Hot Core:



No, those aren't computer generated. I shoot ALL the time at long range - it is my biggest passion, it is why I live in Arizona and why I employed in the manner I am.



I was shooting this am. Shot a .300 SAUM first. The wind was blowing 1.3 mph on my gauge. I lit a cigar and blew some some. I plucked some cotton to further gauge direction. I came up 53 clicks from my 200 yd zero and dialed in 4 clicks for wind. I shot sitting with a bipod using a shooting sling technique that is dead steady. My first shot was 8 inches high and about 2inches left - a clear miss, and my biggest vertical miss since last winter. The "computer" said 1.8 clicks per mph of wind, but I know from just the "feel" of the situation that I need four clicks, which is seven inches at 700 yards.



I then took out my 7 STW. I came down two clicks from my previous zero, since my last few shots were 3-5 inches high. I dialed in two clicks wind, since this doesn't drift as much as the SAUM, and the wind died just a bit as well. I fired at 700 yards sitting with a shooting sling and bipod and hit the left side of the 3 inch circle.



I then took out my Swift, which shoots high BC bullets (75 grain) at 3200 fps. I dialed in 4 clicks of wind right to 4 clicks left (the wind was swirling by this time). I fired five shots, all of which where good for elevation, but one hit too far to the right (the wind switched and I didn't bother checking).



I then got the SAUM back out and shot it several times, again, clicking differently almost every shot for wind, even though it was a pretty mild wind.



Just for the record, last time I shot the SAUM I dialed in 12 clicks of windage and hit 4 inches to the right of where I was aiming.



I also shot at 615 yards and a little at 500. But frankly, if the wind is less than 5 mph, 615 yards is a potshot, even sitting w/out the bipod. Anything beyond 700 becomes extremely difficult in any kind of wind.



But I have also noticed that from winter to summer, even in AZ, you have to take away in the summer and add in the winter. The amount you have to add or subtract decreases as MV and BC increase, with the BC having the biggest impact.



I sometimes shoot beyond 700 yards and if the wind is calm, it is not hard. The problem with super long range shooting is that you can never know when the wind will be calm. If a wind blows your bullet too much, I don't care how much you practice, at some point it becomes impossible to have a 90 percent chance of a first round hit.



Hot Core, as I was leveling my spirit levels this am, it dawned on me that the drift due to the crosshair not being vertical is a huge big deal. I use a vertical string with a plumb to ensure when my level is level the vertical crosshair runs up that vertical line. I actually wrote a fairly long article about the subject for The VARMINT HUNTER Magazine.

Hot Core:

One other thing: I used to shoot at cardboard, but you can't see bullet holes at 600 yards and unless you watch each bullet, you don't really know what the wind did, since it changes constantly. Therefore, I shoot at rocks painted black with an aiming circle - the bullet hits the rock and creates a splashmark that you can see thru the scope. with the Swift I almost always see the impact itself, and I often do with the SAUM, since it has a brake.

Hot Core:

At 700 yards, even 600 yards, it takes a long time to find those cardboard targets. They disappear at those ranges, just like real deer...believe me, I have tried.

Well, the long streak continues. I've yet to open a thread dealing with shooting at distance where any mention is made in reference to the natural horizontal movement of the Bullet when shot from a right hand twist barrel(to the right for those of you who really don't know). In a left twist, the Bullet has a natural tendancy to move in the opposite horizontal direction, or to the left.



The AZ writer did mention cranking in some windage to compensate for "the wind", but that is totally different and not at all what I'm refering to.



Perhaps it is due to the size of the targets the people who claim to be long distance shooters are attempting to shoot at. Beats me. But without compensating for the natural bullet movement, the Point-of-Impact sure won't be where it is supposed to be in a completely dead calm.

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... I was "good" out to 550 yards but had not used the scope for shots farther than that. In the conditions of which I'm speaking, I had NO wind to deal with. I'd have not hesitated to take one particular shot, except that I refuse to "lob artillery" and, not having the scope set up for the range I was presented, I passed.

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Hey Russ, this may have worked out well for you and then again maybe not. I'd agree with you that it was best to pass on a shot where you don't have complete confidence in the outcome.

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...I've shot to 1,000 yards with iron sights using an M14 and done pretty well.

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As have thousands of folks before and after you.



If you will think back to that shooting, you will remember having to crank in "Left Windage" even when the wind was not blowing. This had to be done to compensate for the normal horizontal Bullet movement toward the right of the Point-of-Aim.

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...I recently gained access to a farm where I can take some pretty long shots and I can use the readouts from my chronograph, along with actual shooting, to see how things will sort themselves out in the field. ...

