Long range shooter

K
Kodiak
So I'm looking into a new long range elk whakin machine. With a recently developed hitch in my get-a-long, and some new hair tags, and keys to locked gates on the horizon, I will be looking to shoot farther and walk less. I have always been an up close and personal kinda guy taking some of my best deer and elk within 30yrds. I'm looking into either a .338, or a .300. In the past if it was outside 200yrds It walked till I caught up to it, now I'm going to be looking to stretch the barrel 500+ yrds and kill cleanly. I'm curious as to what you guys would suggest.
 
M
metalmania
My rem. 700 has never failed me, and is a tackdriver with hornady customs:D.
 
J
juggernaut506
I have a Browning A-Bolt Medallion in .300 Win Mag. It's amazingly accurate and sweet shooting with it's adjustable trigger and smooth 60 degree bolt throw. The X-Bolt is a great rifle also. I'd go with a .300 Win Mag over the .338 just because of the flatter trajectory and it packs more then enough punch beyond 500 yards. Also the recoil is quite a bit milder.
 
H
halibuthitman
Kodiak said:
So I'm looking into a new long range elk whakin machine. With a recently developed hitch in my get-a-long, and some new hair tags, and keys to locked gates on the horizon, I will be looking to shoot farther and walk less. I have always been an up close and personal kinda guy taking some of my best deer and elk within 30yrds. I'm looking into either a .338, or a .300. In the past if it was outside 200yrds It walked till I caught up to it, now I'm going to be looking to stretch the barrel 500+ yrds and kill cleanly. I'm curious as to what you guys would suggest.

arent you still gonna have to walk 2500 yards to bring the five pieces out? so walking up to 30 yards won't change anything... poppin elk at 500 yards is a job for a army scout sniper. just my opinion after hunting elk in the clarke fork canyon pounding country for 25 yrs.
 
N
nwflyingdutchman
nice point halibut man, that was my thought when I started reading this. Unless you are going to have some one hump all of that elk out, taking it down at 500 yards probably isn't going to save you a lot of walking. Not to mention if you not used to shooting that distance it is going to take a lot of practice. Windage, elevation, and accurate distance reading really take effect when you try to reach out and touch someone(something).
 
K
Kodiak
I've got a couple of able body packers willin' to hmp out elk quarters for me. As far as practicing....I shoot right at 100 arrows/day. I'm not exactly the type of guy that would take an unethical shot. If my max range accuratley is 200yrds thats what I'll shoot and no farther. Pending my physical condition come elk season I'll probably shoot my bow again this season. but on the off chance I'm just not my usuall self I still want to put some meat in the freezer.
 
B
BobberDown
look ethics is in the eye of the beholder phil i think i showed you my custom 300 win and i have reched out to 708 yards on a big mule deer and 682 yards on a big bull what it coms down to is the right gun set up proply cupled with the right scope and range finder and windage meader and a lot of practice like at least 20 rounds down range a month and i mean 20 rounds shooting 1 round at a time at difrant targets like i might drop a sinder bock on a stump than drive around the canyon get set up take my time and smash that sinder bolck 20 shoots better equall at least 17 broken blocks or you are not ready yet. on another note there are very few big caliber rifles that come off the shelf that are capible of holding a good tit and consictent group out at yardage over 500yards there are some like the weatherbee accumark or the reminton syndedo or a thopson center encore. but there are a lot of guns with some gun smithing that can be made into a fine shooting rifle i like the 700's most gun smiths will know them and they are easy to sqare and rework pluse now they come with a grate triger aredy the remington x mark triger is a step up from most but i still put a timithey in my gun and the 700 boonand kroket adishoin i have has a 26 in medum flooted barel that shoots long range very well i would recomend putting on a boss or buying on with on and the other big factor is ammo factory ammo will not cut it here. you have to be able to toon your load to your gun good luck
 
H
halibuthitman
so does 3 missed cinder blocks = 3 gut shot elk? I bet I can shoot my 300 H.H mag at 200 yards at 200 cinder blocks for 200 broken blocks, I wouldn't be willing to accept those 3 erant shots at a living creature.
 
