Thread: Experienced Advice Appreciated For Long Range Hunting

Originally Posted by kiwijames

Lol. All the gear. No idea.

Motto I live by.

Originally Posted by Remington 5R .300 Win Mag

Thanks Tentman and thanks for all the other guys who have taken the time to reply. I too feel that the thread has jumped the tracks a bit here and has become a bit of a 'pick on me' session. The thread has nothing to do with morality and long range shooting/hunting ethics per-se! For all of you here, the fact that we are going to shoot at animals out to around 7-800 meters 'IS' a happening thing, so you'll simply just have to get used to it.

Now, I can understand that in public forums, such as this, someone starts to through his/her ethical weight around, then another jumps on the band wagon, then before you know it you've created a 'pack-mentality' whereby everyone has to be seen to have the 'holier than thou' attitude!

The purpose of this thread is (for my brother's sake) should we be checking, and therefore 'knowing' where our bullets are going at the ranges we intend to shoot, at prior to going or, should we just go hunting first, at those ranges, and then check our POI 'after' the deer shooting's done? Increasing the chances of missing and/or wounding animals.

I personally (like most of you out there I'm sure) have got advanced equipment to be able to give me a theoretical trajectory, based on a number of perimeters that I have acquired (velocity, BC, barometric pressure, temperature, zeroing distance etc) however, I would like to verify them in real time. My brother, on the other hand, hasn't.

Anyway, kidmac42 is kinda right, in that this thread is not giving me the answers I was hoping for, and R93 was right in that I can, and already have, answered my own questions, so I'll leave you all to it, and go my merry way! Thanks for all who have tried to reply genuinely.

Basically if you have to ask the questions you do, you should definitely not be shooting at animals at the mentioned distances.

For the majority of us that do shoot animals at extended ranges, beyond say 300 yards, we have done a fair bit of preperation including at least a couple of longer range gong sessions out to ranges beyond where we would normally take shots at game.

Even when we have done all this and have verified the actual drop data with the therorectical drop solution and have a good confidence in our ability things can still not work out perfectly, wind is the biggest variable. To think that you could zero at 200 yards, bang some data into a phone app and be ready to shoot at game animals out to 700+ yards is very nieve and frankly irresponsible. The fact that many other experienced people have already given you this same advice and you have thrown it back in their face shows a total dissregard for the whole deal to be honest.

I actually wondered if your original post was a windup pisstake.

Originally Posted by Remington 5R .300 Win Mag

Thanks Tentman and thanks for all the other guys who have taken the time to reply. I too feel that the thread has jumped the tracks a bit here and has become a bit of a 'pick on me' session. The thread has nothing to do with morality and long range shooting/hunting ethics per-se! For all of you here, the fact that we are going to shoot at animals out to around 7-800 meters 'IS' a happening thing, so you'll simply just have to get used to it.

Now, I can understand that in public forums, such as this, someone starts to through his/her ethical weight around, then another jumps on the band wagon, then before you know it you've created a 'pack-mentality' whereby everyone has to be seen to have the 'holier than thou' attitude!

The purpose of this thread is (for my brother's sake) should we be checking, and therefore 'knowing' where our bullets are going at the ranges we intend to shoot, at prior to going or, should we just go hunting first, at those ranges, and then check our POI 'after' the deer shooting's done? Increasing the chances of missing and/or wounding animals.

I personally (like most of you out there I'm sure) have got advanced equipment to be able to give me a theoretical trajectory, based on a number of perimeters that I have acquired (velocity, BC, barometric pressure, temperature, zeroing distance etc) however, I would like to verify them in real time. My brother, on the other hand, hasn't.

Anyway, kidmac42 is kinda right, in that this thread is not giving me the answers I was hoping for, and R93 was right in that I can, and already have, answered my own questions, so I'll leave you all to it, and go my merry way! Thanks for all who have tried to reply genuinely.

There is nothing holyer than thou regarding common sense is there?

You also mention a pack mentality?

I take comfort looking at the replies in this thread that there is a lot of common ground among our peers regarding the treatment and respect for our quarry.





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From a personal experience I had, 600m can be a lot of ground to cover to sort out a fuck up in the shooting dept. It cost me a lost wounded animal and I am still annoyed with myself a year later for attempting the shot and causing a miserable suffering end for the unfortunate animal.
I do shoot a lot of steel at far greater ranges than 600 but steel plates are not living breathing animals which deserve a little more respect.

personally I would get in as much target practice at the distances you want to shoot at before attempting to shoot at any animal.

@Tahr you have a YouTube channel what is it?

Originally Posted by FatLabrador

@Tahr you have a YouTube channel what is it?

nzsikahunter

Its pretty crappy

Remington 5R .300 Win Mag have you got a range finder ?

While wounding and losing an animal is always possible, it MUST be something that we strive to eliminate. Animals ar not targets and we must not treat them as such. I will admit that I have lost a wounded animal, and I will not forget, and I will do my best to make sure it is the last one. I did not miss. The pig as somewhat more resilient to the impact than I expected. It dropped and stopped and I thought it was dead so I dealt with another one I had hit, but when I looked up, it had regained conciousness and departed. I lost the blood trail in a creek down a ravine a while later and I never want to repeat this.

