Who will be honest.

[Bacon buster]

There is a lot to go wrong beyond three hundred yards. I noticed on a test I did with 168 gr amax on milk jugs set up in 50 yard intervals from 350 to 650 yards that at the 400 yard jug I had trouble hitting it. Shooting from the top of a hill over a creek bottom and into a hill on the other side of the bottom. The wind in the bottom was completely different than the wind further up on the hill I was shooting at as well as the hill I was shooting from. The 400 yard jug took three shots to hit. First round hits on all the others. Also noticed bullet splatter on all the jugs from 450 yards out. Switched bullets. Pic is one of my favorite coyote spots but also where I did the jug test

 

[Chuck R.]

View attachment 973837 There is a lot to go wrong beyond three hundred yards. I noticed on a test I did with 168 gr amax on milk jugs set up in 50 yard intervals from 350 to 650 yards that at the 400 yard jug I had trouble hitting it. Shooting from the top of a hill over a creek bottom and into a hill on the other side of the bottom. The wind in the bottom was completely different than the wind further up on the hill I was shooting at as well as the hill I was shooting from. The 400 yard jug took three shots to hit. First round hits on all the others. Also noticed bullet splatter on all the jugs from 450 yards out. Switched bullets. Pic is one of my favorite coyote spots but also where I did the jug test

Hmmmm, it looks like we shoot off the same table!

 

[Bacon buster]

Lol nothing wrong with being comfortable

 

[Dibbs]

The longest shot I've ever taken on a critter was a deer at between 50-60yrds. Plugged him right in the heart. He ran face first into a tree, then rolled down the hill.

Yeah, THIS is real life. Never, ever shot an animal over 240 yards. Pistol, 25 yards is where I live. Sometimes I try out at 50 yards. It ain't pretty.
Sight in my rifle, at 100 yards, when I can cover my group, at the bulls-eye, with the palm of my hand, the rifle is zeroed.

 

[Picher]

I've been hunting varmints and larger game, up to moose. My first shooting was with B-B guns and burned up 10 large Winchester tubes a week in my back yard when I was 9-14 yrs. old. We killed lots of red squirrels and a few birds before I was able/allowed to hunt with a .22LR rifle. As a teen with a buddy who was a couple of years older, we hunted woodchucks and crows with handloaded 30-06 rifles, as practice for deer hunting in Maine. We averaged about 220 yards the year I started keeping kill records, pacing every kill. I made a prone "A" rest out of copper tubing for long, prone shots. It fits in a back pocket (with legs sticking out). More recently, I killed a bull moose at 275 yards with my .270 Win, down a haul road in the North Maine Woods, while sitting on my folding stool, without a rest, using my 140 grain handloads...one shot, one kill as it crossed between the trees.

No, I don't think the average hunter is a great longer-distance killer, but have known lots of folks who are pretty darned good, out to about 250 yards. We don't get a lot of shots beyond that, but the true test is knowing when it's okay to shoot and when it isn't. It's all about knowing where the bullet will strike at the distance, being able to hold steady-enough for a high-percentage shot, and being knowledgeable as to where the bullet will be in it's trajectory, and compensate as necessary for that shot. Yeah, that's a "mouthful".

Nobody can hold perfectly steady for offhand shots, but the better shots know how to "quickly squeeze" one off as the crosshairs start to "cross the estimated kill zone" for that shot. It's okay to NOT shoot, if it doesn't look/feel right!

 

[Meeks36]

Longest shot taken was with a bb gun of all things. Pumped up 100 time's. Top of a pine tree head shot on a squirrel. Not sure of distance. Was 14 at the time and as things do the tree has grown. But I got it first shot. Next best shot was at a caterpillar my grandpa said kills tree's. Got off the school bus and he was shooting at it with my bb gun. I grabbed it and first shot cut it in two. And he had been out there for 10 minutes.

