Gary Reeder
Whether it is "out west" or in the Arkansas jungle
Thursday, November 16, 2023, 14:42

300 yards is still way too long for open sights. Yes there are options for taking a long range shot but we have to take that long range into consideration. Just like most of my shots back in Tennessee deer hunting were well under 100 yards and even the soy bean field shots were also probably under 150 yards, so it goes out here in the west. The deer and elk don't just stand out there at 400 yards and stick their tongues out at us. They have been hunted and stay in heavy brush or fairly dense woods for the most part. Other than the wannabe snipers who take shots at 800 yards or more, most hunters out here are good sportsmen and don't take those long shots.
Yes we have the potential to take some long shots but one has to look at the ballistic tables before he goes out looking for elk. A 180 grain 30 caliber at max velocities and dead on at 100 drops 58" at 500 yards and 105" at 600 yards. Even that miracle cartridge the 6.5 Creedmoor that all wannabe snipers use with a 140 grain bullet at max velocities and dead on at 100 will drop 20" at 300 yards, 45" at 500 yards and 143" AT 600 YARDS. One of these clowns was in the gun shop with his buddies bragging about his 6.5 miracle cartridge and told his buddies that the 6.5 Creedmoor shot flat to 800 yards. Colleen got the Hornady book of ballistics and showed this idiot a drop of well over 250 inches at 800 yards. Of course he claimed that book was outdated and his Creedmoor would shoot flat at that range because he saw it on the internet.
Anyway yes we have the option of taking some long shots out here but a good hunter doesn't take those shots. I have passed up some 200 yard shots at elk but with a handgun those are iffy shots and that elk, even wounded, could be in the next county by the time I walked the 200 yards to where I think he was when I took the shot.
So back east or out west those real long shots are not the best shots to take.