Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors What Range Are You Confident?

Bingo! It's the way I was taught, and all disciplines I'm aware of teach now. When sighting in I place the shot group at the bottom of the bullseye not the center so the bullet strikes an animal right at where the top of the front sight indicates. Center bullseye hits are only useful when shooting scores in competition. Why would one willingly blot out his target with a front sight bead?

600 yard shots at deer, with iron sights? Huh uh. Nope. No way. Way too much room for error, with a huge chance of missing or wounding the animal - unethical in the extreme IMO. Factoring in wind and atmospheric conditions is tough enough with a good scope let alone iron sights, even if the gun was carefully zero'ed in at that distance. As always, a hunter's hind legs are the best substitute for long range schidt shots - get closer and make a clean kill or make it a "one that got away" story.

The 6 hold was an asbolute game changer for me, and I came into it relatively late. I had always struggled shooting irons much beyond 30-40 yards when I was younger because I always obscured the target with the post like a dunce. I was 30, maybe 32-ish before I saw the light 😬 My Dad had always been a scope guy, so most stuff I'd shot growing up was scoped and sights were just a sort of minor secondary consideration or inconvenience.

Once I tried 6 o clock zero, it was a whole new world, and I strongly prefer sights to optics now. Of all my rifles, only 2 have optics, and one is a recent acquisition that wasn't available with sights. Now that I know it shoots, I'm probably going to end up getting a front ramp on it and pitch the scope sooner or later.

Interesting, thanks

6 o'clock hold = pumpkin on a fence post. Good way to go for iron's

I’m missing something, by 6:00 hold, you mean putting the bead of your sight just below your intended target? So you sight in intentionally setting your rifle to shoot a few inches higher than your sight bead?

Cool, I didn't know it was called a 6 o'clock hold. I just thought that's how you were supposed to do it. Another thing my dad taught me when teaching me how to hunt/shoot.

Yes, you put the top of your bead/blade right at the bottom of your bullseye/spot/target so you aren't obstructing the view, and your POI at the zeroed distance is the bullseye.

150 YARDS OR LESS

Well, yes, if you sight in a couple inches higher than the bottom edge of a bullseye (where the top of your front sight bead/post/etc. rests when employing a 6 o'clock hold, put the top of the sight right on the bottom of the bullseye) - say by doing so at 100 yards in case you attempt a shot at 200 yards where the trajectory of the bullet will fall back to point of aim. (Check/know the ballistics of your bullet beforehand to confirm this trajectory.) Otherwise, for general hunting in thick woods for example, just adjust your sight to put your hits right at where the top of the bead/post points. After going through that exercise you will have a cluster of hits right on the bottom of your bullseye.

Hint: use a big darned bullseye to shoot at if your eyeballs have some age to them.

The six o’clock hold …….its really neat……..


Cuz if you use it ……..U get some meat ! 🥩

Good hunting!

There is a young hunter named Angus
whose exploits are well known among us.
He draws a fine bead,
with a wee bit of lead,
and his deer drops with zero awareness.

600 yards with open sights?

Calling total f’n bullsheet on that.

Carlos Hathcock with his bull barrel model 70 with 8x Unertl

Ok

My bad. I just glanced at it and and thought we were just talking about the longest shot. Yeah, I was using a scope and I wasn't shooting at deer back in the day. Longest shot I ever made with iron sites was about 450 with an M1 I'd never shot before when the designated sniper, for whatever reason, wouldn't take the shot. [bleep] happens.

OK So I want to sight in at 100 yds, so I set the bead for the bottom of the bullseye at 100yds, but still want the shot to hit the center of the bullseye?

300 to 400 yds easily. I spent time each summer, shooting at small ground squirrels out to 200 yds, and like this past summer,
spend time ringing steel at 300 and 400 yds with a bolt action 223....with a powder charge of 10 grains of Unique and 50 and 55 grain bullets.

Guess I went thru around 900 to a 1000 rounds or more between May and September of this year....

out there at 300 yds, with that practice and time shooting ground squirrels, come deer season, a deer seems the size of a dump truck out there.
and a flatter shooting cartridge, that what I practice with all summer, make that a lot easier....

This is probably the rule for deer hunters east of the Mississippi valley including me. Exceptions exist and West is another story.

No. If you are sighting in for 100 yards put your target at 100 yards, put your bead at 6 o'clock, adjust rear sight until your shots land at 6 o'clock on the bullseye not center of bullseye. Hits on the paper higher than that will coincide with being zero'ed for longer distances.

Guess it depends on the size of the target or critter, wind and light conditions, iron or scope sights. Not afraid to reach out and pull the trigger. Just finished up double cataract surgery this month, was nearsighted, now can see distance clear and sharp. So far I need to have those dang readers to see clear up close, but have a Dr appointment upcoming to finalize glasses needed. Those readers area PITA. A friend of mine who we've hunted and fished since the late sixties asked me the other day how well I can see now. Advised him coyotes out to 300 yards are possible, even with iron sights. He advised me I could never hit them at 3 yards.

I was a 19 E in the Army……. a tanker…..or otherwise called a DAT….tread head….yada yada yada

M60 A3

We were advised to use a six o’clock hold on a point bank engagement

They called it battelsight ….

It is what I need to focus on especially with a scope point blank.

I like my scoped rifles two inches high at 100 yards.

This was done with a scoped rifle at 200 yards, but the principle is the same. The point of aim is the bottom of the bullseye, and the point of impact is just above the point of aim. Comme ça: