What is a Long distance to you hunting?

jetman

New member
Long-distance Hum.
I JUST got back from shooting what I conciser long distance.
.3 miles, 1500 feet, 500 yards, whatever you want to call it. It's a LONG way.
Longer than I care to walk out and check the target for sure.
I set up a life-size target of a coyote, printed on letter paper, It takes 14 sheets to print it out with feet, tail, and ears.
38 x 44" is the target backer.
To look at it without a scope you say crap that's a LOOONG way.
The wind was blowing, can you get your hands around that? in Montana?
Maybe a 45* ish and like 18 mph. Hard enough to blow my target over just before the first shot.
I Just tested 12,220 gr 8mm rounds with different powders and loads.
I found a match that at 100 the bullets almost all touched, and around 2950 fps according to the book.
I had the 8 zeroed at 3" high at 100 yards which is dead nuts center at point-blank of 240 yards with the 200 gr Barnes up around 3100.
That is what I was shooting, I adjusted the parallax to 500 yards, Put the third hash on the coyote's nose.
Shot 3 times, when we checked that put a left to right string about 5" with less than a 1/2" up or down Center coyote but up at ear level. I was surprised at the drop or lack of it. I know in my heart if I had used the second hash it would have been dead center coyote.
I was going to do it again after the check but my buddy shot his 375 Ruger and he hit the supports and blew the target over and we could not stand it back up.
I was a happy camper. Come to find out he had aimed over the target and off the target into the wind. His bullet dropped the 44" target and them some and the windage was well over the 38" wide target.

All that said:
500 yards is a LOOONG shot with any gun in the wind, in the field.
My 6mm and his 6.5 CM at that range and wind was lucky to hit the 11 1/2 sq foot target backer.

Remember: Four boxes keep us free, the soapbox, the ballot box, the jury box, AND the cartridge box
 
Wind is a pain, I dont like anything over 8mph any time of day any time of year... I take that back, wrestling with horses on a 90 degree day I will take all the wind I can find.

I shot 500 yards in nearly a blizzard a few years ago, 500 yards was as far as we could see and that was between gusts of wind on the ice.

We had my big fclass 260AI on the bipod and some rear bags and we made a tarp leanto to block the howling snow. Me and a couple buddies who were total rookies each took 3 shots, and it took maybe 30 minutes between switching shooters and the new guys trying to find the invisible target in the 32x scope.

Perfect left to right wind at an estimated 15mph and when we walked down to check the target there were 9 bullet holes in about a 6 inch group a few inches left of bullseye. We were blown away, we talked about that for years.

And I definitely know what you mean walking a ways to set up the target then back to check hits, I practice from 600 to 1200 walking the whole ways, with a 20lbs rifle and sometimes my AR. A few days ago I was messing around and managed to film through my scope shooting at 1000 yards, I'm not sure how to get videos up here.
 
A friend has a 600 yrd target and I have rung it many times with the .22-250.
Last year I got 2 coyotes at 626 yds with the .22-250, snowing no wind.
My scope has an elevation marked for 600 that is on. That is wringing every last foot pound out of a 50 gr bullet with the 250.
This is my longest success and that is a long distance feat for me.
 
Not to long ago I was getting ready to shoot at 400 yds to check my come ups when a crow flew from a tree to the edge of the field. I thought that would be a heck of a shot so I dialed up and took the shot. I hit a crow @ 470 yds on the first shot with a 223AI with 53 gr Vmax. To me that was a long shot. It's all relative in my opinion, long for some may be short for someone else.
 
Years ago, I took a doe at 378 steps with a 243. Not sure just how many yards maybe it was, maybe 400, but its the longest shot I ever made on a living creature.
 
Jetman that's good shooting in that kind of wind. All those shots you guys described are good shooting and good equipment. Rock I don't doubt the shooting with the 260, something about those 6.5 bullets, it's like cheating almost. I got a decent evening Friday and set out to test my new G2 243, and stretch the 30 RAR out a bit. I shoot off of sticks, sitting on my seat with my back against the tire of the RZR. It's surprisingly steady, and good practice at the same time. To me I want any coyote within 500 yards to be fair game off of sticks. I bought an Eliminator scope last November, and it's totally changed my expectations of what is a reasonable shot. Whatever rifle I go with this coming fall will be wearing that scope. It may be this new 243, or may be my Wssm ar again.