 

[Picher]

Walking through ground hemlock, I actually stepped on a doe. I don't know which one of us was more surprised. It jumped up and sprinted away because it was "bucks-only" season.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Nobody can hold perfectly steady for offhand shots, but the better shots know how to "quickly squeeze" one off as the crosshairs start to "cross the estimated kill zone" for that shot.

Many years ago, I did competitive small bore and could print nice dime-sized 50 ft groups with an Anschutz .22 and a wearing shooting jacket, but I'm about a 5-6 MOA shooter offhand with a sub-MOA hunting rifle and normal cold weather gear. In my experience, not many can do better. I wouldn't take an offhand shot at a game animal beyond ~150 yards.

 

[Hookeye]

I once put 5 shots in a 2" group offhand at 50 yards w my .22 mag. No scope. Went back and did it again.

Not horrible








Smith 648 6"


My eyes aint as good as they used to be. Put a 2x on my 8" Ruger auto.

That made shooting boring. Seriously.
Plop on my butt and shoot pcs of clays at 50. Not hard offhand either

But it was big and bulky. Might as well run a rifle. Sold it to a bud who says its his fave squirrel rig.

 

[Hookeye]

After 150 things seem harder. Around here thatd most likely be a picked crop and one could go into sitting or maybe prone

CRP fields though, you gotta stand. Had a doe run up a CRP and stop in line w a dead tree. Gave me an aiming point to drop one in on her.

Had my elbow on my hip and rifle on fingertips. MZ iron sights. Cloverleaf fron bench at 100.

Shot and watched her run across the top through the smoke, white tail flagging. Then she fell.

Pinwheeled. Was 175 from where she stood. Showed my bud who said nothing but " home run ". LOL

 

[Hookeye]

Now i cant even see a rear barrel sight.
Getting old sucks.

 

[Picher]

Many years ago, I did competitive small bore and could print nice dime-sized 50 ft groups with an Anschutz .22 and a wearing shooting jacket, but I'm about a 5-6 MOA shooter offhand with a sub-MOA hunting rifle and normal cold weather gear. In my experience, not many can do better. I wouldn't take an offhand shot at a game animal beyond ~150 yards.

I don't shoot at "animals". I shoot at quick-kill zones of animals. If the crosshairs aren't in the heart/lung area, I don't squeeze the trigger. However, my fast-squeeze is smooth and retains good centering of that portion of the quarry. As I continue toward my 80's, I expect that my shooting skills will diminish, but so far, so good. I practice holding/squeezing at inanimate objects I can see outside my rural home. Rocks in the rock wall are favorite dry-fire "targets" and are kind of similar in size/shape to smaller kill-zones.

 

[Hookeye]

Never shoot at stuff.
Always pick a spot.

Hunting is way different than speed games

 

[Lyle Wyatt]

When my late father would tell the story of the one and only buck he ever shot the range increased about 10 yards per year.

 

[Picher]

When shooting offhand, I concentrate on where I want to aim on the target/critter, not the reticle center. Yes, the rifle moves, but I see the reticle and try to get it to cross the aiming point. As I see it coming, I increase pressure on the trigger, but only about half the amount needed to fire the rifle, then hold until it approaches the target center and keep pressing until either the rifle fires, or the reticle diverges from it's intended firing point. I don't usually have more than one or two attempts. If I start getting shaky, I stop and may lower the rifle, unless a meat-shot is involved and see if I can get it back near the aiming point.

Because I was a pretty good offhand shot, I didn't shoot at turkey-shoot targets offhand, choosing to shoot prone, where skills compared with other shooters were more competitive. Once, there weren't enough shooters to pay for a turkey, so the offhand shooters convinced me to shoot "their way". Result was that the shot seemed "too good to be true" and I answered that way...on query. That shot was a perfect pinwheel at 100 yards. I also shot other turkey shoots on the Maine coast and my .22-250 was banned because it won too many birds. About all shots were offhand at that shoot, both rimfire and centerfire. My .270 rifle didn't win as many birds and wasn't as much fun to shoot, so I quit shooting there.

