Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Hunting accuracy?

Wife and I are heading to WY in a few weeks. We went 2 years ago and she took a mulie at 176 yards and an antelope at 120 yards.

This year our F&g club has a 200 and 400 yard ranges.

Yesterday we were at the 200 and some "strange" things happened, first shooting over 100 to us is LONG, you western guys laugh at that, but a "long" whitetail shot around here is 50 yards! It's a world we aren't used to.

Noticed a few weird things with my wife shooting.

We have 3 different targets:
- 8 inch gong
- paper with 3 inch circles
- paper with 7 and 12 inch circles.

She started on the gong and was 2 for 3, with the 2 hits being in the center.

When shooting at paper, at the small spots, she was barely on the paper.
When shooting at the larger spots she grouped to about 4 inches and we adjusted sites to put her center of the spot.

For "non experts" :-) what is decent shooting at 200 yards when you're new to anything over 100? At 100 on paper she would basically make a 2 inch "hole" in the target.

She's now very nervous about our trip.

for people who are not great at shooting, what is a decent 200 yard group size? I know MOA, is that the "you're an ok shooter"?

We won't be shooting past 200 yards while out there.

I'd say from a field rest if you could hit a 6" circle at 200 yards every time then you should be good to go. I cheat with a harris bipod from sitting position and you can do quite well with those if you practice a bit with them. What rifle and cartridge is she using for these critters?

Did I miss what sighting equipment is being used?

Was your wife shooting from a steady rest?

Ammo?Trigger pull?Scope?Rifle bedded?Barrel floated?Everything tight?We are here to help.

Groups on paper from a benchrest reflect the accuracy of the rifle. In general if you can keep groups inside of 6 inches with a field rest at 200 yards you should be fine. A field rest being anything that helps you steady your shot from a pack in the prone position to bipods or Trigger sticks of whatever, including sitting or trees, etc.
If your rifle is shooting straight, get off the bench and practice from field positions. I'm sure your wife didn't forget how to shoot since your last trip.

I don't know how to respond until Mathman's questions are answered.

Stick to the gong then when you're feeling froggy, put a few clay birds up at 200.

Yep for sure all from field positions.

I also like "minute of milk jug" for vital-sized targets. A little food coloring and some water makes for a bit of fun to go with the practice when you are working on field positions.

Rifle: Thompson Center Venture - weathershield, 7mm-08 (1:9 twist)
Bullets: Hornady American Whitetail: 139 gr interloc (will also try her Federal premium 140 gr accubond next trip)
Scope: Leupold VX3 2.5-8 (set at 8)

She was on a bench, front of gun on sandbag, but she wasn't comfortable, also shot of backpack prone.

With her bow she shoots better groups at a larger dot, wondering if the same is happening with her rifle.

6" @ 200yds would = 3" groups @ 100 yds.

IF you/she can hit a 6" target MOST of the time @ 200 yds, y'all ought to be good.

>>>>>just find a deer with a 6" target on its side.<<<<<







That came from personal shooting experience. I used to shoot 44 Mag Super Blackhawks & Super Redhawks at
QUART oil bottles. UP to 150 yds, bottles were DEAD.

So Friends told me...... find a deer with an oil bottle on its side.

Off the bench,a rear bag really helps steady your rifle.It's important to find out how accurate your rifle is shooting and make sure it is before you try a bunch of different shooting scenarios.If it won't shoot well from a very steady rest,it dang sure is not going to shoot better from a less than steady rest.How is the trigger?Heavy trigger pulls can cause large groups too.I have mine set around 2.5-2.75lbs and that's about as light as I care to go on a hunting trigger.I've seen a lot of factory triggers set at 5-8lbs and that's a bit heavy and requires a lot of skill to shoot really good groups because it's easy to pull your shots a few inches out of your group.Finding the right ammo your rifle likes can be difficult sometimes,you may have to try several brands and bullet weights to find what shoots the best.If you find one that shoots really well,go back where you bought it and buy more that has the same lot number on the box.Make sure all your scope mounts a secure,especially the bases.If they are loose,your groups will walk all over the place.Check your stock screws and make sure they are snug.Here is a picture of my bench set up with front rest and rear bag.

Jack O'Connor used to say that if you could keep most of your shots on a 8" bull with the rest real close at 100 yards shooting offhand and about the same at 200 from sitting you were a pretty good shot. Not an expert, but better than most and not having much to worry about in the field.

