Mr. Bramble:

No problem at all. I knew is was not the transonic transition, as that takes place at about 200 yard. Howsomever, I do not know what it is that causes the phenomenon, but it is not my personal hallucination. Anybody who has shot Creedmoor matches with these rifles has noticed it. The increase in the difficulty of the target at 1000 is much greater than the increase in distance from 900 would dictate. I have some theories and guesses as to why this is so, but that is all they are.

In this particular case, I suspect it is nothing more exotic than the bullet slowing to the point it was starting to become unstable. Not to the point of tumbling, but enough so it was more easily moved by the winds. Of course, it is just barely conceivable that the whole thing was an operator malfunction, but I am telling the story and the load can't defend itself...

I have seen certain loads do that before, and those well within the normal accepted parameters of workable 1K loads. Actually more so, as in one case a load that was shooting exceptionally well at 900 was actually tumbling an hour later at 1000. We really know very little about transonic and subsonic ballistics. Most ballistic research is done by the military and everything they have is supersonic.

I have decided to leave the rifle as is for a mid range and Silhouette rifle. I shot it at a silhouette match a week ago and it performed quite well. I believe I will rebarrel my heavy long range rifle to make the 13 pound weight limit and go back to that one for Creedmoor.

Best regards,

Glenn