500 Yard Challenge.........

Hidalgo

Hidalgo

Well-known member
Went to the range this morning to check the zero on our rifles before we hunt this weekend. My son was shooting his Hornet, and I was trying a new load in the DTech. There was one of the High-Power shooters there shooting also. We called time out and retrieved our targets, and as we walked back he came over to us and asked my son how he had done. He replied, "I put 9 of 10 under MOA." To which the HP guy made a big deal, patted him in the head and congratulated him. He asked me how "Dad did" and I showed him the target.....9 of 10 in a cloverleaf. He held up his target, and I said, "WOW. I shoot as good as you fancy HP guys!" He looked at me kinda funny and said he was going up to the 500-yard line....Did I want to go? To which I immediately said "Man...I'd like to. But I gotta pick up my wife and I'm already almost late. Maybe next time?" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
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(I KNEW my wife was at home) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I'm crazy, but I ain't stupid. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif Ain't no WAY I was going to the 500 yard line and get my arse handed to me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
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come on man, you dont know if ya dont try, by the way, what was he shooting, ........



Trust me....I've been there & done that. It ain't fit for an audience. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif

He had a custom AR-10. I've seen the fellow there before during the High-Power matches. He's quite a shooter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowingsmilie.gif
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gifHot Dam The Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif!!!!
You didn't mention of any money on the bench to join him on the 500 yard line, you should have gone with it. Your Dtech should be up to the task if you do your part. It could have been good practice for the next prairie dog hunt.
 
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There is little more satisfying than that ding from bullet on steel at a distance. Shoot,lay down rifle,pull out ear plugs.........................DING!

I love it!
 
Chicken.. You would have done better than you think. Plus he might have given you some good tip's. You would have at the least found out what you and your gun can do.
 
What you do behind the trigger at the 100 yard line is the same at the 500 yard line except wind is a factor. Don't be bashful, get up on the line and give it a try. So what if you can't shoot iddybiddy groups it's fun and ya might learn sumptin'.

This coming spring/summer I'll be setting up a 500 yard line from my shooting house. Many of my shots on coyotes can be well in excess of 500 yards so I need to get back into shooting that distance again. I just got permission today from a neighbor to hunt coyotes on his land. The terrain is a long wide valley with creek, tall grass and pasture land. Those shots can be 300 to over 1000 yards from my setup location to the other side of the valley. So the 243WSSM would be my calling gun for this location over the 300 fireball.
 
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Practice makes perfect...or at least close anyways...



Practice doesn't make perfect... Perfect practice makes perfect. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
It's been my experience that anyone that's "good" at 100 is "good" at 500. Just takes a little more optics power, and a few shots to gain a feel for the wind.

IOW, you may not have beat the guy (due to his experience), but I bet you would have surprised yourself at how well you did. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Mike
 
"It's been my experience that anyone that's "good" at 100 is "good" at 500. Just takes a little more optics power, and a few shots to gain a feel for the wind."

It takes thousands of rounds to get good at wind and mirage doping and most high power competitions do not allow optics, irons only.

Jack
 
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"It's been my experience that anyone that's "good" at 100 is "good" at 500. Just takes a little more optics power, and a few shots to gain a feel for the wind."

It takes thousands of rounds to get good at wind and mirage doping and most high power competitions do not allow optics, irons only.

Jack



Yeah, I wasn't speaking "competition" good. Just observing that most folks that try "long range" for the first time are usually surprised at how well they do.

On more than one occasion I've taken a "newbie" on a pdog shoot and (using one of my rifles/ammo with comeups table) they've connected at 500 and were routinely hitting at 350-400 before mid-afternoon.

Of course, when the wind's unstable, or the mirage is bad, a more experienced hand will clean their clock.

But, for most of the "fun" type shooting, there's not a whole lot of black magic involved with extending the range by a factor of 2 or 3.

Mike
 
Hidalgo, 500 yards is one thing...500 from PRONE with iron sights is another. If you want to be a really good position shooter (as opposed to a bench shooter), you might want to hang around with this highpower shootin' guy some more...and ask him how a shooting loop sling works too.

It's been my experience that little mistakes (changing the position of the butt slightly in your shoulder, your cheek weld changing slightly, roughhousing the trigger, changes in body tension) you don't notice much at 100 become enormous at 600 (don't think I ever shot at 500, since highpower normally finishes prone slow fire at 600). The wind of course is an entirely separate matter. People who can shoot off a bench adequately at 100 will often make a mess even off a bench at 300 if their fundamentals are not sound. Take them off the bench and if they are not trained position shooters, well....

Highpower is a good game to get every aspect of rifle shooting down cold. You might want to give it a whirl.
 
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