Missed !

[dcederberg]

The shot I have been waiting for, cow elk 587 yards slightly uphill, set dope for 600 and missed. Using bypod, backpack as rear bag and very calm. Dont know what happened. Have been hitting the 600 yard steel every shot. I am thinking I shot over, should have compensated or dialed down for the uphill and not quite being 600 yards. So dissapointed! Very mad at myself. Shooting 300 RUM Sendero with 168 Bergers at 3380, probably not the rifles fault!

Ceder

 

[CB11WYO]

....I am thinking I shot over, should have compensated or dialed down for the uphill and not quite being 600 yards....

Yup I think I agree. No worries, clean miss I guess. It's a bummer when that happens, ask me how I know

 

[WildRose]

Did you not see the impact? From the sound of it if I were to guess I'd also figure the most likely scenario is that if you in fact missed it may have been high but there's no way to know.

You aren't giving enough of the conditions for us to really give good answers.

How steep was the angle?

What was the wind like?

If you didn't see the impact I have to ask do you have a good brake on the rifle?

The latter point is an important one and why so many of us run brakes even on rifles that don't have a whole lot of recoil because it doesn't take a whole lot to throw you off enough that you cannot see the bullet impact.

 

[kcebcj]

If the look angle was less than 20 degrees which would be about 1 MOA at 600 yards you just made a bad shot if your dope was right. If it was steeper should have corrected to the EHR. Been there done that.

 

[dcederberg]

I would guess more like 30 degree angle, I do have a break on my rifle and the trigger break felt really good. My buddy was watching the shot also and we could not see any impact, the ground was really soft, also could not see any bullet trace. The other factors were wind in my face pretty much and it was cold. My dope was made at 70 degree's if that would make much difference.

 

[WildRose]

With that much angle the odds are you shot over. What was your point of aim? High shoulder? Mid shoulder? Bread basket?

 

[pyroducksx3]

Are you sure you missed? Although the conditions aren't the same I shot an elk at longrange ,twice in fact, and that elk didn't even flinch or react in anyway never could see the impacts. The elk walked off and when I went over to check guess what I found an elk. This is also why I use a ballistic program and dial vs the the preset dials. I'm sure they work just fine for some people but I like accounting for all the factors.

 

[Dr. Vette]

The other factors were wind in my face pretty much and it was cold. My dope was made at 70 degree's if that would make much difference.

I'd wonder more about the wind.

Last year when shooting my elk I was on the edge of a small rise overlooking a very flat meadow. The wind seemed in my face, directly on, but in reality I discovered it was coming at 45 degrees or so, and then up the edge of the rise, making me think it was head on. Thankfully I made corrections and still got the elk.

So, the wind might have tricked you.

 

[MMERSS]

I would guess more like 30 degree angle

What does your dope in inches for 510 yards say compared to 600? Maybe this will give you an indicator to what happened.

 

[WildRose]

I'd wonder more about the wind.

Last year when shooting my elk I was on the edge of a small rise overlooking a very flat meadow. The wind seemed in my face, directly on, but in reality I discovered it was coming at 45 degrees or so, and then up the edge of the rise, making me think it was head on. Thankfully I made corrections and still got the elk.

So, the wind might have tricked you.

When it comes to windage errors elk are very forgiving due to their size. You can be off 18-24" on a broadside shot and still put it on target well enough for a clean kill.

Measure an elk carcass from the last rib to mid neck and you're going to have a kill zone that is roughly 3-4 feet wide depending on the size of the animal.

When you consider this shot was sub 600yds it would take a tremendous error in wind adjustment to get a complete miss.

Taking the angle cosine multiplying by 587 I get a true linear distance of 508 yds. Sinee he held/set for full value he was off roughly 26" in doping the drop.

If the aim point is mid depth that's about 13" from the withers which would mean the bullet probably sailed 8-12" high over her back.

 

[sp6x6]

I agree with Wild Rose last post, and are you sure you didnt have " back strap fever"

 

[MMERSS]

Taking the angle cosine multiplying by 587 I get a true linear distance of 508 yds. Sine he held/set for full value he was off roughly 26" in doping the drop.

If the aim point is mid depth that's about 13" from the withers which would mean the bullet probably sailed 8-12" high over her back.

Hopefully the OP learns from this with a good approach, calculates the math and applies what should have been the appropriate elevation correction, and now realizes how practical all this could have been for that shot.

At times a tough lesson with ballistics comes at the expense of missed opportunities!!!

 

[dcederberg]

Well you guys are going to think I am an idiot, the mystery was solved tonight why I missed. I went to the range we use as soon as I got off work and shot my 600 yard dope. It hit about 300 yards short of the target. My turret was off by one full turn, I turned the dial one complete turn to 2.3 and hit the steel 4 times in a row. I cant believe that happened, I guess the zero stop is going on in the morning. I feel better kinowing that I didnt shoot that bad but pretty mad for that happening. Was carrying my rifle on my chest on my wheeler and I think rubbing on me turned it. I remember setting it back to zero but did not check my 2 up and 2 out. Rookie mistake that wont happen again!! Going to take out my frustration on a coyote at long range soon..

 

[MMERSS]

Well you guys are going to think I am an idiot, the mystery was solved tonight why I missed. I went to the range we use as soon as I got off work and shot my 600 yard dope. It hit about 300 yards short of the target. My turret was off by one full turn, I turned the dial one complete turn to 2.3 and hit the steel 4 times in a row. I cant believe that happened, I guess the zero stop is going on in the morning. I feel better kinowing that I didnt shoot that bad but pretty mad for that happening. Was carrying my rifle on my chest on my wheeler and I think rubbing on me turned it. I remember setting it back to zero but did not check my 2 up and 2 out. Rookie mistake that wont happen again!! Going to take out my frustration on a coyote at long range soon..

Not returning turrets to a zero has happened with many of us, including myself. I can relate to that. For sake of discussion, what do you think your elevation results would have been had you not been off on your turrets one full turn and shooting with a 30 deg slope while not correcting for this slope? Do you think this would have made a difference with the outcome? Your thoughts?