Hunting at extended ranges should only be attempted by people who have proven to themselves that they can consistently hit a 6” target at there maximum range with their chosen weapon. And know about the effects of wind on their bullets and can read wind to enable accurate shot placement to avoid wounding animals. Also having appropriate caliber and ammunition with enough impact energy to make large enough wounding on game at those ranges to make a quick or instant death.

Old mate Remington 5R posted this wee gem about 6 months ago....

Having said that, verification of bullet trajectory is 'essential' for longer range shooting. To do this, you're first gonna need a tall piece of cardboard, and if you're zeroed at 200 yards/meters, set your target up at 400. Have your target placed near the top of your cardboard and fire (obviously considering your firing zone). Now don't just fire one round and say 'good, I know where it goes', fire 3 - 5 because you're wanting to try an gauge your group size as well. Greg Duley touched on the 6" hillier zone, which is a vital kill zone in the chest area, so, provided your rifle is a capable killer at whatever range you're hoping to shoot out at, then you're trying to find the 'maximum' range you can confidently shoot, keeping your group size at around the 6" mark, preferably less.

Now, take a measurement from the center of the bulls eye, where you aimed, to the center of your group as that gives the bullet drop (trajectory) in inches/cm. If you've got a holdover type scope, with various elevation marks, take a note of the middle of your group size and correspond it to the marks in your scope, and write that mark on your stock for easy reference (example 400 = 1 & 1/2 lines down). Do this at every 100 y/m intervals (remembering that the closest you choose to do this, the more accurate a data you're going to collect) until your group size gets bigger than the magic 6" mark! If you shoot 6" at 700 y/m but at 800 you're shooting 7 or 8" then 700 y/m is your maximum, it could be that your group size opens up more than 6" at 500 y/m, in which case 500, or maybe 450 is your maximum range.

Now, 'if' at say 500 y/m you're shooting a 2' group, then there's something drastically wrong with either you or your setup, and desperately needs to be sorted.

Do this and you should have the 'ethical right' to shoot at anything out to that particular range, and if we're all being honest, a certain amount of "collateral damage" is always to be expected with all forms of hunting, after all, how many rabbits have we shot that have manged to escape wounded down the hole, dragging their rear diff and screaming as they go, 'never, to be seen again?... That's just my sixpence, oh, and of course, windage is a different story!

Originally Posted by Proudkiwi

Old mate Remington 5R posted this wee gem about 6 months ago....

Having said that, verification of bullet trajectory is 'essential' for longer range shooting. To do this, you're first gonna need a tall piece of cardboard, and if you're zeroed at 200 yards/meters, set your target up at 400. Have your target placed near the top of your cardboard and fire (obviously considering your firing zone). Now don't just fire one round and say 'good, I know where it goes', fire 3 - 5 because you're wanting to try an gauge your group size as well. Greg Duley touched on the 6" hillier zone, which is a vital kill zone in the chest area, so, provided your rifle is a capable killer at whatever range you're hoping to shoot out at, then you're trying to find the 'maximum' range you can confidently shoot, keeping your group size at around the 6" mark, preferably less.

Now, take a measurement from the center of the bulls eye, where you aimed, to the center of your group as that gives the bullet drop (trajectory) in inches/cm. If you've got a holdover type scope, with various elevation marks, take a note of the middle of your group size and correspond it to the marks in your scope, and write that mark on your stock for easy reference (example 400 = 1 & 1/2 lines down). Do this at every 100 y/m intervals (remembering that the closest you choose to do this, the more accurate a data you're going to collect) until your group size gets bigger than the magic 6" mark! If you shoot 6" at 700 y/m but at 800 you're shooting 7 or 8" then 700 y/m is your maximum, it could be that your group size opens up more than 6" at 500 y/m, in which case 500, or maybe 450 is your maximum range.

Now, 'if' at say 500 y/m you're shooting a 2' group, then there's something drastically wrong with either you or your setup, and desperately needs to be sorted.

Do this and you should have the 'ethical right' to shoot at anything out to that particular range, and if we're all being honest, a certain amount of "collateral damage" is always to be expected with all forms of hunting, after all, how many rabbits have we shot that have manged to escape wounded down the hole, dragging their rear diff and screaming as they go, 'never, to be seen again?... That's just my sixpence, oh, and of course, windage is a different story!

Another "forum troll" - looks like it.... Maybe a vegan pushing for the "hunting is cruel" element....

Originally Posted by Nickoli

Another "forum troll" - looks like it.... Maybe a vegan pushing for the "hunting is cruel" element....

The comment he copied and posted makes a lot of sense. It is a fairly simple practical method of finding the effective range that a shooter is capable of with a particular rifle. and would mean there is no excuse for not knowing where you shot will go. What part of that would you consider trolling?

Originally Posted by timattalon

The comment he copied and posted makes a lot of sense. It is a fairly simple practical method of finding the effective range that a shooter is capable of with a particular rifle. and would mean there is no excuse for not knowing where you shot will go. What part of that would you consider trolling?

....I don't know - asking for an opinion, not giving a rat's arse about those proffered yet being a "cut & paste" expert in another thread.... meets my threshold; you must have a higher tolerance than I...

Originally Posted by Nickoli

Another "forum troll" - looks like it.... Maybe a vegan pushing for the "hunting is cruel" element....

Elementary cut and pasta skill as well

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