Question for Long Range Hunters

[ZeroJunk]

I think hold over out to 400 yards can be estimated well enough from the body size of a deer or elk, probably 14 to 20 inches if zeroed at 200 depending on your cartridge and load at least for anything I'm likely to use. Maybe 6 inched or just aim a tad high at 300 yards.

But, at 500 or 600 do you use an adjustable turret or just practice until you can estimate the hold over ?

If you use a turret, how does that work out in hunting situations ? How fast and how much trouble is it to get done in a changing situation ?

Or, do you use some of the scopes with several horizontal cross hairs, and how does that work? Is it set up for a common velocity and bullet drop or can you get it altered for a specific bullet drop?

Do you use a rangefinder?

 

[hardluk1]

I use 400 yards as my limit for deer. It can be hard to tell the difference between a good deer and a really bad choice with time to study it.

I use a 28" barreled ruger in 7mm rem mag and use a 300 yard zero. That puts me at almost 3" at 100 yards, 2 1/4 high at 200, zero at 400 and just shy of 6 low at 400 yards.

That will let me hold on deer with out worry'n about yardage till I have to guess then a good 1000 or 1500 yard range finder can give a good reply on the longer yardage. Beyound 400 yards bullet drop becomes a bigger issue along with knowing what you are shooting at is worth while. I also use good binos to try to study a animal. Nothing worse than shooting big doe and find its a late season butt head buck that is a bit behind in antler growth or a little well filled out bamby that you though was a nice doe in a clear cut. Seen hunters get throwed out of clubs for that.

I built my rifle 15 years ago and had a "cheap scope" on it with plains to replace it. Simmons atec 3.8 to 14 power scope thats from the first model year. After range time to break in the barrel it shot so well I figured, I will get a better scope one day !! 2" groups or under at 400 yards with factory ammo. Still on the rifle today . That place all my rounds in a paper plate and hold a bit high or low if needed.

 

[jmr40]

Not a long range shooter, yet. Still working on it and consider myself a 400 yard shooter max at this time. Got a BIL who owns a 338 Lapua and has taken elk at up to 700 yards.

What he and most other guys do is load the most aerodynamic hunting bullets they can find to the max velocity they can still get great accuracy with. Chronograph those loads and enter the data into a ballistics program. Print that data. laminate it and tape it to the side of their stock. They use range finders so there is no guessing about range.

Some guys use turrets, others use scopes with dots. The next step is to put hundreds of rounds downrange to practice and verify the information obtained from the ballistics programs.

I have no visions of taking elk at 700+ yards. I'm not willing to spend the money for the custom heavy caliber rifles needed to make this happen, but would like to be comfortable with making 500-600 yard shots on deer with a rifle in the 7mm or 300 mag range.

 

[Art Eatman]

I can guesstimate distance out to around 400 yards fairly well. Generally, I wouldn't plan on shooting at a deer which is that far or beyond without a laser rangefinder.

I've been able to figure Kentucky windage okay here on my 500-yard range. I know the trajectory of my '06, so I don't bother with any adjustment of my scope.

I guess my deal is to know the distance, know the trajectory, and then the big deal is doping the wind.

 

[Grumulkin]

If you have a scope reticle calibrated in mils and if you know the dimensions of the deer or some objective around it, with a calculation that is a little time consuming, you can accurately estimate the range.

The scopes I like the best are those that have some type of reticle markings; usually mils. You can use one of the dots or hash marks to shoot at a given range.

There are also available various turrets with markings for range for a particular load. Most of my scopes are Leupold Mark 4 scopes. I have a 223 load that works well. I called Leupold with the ballistic coefficient of the bullet, the muzzle velocity, temperature and elevation and they made a custom turret with calibration out to 6 or 7 hundred yards. Now that is a very fast way of making range adjustments and it works well if you know the range.

 

[ZeroJunk]

I bow hunted elk a few years ago using a sight called an Infringer where you move a single sight from a scale that you mark for yardage on the back of the riser facing you. It's a lot of going on having to mess with it. Release in one hand, cow call in your teeth, bow in your other hand, and trying to set it quickly.

Of course at several hundred yards you are not likely to be detected fidgeting around with something, and there shouldn't be anything in your hands to inerfere with what you are doing.

So, maybe adjusting a turret wouldn't be a big deal.

I don't see how some of these guys that shoot at 700 or 800 yards could do it any other way.

 

[suzukisam]

I know I say this a lot, but the john burns "how to shoot beyonf beleif" really answers sooo many question about long range, bullet choices, and guns...he turns a factory 700 243 into a thousand yard gun, without changing parts, just tuning what's there... there is a lifetime of info in thre dvds

 

[sscoyote]

I am also into longer range shooting using reticles mostly, and love applying them for rangefinding and downrange zeroing. Just have to match reticle subtension to trajectory via ballistic program calcs, test and troubleshoot if necessary, put a dope sticker into a Butler Creek scope cap cover and go hunting.

The mathematics behind it all is what fascinates me. As it turns out both downrange zeroing and rangefinding with any multi-stadia reticle and/or target turret is defined by the "mil-ranging formula."