Sighting in your rifles for hunting

[Tanks]

Tanks
...
on a lighter note who is building your rigg what barrel, stock, optics etc why a 300RUM?

Action is a left hand Defiance Machine "Deviant Hunter", CRF and 3 position safety. I started CA registration process Monday at my FFL, should have it in 18 days or so.

Barrel, most likely will be Douglas, 26", helical fluting 1:8.5 twist. Work will be done by Brian at SSK Industries who has built 3 of my B&M rifles.

Stock will be Accurate Innovations with their patented aluminum bedding that seem to help with recoil. I have been very happy with their stocks.

As far as why .300 RUM as I have said I wanted an any game, any distance PG rifle. The ballistics are right for what I want out of it. With a 200 grain bullet at around 3,150 fps it is good from Eland to Dik-Dik .

It fills the gap between my .308 and .375 H&H nicely (yes, I forgot about the .375 earlier on post #55) as I won't need another caliber in bolt guns between the two.

IF I don't go to Africa I will build a 6mm Creedmoor for prairie dogs as I had sold my .220 Swift, and make a trip for that in the fall.

 

[Red Leg]

No, I didn't say I personally shot Elk at 600+ yards. Look at my dope sheet for my Elk rifle. Ballistics/scope doesn't go that far. I was just pointing out that not everyone hunts at the type of terrain for bow shot distances. Also, I have listed my calibers before, I don't have a gun capable of 600 yard shot after .308 next is a .416 wildcat.

For whatever reason bunch of people are prejudiced against long distance shooters, almost the same prejudice against anyone who does use anything bigger than the .375 H&H for game. Most seem to have a view that competence and long distance/big bore shooting are mutually exclusive.

For the record I don't need to impress anyone. Especially, I don't need validity from a keyboard jockey on the Internet.

I do indeed have enormous prejudice against long range "shooters" (you and I can agree on that term) using a game animal as a target. In just the last year, I know of a mountain goat and a big horn that were lost to such long range precision because neither the guide nor the "shooter" could locate where the animal had been standing to even attempt a bloodtrail follow-up.

The sports channels extolling it are doing a great disservice to the creatures we love to actually hunt.

However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a mid-caliber that increases the odds of making a very doable 400 meter shot at the same goat or bighorn. I assume that is your intent.

 

[Tanks]

I... In just the last year, I know of a mountain goat and a big horn that were lost to such long range precision because neither the guide nor the "shooter" could locate where the animal had been standing to even attempt a bloodtrail follow-up...

Wow, that is a very expensive lesson considering the cost of those hunts. I am surprised knowing the distance and the direction of the shot they couldn't at least locate where the game was using a GPS.

 

[Red Leg]

Wow, that is a very expensive lesson considering the cost of those hunts. I am surprised knowing the distance and the direction of the shot they couldn't at least locate where the game was using a GPS.

Both the same outfit in BC. Two different guides and shooters and only a week apart. Both shots in excess of 600 meters. Not sure how GPS would have helped. In both cases, there wasn't enough daylight for the shooter to stay in position to walk the guide into the location (likely didn't have two radios or sat phones either). And yes, it was an expensive lesson for all concerned.

 

[Tanks]

...Both shots in excess of 600 meters. ...In both cases, there wasn't enough daylight for the shooter to stay in position to walk the guide into the location...

Well, if it was getting dark then all bets are off. The guides should have never let them take the shots.

 

[Red Leg]

Well, if it was getting dark then all bets are off. The guides should have never let them take the shots.

One of those hindsight things. It wasn't getting dark and time of day would not have been an issue at all for a typical 300 meter mountain shot. However, it would have been dark by the time the guide went down a mountain, up the facing ridge (easily 2+ kilometers to cover the 600+ straight line distance), caped the animal, and returned with it to the shooter. So they both hiked over and searched for where the animal was standing. Both instances were almost identical except the bighorn was a little lower at the treeline further complicating finding the location.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Bob, I see a kinda common thread if you will in the posts most of us with some gray hair and probably a lot of animals put down like KISS method and have learned the hard way don't mess around in the field know your gun know yourself and put em in the dirt when the opportunity comes.
I have learned the school of hard knocks way the big boys don't like to present as ideal targets and don't give you a lot of time to F ___ around. Just practice and know your gun!

Buckdog
My philosophy is find animal hopefully a a reasonable dangerous if not stalk closer, if you can't find another animal. Assume good shooting position, find animal in scope, pull trigger and go and collect said animal.
Easy. If you ain't comfortable don't shoot.
I took my son shooting when he was 7 after rabbits. He was in a good position but move closer. A little later the rabbit went down it's burrow.
I asked my son what happened. He said he wasn't comfortable at that range about 80 yards so declined the shot. That day he earned my respect as a HUNTER not just a shooter..
Cheers Buck
Bob

 

[Erny]

Most of my rifles are sighted in at 200 yards. I have the ballistics memorized for my favorite 300 mag rifle. At 200 yard zero I just aim dead on to 250 yards. It has just always worked out for me. My 375 H&H is sighted in at 100 yards. I don’t really plan on shooting anything more that 250 yards with it.

