I agree with you. Hell we get people in the store bragging about their 1000 yard shot on an elk. If you ask them to show you how far the shot was they always point to a stop light about 250 yards away show them a 1000 yards they thinks about 2000 yards.
On a good day I shoot about the same as you.

 

No true hunter would take a shot at big game that far out. It falls into an ethics dilema for most. The big question most consider and answer NO to was: "The new 100yards is now 400yards. Just because we can hit at 1000 yards should we shoot big game that far out?"
SHADOW

 

With my eye sight, I am comfortable at 200 yards for my limit.

 

heck no
I can shoot bug hole's all day long if I do my part

ZRT

 

I don't really practice shots over 200 yards for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, it's hilly and wooded here, and line of sight is usually about 30-50 yards. If I take the time to find a really good spot and get in a tree, etc, I might get 100-150 yards.

Secondly, why am I shooting something 400 yards away even if I could see it? It's clearly not a threat to me.

Hunting is a slightly different story, but even then I don't find myself with too many good shots over 200 yds.

Az

 

You can actually see pretty good at 400 yards, but thats not to say that I would be taking such shots.

I have about a 500+/- yard 'shot' off my front porch across a field and I can usually see a 140lb deer at the extreme end. With the right rifle and scope under the right conditions I feel pretty comfortable I could make the shot if I had to. But why would I risk a shot that I felt 'pretty comfortable' with when all I have to do is work my way for a closer shot that I know I can hit.

Most of my hunting is done in the woods behind my house where I keep a food plot. Just for grins I walked the other section (uncleared) a couple of days ago and I couldnt see my black lab beyond 50 yards, and in some places it was 50 FEET. Most of the areas around me are just the same so why should I worry about practicing 1000 yard shots when my shooting distances are less than 200 yards?

All that said, I spent a year working in WY in the Rocky Mountains. With the right hill top it was easy to see for miles. Standing in my derrick at night I could see traffic on a road about 10 miles away. 1000 yard shots would be quite common and possible there if I were capable of it and I wouldve loved to give it try just to see if I could pull it off but its pretty pointless to shoot that distance in most cases. Anyone/anything 1000 yards away is not a threat anyway in most cases.

 

To many youngsters that continue to discuss SHTF rifles and talking about engaging targets out to 300
Yards. Why? You want to survive don’t draw attention to yourself.

 

Yeah, me too. And my shooting is done in a nice relaxed environment. Put a little fear into the package........ When I shoot for fun, I'm pretty pleased with my shooting but all bets are off if pressure is involved. Those are the guys I admire, the ones who can make the shot under pressure.

I'm pretty sure I can't see anything discernible at 1000 yards without a powerful scope so I take some of these claims with a grain of salt.

 

I practice within 50-75 yds typically, with few exceptions the times I have used a rifle against humans the shooting distance was across the room (10-20 ft) or out to 100 yds.

I do not intend to shoot at things that don't know I am there, I am an iron sights guy.

 

Most people don't shoot past 100 -200 yds because their local range isn't longer than 100- 200 yds.

I shoot at 600 and 1000 yd monthly because I have a 600 and 1000 yd range at my disposal.

I do it because it's fun and a challenge.

I don't ever see a reason why I'd need to shoot 1000 yds in a SHTF moment. There isn't a reason to draw attention to yourself.


I wouldn't shoot at game past 600 yds. Although I'm 100% confident in my abilities to cleanly and effectively shoot game up 600 yds.

 

Most people don't shoot past 100 -200 yds because their local range isn't longer than 100- 200 yds.

I shoot at 600 and 1000 yd monthly because I have a 600 and 1000 yd range at my disposal.

I do it because it's fun and a challenge.

I don't ever see a reason why I'd need to shoot 1000 yds in a SHTF moment. There isn't a reason to draw attention to yourself.


I wouldn't shoot at game past 600 yds. Although I'm 100% confident in my abilities to cleanly and effectively shoot game up 600 yds.

Same here. I enjoy long distance shooting and have done it for nearly 30 years. So I've gotten fairly good at it. I've had training and shoot in competition. This helps keep the skills honed and adds some pressure to the equation. I used to do a fair amount of varmint hunting too, but haven't done that in a few years.

How well I'd perform at that distance under the real pressure of combat, I have no clue. Not nearly as well as I do at the range, I'm sure.

