Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles do you know your rifles trajectory?

I had some friends over discussing past hunts and the subject came up about memorable mule deer......
Ive found that most guys I hunt with should never attempt a shot over about 300 yards simply because they have never had the opportunity to shoot at similar ranges, and have zero experience making shots at similar ranges.
I had previously shot at a 500 yard range in Wyoming with my 340 wby so I had some limited experience , at longer ranges, but let me assure anyone reading this that in 45 plus years of hunting I've had less than 5-6 opportunity's to shoot game at ranges exceeding 300 yards so its not a real common requirement you'll need to gain the skills for if you hunt elk and deer in the rough canyon country I've always preferred.
first some back-ground info...It was back in the early 1970s and Id just gotten my 340wby the year before this and I was young , gullible and believed a great deal of the elk hunting articles Id read , Id spent a great deal of time at the local range, sighting in my rifle and finding the best hand loads, etc. and Id printed out and laminated a matching ballistics drop chart that was taped to my rifle stock. I had a bi-pod similar to my current ,Harris 27" swivel bi-pod mounted and a good sling and Id sighted in exactly 3.5" high at 100 yards , the weatherby rifle was pillar block bedded professionally and easily kept 1"-1.2" groups even though my skill level was not nearly what it would be later. I had a baush and lomb 4x12x scope mounted in weaver rings, and I was convinced that anything I saw inside of 600 yards was easily shot.
http://www.harrisbipods.com/HB25CS.html

most of my elk were shot from a sitting position with this bi-pod at over 100 yard but under 250 yards, or at very close range shooting off hand (usually under 60 yards)


now we (JACK AND I) had been hunting rather hard near eagle co. for several days for mule deer and on this particular morning I had walked up a logging road several miles in the predawn darkness ,occasionally stopping to eat an apple that was 90% frozen, and being amazed at how hard it was for a florida guy used to near sea level to walk more than about 50 yards up a old road grade without stopping to breath, and after about 2 miles of walking I reached what in the darkness appeared to be a rather open field, in the occasional moon light thru the cloud cover,I was now sitting on a large fallen tree trunk and leaning against my day-pack as the sun barely lit the horizon, it had snowed very lightly last night and there was what looked like beads of ground styro-foam on the ground in spots (snows not always in flakes) I was resting and wishing Id known too opened my jacket more, when walking because Id begun to perspire , due to exertion, and thats not good once you stop, and need to stay warm.
I was watching a large, older clear cut that had begun to grow back, and had found a spot where I could remain just below the ridge line , looking over the crest into a shallow sloping clearing and I was seated under some sparse conifer branches for cover,making me very difficult to see from the clear cut area, I was watching as I was actually not on that areas slope but just over the ridge line
I was mostly wondering why, Id been rather stupid too rush up here, to this location and then sit and freeze to death as a result when, I heard muffled gunshots in the distance.
after about 15 minutes the light was good enough to make out the far slope , but nothing but a few chip monks were moving so far.
after about 20 more minutes I spotted several doe deer in a group trotting/briskly walking away from the direction Id heard the shots from earlier.
I was keeping busy watching my breath smoke in the bitter cold crisp air and wondering if my partner had even gotten out of the tent yet, as when Id gotten up earlier I decided to get dressed and walk in rather than listen to him snore any more (try never to hunt with guys that snore loudly, you don,t get a good nights sleep)
over the next hour I saw several does and a few small mule deer bucks but nothing I was sure was worth shooting, until about 8am.
the wind was just starting to pick up enough so you could barely feel it, when I noticed a couple more does out on the far slope, I was watching them , when I eventually noticed a large legal mule deer buck walking behind the group, , I placed my day-pack behind and under the rifle butt and extended the bi-pod and snuggled into a prone position, and watched the deer which were at about 600 yards out but moving diagonally a bit closer, just then my hunting partner started walking over, he could see I was looking like I was about to shoot so luckily he didn,t make a great deal of noise as he approached but I was afraid the deer would notice him,but he and I were effectively barely into the drainage the road we walked in on was in not the drainage and shallow clear cut I was watching, just over the crest.
he sat down and got out a spotting scope and tri-pod I pointed out the deer which was now looking in our direction, I don,t think he could see us but he may have heard us, the wind was not in his favor so he darn sure could not have scented us.
I decided to take the shot and judged the range to be just over 500 yards so looking at my drop table and assuming the deer was 3 feet tall at the front shoulder, I steady the vertical cross hair on the front leg and judged the horizontal one to be exactly the same distance as the deer was tall from hoof to back line above the deers back line and slowly squeezed of a shot ......(this is where you learn not to shoot a 340 wby prone crawling up to close to the scope and yes I got a good weatherby eye-brow scar and blood on my new jacket)
The deer was no ware to be seen, I never saw him fall and I never saw him run, so I asked my partner who said he was so busy watching me flop around and bleed that he had not noticed where the deer went either, so I held a couple napkins on my eyebrow to stop the blood and told him to go look for the deer while I directed him to the deers location, as I could clearly see where he was standing when I shot...he walked out to the location following, what I'm sure he thought was, my frantic orange vest waving directional support,as a guide. but kept indicating he saw no blood or deer.. frustrated I walked the 545 counted paces to where I found him sitting on my mule deer ....still swearing with a big grin that he had zero Idea where I was shooting, because this mule deer he was sitting on must have died laughing at the ridiculous idea I could actually have punched him thru both lungs at that distance, there was no other logical explanation for the dead deer!
now I didn,t hit that deer exactly where I aimed the bullet hit a bit further back and a bit lower than I had planed , but it zipped thru over the heart and under the spine and about 6-7 inches behind the front leg, but I was still rather pleased with my shooting (YES I later found out It was partly luck trying to duplicate it on targets at 500 yards where keeping a 6" group for 5 shots is reasonably good field shooting) but when your young you just know you can do almost anything. Ive since tried to limit shots to no more than 350 yards and where I usually hunt thats not an issues as shots over 200 yards are rather rare!

