Long Range Hunting

That site is awesome. Dedicated shooters who know what there doing and will be glad to help with questions. Thats where I have learned a lot and if it were not for that site, I dont think I would be able to shoot out to 1150 yards. A great group of guys that dont put you down for shooting at animals past 300 yards just because of all the gun rags and 90% of people that cant shoot past 300.
 
I would never put someone down for shooting animals at over 300 yards as long as it is within their talent. As long as for elk for example you are at a range that you can hit a 6 inch circle fire away. However, if it is someone who can ring a gong at the yardage 5 out of 10 times that is unethical. I have hunted with people who could comfortably take game at 500 yards and others that could not past 200. My personal range is about 400. At that range I can still shoot MOA which means a 4 inch group. Any farther and my stigmitism starts to blurr the target. If you can shoot 1000 yards more power to you. Just don't fire hale marys at game. 100% lethality go ahead.
 
I practice at 1150, that way when I want to make a shot at an elk or bear at 800, it looks a lot bigger and easier. It really is. With practice, it can be done easily. LR rifles should actually shoot about .5 MOA past 500 to be considered an LR rifle. JMO. My 300 RUM for instance will print .5 moa to 800 yards which translates into 4 inch groups. Not to shabby.
 
Moreloader, I agree with you up to a point. I will have to say that the shooters I have seen go really long in the field, including myself, had the equipment and were fully capable of using it. However, "100% lethality"? Man, I don't know about others but I have been known to miss. Unfortunately, I have also lost wounded game. It hasn't happened often and none were long range shots but there it is. Now I know that no one but me ever screws up, especially on the internet, but I just can't connect perfectly 100% of the time. I've been at it now for about forty years and hundreds of animals so there has been ample opportunigy for error. Good hunting!
 
jbdre -

I agree with you. No one hits with 100% accuracy all the time. While I have yet not lost a big game animal, I have assisted with finding some. Not fun at all - in fact it kinda ruins the day.

There aren't very many perfect scores coming out of the high power rifle either, and that is a known ranges with only the wind and mirage to deal with.

On the humorous side - a buddy and I were hunting one time. I called the range to the deer about 300 yards he shot and killed the deer with one shot - it dropped in its tracks. We walked up to the deer and he says I missed. I looked at him and said what do you mean - you killed the deer. He replied I was aiming for here and points at a spot 2 inches to the left at the same elevation on the body. All I could do was laugh.

Just my two cents.

Steve D. the HP
 
jbdre,

I agree with you, nothing is 100%. However, with lots of practice, we can tip the odds in our favor. Past 400 yds, you really have to watch the wind, thermals, etc. I think most dedicated LR hunters know their limitations and won't drop the hammer if the conditions are not perfect. Its the wanna be guys that take risky low percentage shots.
My longest shot was an elk at 350 yds which was a bank flop kill. I do a fair amount of shooting at 300 yds and I have also shot competition, 600 yds at Camp Perry and Metallic Silhouette. Those 55 lb steel rams are 500 meters which are 547 yds OFFHAND w/o a sling or rest. (For the record, my longest offhand shot is under 100 yds).
You are not the only one that misses either. Last deer season, I missed a nice 8 pt with my S&W M629 at 30 yds. Don't ask! :(

Regards,

JD338
 
JD338, my weapon of choice for whitetail is my S&W 629 Classic DX with open sights. In thick cover it is the only way to go. My long range hunting has mostly been in places I hunt out west where the fabled close stalk is just not possible. That does not include all western hunting but where I'm speaking of you need to either be able to go long or just stay home. It took me a long time and a lot of practice to be able shoot long distance at game, not mention some expensive equipment.

Hunting deer close enough to take with a .44 handgun and shooting deer at 500 plus both take practice and skill - just of a different type. I can't help but feel that those who condemn magnums, shooting beyond some arbitrary distance, refer to handgun hunting as a stunt, etc. are just people who haven't gained enough variety of experience to actually realize that different techniques and equipment all have their place. Volume doesn't count, there is a world of difference between hunting a Whitetail in thick cover with a handgun and hunting the same animal across a South Carolina beanfield or a Wyoming canyon. Good hunting - however you choose to do it!
 
jbdre,

Yep, two different worlds.
I gun hunt from my bow stands around my house and the last couple of years have used only my M629. It has a Leupold M8 2x scope on it. Passed on a few "ify" and "LR" shots and finally connected on 2 deer this past season. This was very rewarding to me. 8)

True LRH is another story. I would love to be into it big time but where I hunt in MI, I just don't get the opportunities that are presented out west.
I am joining a gun club this spring that has a 500 Meter range. This will help me fine tune my skills for future long shots.

