Thanks Mackay, I suspect I will enjoy it.
Rost, It's not that I'm scared to shoot one at 400 or past, it's just not my hunting style to hunt the closer areas with a rifle that's sighted in for long range most of the time. While we have areas that are pretty open, most shots occur well under 100, and probably closer to 50.
I use that 16" sighted dead on at 100 for that reason. The Leupold I have isn't a ballistic reticle, nor is it quickly adjustable, so that rifle remains my close calling rifle for now, although I have made shots on coyotes that were beyond the 350 mark with it.
The onset that new rifle will work under is this:
With the new scope Weaver is sending out to me, (it's in the experimental stages right now) will have a ballistic reticle that allows more versatility from close to long range, and the rifle is a bit heavier than my M-4 and cradles better in my shooting sticks, and because of that weight, it's subsequently steadier on long shots from basic shooting sticks. The scope while on low power has a thicker reticle that is easy for crosshair location on shooting running tagets, but thins out, or gets "finer" for long range shooting when adjusted to higher powers of magnification.
I don't doubt that my M-4 would group well at 400 yards, as it's a sub-MOA rifle now. But it's just not what I want for long range. Plus, a bench and sandbags are hard to come by out there where we hunt coyotes...
Now, as to why I don't have a 7 twister but an 8.....That's simple. It wasn't offered in that configuration, nor did I feel like it was needed since I'm shooting medium weight bullets, and not the heavy pills that the long range competition shooters use.
Again, it's just personal choice, combined with my hunting needs that leads me to my choice of what, how, and why.
I know HOW to shoot long range. I won't get into details, but I do know what I'm doing out there at long range. The competitions I shoot now are mostly for fun, but I take them seriously, and have long range rifles set up for that too, and do rather well in them. That's just not the way I hunt.
Barry