My 243 groups at 400 and 500 showed the 5 to 8 mph variable breeze as those groups were all horizontal, right at moa. At 300 I had 3 you could cover with a quarter and a fourth an inch away with no wind. At the end I flung 4 at 711 yards and my dope was already a couple minutes off but 3 were within a couple inches with 1 5 inches left. More testing is in order to see if the horizontal was truly wind, or the load needing tweaking. Or possibly the Hornady blem bullets biting me.

The 30 RAR was shooting really well with the 150 gr sst's meant for a 300 savage, it just needs to be accurate enough for deer to 400 yards max, and it's more than good enough for that with groups right at moa.

Longest coyote kills to date were 442 in a 15 mph cross wind, and 434 iirc with a very light breeze, both this last winter.
 
My farthest hunting shot was about 250 yds on a coyote with a 22-250 (took 2 shots)
Do have access to a 300 yd range and that's as far as I have ever shot.
 
My farthest coyote shot that I remember a 1 shot kill is about 350 yards. That is long range for me. I know some hunters than can go more than twice that. I am not comfortable taking those shots yet. Now if it comes to poking holes in paper, known distance, then I have shot F-class out to 600 where I believe long range technically begins.
 
Longest was 1320 feet with my 204 on a coyote,70 degrees,rolling hills in southern Ohio,Adams county,no wind,39 grain Blitz King round,with a BC of 0.287.The dog ran a hundred feet and rolled over tail twitching,dead by the time I got to him. that's a long way,no matter who you are,four football fields.Double lunged bullet was recovered on the right side just under the skin.Factory loaded round by HSM.
 
Without a good range finder a large majority of folks can’t judge distance very close.
I had a tough time in western Kansas, nothing to go for size reference. Mule deer I thought were 200-225 actually closer to 400.
 
long range is a subjective subject that is different for everyone. I am blessed to have access to a 1000 yard range less than 10 minutes drive from my home, We have life size standing groundhog targets we practice on. With one of my rifles I would not hesitate taking a 800 yard shot on a coyote under field condition so long as the wind was constant and not switching around crazily. my farthest kill so far is a starling at 850 yards.
 
Shooting Coyotes at night at 300 plus yards under a regular spotlight 10 X or less scope. Hit one up by Ash Springs Nevada in the head at 426 yards with my Swift. Confirmed with range finder.
Killed a couple of Mule Deer Bucks in Idaho close to 600 yards with fixed 6 X scope.
 
I did shoot one 600 yard F-Class match. It was fun and I guess for a first timer I did OK, at least thats what I was told. Thats the farthest I've ever shot. We can shoot 300 at the club and I was going to build a 500 yard range but the club members voted against it.
 
I don't have range past 400 yards to practice on, I have shot many fox and coyote past 400. Best string 2 days 3 for 3 shots 465,452,425 yards rangefinder, wind meter and cheat sheet. I have to use farm fields with dirt banks in the fall for long range practice. I try to get close, but a long take your time shot is better than a running or hurried closer shot. If you practice long (300+ yards) the 200 yard shots seem easy.
 
100% correct,mine goes on every outing,first thing, I do is range stationary objects in the terrain I'm shooting in. takes the guesswork out of it.
 
100% correct,mine goes on every outing,first thing, I do is range stationary objects in the terrain I'm shooting in. takes the guesswork out of it.
 
The furthest I've ever hit a coyote was a little over 400 yards away with a .223.

Killed one last Winter at 367 and another one at 362 I think it was a few years ago. If I hit one at 300+ that's a long ways for me. I'd take a running close shot over a 300 yard standing still shot any day of the week. I can hit moving targets a lot easier.

It depends on the cartridge too though. Further shots are a little easier with my 22-250 but I'd still rather have a coyote running 0-200 yards out. When you're dealing with light bullets and any kind of wind it's not hard to miss.
 
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I generally set up for shorter shots, but with most of my rifles and how I set up, I wouldn’t hesitate at 500-600 yards, whether for coyotes, deer, or elk. I practiced out to 800 with my 300wm last summer to take bear hunting last fall. For prairie dogs, I almost regret trips where I can’t get out past 600. I have a private range where I can go 800 any time, 1200 when the neighbor has his wheat out, and I’m a member at a club where I can shoot 1000 any weekend. I’ve competed in various long range shooting sports for almost 20 years now, so reaching 600 on a ~6” target isn’t terribly challenging when the wind’s in the teens and lower. But the overwhelming majority of the time, I set up to shoot less than 50 yards, and less than 500 for the vast majority of the rest of my hunts.
 
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