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As far as long range shooting is concerned, I competed for years with rifles such as the .30-'06, .308, 7mm-08, .260 Remington, and yes, .223 at ranges up to and including 600 and even 1000 yards, but I would not consider taking a shot beyond 300 yards on game. Shooting at a stationary target at a known distance is one thing. Shooting at a live animal, capable of moving at any instant, including the interval between the bullet leaving the barrel and arriving on target, increases the chances of a shot which merely wounds in direct proportion to .

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Yessir. I couldn't agree more.

To call me a competitor is a very long stretch. There was a fine gentleman at a local gun club that arranged the rental of a military range a few years ago and got 15 guys together to collectively pay for the rental. We got the range dedicated to us for five full day sessions over 5 Saturdays over the course of the summer. It was a wonderful experience that we repeated for four summers.

We had a varied selection of mostly hunting rifles and calibers were predominantly but not limited to .308 between the bunch of us, but the real interesting part for me was to watch how well people did. There were a few guys that were really proficient right out of the gate, but several really struggled to even get on paper, even at the shorter ranges as we worked up to going looooong over the course of each day. These were guys that had a true interest in firearms and in shooting far. When people are interested in something, they tend to do better than those that aren't so interested or motivated. There were a couple of F class type shooters in the crowd with gear to match, but mostly it was hunting rifles and some passionate gun guys.

The eye opener for me was just how hard most guys found it to consistently hit those distant targets. To think that there might be a tiny number of hunters wandering around in the woods that think they can actually make a fatal shot at serious distance makes one cringe. It takes a fair bit of practice, good gear, known distances, and controlled conditions to consistently hit far far away. Thankfully, most hunters are highly responsible and respectful nature loving conservationists that stay within reasonable operating limits. TV shows that glorify long range hunting, shooting Elk and the like at 1100, 1200 yards and other great distances do us all a disservice as responsible hunters in my very humble opinion. What ever happened to "get as close as you can, then get 10 paces closer"??

And, yes, I do love magnums....... Never met a gun I didn't like. To quote a wise old sage: "the worst most awful piece of ass I ever had, was GREAT!!!!"

Edited by Postman (13/09/16 10:32 PM)

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