“Backfire” hunting challenge fail

ljalberta

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A scaled back test, 20 jugs instead of 100. He does better, but as expected. Shooting ain't easy...

No doubt. I didn’t watch the whole video, just some of the shooting. It looks like most if not all of the shots were prone and with that giant front bag. I imagine hit percentage drops further from other field shooting positions.
 

JF_Idaho

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Those two videos are apples and oranges. The guide has no pressure, a shooting mat, and that front bag is a bit much. He shot all from a single position, shot them I think all in order from closest to furthest (or pretty close) instead of random. Pretty open range with no obstructions.

I give him credit for not editing the video. And, being humble.

I think this is a great training exercise. I hope to find time to do something similar. Not for a video or anything, just to test myself and improve my skills before the season.
 

eric1115

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Those two videos are apples and oranges. The guide has no pressure, a shooting mat, and that front bag is a bit much. He shot all from a single position, shot them I think all in order from closest to furthest (or pretty close) instead of random. Pretty open range with no obstructions.

I give him credit for not editing the video. And, being humble.

I think this is a great training exercise. I hope to find time to do something similar. Not for a video or anything, just to test myself and improve my skills before the season.
I agree, very different. Would be very easy to have an escape hatch in the back of his mind of "I have 5 loose rounds in my bino harness" or "if this goes completely sideways I don't have to upload the video." Marine Mike didn't have any escape hatches. Once he started, the whole world was going to see what really happened, good bad or ugly.

He's also shooting in an area he knows well. That said, it certainly appeared to me that he had more wind to deal with than Marine Mike did. But a new environment adds difficulty for sure.

At the end of the day, good on both of them for getting in the ring.
 

mt terry d

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I had to chuckle when he was letting the bbl cool.

The wind had died a little after his break when he started hitting.
 
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Those two videos are apples and oranges. The guide has no pressure, a shooting mat, and that front bag is a bit much. He shot all from a single position, shot them I think all in order from closest to furthest (or pretty close) instead of random. Pretty open range with no obstructions.

I give him credit for not editing the video. And, being humble.

I think this is a great training exercise. I hope to find time to do something similar. Not for a video or anything, just to test myself and improve my skills before the season.
I don't know if its as far away as an apple to an orange but more like a red apple to a green apple.

-Pressure is only what you put on yourself.
-a mat may by one thing but the challenge was based on hunting situations. Most people have a backpack and plenty use it as a rest. Don't remember backfire saying he could or couldn't do this.
-a single position, yes. Backfire moved once or twice.
-As far as I remember both went from closest to furthest.

Both shot an tikka designed for hunting, but I think the guide did himself a favour with the optics he is using. Much better range finder and scope.

Good on both of them for attempting.
 

Hnthrdr

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They do that a lot. There's an epidemic of former military 35-50 year old guys with high levels of confidence in their shooting ability that are at odds with reality. These days even if they were an actual sniper I still reserve judgement because you can get a mixed bag there too. Some of them (Phillip Velayo & Frank Galli) are amazing shooters/teachers and I'd love to take a class from them. But some of them are like that Nicholas Irving guy who has been doing the rounds on a lot of gun Youtube channels lately. He thinks a .50 cal can blow your arm off if it passes within a couple feet of you, doesn't know the difference between MOA/MIL, and seemingly isn't very good at shooting.
Every marine a sniper-man… or how the saying goes…
 

Felix40

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No doubt. I didn’t watch the whole video, just some of the shooting. It looks like most if not all of the shots were prone and with that giant front bag. I imagine hit percentage drops further from other field shooting positions.
Shooting prone off a pack is probably my most common position. A very close second would be off a tripod.
 

WHALL

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Mar 7, 2023
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Just watched a backfire video on YouTube where an ex marine made the claim he could hit 100/100 hunting scenario shots out to 600 yards. He showed up with a standard/ unbraked tikka t3x in 300 win mag. I am not here to bash the guy but the real world results that were found in this video reflect the reason for the teaching on this forum. I believe that the average modern day American hunter/ shooter is not as capable as they think they are and big magnums do not equal higher hit rates. I would encourage anyone to watch that backfire video on YouTube. A little teaser, the guy hit 17/54 targets from 100 to 600 yards for a hit percentage of 31.4%. This video unintentionally defends the argument that properly placed bullets matter more than cartridge size.
Agreed he was no where near experienced enough to try that challenge, so many issues, form, follow through, rear support, rifle selection, ranging.
 
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