B
BobberDown
ya i gave the same odds ass bow hunting because he is buying a gun for this year he will not have the time to acheave nunbers like 20 in 20 or 200 in 200 i have bean shotting long range rifles being 350 and over in yardage 5 years ago i fire 20 shells i brake 20 blokes but i shoot a lot and have had a lot of training on how to read wind with windage meaters and how to dail up yards and dial in windage and triger controll
and your conpareeison of 200 blocks at 200 yards vs 20 at 500 is a little unfar now 200 oranges at 200 yards that is far and in order to gut shoot an elk you would have to miss with about 16 to 20 inches of wind drift that saying you aim for the hart and not the lungs but you are rite 70% ods are not good enuff
halibuthitman said:
so does 3 missed cinder blocks = 3 gut shot elk? I bet I can shoot my 300 H.H mag at 200 yards at 200 cinder blocks for 200 broken blocks, I wouldn't be willing to accept those 3 erant shots at a living creature.
 
H
halibuthitman
I doubt most bowhunters achieve 70% accuracy, to be able to hunt Elk with a bow you should have to pass a test where you have to run uphill for 1.5 miles jumping 28 logs of differnt hights and lengths, kneel cow call jump up run another mile while cow calling with a mouth diaphram ( without swollowing it ) stop, bring your bow to full draw and hold it for 7 minutes, then jump up run a mile downhill through the same trees only now with the sun up and its 65 degrees and your wearing underarmor and polar fleece, stop kneel, pull your bow to full draw hold it for 16 minutes, then turn only your upper body and shoot a paper plate 20 yards away through 14 alders 4 foot high ferns and all without choking yourself with a call.
 
K
Kodiak
I have been extreamely fortunate to have never lost or missed a game animal with my bow, and thats upto and including grouse and runny babits. I know my limitations and operate inside those peramitiers. I have however had to come back the next day to find a rifle shot buck. The round from my .30-06 deflected off of the shoulder blade and lodged in his neck without penitrating...bad round, funky angle, whatever. I know exactly how far 350 yrds is and what happend balistically and I didn't like it. I caught up to him at 9:00 am the next morning and finished him at 75 yrds and he went down like a ton of bricks.
 
C
capblack
If you hunt around here like I do, I think youll have a hard time finding a 500 yrd shot without going over 4 gravel roads, and fifteen rigs carrying 75 hunters. I have killed 8 bucks and a spike elk all in the santiam unit and the deer were all within 150 yds and the elk was 375. I was only using a sporterized 7mm mauser for the bull and it drove the bullet through both front shoulders and he didn't move a yard, a 308 for my first three deer and a 30-06 for the rest. All using factory ammo. I would say a 30-06 or 308 is more than enough for any game in western oregon, the ammo is cheaper, and there much more comfortable to shoot. The 300 win mag would be nice, but its overkill in my book, just get a gun your comfortable with, shoot it a lot, and hit the animal where it lives, it will go down. good luck, Brian
 
GraphiteZen
GraphiteZen
*cough* Barret *cough*
 
C
capblack
:think::think: yeah a barret might do the job:think:
 
GraphiteZen
GraphiteZen
Pretty much. I figure anything than can put down a jeep at 2 miles would certainly work for any animal within that range.
 
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C
Chrome_Chaser
halibuthitman said:
I doubt most bowhunters achieve 70% accuracy, to be able to hunt Elk with a bow you should have to pass a test where you have to run uphill for 1.5 miles jumping 28 logs of differnt hights and lengths, kneel cow call jump up run another mile while cow calling with a mouth diaphram ( without swollowing it ) stop, bring your bow to full draw and hold it for 7 minutes, then jump up run a mile downhill through the same trees only now with the sun up and its 65 degrees and your wearing underarmor and polar fleece, stop kneel, pull your bow to full draw hold it for 16 minutes, then turn only your upper body and shoot a paper plate 20 yards away through 14 alders 4 foot high ferns and all without choking yourself with a call.

You took that test too? :lol::lol: After doing all of that, you come up on a 370 bull screaming his head off and you draw back on him. Now you're shaking like a leaf in the wind, holding it for a couple of minutes hoping to calm down instead it gets worst. The bull walks away with his cows leaving you there still shaking. I didn't pass this last part of the test. This year I will.:D:D
 
S
SantiamDrifter
halibuthitman said:
so does 3 missed cinder blocks = 3 gut shot elk? I bet I can shoot my 300 H.H mag at 200 yards at 200 cinder blocks for 200 broken blocks, I wouldn't be willing to accept those 3 erant shots at a living creature.