 

[hdbiker]

I know I've killed 60 plus deer in Wisconsin's county, state and federal, forests sense I got out of the service in 1966. Not even one over 100 yards with my Remington 742 carbine in .308 Win. 165 grain round nose, knocks them right over . I shot one at 3 feet from the hip, thought he was going to run me over hdbiker

 

[ThomasT]

I have killed 30 deer and two elk. One deer was killed at 225-250 yards. Everything else was 80 yards or less. Sometimes a lot less. I take more pride in being able to get close than taking a long shot. I guess its the Choctaw Indian in me.

 

[Newtosavage]

I know of A LOT of people who aren't proficient enough to even sight in a rifle properly that go hunting every year. Like seriously... cannot sight one in at 100 because the shots differ by anywhere from 2 inches to 1.5 feet in their point of impact. These are people who also see a deer at 220 and think that it is well within their abilities. There are many people out there who don't understand enough to understand that they do not understand if you catch my drift. One of these people i took hunting with me once to shoot their first deer and they were successful. Kicker is they shot one at 35 yards... I don't let him shoot any further than that until he buckles down and gets better.

I run into a bunch of those at our small town range every year, sadly. I used to offer them help until I got tired of being told they "don't need it" so I don't say a thing anymore unless I'm specifically asked, and even then, unless the person asking seems like they are open to learning.

 

[Hookeye]

Deer....how many over 100 yds?

Lemme dig through cobwebs.....

half a dozen 100 to 150.
Only two past that ( under 200 )
Dozens in the 75 to 100 yard zone.
Same in 50 to 75.

Actually, i like em around 50 yards. Close enough to see all twigs, easier shot to keep on the money.....and far enough away they might not spook by sound/ movement mistakes.

 

[Hookeye]

Id be cool with blasting em all around 50 yards from now on.

Had a 6pt at 35 this yr, but wanted bigger so let him go. Bud passed on him twice from treestand. I snuck in and parked it on rhe ground.

Neighbor says he made it through season.

I like to cook venison. Maybe next yr.

 

[Picher]

Hmmmm, it looks like we shoot off the same table!

View attachment 973840

You're a lefty? Do you have any problems shooting a rifle with a right-hand twist barrel? Ha ha.

 

[Hookeye]

paper is predictable

It used to be. Seems more temperamental nowadays

 

[Picher]

First whitetail I killed was a 110 lb. doe. I was standing in a woods road and at the edge of a narrow field with field road and a low, light-alder filled groin about a hundred yards away. I saw the deer through the alders beyond the groin, about a hundred-fifty yards away. As it got into the field road through the alders, I fired my .22-250 at the lungs and the rifle recoiled a little at the shot. When it came back down, I couldn't see the deer at all. I kept looking, and finally saw the tail flick in the opening, a low spot.

Funny, because I'd hunted woodchucks with a .30-06 for about 5 years and never got a deer with it, so sold it and bought the .22-250 and shot a deer with it that fall. I used a handloaded, Nosler solid-based Zipedo, 55 grain bullet, powered with IMR4064, I believe.

 

[Hookeye]

Low power scope, seen bullet deer impact shudder in recoil. Way cool.

But but but people say gun fit aint important.

Maybe not. But it helps me shoot good and I get to see the swats

 

[horsey300]

My youngest has a tremor.
She will have to run something bolted to a tripod, from a ground blind.

Her killing a 100" 8pt at spittin distance would be better than any shot I ever made

I purchased the BOG DeathGrip late last year at a good price. That thing is really versatile. And it’s rock solid. I got the carbon fiber model. The aluminum one would do just fine. About $120. Something to think about.

Thanks to a member here giving a good review of the deathgrip I picked one up around last October and it has been awesome! It will absolutely take care of the tremor, I have the aluminum one and it will provide LOADS of stability!