Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting How are you determine maximum range?

For me it’s statistically large shot group size plus 3mph wind error has to be smaller then an 8” vital zone up vertical and 12” left to right

Seems to line up right at 600 for me for most of the hunting platforms.

So what shooting position and /or aids are used?

If he has aids, he probably shoots a 270... Poor sucker..

I like to prove I can consistently hit my target at longer ranges than I expect to see when I'm hunting.
If I haven't proven I can do it in practice, I don't take the shot on live animals.

I actually bought a 270 last month


Hardest part was tellin the old man about coming out of the closet.

Lol

That ain’t right.....Lol

Ha ha.. Well, now we know...

That's great advice right there. I won't take a shot either, unless I'm 100% sure. 1 shot 1 kill... I'll give an example. The longest shot on a buck I've taken was 648 yards:

Shooting downhill with angle comp on. Actual straight line yardage to buck was closer to 700. I practice shooting out to 900 yards when I draw this tag, so 650 yards is a chip shot. That's 1 example. The next is during the off season I practice shooting out to 500 yards on private property. 500 is all we can safely get there, but its close to home and convenient. During the fires last summer, I shot in the smoke. Visibility was horrible, but this is how one of my rifles shot that day:


Generally that rifle prints 2.5" 10 shot groups at 500 yards... This at 100:


You can't even see the target in the picture because of the smoke:


I generally practice shooting at the tree I built: A 2" diameter target is even a challenge at 400 yards. If you can hit it 8 out of 10 times, you are doing pretty damn good...



Keep in mind a deers vitals are roughly the size of a paper plate. On a perfect day with very minimal wind, I'd shoot a buck at 900 yards. If I have been practicing at that range.

I shoot enough to know when things get dicey. 600+ yards is when I think shots start getting harder for me personally. My farthest kill was 768.

Culled some goats at 800

Dumped a hind at about 700

Most of the significant shots have been 650 and in.

Best shot I ever took was i creased a chamois at 5 something across a gully.. and he wasn’t broadside. O

Creased a 10pt whitetail just under 600 when it was blowing 20 knots in November and October I got an antelope at a good poke 5 something and it wasn’t calm

I should start writing this crap down. Shooting a dozen critters a year I can’t keep em straight.

For me it’s not how strong the winds blowing but how sketchy it is to make a the right call. Across ridgetops with 0 visual is difficult. So is up or down dog leg canyon on a fishtailing wind.

Fields are ez pz.

Shooting from mountain tops with the Beav.

Hint.









Laughing!.....................

Ask mr Dan in Alaska how much of a peach his fieldcraft is

It’s such a gnarly piece it done broke his leupold.

Don’t want to say I toadaso, but I frickin Toadaso





Why is this site so retarded in regards to uploading pics?

2,200 feet per second for me.

I look at bullet capability first. Shooting long with the likes of the ELDM or TMK in a medium bore, my cutoff is nothing under 1400fps. That’s the capability, the rest is all in equipment and shooter. If my setup allows me to use my range all the way down to 1400fps great but there always seems to be variables to limit that. Either it’s raining or my shooting position isn’t just right and the wind usually changes or picks up at the time of shot. All affect my capability which limits my range.

you shoot tmk down to 1400fps?


what bullet in particular?

I consider distance and energy. With my 300 WM, my limit is 600 yards. I have a couple of elk kills out past 5 but haven't needed to go to 6. With my 280 AI , (which is new to me) limit is 500 and my longest so far is 410. Of interest is that the only animals that i have not recovered have all been shots under 300 yards, most shorter.

To do something that you have practiced at a great deal is confidence. To do something that you have not practiced is a hope.

I like to limit my long range stuff to distances that I have practiced and practiced at before the hunt. I believe my equipment is good out to 1200 yards but my ability is much more limited to what I can hit. Lately I've been changing around equipment and reloads and have yet to find my max distance which should come together in late spring, weather allowing. In the past I set a limit for me at 550 yards but believe with my new setup I could possibly stretch that out to 700 yards depending on the setting when hunting.

the ol dunning kruger affect

it's why kooks shoot 3 shot groups at 100

Wind determines my maximum range quite often, but so does the rest I'm able to set up. Shooting early in the morning, with no discernible wind, and a solid rest where I have multiple contact points supporting the rifle, I'd take a really long shot. And have, several times. Crazy how well that works. I've also missed some gimme shots in a horrible cross-wind trying to thread the needle. I hate wind when hunting open country.

Here's a shameless plug for some practice bullets. I have three boxes of Hornady V-Max 110 grain boat tail with 100 per box. I will sell them all for $110 to your door.