I am slowly putting together a LRH rifle, M700 w/ Hart barrel in 280 AI. The rifle is a shooter but I will be adding a VXIII 4.5x14 B&C scope this year. Should be fun.

Regards,

JD338
 
You might look on accuratereloading.com and click on their long range hunting forum. Some of the members of the Pennsylvania 1000yd Benchrest Club hang out there. You can get some real good advice on scopes, mounts, barrels, stocks, etc. In my experience the real trick is dopeing the wind. I have decided that is a black art but the rest is easy by comparison. If you intend to get the most from that 4.5x14 Leo I would send it to them and have target turrets installed. You will also need to use a long range mount that elevates the rear of the scope .015 to .020 or you won't have enough adjustment in your one inch tube. I use a 6.5x20x40 VarixIII in Leupold long range mount and can get a full 1000yds. with it. There are better mounts but so far this has worked for me and I am very reluctant to fool with my long range rig at this point considering some of the shots I have pulled off with it.
 
jdbre,

Thanks for the G2. I am not too worried about 1k yds for now because I am unaware of a 1k range in MI.
If I were able to get out past 500 yds, I would get turrents added for sure. Thats the only way to go.

Regards,

JD338
 
I use the MK4, 4.5-14x50, 30mm tube, side focus out to 1150 yards on my 300 RUM. I still have a ton of clicks left. Probly get to 1500 yards, but I dont have access to farther then 1150 right now. Longrangehunting.com is a great place. I've been a member for about 3 years and spend at least an hour a day reading and posting posts. Those guys on there really know there stuff. You learn a lot from guys who can shoot 1000, 1500, or even 2000 yards. If it wasn't for that site, I would not be where I am today. Obviously the right equipment, knowledge, and practice has a lot to do with it to. On my 25-06, I use the vx2, 6-18x40, target, fine duplex. This scope gets me out to at least 800 yards on my 25-06. I still have plenty of clicks left to get to 1000 yards I'm sure, but 600 yards is the farthest I'll shoot at game with my 25-06, so I practice at 800 and 525 quite a bit with it. I put 200 yard zeros on my rifles and do my clicks accordingly. People obviously dont realize the potential of a rangefinder, clicks set up, and a drop card. If they did, they would all know that a 500 yard shot on a milk jug, is a chip shot. Once there nailing jugs at 500, deer or elk become no problem. Just dont get how some still think its rocket science or so hard. If you dont have the range to verify your groups and drop chart, dont shoot. Use common sense. I dont care what people say on here about me really, I'm just here to share my experiences, both short and long. I consider myself a responsible hunter and thats that. I haven't hit anything at LR and lost it, but yes I have missed completely. Wind is the hardest to judge, but with a 200g AB at 3200fps, a 5mph cross wind is nothing at 500 yards. Couple clicks takes care of that. I dont consider myself to be an expert wind shooter so I wont shoot if the wind is more then about 5mph.
 
I dont care what people say on here about me really, I'm just here to share my experiences, both short and long. I consider myself a responsible hunter and thats that.
Click to expand...

You can consider yourself an ethical hunter all you want - you're entitled to your delusion. Those who would shoot at game at long range are not hunters - they are detriments to hunting. Not sportsmen, not hunters. Just boys who like playing with toys.

That web site is for people who have no ethics. In fact, knowing that they are irrresponsible and unethical, they forbid discussion of hunting ethics in their membership rules. Here's a quote from the overview of the rules: "WE DO NOT discuss nor will we tolerate discussions of ethics on this site." This statement is repeated again as rule 2. "2) We do not discuss ethics. To do so will result in the post or posts being edited or deleted." Of course they don't want to disucss ethics. Their position is indefensible.

There are so many examples of ethically-challenged thinking at that site that detailing them is a waste of time - a short visit there will reveal them. Here's an example of one I noted when I wasted a few moments checking out that site a while back. The thread was about a youngster kiling an elk. A member pointed out that a child that age was too young to legally hunt elk in that state. The member proudly replied "You are probably correct but we were hunting on family property so we make our own rules."