THIS IS A PICTURE OF THE AREA I HUNT FREQUENTLY FOR ELK

LOWER CANYON

upper canyon

You hunt from the Deep Creek Overlook? What about all the tourists swooning over it?

Why worry about trajectory when you are shooting straight down? You could drop rocks on 'em.

Yes I know my rifles trajectory.

Ive hunted DEEP CREEK, and GRIZZLY CREEK and several surrounding drainage areas in the white river , and similar canyons for DECADES
for decades most years when I hunt ELK in Colorado,Ive hunted most of the canyons around EAGLE,DOTSERO,GYPSUM, and those areas north and south of RIFLE,CRAIG and MEEKER
http://www.mapquest.com/satellite-maps/gypsum-co/
If you stuck a pin in a map of Colorado in dotsero and swung a 70 mile radias arc around it, Ive probably hunted the vast majority of the canyons inside that 140 mile diameter circle, several times over the years that those individual areas were available to hunt.
having experience in how game moves when under hunting pressure and where it tends to move too as it retreats to the more remote, less easily accessed and protected areas gives you some advantages

I've never attempted to throw my rifle, well maybe once, so no I don't know my rifle's trajectory.

The only rifle I've seen with a trajectory was that one in Big Stick's break-in video.....

If you bend em just right before throwing them they have the same trajectory as a boomarang. The BCs on savage stocks suck.

All joking aside - great story.

Yes, I know most of my rifles trajectory's. Some better than others but for the most part i cannot see over 400 yards so it don't matter.

I really feel that long range hunting is more of a novelty than a rule. I also feel that long shots can be made but not counted on. All of that said it, it is the most fun to practice at it.

I have killed most of my game with a bow so I am no authority. I do shoot my rifles a lot during the off season at 300 + yards for fun and bragging rights. I have built rifles to shoot to 400, a couple of them.

Can I kill game that far out - who knows. I am pretty confident in my abilities to 200 but 400............

For myself (I got this from a bud's father) I shoot mostly standard cartridges like a 7 Mauser..7-08..8X57..30-06...350 Rem Mag between 2700 and 2800 fps. The rule is "209" like the shotgun primer. +2" at 100= 0 at 200= -9 at 300..plus or minus the width of your crosshairs. Works for me...beyond that...well I shouldn't be shooting anyway...but that's just me.

Your chart has scope height as 1.5 inches. Have you actually measured it? I can barely get a 36mm scope mounted low enough on some rifles to only be 1.5 inches above center of bore. It definitely makes a difference in the trajectory.

I just SWAG it.

