TaperPin
WKR
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2023
- Messages
- 1,979
I was watching this video on running coyote shots and I hadn’t heard it talked about quite in the same way, but it’s similar to how I learned, so it’s worth sharing. I don’t think long range shooting at flat out running game is good, but how about a walking deer? If a deer is just slowly walking at 600 yards would you know how much to lead it? Antelope move a lot and it’s not a surprise that many are gut shot while trotting along. How much do you lead a trotting antelope at 300 yards, or is that too far? How does someone correct for the angle an animal is moving? Those that shoot to 600, 700 or beyond should know what to do if you blow off a leg and the animal is headed for cover.
I’m a big fan of usable, easy to teach rules of thumb so it’s interesting to hear different ideas.
Basically, you have to push the rifle through the shot (follow through), and know your bullet time of flight one way or another - the coyote shooter in the video practices with water bottles to calibrate his brain to TOF and uses that more or less in an instinctive shooting method. I’m not an instinctive shooter like that, but It’s quite impressive.
I’ve been happy with a simple verbal bullet TOF measurement. I know the bullet from many fast cartridges like 7 mag or 6.5 PRC takes about 1/3 second to go 300 yards. For me it takes 1/3 second to say the word “three”. (say any word you like ten times and divide by ten) If crosshairs are still, as soon as an animal passes the wire I’ll say ”three” mentally judge the movement and hold that distance for the lead and bang, bang. I use the same word, but for 200 yards hold 2/3 the distance, and likewise, 100 yards is 1/3 the distance. Same works at longer range, but the bullet slows and takes slightly longer to get there. This technique lets you practice without firing a shot, or even needing a rifle - a spotting scope with crosshairs or just a bare scope and rangefinder are all you need to start developing a feel for how far is too far.
I’m a big fan of usable, easy to teach rules of thumb so it’s interesting to hear different ideas.
Basically, you have to push the rifle through the shot (follow through), and know your bullet time of flight one way or another - the coyote shooter in the video practices with water bottles to calibrate his brain to TOF and uses that more or less in an instinctive shooting method. I’m not an instinctive shooter like that, but It’s quite impressive.
I’ve been happy with a simple verbal bullet TOF measurement. I know the bullet from many fast cartridges like 7 mag or 6.5 PRC takes about 1/3 second to go 300 yards. For me it takes 1/3 second to say the word “three”. (say any word you like ten times and divide by ten) If crosshairs are still, as soon as an animal passes the wire I’ll say ”three” mentally judge the movement and hold that distance for the lead and bang, bang. I use the same word, but for 200 yards hold 2/3 the distance, and likewise, 100 yards is 1/3 the distance. Same works at longer range, but the bullet slows and takes slightly longer to get there. This technique lets you practice without firing a shot, or even needing a rifle - a spotting scope with crosshairs or just a bare scope and rangefinder are all you need to start developing a feel for how far is too far.
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