What Do You Consider Long Range?

[Gr8bawana]

To me 400 yards seems to be my limit. I don't have a scope with adjustable turrets or holdover lines.
So if I can't aim "on hair" I don't take the shot.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

The longest shot that I have ever killed a big game animal (antelope) was 420 yds according to my rangefinder. That was with my 25-06. My big game rifles all have leupold scopes with cds dials on them. My local range is out to 300 yds. I do have a spot in the local National Forest that I have shot out to 600 yds. For me there are too many variables (especially wind)< i normally limit my shooting to 400 yards.

 

[Winchester]

Since Scott clarified by adding the “technology” piece, I’ll answer this way...

I’ve hunted for almost 50 years with my Dad’s pre-64 model 70 Winchester 30-06 manufactured in 1952. That rifle has original everything and is not “technical” by today’s standards. I’ve been shooting the same handload all that time so I definitely know where it hits for all distances out to about 350 yards. That seems like a good max range, or “long range”, for that rifle.

Two years ago a got the bug to try a new rifle so I had a new custom .28 Nosler built. That rifle incorporates a great deal of modern technology and shoots like a dream. My old 30-06 350 yard max/long range would just be a chip shot for my .28 Nosler.

Now I think what I’d consider “long range” has more to do with how far I’d be willing to shoot rather than what my rifle is capable of. I think at some distance, maybe 400 or 500 yards, you’re not really hunting anymore because you’re not using “fair chase” as much as you’re just shooting something so far away that it has no chance at all.
So I think 400/500 yards is “long enough”.

 

[Slugz]

Id be interested if people know the performance values of their bullet. Min FPS required.
More often than not, many, many, many people have no idea what it is and brag to shoot farther that what is possible for the bullet they have loaded.

Im moose hunting now and I have my drop taped to my stock. Im not shooting over 400.

 

[D_Dubya]

I consider anything over 500 yards long rang even with modern equipment. I shoot regularly out to 1200 yards at steel (and paper). I’m no expert, but I’ve got all the gadgets to shoot far with accuracy and consistency and it’s a fun hobby. I’ve only ever shot at one animal over 500 yards, it was an elk I killed last year at 819 yards. Still not sure how I feel about killing animals at that distance. I played hell finding him even though he dropped dead and that is my main concern with the long distance hunting craze - it can be dang hard to tell where the animal was standing and could be extremely difficult to pick up a blood trail if it runs.

 

[manitou1]

My limit is 700 yds... if I can lay prone and shoot off my pack. If in taller brush and using my tripod or pack sitting up, I limit to 500-550, but only if steady and comfortable.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I forgot to add this to my thread. I used to shoot 1000 yard bp buffalo rifle in our cowboy shoots. I shot a Sharps 45-70. But as i got older, my eye gave up. I got to the point where I could hit a buffalo steel cutout about 50% of the time. The wind was your enemy there too. Would I shoot a game animal with it, probably not. Too hard to be sure of a clean hit & clean kill.

 

[mallardsx2]

12" drop from 300 to 500? What rifle are you shooting??

Typo - 32" is the drop. Thanks for catching that.

300 WSM w 150 grain silver-tips.

 

[memtb]

Because my October has been relatively slow thanks to a late season bull tag and my deer hitting the dirt mid September I have had lots of things that I have been thinking about. One of them being, at what distance does a shot become long range?

This is one of the most subjective questions you could ask, but one of my favorite pieces of this forum is finding out what all of you think on particular topis. So, what distance do you consider long range?

Scott, For my wife and I, we’re both shooting cartridges that have good ballistics and plenty of energy well beyond outpr self imposed range limits. Wiyh ideal conditions, I set my limit @ 600 yards, my wife is more comfortable with a 500 yard limit. Nether one of us have taken game at those ranges, though. She’s taken an elk @ 400 and a bear very near 400. My longest to date is a Pronghorn @ 430 yards.

We both use a 300 yard zero, and are comfortable to 400 without using the CDS function on our Leupolds!

If I can pick the distance, I’d like all of our shots at under 100.....just say’n! memtb

 

[kidoggy]

NO LEAD NO DEAD ! just fling it and hope fer the best.

just kidding.

I have killed elk out to 400 yards and feel pretty confident there but would much rather get within100 yards if at all possible.

I respect those with the ability to make the 1000 yard shots but for me, the fun is getting up close and personal.

