Help in long distance shooting.

bb1970

Six Pointer
Never shot much at long distance, never had any use to until this year. My shot average here where I hunt is 100 yards in.This year I was invited to Alabama for a few days to hunt.my gun choice was my usual tikka 30-06 shooting 150 gr Remington core lok ammo. Seen one shooter at 375 yards the first evening which is out of range (for me). Up until this trip the longest shot I’d ever taken on a deer was 165 yards. Glad to say that shot was successful. The second evening same shooter came out at 288 yards I knew it was a stretch for me but I decided to try I had a good rest my rifle was zeroed at 100 yards. I had been doing some studying on bullet drop and with the 150 gr knew the drop should be 10-11 inches at 300 yards. I settled the cross hairs of my Leupold vx2 4x12x40 on the top of his back and squeeze off the shot. Dirt flew up from underneath him he turned inside out and left never to be seen again.I have a thousand questions from type of scope I’m using to the ammo I’m using to possibly using and different caliber gun. I’ve been researching different scopes and my first question is , should I be using a adjustable objective scope ? Would that help? Sounds like this trip might be a yearly thing so want to start getting my ducks in a row so next time I’ll have a better outcome. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
kilerhamilton

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
Fixed power with good marks in the reticle will work fine. Walk back shoot your firearm.
A SWFA scope can be had for 300$. I’ve shot a .22lr to 400yds and a .223 to 1k with hits. Low/no wind. Time behind the trigger is the only teacher with some knowledge going into it. Take notes.
Cheers
 
Cyperry

Cyperry

Ten Pointer
Contributor
For the ranges you’re talking about, you just need the space to shoot. Your factory ammo will work fine as long it’s in the ballpark of 1.5 MOA. Like @kilerhamilton said, you need a reliable scope of which he mentioned the most cost effective option. Other than that. Set up an 8 inch target at 400 and learn to hit it. If you can find someone to shoot with, it will cut down your learning curve exponentially. But I bet this is something you can do yourself.
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
bb1970 said:
I’m up in western nc in Avery county
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There is a range in Yancey County that would let you shoot long range

Silas Branch Resort

Shooting range in Western North Carolina featuring everything from 3 yards to 1000 yards, skeet and trap courses, and a 200 yard pistol and rifle range!
www.silasbranch.com www.silasbranch.com
 
bwfarms

bwfarms

Old Mossy Horns
Sounds like it could be parallax issue. Happens a lot the further the shot. Literature is no substitute for practice. All guns and loads are different exhibiting different results.

 
nccatfisher

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I would go with lack of practice with the weapon at that distance and familiarity with the weapon. In my day I was a pretty decent long distance shot, not saying the distance he is speaking of is exactly long. But the best optics I had then would be considered crude by today's standards.

I can attribute just about every failure I had to hit what I wanted to in three things. Misjudging wind, range or just flat rushing the shot. And I was dedicated at the time I would shoot 4-7 days a week.
 
kilerhamilton

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
ED76DD6E-91EF-48FE-BA5F-955BDA08D288.jpegAfter you figure out what your firearm will do. There are a lot of plug and play, data on personal equipment charts. This is my .22lr DOPE chart. My reticle matches my turrets. If you don’t have marks in your scope that mean something to your rifle or you, or you can’t hold over with a known drop. Then shooting is tough. If you plan to dial. Your turrets have to work and you need a scope level.
As you see my .22 drops 8.33’ at 250yds. I couldn’t hold 8.3’ over the plate guessing. I use math this chart and the reticle to hold over. Or dial it.
Cheers
 
Jimbob78

Jimbob78

Twelve Pointer
To add to @kilerhamilton, you must know YOUR velocity (not what the box or manual says), BC, scope height, twist, atmospheric conditions and altitude to plug into these calculators. There are some great ballistics apps that you can get so you aren’t carrying paper wherever you go. Here is an example of such. Shoot a lot to verify the numbers. Don’t just shoot at 100 and think the calculator is going to be spot on to 1000 or better.
 

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DRS

Old Mossy Horns
I betting your rifle can do it. I too agree practice at the distances you will be hunting at. Most any "deer" rifle caliber/cartridge sighted in zero at 200 yards or less will be low enough to miss a deer between 350 and 400 yards with a top of the back hold. So let's just say anything over 300 yards you will need a scope that's graduated in moa or mil to accurately compensate. Out to 400 you can likely learn where to hold with a simple plex. My suggestion would be sight your rifle in with a zero of about 225 yards. That should max your trajectory out 3-4 inch above the line of sight around 150 yards and the same low close to 300. Basically a dead on hold to 300. For open ground I would have no issues with that, in the woods you might catch some part of a tree or bush your trying to slip a bullet through. Anything passed 300 some sort of compensation/hold over will be used. Lots of room here just depends on what you want to spend. The farthest I shoot is right around 500 yards at the range. I just use a ballistics plex and it works fine. Just like pins and bow hunting I think the simpler you keep it the better off you are. Dead on hold of 300 and trying to keep my setups in this range is my strategy, when I hunt where shots may be more than a 100 yards or so. Some of the sleeker bullets with a higher ballistics coeffect could help at retaining energy past 300 yards and maybe a little less drop in trajectory. Shooting your rifle and brand type of ammo across a chronograph helps with figuring out your bullets trajectory. Verifying, that is the fun part, I love to shoot. There are factors that can change a bullets velocity affecting the trajectory, temperature and altitude. I wouldn't worry about altitude unless I was going out west where there would be a huge change. Temperature and some powders can make a difference on the moderate to long range shots in extreme temp changes like 100°F to 0°F. There are powders used by reloaders that are not as temperature sensitive. Just learn from practicing and have fun.
 