340 mag.
I don't normaly bash people on here for anything. But I this case I'll stray.
Why in the [bleep] are you shooting that far by guessing the range. Kill or no kill, if I'd been your buddy I'd have wrapped that rifle around your neck. And considering you got busted in the head "not hard enough" tells me you haven't practiced that shot. You might as well been out there with a CAR15 with irons and a 30 round mag. Then I would have understood your stupidity.

I usually have a pretty good idea, as I carry the range card with me at all times. I don't remember the last time I had to check the card in the field, but it is there none-the-less.

I've hunted public land in the same general area for about a dozen years and learned new things every year about what not to do hunting elk while managing to knock down a dozen from 11 to 330 yards - some years no elk some years 2 down. I can honestly say I've seen elk over 500 yards and under 700 yards a few times but have resisted the temptation to blaze away so far. This last year I got a fancy z600 reticle on my scope on a 300 wby, bought a nicer rangefinder and practiced out to 800 yards getting ready. I still passed up a 400 yard shot and a nice fat cow late in the evening based on her position being too close to private land and not a good enough shooting position to be sure. If she had been at 300 it would have been a different story. I have a pretty good handle on my rifles trajectory in 7mm RM after 35+ years using it, it probably matches closely the 340 Wby with 225 grain bullets. Hunting with the 300 Weatherby the reticle takes away some of the thinking necessary to hit distant targets.....but I haven't turned my brain completely of yet.

My needs are diametrically opposed to yours. Where I do my hunting here in the East, a 200 yard shot at deer is unheard of, and 100 yards is a 'long' shot. I sight in my (generally open sighted 'deer' rifles) an inch or so high at 100 and forget about it, allowing for a point-blank range as far as I'm likely to shoot.

Varmint and squirrel rifles on the other hand are another story. I can quote chapter and verse of my bullets' trajectories from the muzzle to way out and beyond.

I read thru this a few times, before I responded,I would generally ignore posts of this type but some readers might want more info, that you find a true story about what happened nearly 40 years ago, not up to your personal standards,is more your concern than mine. I doubt theres a single person with 45 plus years of hunting experience, hunting out of state that can,t look back on dozens of less than ideal past actions, or early hunts in your career that could have been improved, if you had the experience you gained years later..
I guess some of us who bother to post the truth about what they did and experienced ,might not be perfect....as I'm sure you've never made a mistake..
Id point out that at the time I was about 22 years old and we all learn from our mistakes and experience.
yes your correct that I should have gotten closer and letting the excitement of a hunt and opportunity of making a shot on a large antlered mule deer,allow you to rush the set-up and get tagged with a scope during recoil is hardly unique for a 22 year old on one of his first few out of state hunts.
As to guessing the range, the appearance of the cross hairs in the scope, against the target allow you to make an educated guess, not ideal, but far from a wild ass guess and the fact that I hit with-in a few inches of the intended point of impact on the first and only shot taken , and dropped the deer, indicates my estimate was very close to correct.
As I've posted several times previously, Ive shot easily 80% of my elk and deer at well under 250 yards many at under 70 yards, that doesn,t mean I don,t practice regularly at longer ranges and know my equipments limitations and capability's

http://www.gunclubofamerica.com/bet...f-range-finding-with-your-scope-reticle/

Let me enter in here. I think that you are confusing a bullet drop chart with a range card. A true range card is drawn for the area you are going to hunt locating natural and man made features with distances to them. Not a shooting range with a bench. What is the great shooting mystery of Hunting out of state. You seem to indicate that there is a vast problem with hunting out of state. Don't get me wrong we all have made a mistakes hunting but practice can lower the chance of mistakes. With google earth and other mapping tools one can build a range card rather easy with accurate distances on them tailor made for the area he will hunt. Back in the 70,s we used areal photo's to plan our hunts in the wilderness areas of Washington. I started hunting in 1955. We had shooting ranges in the high school and learned to shoot 22 target rifles with peep sites. We shoot hundreds of rounds each week from all positions standing, kneeling, sitting and prone.

My brother had the sanest idea on bullet trajectory for the two rifles he took to Africa on his hunt. A 30-06 and a 338 WinMag. He loaded both rifles to a very similar velocity and bullet path, so that it didn't matter which rifle he chose, the flight path would be very similar. It worked for him. He took six nice plains animals.

Out to 600 yards, yes.

Most of my rifles have drop-compensating scope reticles and I use them past 400 yards.