That's one of the milder examples of the wrong-minded folks that hang out there.

If you have to shoot long range, shoot at paper.
 
JD338":2u63kfhb said:
For those that shoot long range or have an interest in long range shoting or hunting, check out this link.
http://www.thebestofthewest.net/longran ... nters.html

There is also a a site for long range hunting and shooting.
www.longrangehunting.com

This is AccuBond territory. :wink:

Regards,

JD338
Click to expand...


Just got the DVD yesterday and I watched it.

It sucked!

Period! Thank God I got it for a steal of e-bay!!!!
The guy touches on ethics (oxymoron?) and then he proceeds to hammer ballons and rocks at really long range. This satisfies the "practice before Big Game" chapter. Then he makes some long range kills on coyotes (up to 1100 yards) and antlerless game including cow elk up to 1100 yds.

Anyway it SUCKED!

Never does he get technical. No calibers mentioned, or rifles, scopes, equipment, or bullets, loads etc. Just him and his buddies killing big game wayyyyy out there!
Then at the end he hits you with...."well we do not have the time to show you the technical aspect of Long range Shooting. In our future DVD's we will cover scopes, loads, rifles, calibers, equipment etc."
What a rip-off! You do not need to show me 80 minutes of what you can do moron! Show me how you accomplish this dickhead! For the record I do not long range hunt but I love long range shooting at paper/rocks.etc. This is why I bought it. The part of the promo video that shows a guy working on a rem action, reaming a barrel or whatever, is not in the 1st video at all!

Did I mention this DVD sucked?

SERENITY NOW!
 
Pop,

What a disappointment. The 7 min promo said that there was "technical" information.
Well, since I didn't buy it and I have an extra $30 bucks, how about I buy you lunch. Greektown in Detroit. :wink:

Regards,

JD338
 
Well, I'll tell ya that you need to know what kinda equipment is used to be able to shoot that far. If he doesn't go into it, then hes an idiot. Thats all one can really say. Hell I coulda made a video doing that stupid shit, but at least I woulda told you I had a 300 RUM, with MK4, a NIkon 800, a cronograph, a balistics program, a windmeter, yadda yadda. I woulda told how to set up everything to be able to make shots like that.

Just yesterday I was out shooting 1150 yards with my 300 RUM and some 180g btips. I had a box laying around, and since im broke, I decided to load them up with a load I already had, and bang away in 15 mph winds. I had 10 shells with me, and there were 2 groups of 5 shells. The only difference in them was different lot # powders. Well my program was off by 11 clicks at that distance. So that took me 2 shots out of my first 5. My 3rd shot was close but no hit. My 4th struck home, my 5th was again close, not a hit. Then came the 2nd group with same load and everything, just different' lot #. My first shot was about 2ft low, I didn't make any changes and shot again. Again, it was about 2 ft low, the bullets probly landed with 6" of each other. Then I knew something was up, this new lot was probly slower then my first lot. So I went up about 6-7 clicks and let my 3rd shot go. It was just 2 inches low. I went up 1 more click and my 4th rang home. My last shot, I was about 1 inch to the right and 2 inches low. Just barely missed the corner. So all in all, I was 2 for 10, but I had to spend 4 fo the 10 getting my elevation actually right because theres no substitute for actually shooting that distance and not relying solely on what the computer spits out. Then, my rifle is completely stock with a stock barrel thats probly shot out anyways, and with the wind blwoing 10-15 mph, that made things a bit tricky, and to top it off, it was with a 180g btip which is a hunting bullet, not a target bullet. Its not made to shoot that far. So all else being equal, I was completley saitisfied with my results. I'm going to load up 10 more shells today and go shoot them. its a nice day, 5mph winds or so. The 180's sure dont hit as hard as the big 210g vld's, or 220g smk's at that range. It makes a little ding sound as compared to a whop sound for the heavier target bullets with a superior BC.
 
Rem Man,

Why don't you make a video, Pop and I will buy it.
We both already have the LR gun.

What are your thoughts on the new Leupold RX IV digital range finder?

Congratulations on your decision to go into the Army.
Be careful and keep us posted here on the Nosler BBS when you can.

Pop,

The offer still stands, I'll buy lunch at Greektown, you just got to get to MI.

Regards,

JD338
 
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