Eric Revo

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Get some steel plate targets and practice at 200-400 yards with your current set up, I'll bet you'll be surprised what kind of accuracy you have now and it will be plenty for hunting.
You can practice your trigger and breathing control without burning powder but there's no substitute for sending rounds down range.
 
MJ74

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
I'm not a long range shooter so take this for what it's worth...lol
I have been shooting a 30-06 forever and from 0 to 300yds I don't even think about it, just put it on the shoulder and squeeze.
I shoot 150gr bullets set 1.5" high @ 100yds and (knock on wood) its never been a issue.
Can't say what happened in your instance but you shouldn't have missed by that much at 288yds.
 
Cyperry

Cyperry

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Assuming you have a 24 inch barrel and are zeroed at 100, you’d have been in the ballpark of 7 to 8 inches low at 288. If there’s nothing wrong with the zero on your gun and the crosshairs were laying across his back and centered on the crease… you’d have center punched him.

I say that to say this…. You don’t have to change anything you have to reliably kill deer to 300 yards. You just need to practice.
 

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bb1970

Six Pointer
DRS said:
I betting your rifle can do it. I too agree practice at the distances you will be hunting at. Most any "deer" rifle caliber/cartridge sighted in zero at 200 yards or less will be low enough to miss a deer between 350 and 400 yards with a top of the back hold. So let's just say anything over 300 yards you will need a scope that's graduated in moa or mil to accurately compensate. Out to 400 you can likely learn where to hold with a simple plex. My suggestion would be sight your rifle in with a zero of about 225 yards. That should max your trajectory out 3-4 inch above the line of sight around 150 yards and the same low close to 300. Basically a dead on hold to 300. For open ground I would have no issues with that, in the woods you might catch some part of a tree or bush your trying to slip a bullet through. Anything passed 300 some sort of compensation/hold over will be used. Lots of room here just depends on what you want to spend. The farthest I shoot is right around 500 yards at the range. I just use a ballistics plex and it works fine. Just like pins and bow hunting I think the simpler you keep it the better off you are. Dead on hold of 300 and trying to keep my setups in this range is my strategy, when I hunt where shots may be more than a 100 yards or so. Some of the sleeker bullets with a higher ballistics coeffect could help at retaining energy past 300 yards and maybe a little less drop in trajectory. Shooting your rifle and brand type of ammo across a chronograph helps with figuring out your bullets trajectory. Verifying, that is the fun part, I love to shoot. There are factors that can change a bullets velocity affecting the trajectory, temperature and altitude. I wouldn't worry about altitude unless I was going out west where there would be a huge change. Temperature and some powders can make a difference on the moderate to long range shots in extreme temp changes like 100°F to 0°F. There are powders used by reloaders that are not as temperature sensitive. Just learn from practicing and have fun.
Click to expand...
Do you use a adjustable objective on your scope?
 
Deerhuntr

Deerhuntr

Ten Pointer
No point in over complicating it. Sight in for MPBR and practice making those 3-400 yard shots to know where your gun hits at those ranges. A standard 3-9x40 duplex fixed parallax scope has been making those shots forever.
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
bb1970 said:
Do you use a adjustable objective on your scope?
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I do own one. All of my other rifles have fixed parallax scopes. Shooting deer at 300/400 yards you will never know the difference. Long distance precision shooting is where they shine. I bought mine for hunting and found that I really never had the time to range and adjust the objective. There is a good video on parallax. I'll see if I can find it. I don't own a .30-06, so I just ran some numbers on a ballistics calculator. The Core Lokt 150 gr. .308" bullet has a BC of .314. The bullet in Remington's .30-06 loading is advertised with a muzzle velocity of 2910 fps. I'm sure this was at least a 24" test barrel. So I figured most sporterized 22" barrels would get around 2800 fps. Sighted in at 250 yards this should keep you within +/- 4" to 300 yards. This would be center of the group. You just have to shoot to find out if that is right. The rifles I hunt with, to shoot 300 yards or so, I shoot at varying distances to track the bullet. I do this to know the real bullet path from my rifle. I try to shoot in both warmer and colder weather. To see any difference. This year I missed a shot on a cold morning. Harmonics, Velocity or Me. Might have been a little of the first two, but mainly me. It was a quick shot.
 
FishHunt

FishHunt

Old Mossy Horns
You've got good enough equipment to make 300+ yard shots with your current rifle and scope. Find a load that shoots the best for your rifle and practice at the actual ranges you plan to shoot. Take notes and tape a small 'dope sheet' to your rifle or scope to have as a quick reference in the field.

<>< Fish
 
richard corn

richard corn

Ten Pointer
Raging Bull said:
Practice is more important than better equipment. You can have the best setup in the world but if you don't know how to use it, its worthless.
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Practicing poor technics or inferior ammo and equipment can get expensive. Knowledge is power. Just shooting and trying to adjust without knowing what you’re doing will require lots of shooting. Then the rifle is shot out and you need new barrel.
 

Raging Bull

Four Pointer
richard corn said:
Practicing poor technics or inferior ammo and equipment can get expensive. Knowledge is power. Just shooting and trying to adjust without knowing what you’re doing will require lots of shooting. Then the rifle is shot out and you need new barrel.
Click to expand...
I was assuming his equipment was up to par and that he has good fundamentals. Assuming all of that is correct and he just never shot longer distances, then practice is the only way to gain 1st hand knowledge. But you are correct, you can waste a lot of time and money if you don't have a good setup or if you are not learning as you go.
 
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