Sighting in Question Shooting Leopards & Crocs

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Quick question guys.

When you all sit for Leopard or croc. Do you all sight your rifles in for that exact distance. For example my 300 wm is 1 1/2 inch high at 100 yards. Same with my .375.

My PH tells me we will shoot no further than 60 yards for leopard. Should I just sight it in at 60 yards the 300 the day of sitting in the blind?

I plan on shooting a croc with the .375. I'm told we can probably stalk to 65-75 yards. Would it matter adjusting at that distance? I'm shooting for the neck. Brain shot only if its absolutely necessary.

Thanks

 

[375Fox]

I’ve only shot one croc. We stalked the river bank and got in position to shoot, no bait involved, in Zambia. Shot was just over 100 yards. I had a 300 H&H sighted in about same probably 1.5” high at 100. That’s exactly where the bullet hit on the brain shot. I’m very lucky we were slightly above the croc to minimize the 1.5” high and I got two more into his chest before he went off the rock. I thought for certain that croc was lost. We did find it on bottom of river. If I did it again the gun would be sighted for zero at 100. Sight the gun in for the distance you plan to shoot don’t take chances with a shot on a croc.

 

[ALbowhunter]

I would check it at 60yds with the current zero. If only a little high (1/2”), I don’t think I would sweat it too much. Maybe zero for 60 yds then check it at 100yds and again at 150yds. The leopard shot would be the one that I would not want to be thinking about a different point of aim. Things can happen fast. The leopard I killed stepped out closer than the bait tree. Ended up about 45yds. At 1:00 pm. full sunlight. He stared a hole through the blind. Ended up shooting him one handed because I was afraid he would see my hand grab the forend of the rifle.

 

[375Fox]

Here’s what 1.5” high on a slightly downward angle looks like on a brain shot. (I never had a plan for after the croc was shot so it unfortunately just stays in the garage now.)

 

[Hunt anything]

On leopard they will know the exact range to the bait tree and have you site dead on at that range, so take a little extra ammo for that range session.

 

[TXhunter65]

If you're an 1.5" high at 100 you'll be close to 0 at 50 yards.

 

[rookhawk]

Quick question guys.

When you all sit for Leopard or croc. Do you all sight your rifles in for that exact distance. For example my 300 wm is 1 1/2 inch high at 100 yards. Same with my .375.

My PH tells me we will shoot no further than 60 yards for leopard. Should I just sight it in at 60 yards the 300 the day of sitting in the blind?

I plan on shooting a croc with the .375. I'm told we can probably stalk to 65-75 yards. Would it matter adjusting at that distance? I'm shooting for the neck. Brain shot only if its absolutely necessary.

Thanks

I can't remember our sight in distance for our 375HHs, so don't hold me to this, but I think it was 150 yard zero. (coulda been 200 yard zeros) That put it within rounding error of true at 50 yards. For leopard and croc, both were 60ish yards and we didn't make any tweaks to our gun's scopes.

 

[shootist~]

"No further" than 60 yards does not mean exactly 60, I'm guessing.
I would shoot some at 50 and 60 (maybe even 45), then decide.

1.5 inches high at 100 might or might not be very close at 50. Sight hight, your rest, and how you hold your tongue all come into play.

And some scopes - my Z3 Swarovski is one, just don't like to be messed with.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

I would check it at 60yds with the current zero. If only a little high (1/2”), I don’t think I would sweat it too much. Maybe zero for 60 yds then check it at 100yds and again at 150yds. The leopard shot would be the one that I would not want to be thinking about a different point of aim. Things can happen fast. The leopard I killed stepped out closer than the bait tree. Ended up about 45yds. At 1:00 pm. full sunlight. He stared a hole through the blind. Ended up shooting him one handed because I was afraid he would see my hand grab the forend of the rifle.

Congrats if only I could get that fortunate!!!! Wow bet your heart was in your throat.

 

[ALbowhunter]

I honestly didn’t have enough time to think about it when he walked out. There was a female with him that morning, and they left before enough light to shoot. Actually he came back about 30 minutes after daylight, and while trying to make a positive sex identification we missed our opportunity. Arriving back before noon to reposition and freshen the bait turned out being a brilliant move. Within 10 minutes of everything getting quiet, we started hearing the both of them. That lasted for over an hour. Everything got quiet, and he showed up about 20 minutes later.