The only 100 yard shooters that get to me are the ones that can't hold any better than a paper plate sized group, and think that's "good enough". Heck, maybe it is. But I have always been one to strive to raise the bar and continue to get better at anything I do. So I guess that just goes against my mindset.

 

Mercstarr,

You are most likely correct about the average member of this forum. Although I don't personally know many here, the one I do know, actually can and have made shots at 1,000 yards and often 600-800 yard distance. However your point is well taken. because of my trade I do run into a lot of wannabe precision rifleman. Most can't estimate the distance, wind, slope or even explain their rifle/bullet trajectory. Some do pretty well at the benchrest range out to 300 yards. We have a high power range (1,000 yards) and it gets a lot of shooters, matches, and clubs. And therefore in our local area, we do have a lot of world class shooters. And then, we teach precision field rifle and train regularly on distances from point-blank to 1,200 yards with little rifles such as the 308 and 30-06. As a note, most high power 1,000 yard shooters, are totally lost when we take them to the field and introduce unknown distances, no wind flags, hump up/and down to get to the range, etc.....not because they aren't any good, but because they haven't learned the "rifleman" part of being a "rifleman". It's not that tough to pickup a $400 Savage, put a $150 16x scope on top, feed it some Federal match ammo, set it up on some bags resting on a concrete table and press off 3-5 shots that will fit into a quarter at 100 yards. None of this however will help that same inexperienced shooter hit a coyote size target at 783 yards in the Arizona high desert country in May!

As for making long shots in a SHTF situation.....I can see many times when this might be an advantage, but you have to be in the terrain which would dictate longer defensive fields of fire. And, I would much rather have a partner who has developed the skill to consistently make 800 yards shots, by my side, when we had 89 yard shots to make, in order to survive.

Best Regards.....Eagle Six

 

Your right.
Just this is the net so I take it with a grain of salt when I read someones post of this or that.
Whatever,just in the world we live in now there are alot of people who are insecure and build themselves up online.
This is also why you get alot of people who slam others in threads on this board,to make them feel better than the person who they talk down to.
Just insecurities.

 

a rangefinder puts all the nonsense to rest qwik.

 

Then there are some of us that practice 2 or 3 times a week and even shoot our handguns at 200 and 300 yards not becasue I expect it but becasue I learned from Archery that the farther you practice and get use to the closer everything else seams. Shooting is a skill. You either practice and get good or you are just hoping to get lucky.
Also your trigger pull, scope, and ammo I believe are paramount to your shooting skill. With those 3 in check it makes thing easier. Also range= know ranges are far easier then unknown. On my Garand 28 clicks gets me for 1000 yard shots with iron sights I can hold 15 inch groups and I'm starting to have more problems with my eyes so I might actually get a scope on that here pretty soon also just becasue its such a fun gun. But I do think most run down to Wal Mart pick up there ammo and think they could make 1000 yard shots and cant even tell you how far 1000 yard shots are.So unless I see it I take it with a grain of salt. But then again some of us have shot all out liefs and our misses are closer then others could get if they were inside of there target.

 

Nobody EVER discusses the fact that dangerous men aren't stupid enough to be holding still in open country and daylight hours, and nobody can hit them with any reliability if they are moving at more than 500 yds. That is not to say that they are dodging, using cover and shooting back. Then nobody can reliably hit them beyond about 200 yds. Also, 308's wont reliably expand a softpoint beyond about 1/4 mile, so the animal so hit will just run off to suffer. Ditto any cartridge short of the .50 BMG, for hits beyond 600 yds or so. The hunting softpoints have to have 1800 fps left at impact, or they won't expand. Varmint sp and hp bullets need about 1500 fps.

 

I shoot in the F-open class when the competitions pop up in my area I shoot at 500, 600 and 1000 depending on what range i go to and whos doing what when

I am not the best shooter by any means been out of practice since i got out of the army in 09 and just started back into comp shooting

but im ok at 1km not spectacular but i could deff hit a man sized target I have a friend who is in highschool uses a alwxander arms 6.5 and a hendsolt scope keeps less than one inch groups at 500m he is a world class shooter going to the army marksmanship unit after he graduates

Nobody EVER discusses the fact that dangerous men aren't stupid enough to be holding still in open country and daylight hours, and nobody can hit them with any reliability if they are moving at more than 500 yds. That is not to say that they are dodging, using cover and shooting back. Then nobody can reliably hit them beyond about 200 yds. Also, 308's wont reliably expand a softpoint beyond about 1/4 mile, so the animal so hit will just run off to suffer. Ditto any cartridge short of the .50 BMG, for hits beyond 600 yds or so. The hunting softpoints have to have 1800 fps left at impact, or they won't expand. Varmint sp and hp bullets need about 1500 fps.

