Thread: Experienced Advice Appreciated For Long Range Hunting

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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Im a member of rifle club that shoots out to 900 yards. F class targets for 900 yards are as tall as I am, but look very small from 900 yards away. A few years ago I wounded and lost a deer at 50m with a rushed off hand shot and I still feel bad about it. Personally I would never take a shot at an animal longer than the distance I am confident I could hit where I was aiming every time, which is about 300-400 yards

Originally Posted by PJC

Im a member of rifle club that shoots out to 900 yards. F class targets for 900 yards are as tall as I am, but look very small from 900 yards away. A few years ago I wounded and lost a deer at 50m with a rushed off hand shot and I still feel bad about it. Personally I would never take a shot at an animal longer than the distance I am confident I could hit where I was aiming every time, which is about 300-400 yards

Iv been dabbling in some longer range shots with the 308 it seems a pretty good alrounder with a lupy 10 power ,finally got out yesterday to see if the shooter app was correct & that the scope dials well enough , was really happy with results I only did 1 3 shot group at the 500 yards but it was a bloody good group around 3 or 4 inch not sure what others get but I was a happy chappy the group had drifted 6 inchs to the left with a slight x wind , while I was happy it also emphasised how little wind can have an effect I can only imagine what would happen in winder conditions or even further ranges ,shooting deer at that sort of range is a skill in its own one im looking forward to practicing more before lining up on a deer

Originally Posted by Nickoli

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

A tooled up vegan?? this I'd love to see.

For those deer that pop out 30-50-100yds infrontof you.Try a standing shot at a 8 inch steel plate,try 50yds.Then try a 100yds,its harder than you think.I watched a few utube demos and got a few pointers,which improved my hit rate.Mind you a deer shoulder is a little bigger,but when you only have 10-15 seconds to aim and shoot.A bit of practice on steel wont hurt.