What is your effective range?

[I hunt_dm3]

Curious to know how far people practice shooting and what they would consider there effective range is for a big game animal. Is your limit equipment related or ability related?

Mine would be, practice out to 1200 and effective to 800, under good conditions.

 

[jimh406]

My limit is not equipment or ability related. My limit is animal related.

 

[I hunt_dm3]

My limit is not equipment or ability related. My limit is animal related.

Insightful

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

I'm pretty much with you, I shoot 1200 + regularly but I don't miss inside 800 unless the wind is really tricky.
My longest elk was just under 1000 but I can usually get closer, so I do.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Operating in a vacuum…
Depends on which rifle I have, how solid my shooting position is, how cooperative the animal is, and the size of the animal.

Operating in the real world…
Wind can put a serious dent in the maximum shot distance. Gets shorter if I forgot my anemometer. Gets a bit better if I have a highly skilled spotter with me who can call accurate wind more often than not.

 

[Ucsdryder]

It’s amazing how tough the wind can be in the mountains. Anything past 500 gets tricky real quick in the wind for me. No wind, well I killed my antelope at 834 yards and dang they’re little!

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Too many factors at play and I’m sure you know that. “Effective range” can change in the mountains by the minute.

Longest confirmed kill on big game is 1,150 yards on a coastal black tail. The stars aligned for that shot and I made it count luckily. He went 50 yards into the woods and died. Front part of the right side lung was mushy/detached and bullet lodged into the heart. 129 Grain SST hand load out of my .260 Rem.

 

[huntnful]

Curious to know how far people practice shooting and what they would consider there effective range is for a big game animal. Is your limit equipment related or ability related?

Mine would be, practice out to 1200 and effective to 800, under good conditions.

Same here. Under perfect conditions. With strong winds, under 500.

 

[Shraggs]

On game, Feeling very good to 500. Working hard to stretch this to 600 in next couple years.

It’s so hard to read wind I can’t see with vegetation or hidden ridges etc.

 

[I hunt_dm3]

Too many factors at play and I’m sure you know that. “Effective range” can change in the mountains by the minute.

Longest confirmed kill on big game is 1,150 yards on a coastal black tail. The stars aligned for that shot and I made it count luckily. He went 50 yards into the woods and died. Front part of the right side lung was mushy/detached and bullet lodged into the heart. 129 Grain SST hand load out of my .260 Rem.

That’s a poke with a 129 gr and it’s BC. What’s the longest you’ve shot that bullet at non game targets?

 

[Ynothunt41]

I practice to 800yds. If I had the right conditions I would shoot to 600yds.

 

[Rich M]

I only have a 250 yd target range and shoot tight at that range. Will def shoot to 350. 350 is a long poke imo.

 

[I hunt_dm3]

I'm pretty much with you, I shoot 1200 + regularly but I don't miss inside 800 unless the wind is really tricky.
My longest elk was just under 1000 but I can usually get closer, so I do.

Nothing worse then someone passing up the opportunity to get closer so they can have a long shot. A guy told me he passed up opportunity at “slob of a bear” because he was under 200 yards, he wanted an 800+ yard shot on camera…. with a 6.5 manbun no less

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

That’s a poke with a 129 gr and it’s BC. What’s the longest you’ve shot that bullet at non game targets?

My old home range went to 1,200 yards and I rang 12” steel targets at that distance multiple times per week. My old neighbor has an 1,800 yard range that I would shoot on once a month. So 12” targets at 1,800 yards is the longest.

Biggest thing I miss about where I used to live is the daily shooting. Wallet is happy though haha.

 

[woods89]

I went to CO last year ready to shoot 400 yds if needed. If I could shoot a lot in western wind conditions I think I could extend that, but I don't really have an accurate simulation here in the Midwest. I have sat on the side of the mountain and decided for that day it was less than that for sure. I've also shot targets a lot further.

I've been lucky, though, and my longest shot on a game animal in the last few years is 100 yds. I guess it's just a function of the terrain I've been hunting. I'm not complaining.

Edited to add: Poster further down suggested adding how many rounds fired in practice per year. I try to shoot a minimum of 300 centerfire rounds per year.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Have some fun on your next scouting or hiking trip and take an anemometer with you. Get to a drainage or wide canyon and hike to one side. Check your wind speed and direction at that side and then range an easily identifiable rock or tree. Something in the neighborhood of 600-1000 yards.

Hike down the hillside or cliff side and get to the bottom before you start up the other side. Take out the anemometer and check wind speed and direction again.

Now head to your ranged rock or tree and climb on up. Check your wind speed and direction again.

Be prepared for some surprising results.

 

[WJM1000]

I’ve taken several white tails in PA beyond 900 yards the longest was 1350 yards.

 

[slowelk]

People should also mention how many rounds per year they shoot. I shoot several hundred a year, I keep shots under 500 in field conditions.

I’ve taken whitetail does off pivots longer than 500, but that might as well be range conditions.

 

[Dennis]

I would say it is ability related based on wind conditions occurring across various terrains features. I live out west and have a rifle range setup on some property in southern Colorado. While I have some very accurate long range rifles I am not a dedicated long range shooter, just a hunter who loves to shoot. I decided a few years ago to place a single steel plate at about 800 yards just to test my ability to hit that plate on my first cold bore shot each time I went to the range. I would range the plate, check my wind meter, make my wind call adjustments and shoot one shot and one shot only until the next time. The target was across a couple draws with accurate rifles, however after about a year of doing this I never once hit that dang little plate on the first shot. Always close, but it seems there were always multiple wind directions and patterns between me and the target. Since then I have moved my little plate into what I now would call my effective animal hunting range on a fairly calm days of 600 yards or less, however it is that dang wind that still can cause me to miss from time to time in the 500-600 yard range which I must consider when hunting live animals. I have no such limits on shooting rocks or steel just for fun.

 

[Stalker69]

I’ll shoot my guns at 1000, but hunting , I bow hunt so 40 yards.