First off I guess I need to preface this article with a caveat: Your definition of long range vs the next guy could be too completely different distances. This is especially true for hunters who live west of The Mississippi vs East Coast.
This past fall, a friend and myself headed out West for some Mule Deer. Here he is, on his come range, physically confirming his HUNTING zero / DOPE / hold-over at 600 yards. I have to specify that since most hunting don’t set their zero at 100 yards. In this case, the shooter using a 270WBY, set his zero at 250 yards.
With that number, he knows how many inches high and how many inches low his shot will be at various ranges. And more importantly, for a “snap-shot” under stress, he’s good for, “minute-of-deer” over quite a long distance.
As fate would have it, he shot his mule deer at 400 yards. We tried to get in closer, but he busted us and his pack doe got up to leave. Giving our shooter here maybe 10 seconds to sling up and take a shot.
Impact point? High center chest, almost on the neck. Deer feel over like a dollar-store-mannequin.
Just today, Freeze and I were discussing how we are surprised more younger shooters. who are interested in the longer-range game, haven’t seemed to notice there are quite a few hunting rounds that could get the job done. Could they burn out a barrel over extended use? Sure. Maybe. But the cost of entry on these platforms is so low; especially used, that i’m willing to bet the numbers work out economically.
But then again, most guys buy gear as a crutch to hold off actually trying to shoot for fear of failure and…gasp…missing a shot in front of their buddies.
Marky
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