Thread: Decision on an ethical shot

Originally Posted by flock

I was looking forward to Eric having a crack.

The fact that he did not is quite telling...

No problem smacking that deer in the center of shoulder at 500yds with a bit of wind (light breeze) from right to left.Allow about a 12in drift.308/165gr drifts a wee way up here in the north west breeze.Good practice at the range when windy.

Very similar to the dinner plate challenge, nice to see others have similar ethics.

Another perspective. We have an annual egg shoot. An egg in a plastic bag against a neutral background (so misses/splash can't be seen) 500 yards. First to hit their egg wins I.e. not time but number of shots. After 5 rounds without a hit the scorer marks the centre of your group.

The best winning score (in the 10 or so years I've run it) - 2 rounds. I've won twice with a Lithgow 308 (that I stupidly sold), once on shot 4 and another time on shot 7. Ya ain't gonna place if you gotta go past 10 rounds.

Most of the guys are shooting sporting or semi sporting rifles (as opposed to full PRS /F class rigs) and most of them get their egg in shots 10- 15. I'd be the first to encourage guys to get closer and avoid long shots but modern gear is very good if it's not too windy!

I liked the video but then I like a lot of what Eric puts out but would love to see it tried with hunting rifles, especially after seeing the only one to manage it was using a rifle worth more than my ute

I would have given it a go with my good old full bore rifle - my 788 in 308 ( technically capable ) on 6 power ( 2-7 Leupold ) nah give it a miss -ohhh well maybe it could give it a go ( now how much drop is that )- and thats the problem - in real terms how many of us have tried shots that really were not on - worse thing probably do it again - just on the off chance mentality

Originally Posted by Tentman

Another perspective. We have an annual egg shoot. An egg in a plastic bag against a neutral background (so misses/splash can't be seen) 500 yards. First to hit their egg wins I.e. not time but number of shots. After 5 rounds without a hit the scorer marks the centre of your group.

The best winning score (in the 10 or so years I've run it) - 2 rounds. I've won twice with a Lithgow 308 (that I stupidly sold), once on shot 4 and another time on shot 7. Ya ain't gonna place if you gotta go past 10 rounds.

Most of the guys are shooting sporting or semi sporting rifles (as opposed to full PRS /F class rigs) and most of them get their egg in shots 10- 15. I'd be the first to encourage guys to get closer and avoid long shots but modern gear is very good if it's not too windy!

Yep. Its wind is the biggest factor. At a guess Id say those guys were compensating for the wind they could feel and somewhere out there between shooting position and target there was a whole heap less.
From experience Id go and sight in on a perfect day, and get over confident about how I could shoot. Then when I set up a long range and days were not perfect, it humbled.
The number of times Ive seen guys adjust for wind and then have first shots land off target in opposite direction.

for those that have shot there so the story goes the old Trentham Range at 800-900 range the wind could be one direction at the firing mound and the complete opposite at the target butts - and no I don't think that would compensate the wind out

Interesting video. Amazing that blokes with very well set up target rifles couldn't do it. Makes wonder just how hopeless I'd be with my old howa...

@Barry the hunter As I was reading this thread I was reminiscing about when the Kaituna Rifle Club would come across the Ditch and we, Helen and I, would ferry her brother, father, friends, and rifles up to Trentham for the Ballinger Belt Competition. My father-in-law always lamented the wind at Trentham. His pet phrase, and one I still use the this day was, "That's a bitchy niggly wind today!" Classic shooters line!

Hit probability on a 1moa target at most ranges isn't terribly high. It's not surprising really considering the variables that must be controlled and the degree to which they must be controlled, and how that increases as range increases.

I have a 150mm diamond plate, which ends up being about 1MOA at 500 metres. It is very difficult to consistently make first round hits on it. All things perfect with the shooter and their inputs, the mechanical hit probability of most rifle systems will be lower than 100% on a 1MOA target at any range where exterior ballistics become a factor. Add shooter error and input errors and I would expect most cannot do consistently.

Same as the Forums' very own Dinner Plate Challenge, except each shooter was required to shoot at 500 yards, when with the Dinner Plate you get to choose the distance. I wonder how many of them, if shooting the Dinner Plate, would have nominated 500 yards as their distance? How many would have pushed it out further. Most I reckon. Not so keen on heeding Insp. Callahan's advice.
I'm with MB on this one — 200m for me.

Very few can do the same in the field as at the range.
500yards it a bloody long way.

I rarely shoot over about 150yards. Perhaps 200yards in near perfect conditions. But that is in part due to where I hunt.

"A man's gotta know his limitations"

If long range hunting involved having less gear, cheaper equipment and no esoteric calculations, I believe nobody would bother doing it.

I think I've posted this somewhere before. Old army standard targets for shooters. All shot with open or non-magnifying sights at 100 yards. Prone 2 MOA, Sitting or Kneeling supported 3MOA, Sitting unsupported 5 MOA and Offhand 7MOA. Theres a lot of shooters out there that cant consistantly achieve these standards with modern telescopic sights so probably should think twice before shooting long range.