Getting Into Long Range Hunting - Ongoing thread

[Terminator]

Yep, all pretty much on the money. KG will know better than most about not being able to get projectiles to shoot... A reliable source of "sensible" projectiles should be one of the first things that is considered when developing a load/building a rifle.

This is a major reason that I built a 338 rather than a 375 for LR. The 300gr SMK was readily available and the 300gr Hybrid was coming. There was (still is) all sorts of wild fantasy 375 ultra high bc projectiles being tested through specialised gain twist etc barrels. Building something based around one of these would result in a very expensive safe dweller "coz I'm waiting on projectiles for my ultra specialised barrel as it won't shoot anything readily available (which are all flying bricks designed for close range big game felling)" (in my opinion). Sure, barrel life is better in a 375 (who really cares when you are building something like this?) but the projectiles at $5 a pop would make for a much more expensive beast to run, not to mention that you couldn't afford to shoot it coz either (1) its to expensive, and/or (2) you don't have any projectiles...

It is also the main reason I have a 7mm as my main hunting rifle. Either 162gr amax or 180gr hybrids/vld's make excellent LR projectiles, and there are heaps of choices for closer range things.

In saying all this, both my 7mm and 338 are custom cases, with custom dies, but since Greg Duley had done all the the load development/testing, it cut out basically all the BS of building something a bit different. Not wanting to push Greg's stuff, but I think his light weight LR rigs are a very good combination of parts without going crazy with custom actions etc.

Claw you're right the 375 is all bad and you should keep away from it at any cost. Eating humble pie is a bitch though.

[The Claw]

I will look at the 375 again when it comes time to rebarrel. I haven't discounted the 375 completely, just at the time I built, the availability of projectiles wasn't good. In saying that, anything that I've seen bigger than my 338 hasn't made me think "bugger, I wish I'd built something bigger"... so maybe what I have is enough for me

sent from my phone... spelling could be average

[Mossie]

So I spose I should finally get off my arse and get a trip report done

With Xmas day over - plenty of beers consumed and far too much food demolished - boxing day rolls round. It was early when I get a call from me mate Tui4Me asking if I wanted to stretch the legs on the new canon. Of course I was keen as.

First off was a quick trip to his shooting posie, to quickly verify the drop chart at the range we would be shooting at. 7.5MOA was dialled for the 7.4MOA drop at 500 yards. Two shots sent down range through the mirage, then into the ute to go check the target.

I was happy with the first two being 1.25" at 500 yards, so with a quick .5MOA down and .5MOA left to allow for the wind, the third shot was fired and a hit in the 4" bull was considered a success Time to go hunting.........

After a bit of running around finding gear (I had only brought day hunting gear with me, and we were planning an overnighter) we headed off into the hills. The first few steps up the hill had the heart working off the previous day (and feeling it too). Soon later we were at the lookout spot, and getting ready to go. All of about 5 minutes later, with the rifle only just setup, an excited voice mutters "Shit......there is a deer already there for ya.......right in the middle!!!".
Well the heart was still pumping away from the walk in, and I struggled to settle in behind the rifle, but the deer was happily feeding its way through the clearing, even setting down for a while. This gave me some time to reduce the heart rate a little.
Finally I settled behind the rifle, dialled the 8.75MOA to get me to the 565 yard mark, and when a broadside shot presented itself, I squeezed off a round and sent the 162gr A-Max cruising over to meet the deer. Clean bloody miss!!!!! I had pulled the shot right (a bit of a problem I need to deal with in the future). Luckily the deer only got a bit of a fright, but didnt leave the clearing. It even kept on feeding!!!!! Re-ranging the deer saw it still at 565 yards, so I once again settled behind the rifle and loaded another round. Once my lucky chance second broadside shot presented itself, I squeezed off the second round. I was rather relieved to hear the "HIT!!!!" call come from beside me.

After the standard handshake and congrats, we pondered our situation. With a 2 hour round trip to get the deer, and 2.5 hours of light remaining, we made the call to bolt over there and recover it. And bolt we did, walking/skidding our way down the hill then grovelling back out the other side (well I was grovelling, with me mate flying up like he had a bloody jetpack on). Soon enough we reach the clearing, to find my deer. A nice yearling red.

With the obligatory photo then slice and dice session over, we made like a hockey player and pucked off back to the lookout - making it back with 15mins of light left. At this point we made the call to flag the overnighter and walk back out, as we had already wandered across the clearing and didnt expect anything to come out in the morning. So on go the headlamps and we did the walk out in the dark.

So the new rifle now has had its first kill in my hands, and my first deer shot at more than 150 yards I still have a long way to go before I can call myself a long range hunter, but hopefully my first hunt with the new rifle is a sign of things to come.

Big Thanks to Tui4Me for his help and taking me to that spot marked X on the map.

[7mmsaum]

Killing a Deer at 565 yards is a great shot in anyones book, well done Mossie, you will love eating that off the BBQ.

[Tui4Me]

Killing a Deer at 565 yards is a great shot in anyones book, well done Mossie, you will love eating that off the BBQ.

He sweated for it that's for sure

Was a great shot for the 1st deer he has taken with that rifle

[Brennos]

Damn, i'd be lucky to see a animal at that range, never mind shoot it.

[puku]

Nice one mossie.

Hope you can over come the pulling issue I read about in another thread

Once again nice one

[Mossie]

Well it is about time I added another small update to this thread.

Latest shoot with the rifle was the long range gong shoot in Ohakune with all the boys. And it is safe to say - it performed brilliantly. Running straight from my unverified drop chart, I was hitting gongs out to 1000yards with no vertical adjustment needed. Gongs were placed at 480, 680 and 1000 yards. 10" and 4" plates at 480 were hit first shots. The wind at 680 proved a pain, but two shots of wind adjustment had me on the 10" in the third shot. Then 4" plate hit first shot.
1000 yard was quite some fun and games. At one point, I had 23MOA up, and 15MOA wind! But once the wind was nailed, and picking the timing of my shots, 1000 yards was conquered

Now I have really caught the LR bug, so will be looking at rangefinders next Watch this space............

[veitnamcam]

Wind is the hard bit allright.especially across a gully where you have no indicator. I need lots of pratice here.