Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Building a speed goat gun?

550 is long range for a .243 . I am with you. I like to get as close as I can but when it's 550 I still want to get the animal.

I judge long range when you have to start holding over so about 400 to 1000. I judge a long range rig to be accurate and a scope able to compensate for the extended distances. BDC or turrents.

Well if you don't like the 270 then open up the bolt and run a 257 Roy.

My goodness! You can kill antelope was just about anything provided you can shoot well. Also, it's relatively easy to sneak up on them. I've never had to shoot past 300 yards, not ever!

This talk of 6mm 105's at over 3400. Well to do that you need pressure, lots of it. A 25-06 is pushing it to get 3300 with a 100. Decrease the diameter and it becomes much harder to break 3200 let alone 3300. Increase the weight to 105 or 115, and it becomes even more difficult.

Good hunters can get the job done with just about anything. I have shot them with a 44 S&W. Now that was interesting.

RinB, about revolvers one of my all time coolest hunts was with my Dad when I called in a lope from about 600 out and took him with my G-dads 6" M29.

Dober

To me, the fun of spot and stalk hunting is seeing how close you can get, not how far you can shoot from.

Antelope can be spooky and I too have seen them take off running at the mere sight of a hunter near a mile away in a pickup. I have also seen them stand there 50 yards from a road without a care in the world. I'd bet a fair sum of money to say that most of them are shot at less than 300 yards, certainly within 400 yards. Even at their spooky-est (technical term) I haven't found myself ever unable to get within 400yards, most of the time much closer than that.

Archery hunting I have gotten as close as 50 yards, which for me and my recurve is too far. The first goat I shot was from about 75 with a .30-06. Last one I shot was from about 250 out with a 7mm Rem Mag.

Around here those who do use different guns for Antelope the .25-06 is way out front of the others then probably the .243 Win and .22-250.

Like I said before the .25-06 is all you need to do the job and more in a long action.

I've had a 6MM-06 for 12-13 years now and have taken Antelope, Sheep, Caribou, Mule Deer, White Tail and a bunch of Coyotes with it. I have a 1 in 10 twist, #2 contour, Douglas Stainless 24" barrel and a Brown Precision stock on a Rem 700 LH action.

I shoot 100 grain Nosler Partions @ 3270 fps using RL22 or 70 grain NBTs for Coyotes. With either load it's a 7/10 MOA rifle. You surely don't need anything more for Antelope.

I'd think about it some more before I threaded that heavy barrel on an Antelope rifle.

Sounds like a wonderful rig!

Dober

That's really the truth of it, thanks RinB.

RinB that is the truth about any animal...and if you want to have 1 or 2 guns for everything, I'm not going to talk you out of it. By the same token, its FUN to have specialized rigs for specific tasks. I'm using my 30-06 here in a few weeks on my next antelope hunt...doesn't mean it will be my go-to antelope rig.

You can survive on bologna, ramen and PB&J for many months....but who wants to?

Also I have no troubles putting stalks on goats, been there done that. Took a belly full of cactus thorns along the way. The way I see it, if I can make a good solid shot at 400 yards with a rig set up to do so, why do I need to crawl to 300? Plus on public land here, or the open-to-public private lands through the DOW, you'll see more orange then a ripe pumpkin patch. That hour long stalk could easily be busted by any number of hunters. One time I got to hunt on a 20k ranch with 1 other hunter and that was nice, still made some great stalks on goats and had fun...but that was a special case. Most of the places I've been able to hunt have a dozen hunters on 5k or less. Last place I hunted everything was pretty much cut down on farm land, big open and flat for a 1/2 in every direction. Ain't no gettin closer across dead flat dirt when you, even on your stomach, are the highest elevation landmark around. That was no fun, regret paying the 200$ trespass fee for "limited pressure". Guy didn't tell me there were road hunters all over and that his land was a patchwork of a field here, and a field there, between other farmers plots some of which did not allow you to even set foot on. Such is the life of hunting goats in CO

N'er mind the naysayers..build what you want/like. Getting close is fun and long range is just as fun. For the critics let it be known I have killed them with revolvers as well as long range rigs.

I just got mine done on a 700 SA in a 6.5x47 Lapua. Had fun this fall with the builders 6mm-06AI. Actually had a LOT of fun with it. Let several of my friends take antelope from 450 to 930 yds with it.

It is all about what you want not the knuckleheads here.

I've really enjoyed using it. With a 2.5X8 Leupold in steel mounts it weighs just over 7 lbs. I built it 'cause I was tired of the huff and puff of a 7 Mag or even a .270 on lightweight big game that didn't require it. There's something nifty about having enough, but not more than needed --- at least to me. I kiled the 250 lb BigHorn @ 348 yards. It barely moved. Caribou are tougher to put down immediately; but that's the case with larger calibers, also.

Larry- sounds like an excellent rig! Far or near it's gonna nuke them.

Dober

338 RUM slinging 210 Scoroccos. But to build on that i vote for 6-06. Just sounds like a death ray.