I think people who say it’s not ethnical to shoot big game at long ranges don’t know anything about it, and are scared of it. Or have seen or heard of Ill managed hunters trying to exceed their abilities. I’d take somebody who’s properly equipped and had the right training shooting at 300 to 1000 yards then someone who only shoots a few times a year with a poor gun at 100 yards. People don’t realize what these guns are capable of, it’s truly amazing. The guns are capable of reaching out past 1000 yards, it’s the shooters who need the right training.
 
G
Grace2u
Well I might add my 2 pesos worth here, and I might add there is some very interesting insight, But I will be as gently as I can I do not want to infringe on anyones point of view. But to place all practical matters at hand in truth, Make darn sure you can handle yardage out past 250. seriously... 500 yards is a far piece to shoot with any big game rifle. 22-250, 222 etc. are designed to do this. I am somewhat experienced in long range tactical shooting in Vietnam with a 308.

Two things that are really simple to figure out is ...can you handle a recoil of a 300 mag and 338?....and can you figure out what goes on with windege within 500+ yards because you could have up to 2-3 different cross winds and a down draft in some certain occasions. thus your shot, what you think is dead on can be up to 6" to a ft off......plus remember that a big game round is not designed to do what a sniper round is suppose to do.
It would be a big benefit to rely on marksmanship . I use a 340 weatherby for Brown bears and this is what a 338 is designed for, not for shooting into the next county. and believe me if you are going to take a chance and throw a big game built out with out having the marksmanship skills to go with it , your "hitch in your get along" maby be to much to handle for walking much distance looking for a wounded animal.

I have read many articles on long range shooting and some are full of BS. I know many who shoot wide open country and you are better off shooting smaller calibers than larger ones.
and many of the long range kills are shots of luck than pin point accuracy.

Yes I agree one should put many hours to shooting long range and you can't do this with big bore rifles, mainly because your shoulder would be like jelly in less than 10 rounds, and the expense would swallow up the common working hunter.

Most of my Black tail I have killed have been within 125 yards 270, 243 and 308. Mule deer one was approx 225 and that was killed with a 7mm mag. Elk My furthest was shot at approx 275 and that was killed with a 7mm mashburn super magnum.

My 340 weatherby has killed 2 brown bear and 3 Yukon moose. But understand you don't shoot to kill a brown bear on the first shot. You shoot a brown bear on your first shot to break it down so it don't eat you.

In my opinion if you Hunt 90% of your season in wide open country, learn how to stock and spend much time shooting in desert country. and do it with a smaller caliber rifle. and if your season is about ready to open, I am a traditionalist go for accuracy rather than power, I have the standard rifles 270, 308, 243, 7MM mag of 2 flavors and of course 340 for dangerous game.

I have seen more trophy bucks killed at long ranges with the 30-06, 270 or 280 Rem. loaded with 130-150 gr bullets. than anything else. and that has been through out New Mexico, Montana, Kibab Arizona, Oregon etc.

So in essence If you cannot move around much, don't go with a cannon built for breaking up bone and tearing up allot of flesh and blood vessels on Dangerous game, settle for a mild shooting piece that you can comfortably shoot and hit your target within 250 max.....because if you don't, you will pay the price in hobbling all over Gods creation looking for a wounded animal.
 
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K
Kodiak
Funny you should mention the open country in Montana. I used to bowhunt Out side of Malta and never had to take a shot over 40 yrds. I'm well aware how tuff a shot past 250 can be. I used to hand load .30-06 rounds and we would target shoot well over 500 yrds just for giggles. Hitting a coffee can lid at that range is a buger, but after a while you can make it happen consistently.

My only reasoning in looking for a slightly heavier calibur is because of a terrible incident. I had found not a tremendous buck but good sized in the Missouri breaks and was trying my patience. He was a fun buck to hunt, getting the better of me on 4 diffrent occasions when he should have been dead, once at a mear 8 yrds. The seson was winding down and it was time to punch my tag. I took my .06 and dug him up one last time. At 350 yrds broadside and -23 deg. I was in no mood for cat and mouse. I grabbed a solid rest and let him have it just be hind the front shoulder. The 165 grain broke his shoulder, and travled up and into his neck on a slight up hill shot. It was the most horrible 6 hrs of tracking EVER! It only warmed up to a whole -12 that day.
 

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