I think alot of people here kinda do a survivalist fantasy football type thing and like to inflate there ego and how awsome they are

the bolded statement is not really true you can reliably hit moving targets past 500m just takes alot of practice and more thn shootig 100-200m in yourback yard

for 1000m work if I was wanting a ethical kill I would say nothing smaller than a 300 winmag or similar round the 308 will kill at that range and you can make some really really good hits but the thing is why would you take a 1km shot at a deer or elk? if there is a slight misjudgement of the wind or a click off your going to be way off the bullz eye

for hunting I wont take a shot past 500m not that there are many places to take long shots like that on the east coast and the reasons are as follows

I dont have a 4 wheeler
I am lazy and know I can shoot from closer in so why make myself have to drag it an extra 400m i dont have to
and in reality most places in the east coast you are looking at 50m or less for most shots deer hunting or any other hunting.

one thing that you can ask folks who claim to be making 1000m shots on elk or whatever is what kind of glass they are using and what kind of spotting scope.

if they say some 100 piece of glass there proll talking **** as you cant see trace with cheap optics to make adjustments inthe field

 

OR the ones that make consistant hits on a pop can with a 22 at 200 yrds. 1 guy said he could hit a 6 in target with his 308 at 800 yards all the time. these are the same people that tell you they have 200 acres in the mountains fully stocked and an underground bunker system. Check their stats they are in their 20,s. Im 62 and wish i could have bought all that stuff in my 20,s

 

6 in groups are possible at 800m just not by your avg shooter thats where your getting into some real expensive guns and handloads as well as experienced shooters

The reality is noone should be taking shots past 500 yards. Its nice to know you can hit something fairly reliably past that range though if need be :

Our .243 is zeroed at 250 yards and will hit a coyote all day at 500 with lighter sub 100g varmint tips. Anything further is iffy but we've done it before.

Its the people that WONT TRY to get closer than 500 yards that tick me off when hunting.

its pretty easy to change your zero to be at a diff distance

my scope has a zero stop so i can set it at a distance(200m) and basicly keeps the scope from going lower than that setting

from there i make a cheat sheet pull back in increments of 100m and re zero
300m +3 moa 12 clicks
400m +3 moa 24 clicks
500m +4 moa 40 clicks
ect
and tape a copy to the but stock so when i range a target i look at my cheat sheet and go ok cyote is 500m click click were zeroed at 5 now we look at wind

(you have to do this with each new batch of ammo you get to keep it spot on)

 

The reality is noone should be taking shots past 500 yards. Its nice to know you can hit something fairly reliably past that range though if need be :

Our .243 is zeroed at 250 yards and will hit a coyote all day at 500 with lighter sub 100g varmint tips. Anything further is iffy but we've done it before.

Its the people that WONT TRY to get closer than 500 yards that tick me off when hunting.

 

Answer is simplicity itself. Invite them to the range to show you how it is done, That you are always eager to learn. The phonies usually won't show up and the few that do are either very good or very bad. You will never hear the bad ones brag about his shooting again as long as you are around.

Besides shooting from the bench no way equates to being able to do the same in the field. I want to know what they can do standing on their hindlegs or from a field support.

 

you dont usualy hear the good shooters bragging either. because they know what they can do its usualy the loud mouths whatever there talking about who are full of the most ****

 

I'm comfortable pie-plating my .308 at 400 yards with glass, 200 with iron sights. Within 200yds my accuracy takes a sharp upward curve- yet admittedly, that's with a calm demeanor at a controlled range. The internet is the new hunting cabin when it comes to fish-tales and bar-stories. Knock 6" off every fish, 20% weight off any animal, and 50% distance off every distance shot. :thumb:

 

There's shooting from a bench, and shooting from a bagged position.... There are a few locations on the home place where I have bags set up to allow me to make a specific shot that I have set up in years gone by at ranges considerably in excess of 600 yards. Those shots are set up for a reason, and they will allow me, or anybody I have shown how to use those sites, to hold the back ways onto the place for long enough to get more of us up there to help resolve the problem. 'Minute of radiator' is good enough for the shots that will have to be made....