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This is the very best thing anyone planning to shoot at distance can do - actually practicing at the distance they might take a shot. Then create a Drop Chart which includes the distances and clicks of both vertical and horizontal adjustment which is needed for their specific rifle/cartridge/bullet combination.



It always amazes me when some folks actually believe they can simply sight in at whatever distance they desire, enter that point along with the velocity and calculated B.C. into a software program, print out a trajectory chart and actually believe that is where the Bullets will go w-a-y out yonder. The computer simulation can help the person be able to have a "general idea" about where the Bullets might Impact, but should never be used in place of actually practicing at distance.



Since you have more confidence in the Weaver scope, then that is the one you should be using. As I think back, I don't believe I've ever heard a negative comment about either the old "Made-in USA" El Passo Weavers, or the new Jap models. Nice scopes.



Just believe what the Points-of-Impact on the Targets tell you.



Best of luck to you.

Personally, I'm not touching my scope once I'm sighted in and on a hunt. The guides I've hunted with in the last seven years would probably think you were crazy if you came up with that plan.

A perfect example this year on a Dall Sheep hunt in the NWTs.

1. The hunter wanted to dial in the shot when a good ram was located.
2. The guide wasn't comfortable with the hunter monkey-ing with the elevation setting and asked him to not do it.
3. The hunter didn't have a clue what his hold-over was at different ranges. He had to adjust, or guess.

The hunter ended up guessing. He told the story on himself. He blew a front leg off the ram with the first shot, missed with the next five shots, and blew the other front leg off with the seventh, and last round that he had on him. The guide ended up smothering the ram with a garbage bag after two attempts. The ram deserved better than that. I'm glad I wasn't anywhere around to watch that sorry spectacle.

If you are going to mess with your scope have an understanding with your guide long before you get on the mountain. If you are hunting unguided, no one cares how you do it. Please yourself.

Accurate long range shooting depends on ones ability to judge distances - or have a range finder.

And as I am one of those really lazy hunters, who likes to carry nothing but my rifle and ammo, I just estimate the distances involved, and hold over what I think is the required amount.

Generally, I do not like to take long shots at animals, and on the few occasions where I have, I have killed them.

I have only shot one animals, an eland, at what we estimated to be over 500 yards. I was using a wildcat I have built myself. It uses a shortened 404 case, necked down to 270. I used a Jensen 150 grain bullet, driven at around 3300 fps. The eland was shot twice, as he ran a few yards and stopped after the first shot. One bullet went completely through his shoulders, and one was found under the skin on the other side. Both bullets entrance holes were less than 6 inches apart.

I have shot several animals, blue and black wildebeasts and waterbucks, at around 450 yards. Using a wildcat we have built on the full length 404 case necked down to 30 caliber. It shoots a 180 grain bullet at about 3470 fps.

Hitting targets at long range with this one is relatively easy.

The smallest animal I have shot at long range, measured afterwards at 430 yards - was an impala. For this one I used my old 375/404, shooting a Barnes 300 grain X bullet, at around 2700 fps.

I have friends who swear by a table they stick to the stock of their rifles. It gives the number of clicks required for different distances, and different wind speed.

I don't hunt in the West, just in Alaska where my shots on big game such as moose are limited to somewhere around 300 yards. I don't hunt bears, but if I would, I would limit my shots to 200 yards, specially if the bear is a grizzly.

I sight my .338WM to that the bullet hits the 200-yard mark, and -8" to -10" at 300 yards with a 250-grain bullet. This has worked very well for me, including last week when I shot a moose through the lungs at a distance of 300 to 350 yards. I don't have a laser rangefinder, so I used a pre-adjusted (at 300 yards) Raging 1000. The 250-grain HE hit the moose right through the shoulder blade and into the lungs, dropping it by the time I had reloaded the chamber for a followup shot.

Then a few days later I see a very large interior grizzly moving through the trees about 175 yards away, but by the time I got ready to shoot it was gone. Shortly after it started snowing, so the hunt was over for me.

http://www.shepherdscopes.com

I have them on all my rifles where range may be an issue and they simply work. I have them on both of my .340s, 3 different .308s and one is now on a friends .338 Lapua mag. while he is deciding what he wants for glass...hmmm, it's been a while too.

My last caribou shot was offhand in a sling at not quite 500yds. I was squatted in the snow so I had a good steady base. Wind was not a factor, I bracketed the bull, held him in the circle and pulled the trigger and he stopped and dropped. THe load I hunt with and that rifle are the same one I use to plink with out to 1000yds. The scope does the elevation and range, you just have to figure wind. No dials or buttons to deal with.