[M700]

Sounds like the challenge is finding the sweet spot when sighting in. I heeded the advice of other members when I sighted my rifle and this load to be 2" high at 50 which resulted in 1" low at 100. I was not expecting any shots much above 100 at that time. Sounding more like a range finder is important. Anyone using one?

I actually like your existing sight-in. Out to 100 yards and a bit beyond, your bullet is within an inch or two of your line of sight. That's well worthwhile! A little practice at those 130 - 150 yard ranges and you'll be fine. At the outer end of what you consider the useful range, you may be holding right on the back of the hog or deer. That works great! I don't like aiming at open air over the animal, but have often held right on the line of his back, or the top of the shoulders, and dropped the bullet right into the heart/lung area.

Yes I use a rangefinder often. Some years back I had an overtime check burning a hole in my pocket, and brought home a really nice Swarovski Laser Guide. Oh my goodness! What a great piece of gear. The glass is so good, I often leave my binos home, and just carry the Swaro and my hunting rifle.

If I'm sitting in one place for a while, I'll use the laser to range different objects. "Let's see, it's 125 yards to that big ponderosa pine to my left, the rock formation at the far edge of the meadow is 330 yards and to my right is a fallen log at 212 yards." Then, if game comes into view, I've already got a good idea the distance I'll need to shoot. Or I can get a laser read right off the animal in many instances, but usually if it's a decent buck, I'm busy working on making the shot by then. I do tend to hunt in pretty open country or mixed brushy/open country.

Know your rifle. Know your hunting area. Know your game. You'll get him next time.

Regards, Guy

 

[M700]

Different range and different rifle, but perhaps of some use to you?

Last summer my son was at the rifle range with me, using the good old Model of 1917 .30-06 and a 6x Leupold. We handloaded his 165 grain Nosler Partition hunting ammo to a mild 2750 fps. Sighted it in dead - on at 200 yards. It's a couple of inches high at 100 and a few inches low at 300 yds.

Our bear hunting here in Washington is spot & stalk, no hounds, no baiting. We saw this chocolate boar at well over a quarter mile, he was moving away from us. Moved hard to close the distance, then he paused near some apple trees at a long abandoned homestead. I got on the rangefinder, the bear was at 320 yards. My son got on the rifle, squeezed the shot and thumped that bear hard.



We knew the range. We'd practiced at about the same range (usually use 8" or 9" paper plates for our practice targets, if we can hit them, we can hit bear or deer in the kill zone). I also have a similar sized chunk of armor plate we can hang and shoot.

He knew his rifle's trajectory. I glanced at him just before the shot and he was in exactly the same sitting position, on the tall bipod, as he had been while practicing at the range only a week before the hunt. It all worked perfectly. You could do the same thing, practicing with targets set up at 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 yards. I'll do that sometimes, giving myself only one shot at each range... It's fun and challenging and a good test to see if I've got my act together for hunting.

Regards, Guy