how many guys have decided not to shoot, at an elk because they were afraid the rifle they were using either did not have the required flat trajectory or required accuracy to get a well placed hit?
EXAMPLE
about 12-14 years ago one of my hunting buddies sent in a 300wby to have the trigger repaired and by the time we were leaving on our hunt he had not gotten in back,he was really upset, but he wanted to go on the hunt he had paid for so he reluctantly borrowed my sako 375 H&H, I had him sight in at 3.5" high at 100 yards with 300 grain hornady boat tails ,about the 4th day of the hunt we were sitting under a large conifer watching the far canyon slope when a group of elk started trotting thru on that far slope at about 330-350 yards,(he said it was easily 400 yards but I had a range finder) he had the elk in his sights, he had a bi-pod and a good rest, but as I waited he didn,t fire, he was going to pass the shot as he was convinced it was too far for the rifle and caliber,he was using. I said shoot! and assured him it was well within effective range ,he said he had no really idea where to hold at that long range, I said just put the horizontal cross hair just barely into the hair in the spine at the shoulder and the vertical cross hair thru the front shoulder and squeeze off! when he fired the elk dropped almost instantly , he acted amazed, he said he always thought that he would have to hold a couple feet high with a slow velocity cartridge like a 375 H&H , as we walked over to the elk he kept telling me that even with his 300 mag and the 180 grain bullets he regularly used he would have held a bit high on a "400 yard shot"
(yes I chronograph the loads at 2589 fps average)
that and several similar events proved to me that most guys can,t judge range in the field and most don,t fully understand the rifles trajectory or why you sight in a bit high at 100 yards, and it proved to me the value of a compact optical range finder
http://www.hornady.com/store/375-Cal-.375-300-gr-BTSP/http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/d...;type=Rifle&Order=Powder&Source=![[Linked Image]](http://www.grumpysperformance.com/hornady373h&h.jpg)
