Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting GAP 260 Rem, Barnes 127 LRX, 725 yards, cow elk dead.

Stretched the ol' GAP 260 out to 725yds on a cow elk a couple days ago. First shot through the lungs on a lightly quartering shot (exit side shown in pic) and she was dead on her feet. I was not able to recover the bullet. I saw the impact, she stood there still as a statue, slowly lowering her head, I fired again, just because, and she turned around in place and fell into this tree. Really couldn't ask for better bullet performance to exit at 725 yards from a 260. Bullet started at around 2925fps from the 22" Bartlein #3 sporting a Thunder Beast Arms suppressor. This is my do-all rifle that I grab most of the time, especially since I added the can. Really don't care to shoot without it anymore.

Load is 45.6 H4350 in WW 7-08 brass that's been necked down with no other prep.

Congrats and nice shooting. How do you like the Thunderbeast for a suppressor? I'm thinking about one for a 308?

Congrats! There is nothing like a GAP rifle!

greentimber,

Nice shootin'. I will be using the same bullet next month. It will be starting a little faster .

I really don't think it is possible to get a better suppressor for a rifle than a TBAC can. They are just outstanding in every way. The new (this year) Ultra Series cans are just crazy awesome. The 7" version is quieter than the previous generation 9" can (that's what I'm running this year) and several ounces lighter. Really cool. I have one of the Ultra 7 on order that will become my hunting suppressor as soon as it arrives.




.....additional info on the shot; according to Shooter (ballistic app) impact velocity was around 1836fps. The altitude certainly helped keep the bullet moving along at this distance. Would probably keep the shot to around 600 yards or so at home around 800' ASL.

Wow, nice rifle and great shooting.

Cheers, Chris

what spotlight do you recommend for those 725 yd shots? Thanks in advance.......

There's a thread on long range spots in the optics forum.

I use the big orange one that rises in the east each morning. Not sure what brand that is, but it doesn't add much weight to my pack.

Nice shooting, green.

Thanks Greentimber. I will be looking really hard at one of the new ones.

Pack out:

Laffin....great shot on your elk. Really like those 260's.

Nice shooting. We'll find out how the 120g GMX works on a Montana Muley within a few weeks.

Nice shooting, greentimber!

Grand, I'll look forward to your results. I have a box of the 120 GMX sitting on the bench collecting dust. Just haven't had time to work it up yet. The 100gr GMX shoots like crazy from my 18" 6.8SPC, though. Will be shooting some deer with that come November.



A note on the scope I use on this GAP 260; it's the often-maligned Viper PST 4-16 FFP/MIL from Vortex. I've had this particular scope since they were first introduced several years ago and have had nothing but excellent performance from it over several thousand rounds. Some folks poopoo the Vortex scopes, and I understand they aren't as cool (or as "good") as the $3,000 scopes from the euro brands, but the half dozen or so I own have been flawless mechanically and certainly acceptable optically. I am fortunate to own a couple big$$ euro scopes, but don't find the difference in price justifiable when the targets aren't shooting back. I actually first chose the Viper PST 4-16 FFP years ago because it was the lightest FFP/MIL-MIL scope on the market. That may or may not be true any more, but they still work. The knobs on the PSTs are much too easy to turn, both due to inadequate rotational friction and much too-sharp checkering on the knobs, but that's the biggest downfall I've found yet. If there was an American-made alternative that had the features I want and was reliable and at least somewhat affordable, I'd give it a shot instead. The Leupy Mk6 seemed like it was a contender but I'm still in wait-and-see mode after their decades-long slide into irrelevance in the tactical world. Nightforce continues to swing and miss, unfortunately. The 34mm tube on the 42mm obj ATACR is just retarded and eliminates the possibility of ever low-mounting that scope on a rifle suited to its size. If they'd made it a 30mm tube, that would have been worth looking at. My $0.02, anyway.

Nice shot! Elk never even heard what hit her. Are cans legal for hunting in most western states?

Not sure, but I think they are legal in 40+ states now. My home state of TN just changed the regs to allow them within the last couple years. It is easy to get spoiled with them. In fact, I'm going to sell a few really excellent rifles soon because their sporter weight barrels aren't readily suporessable.

You going to part with the Nula's?

Hell no.