Nope, took a while to wash the sin off

But I tripped everything but the barrel. It’s gone to ku geo once it comes off at LRI

The 270 is rubbish.

I’d rather a fast twist 243 with 108gr eld-m

I live in the Seattle area where ranges are awful.
I rebarrel and rescope (3) rifles in September, drive 900 miles, drive 5 minutes from town, sight in at 50y, 100y, and then 200yards, on a windless morning.

On opening day I go hunting. I am zero'd at 200 yards, and will not range correct more than 8 moa. Depending on the cartridge, that is usually a max range between 400 yards and 600 yards.

My max range is wind dependent. A gusty 15 mph side wind pulls my max range back for ~500 yards to ~300 yards.

Killing over 50 big game animals in the last 10 years, only two were beyond 600 yards, and those were hail Mary shots.

Using a floppy metal fence post as a rest, my max range in 200 yards.

Guys who can practice within 500 miles of their home, ..... it must be nice.

Sorry for the delay, just got back on here. 1400 is absolute limit with the Hornady ELDM’s and Sierra TMK’s. 7 mag (162gr ELDM). 308 (168gr ELDM and TMK). 30-06 (178gr ELDM). 300WM (195gr ELDM and TMK). Now, will I ever have an opportunity to use these all the way down to 1400fps in the field. Not on a game animal. Seems like too many variables always pop up that takes me out of my comfort zone. Maybe this year will be the one where the stars align. If you want to check out the actual research on these bullets in the field, go to “terminal ballistics research”. Nathen Foster is his name. He has some YouTube videos out also. He’s out of New Zealand and has done performance testing on game for many years with most all projectiles, at long range

When the impact velocity drops below the functional velocity of the bullet/cartridge (meaning the bullet will no longer expand) I’m using, it’s too far.

Put a cantaloupe at an unknown range and then quickly shoot at it. Keep doing that for at least 10 times. The longest distance at which you can hit it with your first shot 9 out of 10 times is your maximum range with that outfit.

When the above happens or when conditions are bad enough that I'm not extremely confident that I can make the shot, whichever comes first, it's too far. The former can be calculated using ballistic software, but the latter can only be determined through extensive practice in various different field conditions.

There are enough variables involved with each shot in the field that I have to make the judgement of what is "too far" for each opportunity that comes my way. Sometimes this is 1000 meters, sometimes it's 300.

2200 fps/1500 ft-lbs/8" target - from field positions.




GR

I shot a big buck at 625 yards with 7mmRM
I shot a tiny doe at 629 yards with a 6.5-06.
Those were hail Mary shots with guns I had only practiced at 600y.

Typically for at dawn with no wind, almost all the short actions I build are good for 400 yards and all the long actions are good for 500 yards.

i have a small drainage behind my house and can shoot, 300, 450 and 640. I am confident out to 640 with one of my rifles and 450 or so with the other. My longest measured shot on an elk was 540. Lots of them inside of that.

My comfort zone is 600 yards. I can hit 8” gong pretty consistently. After that I miss more then I connect. So that my limit.
Honestly it Might be 500 yards in the field since I’m not sitting on a bench.

You should practice shooting over your pack at those ranges. That is the only way you are going to know for sure.. Your, "it might be 500 yards", doesn't sound too reassuring. And when putting any big game animal down, think 1 shot, you need to be certain of your own abilities with your rifle and load... Also, I need to bring this up. I've heard some here say they get differing POI while using different rests. If that is the case there is something mechanically WRONG with that rifle system. Either pressure on the barrel or it is not properly glass bedded. You shoot off a bag, ruck, bi-pods, or front rest and rear bag, makes no difference in POI on a good rifle.

If it's 'seeable'......it's 'hitable'!

How do I determine my maximum accurate range? I take the yardage I tell my buddies I'm comfortable shooting and cut it in half.

If you bag an animal, don't forget to double the yardage when you tell people about it!

Changes with every opportunity. Rest quality? Bullet effective velocity? Size of target? Wind? Wind? Wind?

So my max range could be 80 or it could be 650. So many variables.

Just make a clean kill or your ‘long range hunting story’ will suck.

Just my .02

No matter the conditions.....when you can keep all your shots within .75 MOA!!

sheet, that counts me out.

Maximum range? Depends on how much I want to shoot the thing!

Here wind determines maximum range , and that can change by the minute..........

I’ll take a sage flats 20knot over a switchy 3knot fishtailing wind up a draw in the breaks.

If you`re talking hunting..it`s conditions..always changing..hour to hour, day to day. Then there`s always common sense.

Practicing?...shoot and see.