Quick Long Range Shots

[jsthntn247]

The place I hunt whitetails is a big crp field. The crp trees and grass is about 7 foot high so I hunt tripods and ground blinds set up on roads that are about 30 feet wide. The blinds are mostly set where you can shoot 500 yards in either direction down the road. By the time a buck enters the road, you only have about 2 seconds to judge him and make a shot. I have a 300 WM and am shooting the 208 Amaxes at 2900 fps. My question is what distance should I zero my rifle to be most effective since I don't have time to range the deer and make adjustments to my turrets. I missed a huge buck Sunday afternoon by shooting under him and killed a nice one the next day. The deer I killed was at 400 yards and I just spun the turrets real quick without even looking and almost missed him high because I spun it too much. My scope is a Vortex Viper 5-15x44 with a mil dot reticle and was thinking that I could use the reticle for hold over some how. What would you do in this circumstance.

 

[angus-5024]

i would use the reticule for hold over out to 400 yars, maybe further depending on the cartrige.
There is one thing that needs to be said about LRH: Long shots take time. 2 Seconds isnt enough to range an animal, find dope, ensure proper rest or shooting position, level rifle and make a clean shot.
for a 400 yard shot I know for me, I want at least 30 seconds. Id rather pass on the deer than send hai mary's.

 

[Augustus]

I would shoot a 300 ultra with 155s at 3650 zeroed at 300. You will be nine inches low at 400 and 18 inches low at 500. Pre range those distances and hold over, forget about the knobs.

 

[jsthntn247]

I'm going to put stakes and flags up in the road at known distance. Even considered taking a air horn with me and beeping when they were in the road to get and extra second or two. They are rutting right now and bucks are cruising non stop looking for does. Might even walk down the road with a drag rag with doe in heat. It's tough, but all I got, you can't see anything when they are not in the road, all the vegetation is 7 ft plus.

 

[bthomasb1]

I too would go with a 300 rum ,i would use 175 bergers zero at 270 that way your never more that 2" high for the close shots.my gun will shoot 175's at 3550 then pre range and use your milldots i have 2 300 rums a rem 700 that i use 175 bergers for shorter shots on gas lines where I like you dont have a lot of time and then a carbon barreled one that shoots 230 bergers for the long shots good luck

 

[edge]

I hunt mature woods and also field edges.

I zero at 300 and aim for the Heart!
My bullet is 4 3/4 high at 170 and 10 inches low at 400 yards.

I don't need a rangefinder even on open terrain out to say 250 yards so quick shots at either heart shots or a max of high shoulder with zero thinking

300 - 400 and I am high shoulder without dials

After that I can use the mil dots
-1 at 450
-1.5 at 500
-2 at 550
and my personal max of -2.5 at 600

With distance markers and a mildot or ballistic reticle the range should not be a huge problem.
Wind offsets are a big pain if you don't dial because you are holding off in space...at least with mildots.
IMO.

edge.

 

[Greywolf18]

Where I hunt here in NC, I was shooting under similar conditions. What I did was range different landmarks (I was using trees, bushes, something easily identifiable). I was able to use this to take a buck at 450 this year by doing this. If I hadn't pre-ranged the spots I wouldn't have been able to get a shot off. That's just my 2 cents, and it's worked for me.

 

[Scot E]

2 seconds isn't really enough time to do everything you need to do to get off a good shot most of the time. But I will assume you have that all figured out!

If you have to do the holdover thing then I would sight in at 400. That puts you

6 inches high at 100
9 inches high at 200
7 inches high at 300
-13.5 inches low at 500.

I would think if you could range some approximate distances before hand, it wouldn't be too hard to estimate range by memory and make a good shot.

More preferable to me would be using a reticle for holdover. I really don't like ballistic reticles but this would probably be one style where it would work really well. NF's velocity reticle seem ideal for this.

Scot E.

 

[4xforfun]

500 and under...forget about the high B/C heavy bullets. Like was said above.....7mm or 300 RUM with smaller bullets pushed FAST. Now, these bullets are going to be moving at impact, so maybe a controlled expansion bullet.

As far as zero....I use a 300 yard zero for everything....I am never more than 4" high or low out to, say 340 yards...but...My intent is to dial up for long shoots. You are going to be limited to 500 and shooting much flatter than I do, so find out what the point blank range is for your bullet with an 8 or 10 kill zone and go from there.

I just punched in a 30 cal 165 Accubond at 3500 into my balistics program. 10 inch kill zone (never more than 5" high or low) Zero at 357, point blank range is 418...15 inches low qt 500 yards If you use an 8" kill zone, zero at 318 and you are good to 385....17 inches low at 500.

 

[ol mike]

I think your 300WM will do the job ,I wouldn't go out and buy another rifle -unless of coarse you want a 300rum.
I light for cartridge bullets going fast would be a good bet as stated then do some expierementing with your reticles mildots and the ranging spots you mentioned should get you close to optimal w/your rig.
If you use a drag rag doe in heat i'd put it on a long stick and hold it out to the side of me -so the bucks would smell your foot prints-just an idea.
Good luck that thick brushy hunting is hard but that's where the deer live..
Mike

 

[sscoyote]

Absolutely--apply your reticle. It takes 2 MOA of accuracy to hit a 10" target at 500 yds. That accuracy level should be easily achievable with that reticle afield. Shoot some steel to see. With a little practice, it will be faster than dialing for certain.

 

[4xforfun]

sorry..I spaced out your first post. Your 300 WM will get-r-done as good as any. The same principles apply, just a little slower than a RUM. A few yards different zero and a few FPS difference. Niether you or the deer will miss them!!

 

[WildRose]

The place I hunt whitetails is a big crp field. The crp trees and grass is about 7 foot high so I hunt tripods and ground blinds set up on roads that are about 30 feet wide. The blinds are mostly set where you can shoot 500 yards in either direction down the road. By the time a buck enters the road, you only have about 2 seconds to judge him and make a shot. I have a 300 WM and am shooting the 208 Amaxes at 2900 fps. My question is what distance should I zero my rifle to be most effective since I don't have time to range the deer and make adjustments to my turrets. I missed a huge buck Sunday afternoon by shooting under him and killed a nice one the next day. The deer I killed was at 400 yards and I just spun the turrets real quick without even looking and almost missed him high because I spun it too much. My scope is a Vortex Viper 5-15x44 with a mil dot reticle and was thinking that I could use the reticle for hold over some how. What would you do in this circumstance.

You are thinking correctly. Set your scope on whatever magnification your mil dots are true 1 mil dots and go from there. Set your zero to 100 and using your dope just figure a holdover based on your drops. Have a chart made up that you can just tape to the inside of your rear scope cap if you use flip caps and have those holdovers marked in mils/fractions of mils.

Then simply make yourself up a little range card using a range finder and visible landmarks along the way so you know that if the deer comes out between marker 2 and marker 3 he's between say 200-275 or marker six and seven meaning he's between 50-550 or however you set it up.

I use the mildots in an even simpler fashion for quick shots based on known body dimensions to judge holdover and lead.

 

[jsthntn247]

Been doing some thinking and playing around with jbm ballistic calculator. If I zero at 300, and keep my scope on 12 power, how will this effect holdover since my sub tensions are set at15x? Will 1 mil dot (mil) really be 1.25? If so, I can put one flag at 360, which still puts me in vitals, and anything over that use the first dot out to 450.