 

Down here I never had the need/chance to shoot long distances. I sight my rifles in up to 200 yards but never killed anything beyond 100-150 yards. We are all hills and woods. My scoped rifles have raised scopes and iron sights. Most kills I have are under 50 yards.I'm a good shot within my area. But not by any stretch of the imagination a long distance sniper.

 

Semi auto 30-06 and open sites you can hit the target at 600 yards. May take the whole clip but there just targets.

 

Here in north Georgia shots usually run not more than 50-75 yards. All the deer I have taken were within 75 yards. At the range I reliably hit the black at 100 yards, what else do I need?

 

When my eyes were 19 years old, I could shoot Expert with issue M-14's. The one time I fired for record with an M16 that I didn't even bother to zero, I qualified Sharpshooter.
However, those eyes are now 63 years old, and in fact my shooting eye had to have several hours of surgery to save it from complete blindness.
The iron sights are now fuzzy, and scoping a Mauser K98k or a Springfiled 1903-A3 is blasphemy, so now my range time is limited to the 50 yard side.
I could probably still hit a man at 100 yards, but I hope I'm never in that postion.
Gettin' old ain't for sissies.

 

My "heavy" is a a 20" FNAR w/hvy. barrel and 2-10X Nikon on board. I doubt my wife realizes that I have $2400 invested in it considering the glass and extra mags. I don't hide it (particularly) but she is in shock at what others invest in a long-range rig so I am careful to avoid conversations about my scope.

I'm comfortable at hitting 3-4 moa out to 400 yards on clear days with the scope and being able to use a full magazine and semi-auto fire out to about 600 for suppression and maybe pinning someone for a better shot by someone else or setting up a extreme shot for myself if necessary. At nearly 13 pounds, I'll be doing that from a prepared position in my BOL. When I get around to selecting a carry-around PDR/MBR it will be a Scout-type with a 20" or less barrel, a red dot and weigh in considerably less. That should give me a 200-odd yard comfort zone which is where I expect my sweet spot to be. I'm not sure there is an AR in my future but if the finances allowed I would be looking at something like a .308 18" and a red dot for a bit more range and higher cap mags.

My best friend of 40 years has a Remington 700 w/a top notch Leupold that set him back around $3600, not counting the reloading search for an optimum load. It also doesn't count attending a Blackwater course on long-range shooting that increased his skill to where he is confident out to 600 yards when prone and 700 off a bench. He has NO expectation of hunting with it, only sitting up and working defense and maybe counter-sniper if it really came down to it. We're both in our 50's now and neither pretends we can run around the woods fighting trained troops.

Another good friend is an E-7 in the Army and shoots a Savage 24" barrel with Swarovski glass on it. His investment is around $3200. He's comfortable out to 700-800 from the bench and when he comes back from his current tour in Afghanistan, hopes to make the push on to the 1000 yard mark. For running around, he still prefers his M4.

Living in Idaho I know quite a few shooters/hunters, police/SWAT guys and even a couple of professional guides. The longest claim I believe is a long-time gunshop owner who mentioned (when I asked about the differences between hunting in TN vs. ID) his longest ever shot was back in the mid 90's at what he ranged as 712 yards on an elk. Most of the claims, even in the wide-open west, are for shots in the 75-200 yard range with occasional 300's thrown out. I listen for stories that emphasize how they go into position and what the conditions were rather than jumping immediately to how far away they fired from to drop the target.

Rifle reality for my wife is the 200 yd range. She thinks many people are silly trying to stock up on AR's in anticipation of embarking on a post-apocalypse career as a merc. She does understand the need for more mag capacity for defense though. Again, she's another who prefers the scout rifle configuration and concept of a PDR as a more practical and realistic platform.

Unless we get into EOTW scenarios, military operations are a remote possibility. EVen then the "Dales" among us will have to face reality that we're not going to be ghosting through the night, taking out sentries or planting explosives. Still, we all probably want weapons which are better than we are or the best they can be given our financial situation.

 

I honestly don't really care what others say "online" what they can or can not do. I know my limitations and the limitations of those that I count on.