 

[mosquito]

I think it really it depends on the crowd. Ive played around with the prs guys a bit and there answer would be 1000 yards ++ . If you ask this question in a flat landers deer camp it would probably be 100 yards . Due to my new experience in hunting im going to keep practicing to 400 yards . Big country makes it hard to get close and easy to see game. I will say the part that bothers me that nobody talks about it the time the bullet is in the air. Don't quote me because im not going to look it up but a 700 yard shot with a 1 sec ish flight time scares the crap out of me. As a hunter, you could do everything perfectly..... the animal takes another step and in that one sec and everything just went bad.

 

[memtb]

I think it really it depends on the crowd. Ive played around with the prs guys a bit and there answer would be 1000 yards ++ . If you ask this question in a flat landers deer camp it would probably be 100 yards . Due to my new experience in hunting im going to keep practicing to 400 yards . Big country makes it hard to get close and easy to see game. I will say the part that bothers me that nobody talks about it the time the bullet is in the air. Don't quate me because im not going to look it up but a 700 yard shoot with a 1 sec ish flight time scares the crap out of me. As a hunter, you could do everything perfectly..... the animal takes another step and in that one sec and everything just went bad.

I agree 110%. I’ve mentioned this several times on a long range hunting forum. I could’ve insuled their mothers, and received a warmer reception! Many of these folks have the uncanny ability to telepathically communicate with the animal....knowing what the animal will do before the animal is aware of what it will do!

Then add to this, many of them use somewhat anemic cartridges, requiring “surgical precision” to get quick, humane kills! memtb

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

As I have mentioned previously, I have Leupold scopes (all VXIII's) with Leupold ballistic turrets for my loads. Every year when I get out my hunting rifles for their pre season shooting sessions, I verify my setting out to 500 yards. Lots of my friends in our gun club shoot 100 yards and consider it good to go.

Just sayin...................

 

[mallardsx2]

I could’ve insulted their mothers, and received a warmer reception!

You should have just insulted their mothers for pro-creation and left the conversation...lol

 

[Rich M]

Anything over 300 yards is long range to me.

 

[AKaviator]

I'm not interested in shooting over 300 yards. For me, it's about the hunt more than the kill. I shoot out to 600 for fun at the range and have rifles that easily reach out there. But, if I can't stalk to 300 or less, the animal wins and I'll try again another time.

 

[Winchester]

Very cool philosophy AK ... bravo !!

 

[taskswap]

Answering an earlier question, yes, I know the performance data for my bullets. Some manufacturers these days have taken to putting a simplified ballistics table on their boxes. For any that don't, I use a Sharpie to do this. It saves looking it up every time... I also use the Strelok app which can remember several different ammo selections for the calculations it provides.

But to be honest I rarely use any of this while hunting - it's mostly during target practice. I hunt in Colorado, which is one of those states where there are half a dozen different ecological zones in a single state. It's not all plains and wide canyons, and I don't hunt antelope, so rule out grasslands and sage plains with their long sight-lines and minimal cover. Where I do hunt, I tend to find my ranges are much shorter than even my estimates - despite being in a "big Midwestern state".

This past year I took a 5x5 elk, nothing fancy but it's meat in the freezer. You know how it is - it all happens so fast! All the YouTube videos show you Randy Newberg glassing some monster trophy bull for two hours while moving in on him. Well MY bull came crashing out of the woods across a small ravine into a clearing on the other side, and paused for maybe 3 seconds. It might even have been less - forget about pulling out my rangefinder (lesson: always range landmark features in a clearing before you need to!), let alone a ballistic calculator! I JUST enough to snap off a quick shot and nothing else. Well, I was sure he was 220 yards away and took my shot based on that instinct, but when I ranged it later it was 160!

Sure, blame the hunter. And part of that is fair - I came to hunting later in life, so I don't yet have some of the instincts some of you do. But I think we've all had situations where our guess on a range wasn't right, or there'd be no reason to carry a rangefinder in the first place. Especially across ravines, distances can be deceptive.

Either way, for me 300 yards feels like a big distance at my skill level. Right now I feel I can take an ethical shot in decent conditions out to around 250-300 yards max. Anything beyond that I don't think I'd be comfortable with. Obviously YMMV, but to me it's not just about "could I maybe make that shot?" It's about "how long will it take me to cross that ravine and climb up over that rise to track a wounded animal." Anything over "I dunno, that hillside is REALLY steep, I'd sure hate to climb it" and I think awful hard about whether I really want to set up where I'm standing!

 

[kidoggy]

if it ain't a mile in high winds the shot ain werth takin.

 

[Daubs]

Having never hunted the mountains, or elk, and not a ton of time at the range...I sight my -06 and 7mag to zero at 250 yards.

I would feel comfortable out to 350 yards...400 would be long for me.

Longest shot I've taken was 284...dropped Mule deer in his tracks.