Thread: Going ‘old school’

I shot a deer yesterday at 50 yards with my 14.5” .308/ red dot combo, far more fun than sniping from long range. It’s a long way outside your 7.5-9lb.

Originally Posted by Hunter_Nick

I reckon middle of the road just works for 90% of everything I need

This.^^

My suspicion is that Hunters fall into 4 shooting groups

(1) I need to experiment, shoot a wide variety of stuff in order to have all the info to make a decision. Learning is fun.

(2) I'm a distance guy. There has to be a looong way between me and the beast to make zapping it interesting.

(3) I'm the ghost with the most. I love to sneak up on beasties and stick the barrel up one of their nostrils before I fire.

(4) I cant be bothered carrying a heavy rig, or low crawling for miles. I'm going for a walk with my 243/708/308 and if it's under 300 yards, I'll take it on.

Didn't realise there were so many enlightened people on this forum. I thought you were all long range, stainless-synthetic touting, techno donkeys.

Apologies for being so shortsighted.

Originally Posted by Frodo

Didn't realise there were so many enlightened people on this forum. I thought you were all long range, stainless-synthetic touting, techno donkeys.

Apologies for being so shortsighted.

you forgot GONGS

Originally Posted by Sarvo

you forgot GONGS

Yep. Never understood shooting Gongs. I imagine no amount of cooking would make them any more palatable. Plus they might give you ring worms.

All I ever do is "old school bush stalking" 308 is the weapon of choice my opinion long range is more attuned to shooting rather than hunting two totally different disciplines. More guile required in bush stalking rather than being gear savvy with long range

Hi folks, this is my first post on here as a member. I think we are spending a huge percentage of our time and money these days preparing for and worrying about 1% of the possible shots. There are very few times where you cannot get closer and within the range of a normal set up. The most important thing is to use a good calibre and suitable projectile matched to the game targeted, and then sight in well and know your range and trajectory before pulling the trigger. It doesn't matter what range you like to shoot animals at. My only beef is with people who view them as targets more than something to be respected. And that can happen at any range. I spent a day hunting last week and my scope was never off three power. Got a nice ten pointer too. Good fun. I think that long range shooting gets all the press due to the number of people buying and selling but not necessarily really using that stuff. There are plenty of guys and girls who quietly go out and buy a good 308, keep it and use it without advertising things as widely. I do think that as someone else said, that everyday and bush hunting needs more stalking and hunting skill, while long range shooting is more about glassing and then technical skill. Aside from the challenges of terrain and weather etc. They are the same no matter how you hunt and only varied by where. Some long rangers will jump up and down about that, but the fact is the closer you get the greater the risk of detection for a number of reasons. Silence, reading wind and simply speed of reaction and reading animals becomes so much more critical. It is called hunting for a reason and it is why I keep going back for more.

Originally Posted by chainsaw

303 with open sights if you want "real" old school

now you have me thinking of my first deer rifle a bsa p14 303 with aperture sights , shot my first deer with that got 2 of them one evening , will admit by then I had mounted a cheap scope ...my old man still has that rifle sitting in the safe

yep- always did and always have- started out in the bush-grew up in Taupo- now have 280rem A Botl for slips with 30mm scope-max is 500m in good conditions- otherwise I cant be fooked walking all that way to find no animal- or then track it for hours.....prefer inside 400 for 80% of shots- and a 708 stumpy XBolt((clued/Koted+Timber stock- cos thats all that matters )) for out to 200- def prefer inside 100m- prefer chasing squeely Sika around and being up close for the shot- walk 30m and then track it if i have to.

Funny, I shoot gongs often. Built a flash harry long range hunting rifle was great but if you look at it now it wears a 2-8 scope with fixed paralax and shoots old 140gn partitions about as fast as a 6.5x55 handload and is suppressed
Its a far cry from the 3-18 Luepy it used to wear with brake and super dooper LR projectiles.

Originally Posted by ANTSMAN

yep- always did and always have- started out in the bush-grew up in Taupo- now have 280rem A Botl for slips with 30mm scope-max is 500m in good conditions- otherwise I cant be fooked walking all that way to find no animal- or then track it for hours.....prefer inside 400 for 80% of shots- and a 708 stumpy XBolt((clued/Koted+Timber stock- cos thats all that matters )) for out to 200- def prefer inside 100m- prefer chasing squeely Sika around and being up close for the shot- walk 30m and then track it if i have to.

Same but with diffrent calibres ......6.5x55 for spring slips and clearings up to 400yds and 8mm for the rest of the year bush bashing

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

This.^^

My suspicion is that Hunters fall into 4 shooting groups

(1) I need to experiment, shoot a wide variety of stuff in order to have all the info to make a decision. Learning is fun.

(2) I'm a distance guy. There has to be a looong way between me and the beast to make zapping it interesting.

(3) I'm the ghost with the most. I love to sneak up on beasties and stick the barrel up one of their nostrils before I fire.

(4) I cant be bothered carrying a heavy rig, or low crawling for miles. I'm going for a walk with my 243/708/308 and if it's under 300 yards, I'll take it on.

This is pretty much my observation too. I’d definitely put myself in the first camp, I’ve tried them all. The benefit however is what I’ve learned from all the different calibers. And here is the crux of it all; they ALL work as long as you, the hunter, know the limits of the cartridge and the limits of yourself. Regardless of cartridge, you have to put the appropriate bullet in the right place. Some combos will give you a bit more leeway on shot placement, but only to a point.....

Nice scope @Hunter_Nick I've had it my wish list for a while.

Can't say I've had your experience, as I've never been into long range hunting, not my thing, plus I'm too cheap buy all the fancy kit.

I shoot a 308 with a low power scope, 300m is a very long shot for me. I shot a couple of deer this year with a open sighted 303...that was my kinda old school.

I kinda fall into this camp , my long range rig is a suppressed 308 with 10 power scope ,plenty good enough out to 400 and my personal max range , my other rifles are older with iron sights and smaller scopes the only down side to older rifles with iron sights and /or smaller scopes and bush hunting is the hearing protection.
I have recently ordered a new rifle in 6.5 x 55 with open sights and will wear a 3-10 power scope ,I really went round in circles about suppressing it but in the end I reckon you even get hearing loss with suppressed rifles so am going to try carrying a small set of earmuffs in the open country and look into some good custom earplugs , doesn’t solve the problem for bushstalking though .

I have had my 30-30 for over 33 years and it got it's first scope two years ago (a VX Hog 1-4x20).
29 years ago I bought a 308 for longer range slip hunting and put a 2.5 fixed power scope on it, but it's now wearing a 2-7x33.

My last 3 shots at deer have all been about 20m...