I shoot a good deal of jugs and steel plate at distances from 200 to 450 yards throughout the spring to early fall.
Distance on game with a particular rifle is limited to the ranges where I was 100% successful during the final weeks of practice. Meaning I hit the jug or the painted circle on the plate first time and every time.
Reality of course is more challenging than practice, so I am accepting a less than 100% chance of success, but I am shooting under conditions where I have assessed my equipment and skill sets as being up to the task.
GRF; Top of the morning, BC time its still technically morning, regardless I trust you and your fine family are well.
Once more I find myself agreeing with your methodology sir.
Since you and I have both met and conversed a number of times, I'll leave it to your good discretion as to the amount that should concern you.
Speaking of shooting milk jugs and plates, this video showed up in my feed this morning and whether or not one likes the channel, I thought there were lessons to be learned from it.
Regarding your testing of the first shot out of a cold, clean bore, besides a hearty "Amen" from me, I'll give credit to Mike Venturino for an article on that subject way, way back in dinosaur times for my moment of epiphany.
At the time I had a BBR '06 that shot it's best when the barrel was hot enough to barely be able to touch it.
Also in that time period I had rebarreled a Liberty Model 77 to .308 Norma that refused to settle down until about the 3rd shot. Oh and I'd rebarreled it from a .338 factory barrel that would just toss a flyer at random with seemingly no pattern at all, so I'd quit hunting with it because I never knew when that one would show up.
Years, well truly decades later now, that same .308 Norma has stayed sighted in for the past 12 or 13 seasons and as long as the pre season couple of shots land where they need to, I know I'm good to go for another year.
Many roads to Mecca as always and this is merely the horse path that this semi-ancient BC redneck is currently trodding upon.
All the best to you all, have to run now and work on a project at the kids' place.
Dwayne
Wow. That video will deflate a lot of internet ego's. I found it interesting that supposedly the ranging with a rangefinder was causing a lot of issues, which I actually might buy because of the amount of misses under 300 yds. And that was at targets, not live game. I find it amusing and frustrating watching some of these hunting shows and everybody wants to know the range, and you will hear it whispered 155 yds, 130 yds, etc. Any deer under 225 yds or so I might not know the yardage but I will know if I do my part I can hold on the deer and hit it. No need to range, just be able to reasonably judge range and shoot decent. All that equipment and only 4 out of 8 targets hit between 200-300 yds. Geeze. Beyond 400 it got completely abysmal. Not that I could've done any better.
I will say bringing a un-braked 300 WM in a Tikka when planning on shooting 100 shots in field positions was a poor choice.
Pretty interesting to see his confidence when it's clear he hasn't learned how to follow through on his shots - one of the shooting fundamentals - and his head jerks up at the trigger break every time.
I'm not gonna bash on him too much, other than to say 98% of those misses between 2-300 yds could've been eliminated by being able to decently judge yardage all by himself, no big holdover necessary, and a simple 3-9 scope, which comes back to simply knowing your rifle and the fact that the majority of all game is killed under 300 yds. And, that a light Tikka in a 300 WM was not the best rifle for that scenario with continuous shooting in field positions.
I know 3 guys personally this past yr that have the gear to shoot at distance, and do. 2 out of the 3 killed deer between 5-600 yds. Impressed me until I later learned some very important details. One guy hit his deer on the 2'cnd shot. The other hit his deer on the third shot. The last guy missed at 400 and some yards and didn't get a second chance. Not to say I wouldn't attempt it under the right circumstances, but in general, no thank you. I'll stick to what I'm doing.
One is alone in a land so vast, there is only the mountains, the wind, and the eyes of God.