Sometimes we just have a not so good day at the range , not paying close enough attention to the hold/crosshair/trigger sqeeze - she'll probably shoot better next practice session .

I have read that the bright colored shooting dots do not make the best targets - can't remember why .

Bob,

FWIW-
Usually, when getting ready for a hunt, I first make sure my rifles are sighted in at the 100 yard range. I then proceed to either the 200 or 300 yard range, both of which have 12" gongs. I spray paint the gongs with black paint, to cover up all previous hits, and shoot my rifles at those gongs. They have the advantage of instant audio indication of a hit, with that resounding smack, and usually, bullet hits are visible thru the scope, particularly if I am using Barnes bullets.

I think there is something about the eye just naturally centering the crosshairs in the center of that gong that makes hits at distance a bit easier than focusing on paper, and when shooting at game, there's no dot, your eye has to center on a vital area of the animal.

I think the gongs are a real confidence builder for most people- I would encourage your wife to just do more shooting at the gongs.

I use an 8" plate w/ 5 consecutive hits in winds up to 20 mph as a useful standard, all shot in field positions. This has yielded the following guidelines for me:

Standing off hand 100 yards
sitting 200 yards
sitting w/ sticks 300 yards
prone off a pack 400 yards

Past 400 yards 5 in a row is not a sure thing. I have used a friends rifle that is identical to mine but w/ a SS 3-9 scope and I think that combined w/ my LRF I can stretch it out a bit.

If I go a month or more w/out shooting my performance degrades until 'warmed up'


mike r

I did play a bit with bullet selection, had 3 different ones, this one grouped the best WHEN i WAS SHOOTING. Once we switched her to the bigger "dot", she put 4 in about a 4-5 inch group, centered slightly low/left. All well inside the "dot". I have the same scope on my rifle and the smaller dot is harder to hold on since it's almost covered by the cross hairs.

Our "sandbag" setup is not like above, we have 2, one under the forearm another under the butt, but they are lower than above and when sitting on the bags, its actually very hard to get the gun aimed high enough, plus we are crunched down not sitting comfy. What I get for going cheap I guess. Looking into a lead sled, or something else to help with this.

We will have a couple more practice sessions before going and I will try the federal bullets she used before as well.

Another question, this struck me as odd. She was about 6-8 inches right. We moved the adjustment 4 clicks to being it left, what should have been about 2 inches. It didn't seem to move at all. We moved it 4 more and it brought it all the way in. How trust-worthy is the "4 clicks is 1 inch at 100 yards" on the scope?

She likes the gong WAY more than paper, likes the noise and making it swing! Her first 2 shots at the gong were dead center and just low/right of dead center ( I spray paint it orange and you can see the paint fly!)

Also, how much will a heated up barrel effect things? We didn't shoot all summer because if was 90+ most weekends, yesterday was 65, but her barrell still warmed up a good amount.

Bob, I am never with out my bi pods... I carry a couple on short and a medium length one.. Have one on the rifle and the other in my pack or a second rifle.. When I leave on a hunt I always have two rifles some times three or four.. With the bi pod and a pack or rolled up shirt you almost have a bench rest.. To me they are invaluable...

From realistic field positions and realistic time constraints I doubt many hunters can get MOA. Doable prone with a solid rest. But that doesn't happen all the time.

I've had hunters like you that had a hard time with distances past 80 yards and it can be frustrating. They had a hard time even SEEING elk at 200-300 yards.

Focus on ringing the gong quickly from a field rest. Without having to fiddle around with crap.

Something I think I'd try. Tough to explain why sometimes it helps though.

Try a blank target. No circle or dot and ask her to just shoot for the middle area. I'd try different power settings on the scope too.

I helped a lady get on her game doing both these. I think sometimes trying too hard is worse than just taking a relaxed shot.
In the case of the lady I worked with the over emphasized "wiggle" of the crosshairs at higher settings on a circle just made her think she had to really work at it to hold the gun still. One does but knotted up muscles for someone not that strong can be a real issue.

It could take several groups and, IMHO, I'd not let her SEE the groups in between. Just relax and shoot for what you think is close to center.

By the 5th group the lady I helped had pretty respectable groups.......and a WHOLE bunch more confidence, that also IMHO is a mandatory factor in successful hunting shots.

2 cents
God Bless
Steve