 

[Divernhunter]

most rifles are 2.75-3" high at 100 yards. I use a Duplex reticle and hold on the animal at all sensible (400 or less yards) ranges. This is for game in the USA and African PG. I do not have a DG rifles but those would be different.

 

[One Day...]

The problem with long range shooters (word carefully selected) who go hunting is that long range shooting is a science that requires a lot of knowledge; a technical activity that requires specialized equipment; and a discipline that requires a lot (repeat: a lot) of practice.

Fact is, the immense majority of folks who take a poke at game at 600 or 800 yards rarely have the knowledge, seldom have the equipment (although THAT can be bought, so it is the easiest part of the equation), and very rarely have the practice to consistently, repeatedly, predictably achieve one shot kills at these distances.

Consequently, as I stated in my previous post, there are multiple times more long range shots that are crippling, than there are long range shots that are killing.

What absolutely amazes me (I remain polite, because what I mean is: what blows my F!@#$%^&*ing mind!) is that I have so far never met a "hunter" bragging about a 600 yards shot (and there are plenty of these where I live in Arizona) who has ever shot at a steel plate at 600 yards. What can be wrong with that picture?

Those of us we DO shoot 1,000 yards (or 1,000 meters) KNOW how difficult it is to achieve a cold bore hit at a 10" target at those distance from a field position, and this is likely why we never try to do it to a live animal.

This is also why we hunt with something that looks like this:

but we shoot steel with something that looks like that:

Enough said?

So, yes, as already stated earlier, MPBR for 6" vital area on most game, push it to 8" vital area for a rifle dedicated to the big ones, and I will report on the use of a custom calibrated BDC turret for the tiny ones where every individual inch counts when the vital area is 2" inch or so...

Who was it who said: don't shoot farther, hunt closer? Wise man he was...

 

[John Telford]

Open plains or forest? Cartridge?
For plains I sight in so it prints 2 inch high on 100m and on target at 100 for Close range hunting. I like the 7x64 for small plains game the 338 am for heavier stuff .
For bush work I use 308w on the smalls and any thing that throws slow and heavy for the bigger game which a sight in on 100m

 

[One Day...]

By the way, this is what a 12" plate looks like at 600 yards through a 24x scope...

It takes 38, yep, thirty eight clicks (3.8 MILs) of elevation to get a 180 gr .300 Win Mag slug starting at 2,935 fps onto the plate... A change of barometric pressure of 1 or 2 inHg (due to weather change) will require a couple more clicks up or down... A gentle 10 mph side breeze will require 16 clicks (1.6 MIL) of windage to compensate for a 34" (almost 3 feet!) drift...

At 600 yards at 7,000 ft elevation (Flagstaff, AZ) with a .300 Win Mag you are not aiming "a couple of inches over its back" you are aiming 83" inches over its back. That is almost 7 feet............. Make that 95" (almost 8 feet) at sea level. By the way, if it is 40 F or 80 F be ready to plug in a few more or less clicks.

Oh, and this is from prone position on a rock solid bipod. Want to guess the dispersion caused by a field position? Let me help, it is often not measured in inches, but in feet...

So, considering that a goat, sheep, or typical antelope vital area offers a target half the size of this 12" plate; considering that the wind across the canyon or plain is truly unknown (all you know is the wind where you are - and that is if you pulled out the Kestrel weather station); and considering that this rock or branch you are leaning on is assuredly less stable than the last bench you shot from, what are the chances of a cold bore 1 shot clean kill at 600 yards? Want to try 700 or 800 yards?

Just illustrating...

 

[mark-hunter]

I never hunt long range. My longest shot is 204 meters at game. With long range I do play with all limitations of 308 win, with longest shot experience at 750 meters at paper targets.
However, shots at 170 - 180 or so, are not uncommon for me, in hunting.

When the question of finding the game after the shot comes along, on the terrain on mixed grass plains, occasional bushes, trees, and crop fields, I do as follows.
Before the shot, preferably, or after the shot, knowing that terrain is tricky for search, I take bearing to animal by magnetic compass, and try to locate some distant object, a tree or mountain peak in same bearing over animals position. (basic tree leads are then, myself, animal, plus distant object all in same line of bearing)
Once the shot is fired, and animal is out of sight, often the animals reaction of hit is unknown due to rifle recoil, I take a bearing again, and start walking in that direction. I try t keep alligned all three leads.
If necessary to divert because of bushes, woods, or another obstruction getting back in course, can be corrected later by getting to same bearing line.

Even in the condition after the last daylight, in dark, I managed to find game, even if not downed in exact position of shooting.

I could imagine that range finder, plus bearing, plus being absolutely certain of your shooting position with help of GPS if need be, can help finding the position of where the animal was standing in moment of shot. Then it is matter of finding blood spoor if hit at all.

This is basic field orientation, much easier today with modern gadgets.