Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Acid test for Leica HD-B's and 142 gr 6.5mm Matrix VLD

Over a week ago, I was out hunting Utah's spike elk and/or a cow elk. I was using my light 6.5x47 pushing a Matrix 142 gr VLD to 2917 and my new Leica Geovid HD-B 10x42 ranging binoculars.

Preseason practice with both rifle and bino allowed me confidence as far out as 1390 yds, though I was limiting my shots to around 1150 altitude and temperature dependent.

The Leica HD-B's, when utilized with the micro SD card will give precise dope to 1000 yds, per the published info. My pair will do it to 1008 yds. No compliants here. All one does is drop your ballistic data in to the Leica web site and save it to you SD card. Insert the card in to the tiny slot in the battery compartment and i've always managed to be within one 1/4 moa click of my Shooter app.

Beyond 1008 yds, I pull the yardage, angle, baro and temp data off the HD-B's and drop the info into Shooter and get my dope that way.

The temps during the hunt had been unseasonably warm so the elk were leaving any opening they were out in and heading into the trees within minutes of the start of legal shooting light or not coming out of the trees until, again, minutes of legal shooting light ending.

For the last two hours of the day, I'd been sitting where I could watch a sizable Western facing slope. Nothing showed except a dozen does in 3 different groups. With just 20 minutes of legal light left, I decided to move over to watch the other side of the valley, where sage met the trees. Within a minute of glassing, I spotted two elk in the fading light which was even darker than usual due to the increasing cloud cover.

With the 10x binos, I could not make out the type of elk I was seeing. I quickly pulled out my 15-45x Zeiss spotter and verified a cow and spike. Both legal for me. I first ranged the bull at 1020. Knowing my HD-B's will give dope to 1008, I simply took several ranges on different sage until it gave me a 1008 yds where I pulled the 91 clicks off it and added 1 more to come up with 92 clicks/23 moa. I then set up for the shot. I had a solid prone set up using the PRS SLIK tripod and their SSP-1 rifle cradle. The rear bag was my beloved Dog Gone Good large Field Bag. Once he was broadside and standing still I triggered the shot and could see a puff of dirt beyond and over his back. I was flabbergasted to say the least. I quickly pulled a range and this time it was 950 yds. He had moved in 70 yds while I was setting up for the shot. This time I got 83 clicks or 20.75 moa off the HD-B's. I quickly dialed down and got set for the shot. This time he was quartering towards me showing me his right side. I quickly checked my watch and realized I had 4 minutes of legal light. The MOAR reticle of my Nightforce NXS compact was getting hard to see so I turned the illumination on and was blessed with an easy to see reticle.

Some of you might ask how easy it is/was for me to convert 1/4 moa clicks into decimal form of moa. I cheat! I created a small EXCEL division 4 cheat sheet, miniaturize it and laminate it at Kinko's using their luggage lamination sized plastic and two luggage tags to attach it to the HD-B's. It's not caliber specific so it stays with the binos at all times.



At the shot, I saw no reaction. "I missed again" I thought. I bolted another round into the chamber and started to squeeze the trigger when I noticed him do a little stagger to the right. He caught himself, stood still and staggered to the left, but this time he kept sidestepping left until he could no longer keep his feet under himself. The bullet, I later found, had entered just to the inside of his right shoulder, penetrating through the thoracic cavity. I could find no exit in the dark when I got to him, without my smart phone, so no pics. Sorry. I broke him down in the dark using the gutless method so no looksie into the rib cage area.

Oh, and the Leica glass is pretty darn good world class glass too!

Alan

What in the [bleep] are you doing taking a 1008 yard shot with 20 minutes of legal shooting time left? Somebody ought to slap you upside the head and pull your hunting license for about 5 years.

^ this

GSSP,

Thanks for posting. Fun read.

Way to put 'em down Alan!

Good thing you had all the right equipment to put some tender meat in the freezer. You obviously did a lot of work (that's a hell of a lot of fun too) in advance to be able to get 'er done.

As you've read, there's a few around who haven't a clue of what can be done and wouldn't know step 1 of the journey to get there.

The 142 at over 2900 is awesome! What's the BC? H-4350?

Post some pics of your light rifle and fill us in!

Good job and congratulations!

Obviously you don't have a Ffuuking clue as to what he's doing.

You think it was luck that he won the Utah State Sniper Championship?

He knows what he's doing; the shot was akin to you taking a 200 yard shot in the same light in the same conditions...

Rick,

G7 = .318. G1 = .625. Rel 17 and Fed 205m seated .045 off the lands. This bullet didn't like it up close. Extraction is easy and cases look fine with no ejector marks or smears.

Just weeks before the season, I confirmed the ability of the rifle/round with the HD-B by taking it up to my private steel range. Running up first round hits using the two in combination with each other starting at 435 and going on to 558, 616, 732, 857, 1014 and 1390. I knew about the ability of the HD-B's max yardage of 1008 because I did the exact same thing at the 1014 yd target. Ranged a spot until I got 1008 yds and simply added 1 click.

These are all uphill angles too. This is my practice range. Note the distances and up hill angles annotated in yellow up the ridge.

Rick,

I took a peek at Goat Fu*&ers posts. He loves to run around to different forums and make snide little remarks. He's not worth it but thanks for watching my back bro!

Alan

They will be able to save money at his funeral, it won't take much of a coffin to bury a mouth...

I should be so lucky to have a place like that to shoot! NICE!

I just spewed coffee out of my nose. It was hot...

Five minutes from my house!

Nice shooting ....5 min I'm envious!

prairie_goat likes to run his mouth no doubt....if it isn't what he has, uses or likes, its not worth schit...............

Yep. Go ahead and try to turn this around on me.

Keep up with your unethical schit. When you have guys like Ringman and rcmagulia in your corner, you gotta be in the right...

The "unethical schit" ended up with a bullet through the vitals and meat in the freezer, doofus....

Come on Billy...... are you serious?

Is a 200 yard shot at a deer running full sprint into a canyon with 20 minutes of light left "ETHICAL"?

Give it up man......

Thanks for the write up and details. I too would like to see a picture of your rifle....

David

I've been using a pair of the HD-B's in 8X, since April. They've proven to be top notch so far. The program has been spot on for both my 6 Creedmoor, and 6.5 SAUM. I've used them up to 11,000', down to 2000', from 20*F to 100*F. Great tool! No more fumbling around for a range card. Under perfect conditions, I've ranged out past 2000 meters with them. The ergos and optics are what you expect from Leica..