 

[Luvthunt]

Nice cat!

 

[Philip Glass]

Quick question guys.

When you all sit for Leopard or croc. Do you all sight your rifles in for that exact distance. For example my 300 wm is 1 1/2 inch high at 100 yards. Same with my .375.

My PH tells me we will shoot no further than 60 yards for leopard. Should I just sight it in at 60 yards the 300 the day of sitting in the blind?

I plan on shooting a croc with the .375. I'm told we can probably stalk to 65-75 yards. Would it matter adjusting at that distance? I'm shooting for the neck. Brain shot only if its absolutely necessary.

Thanks

I am hunting leopard again and asked the same question of my PH. His suggestion was to just sight in for 100. I am shooting at various ranges to know my point of impact.
One of the issues is being sighted in for some short distance and then needing to shoot bait animals. Don't want to miss that either!

 

[Philip Glass]

Here’s what 1.5” high on a slightly downward angle looks like on a brain shot. (I never had a plan for after the croc was shot so it unfortunately just stays in the garage now.)
View attachment 547976

That is why I don't like the brain shot

 

[WyoBull]

I am leaving next week to hunt Cape Buffalo and Crocodile.
My 375 H&H is dead on at 100 yards. It is the same at 50 yards.
I don’t want to have to worry about anything other than putting the crosshairs right where I want the bullet to hit.

 

[PeteG]

Quick question guys.

When you all sit for Leopard or croc. Do you all sight your rifles in for that exact distance. For example my 300 wm is 1 1/2 inch high at 100 yards. Same with my .375.

My PH tells me we will shoot no further than 60 yards for leopard. Should I just sight it in at 60 yards the 300 the day of sitting in the blind?

I plan on shooting a croc with the .375. I'm told we can probably stalk to 65-75 yards. Would it matter adjusting at that distance? I'm shooting for the neck. Brain shot only if its absolutely necessary.

Thanks

Not sure where you're hunting or what other species, but i would suggest zero them both at 100m.

I personally would'nt bother re-sighting a rifle mid way through the safari. i just think it is unnecessary and could be avoided.

 

[Tra3]

A 100 yrd zero will cross the zero line at around 50 yrds on a .375. A 100 yard zero with a .300 win mag will cross the zero line a little farther. Both of those will hit within about 1/4” of zero between 50-130 yards with a 100 yard zero. That is what I have done for my hunts.

If you have used 1 1/2” high at 100 your whole life and shoot instinctively with that knowledge, then changing it now might be a bad idea.

1 1/2” high at a 100 is a nice system for shots that are 100-250 yards, but I prefer a 100 yard zero.

 

[ActionBob]

On leopard they will know the exact range to the bait tree and have you site dead on at that range, so take a little extra ammo for that range session.

That's not how it went down for my leopard nor my wife's. Mine was so out of a tree about 60 feet up and I don't know how far back but not far. I was leaning on another tree. Leopard snarling and gowling. It was a dog hunt.

My wife's experience was that we had lots of baits up and lots of activities. Decided to sit on a certain bait last minute so they quickly built a blind in a spot picked for wind and angle to the bait. It ended up being 46 yards. Got in the blind, truck drive off (leopards can't count how many people get into a truck when it drives off) and within a very few minutes we had a cat in the tree!

Neither case had time allotted to mess around with a scope I would not plan on re-sighting your scope.

 

[ActionBob]

A 100 yrd zero will cross the zero line at around 50 yrds on a .375. A 100 yard zero with a .300 win mag will cross the zero line a little farther. Both of those will hit within about 1/4” of zero between 50-130 yards with a 100 yard zero. That is what I have done for my hunts.

If you have used 1 1/2” high at 100 your whole life and shoot instinctively with that knowledge, then changing it now might be a bad idea.

1 1/2” high at a 100 is a nice system for shots that are 100-250 yards, but I prefer a 100 yard zero.

This ^ is what you should do!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

I am hunting leopard again and asked the same question of my PH. His suggestion was to just sight in for 100. I am shooting at various ranges to know my point of impact.
One of the issues is being sighted in for some short distance and then needing to shoot bait animals. Don't want to miss that either!

That's my issue. I want to keep my gun at 1.5 high to shoot bait.

 

[IvW]

So just check how many clicks down for 100m zero. Before you sit adjust before you bait hunt adjust