Stinger rest from Caldwell. The Stinger has been acclaimed by us before for it’s perfect balance between portability and stability.

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All in, we had the ingredients for a great grouping, but did not expect what we received. In the video above is a grouping achieved with a hot barrel, low lighting, no pause between shots aside from target alignment, and two different shooters splitting the shots. I can’t expect to ever group like this again, but it seems that for once the stars aligned with a little help from Doublestar, Nosler, and Caldwell.

I’ve always paraphrased the US Army’s marksmanship fundamentals to STAB: Steady position, Trigger squeeze, Aiming, and Breathing. All four of course played a major role, but there is no denying that the rifle, ammunition, and rest were part of it.

Shoot Straight: Caldwell Stinger Rifle Rest

Caldwell’s Stinger solves some fundamental challenges with rifle shooting. I had been resistant to the use of rests, perhaps as an old Soldiering habit. Train, as you fight, so shoot free-hand, was the mantra. All of that goes out the window however if you are truly trying to test, zero, or even teach with a simpler experience. All of those require a stable shooting platform and sometimes the range bag or old wooden blocks at the range just aren’t good enough. The delay in buying a rest for me was the cost-benefit factor. Options seemed to either be expensive, heavy, and too bulky to toss in the trunk or cheap, flimsy, and too insubstantial to serve as much more than a display. The Caldwell Stinger seems to fit in the “just right” category.

Made of tubular steel with rubber feet and pads to protect the rifle the Stinger is solid and stable. 3″ of gross vertical adjustments are made with a large knob under the front of the rifle while 1″ of fine adjustments are made at the rear where the support hand would traditionally be squeezing a bag. It all makes for a very natural shooting position while eliminating slip, wobble, and minimizing human error. With an MSRP of $119.99 the price is also very reasonable. For more information see Caldwell’s website

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Load your AR Mag in 10 Seconds? Caldwell Mag Charger

With ammo prices falling and panic-buying over it appears we can finally return to the joys of shooting. Schools, training, and good-ol’-fashioned plinking are once again in our futures. higher-volume shooting means higher-volume loading. In the Army, we used stripper clips and the ever-sacred adapter that sometimes perfectly, and other times not, loaded ten rounds at a time so long as there was a good stable platform and plenty of force. Those stripper-clips and loaders are fine if you’re in the military and have nothing else going on, but what do we do as civilians? Mag-loading parties tend to have low turnout and so someone ends up with sore thumbs. Caldwell may have a solution.

Expensive wooden plates have come about, but are neither cost-friendly nor storage friendly. Caldwell Shooting Supplies appears to have created a solution with their Tac-30 Mag Charger. Caldwell claims the potential to load all 30 rounds in ten seconds. The system works well with 20-round boxes and includes a loading strip for the fancier ammo packaging for when ammo comes in plastic trays.

Though not advertised as such we found the Mag Charger does work with .300 BLK ammunition. It does appear to be somewhat picky with magazines, but so are rifles so that’s not surprising. The retail price of $40-50 is fair for the amount of development and features packed into this light-weight and range-friendly solution. Whether or not you shoot enough to warrant it is totally up to you, but with good weather finally on the calendar you may want to consider grabbing one before the bum-rush begins.

Caldwell Ballistic Precision Target Camera: See Your Hits! ~VIDEO

Caldwell has been providing simple and effective solutions for all sorts of shooter’s needs. From targets to rests, cleaning supplies to storage solutions. You’ve seen us use their Stinger Rest in rifle reviews. For us a challenge has always been to spot hits at longer ranges.

Of course a $1,000 spotting scope on an expensive tripod can do the job with some scanning, but that’s only quick if you’ve already got an eye glued to the scope. We’ve been looking for a better solution, especially after buying a spotting scope that proved to be less clear than our rifle scopes!

We were given the opportunity to try out the Ballistic Precision Target Camera from Caldwell and haven’t taken a spotting scope with us since. We call it “target cam” for short, but the idea is simple and brilliant. A 720p camera with a wireless router is set up near the target on the included tripod. A second included tripod holds a wireless repeater near the shooter. With a free app most any smart phone or tablet can view the live feed. The app also includes the ability to record, take photos, and even measure groupings!

The whole kit packs neatly into the included case with cut foam for safe traveling. We bought an out-of-date tablet and can now easily see our groupings at a glance. You can see more about this systems on the product website. Don’t worry about that MSRP. With some smart shopping they can easily be found for less than the cost of most quality rifle scopes!

The Caldwell Ballistic Precision Target Camera can be seen in action in the short video below.

Featured image courtesy of Caldwell. Get yours here.

New Shooting Assists from Caldwell

Courtesy of Breach Bang Clear

New Shooting Assists from Caldwell
Mad Duo

Lead Sleds and similar paraphernalia…are they worthwhile? We think so, and not just when you’re using .450/400 Nitro Express either. Here’s Team Wild TV in a video called One Shot Zero. They did it a few years back about an earlier iteration of the Caldwell Lead Sled — and they used some big damn bullets to do it.

So, now that you understand the significance, here are a couple of new pieces of range gear available from Caldwell Shooting Supplies this summer. Might be something you should take a look at, whether you’re dialing in a new scope or taking someone with physical limitations to the range.

First up is the Lead Sled 3 Shooting Rest. Caldwell describes it thusly:

The new Lead Sled 3 shooting rest securely holds a firearm on target, and reduces felt recoil by up to 95% when compared to shooting without the rest. The innovative skeletonized front rest, with non-marring surfaces, securely holds a variety of firearms in place without damaging the firearm’s finish. The improved rear buttstock cradle features a top of the line recoil-reducing pad and a non-marring cradle to keep the firearm in place. The Lead Sled 3 also features a “no wobble” elevation ram to easily stay on target.

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