ky_deerhunter_77 Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 I'm using a 30-06 w/ 150 gr. I have a 6-18x50 scope. Got a new farm to hunt on this year where I can get great open field shoots and thay can be from 50 ft - 700 yds, but my longest shoot to date was 45 yds. Do I need to get a bigger gun ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTbowman Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? No your do not need to get a "better" gun. The 30.06 was used as a military sniper rifle for years with alot less of a scope. Your gun will reach out that far but it takes UBER practice to hit targets at that range. Even 1/2 that range takes a bit of practice beyond regular shooting. Its not just a matter of holding hi at that distance. Wind drift is a huge factor. Can your gun do it? Yes. Should you shoot at deer or game at 700 yards. Not unless your really really confident you have the skills to make such a shot. Most of my shots have been under 100 yards, especially in the woods but I have taken 2 at over 325 yards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? Have never taken a shot on a deer that far, and never would. 700 yards is on out there. The 30-06 is a capable caliber, but you had better a pretty good marksman if you are shooting on deer at that distance. Practice and do not shoot beyond the distances you are comfortable with in practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Finn Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? There is no magic "bigger" gun to help you humanely kill deer at 700 yards. If that's the best shot you have, get closer. Practice alot and then, only take shots at ranges you feel comfortable making. Welcome to Realtree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LETMGROW Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? [ QUOTE ] There is no magic "bigger" gun to help you humanely kill deer at 700 yards. If that's the best shot you have, get closer. Practice alot and then, only take shots at ranges you feel comfortable making. Welcome to Realtree [/ QUOTE ] Great answer. I second that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? Actually there are guns that will shoot accurately at 700 yards and much farther.........I saw it on the discovery channel on a program called "future weapons"...........lol. Of course they were using guns that you can't buy. Seriously though, I do get a bit concerned about super long-distance shots, in terms of safety if nothing else. There is always the concern that at extreme distances, you may not really be able to make out all of the back-drop. Also with the field of view being limited, it may not always be obvious when something or some one outside the scope is moving into the area of bullet-strike. I have to wonder........is that really as close as you can get? Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeygirl Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? A neighbor who we hunted with on his land this past season, he has a 30-06 and took a buck at like 175 yards I think. He said he has practiced up to 200 yards very well. Know how far you can shoot well. Don't want to take a shot you don't know and either miss or risk wounding the animal. And welcome to RT by the way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAstringking Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? i agree with everyone above...you shouldnt take a 700 yard shot at a deer. start practicing at 100 and then move out from there. good luck and welcome to Realtree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? 700 yards is a looooong way to be shooting a sporter-weight rifle at a living critter. I would suggest, first, you try some target practice from a benchrest at a 700 yard target. Then imagine trying to make the same shot under field conditions. Modern ballistics software and laser rangefinding equipment have made long shots at game possible. But it's hard, under field conditions, to make them probable. Sighted in 1 1/2" high at 100 yards a 165 gr. load in the 30-06 is 9 1/2 feet low at 700 yards. The bullet is dropping 10" every 25 yards at that range. Another factor is flight-time. It takes your bullet a blink under 1 second to go that far. If your target happens to take a step after you pull the trigger, it's vitals can be a long way from where they were agiain the bullet finally gets there. A big-booming OTPG gun can make a big difference at 700 yards. But it's still a loooong shot and fiels conditions still dictate. My pet load for my 7mm STW is a 140 gr, AccuBond at 3600 fps. With the same 1 1/2" high sight in as the '06 the STW only drops 67" at 700 yards (that's still a lot) and is dropping 6 1/2" every 25 yards. Time of flight is still 3/4 second. Your best bet is to get as close as you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texastrophies Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? If you are going to be taking 700 yard shots, you need to trade in that SCOPE gun and get you an OTPG gun that will shoot something like what is pictured in the middle below: Seriously, very few people have the ability to shoot 700 yards accurately. If the longest shot you have taken is 45 yards, you need to find a range and start praticing. Start at a 100 yards then move out to 200 and when you are consistent there move out further. If you have the ability to do it, you will have to burn a lot of powder praticing. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnf Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? I don't think a deer could see you at 700 yards, so why not get closer? I don't think they would notice you much at 200. I would practice starting at 100 yards shooting 2ltr. bottles filled with water and capped. I would be comfortable shooting a deer wherever I could hit the bottle every time. If you can hit a target that size, you can hit a deer. And it's really cool to see the bottle explode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimT Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? Like everyone said...700 yards is a looong ways out. You should be able to get withing a couple hundred yards of the deer for sure I would think....So yes, closer is better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swamphunter Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? I wonder how small a deer would look at 700 yards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lovinbowhuntin247365 Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? you know youve gone too far when the truck wont even make it out .... 700 yards is a shot i wouldnt even consider, even if i was a marksman at 1000. in my opinion, if you take a shot at 700 yards, thats not hunting. id get to at least 200 before even considering taking a shot at a whitetail. then again, theres those shows where getting even that close is near impossible, but thats not whitetails. if youre stalkin whitetails, get at least within 200 yards ... JMO, of course. i can hit a tin can consistently a 35 yards with my bow, but i wont take a shot past 25 ... then again, ive always stayed on the careful side, so i wont wound an animal and lose it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hunter36 Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? I guess I dont know the exact ballistics of the load and everything but the gun is probably capable of that distance but are you? Practice Practice Practice. If your comfortable at 200 then only shoot to 200 but that is obviously a chip shot with almost all deer rifles. But, with that said 700 is a long way out there. Main point shoot to where your comfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeNRA Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? For the sake of the animal, keep it under 200 yards with lots of practice! Too many variables that can effect bullet flight. Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christsavedme Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? JMO but 700 yds is way to far to be shooting at a whitetail with any caliber. I feel that there are way to many things that can go wrong in distances that far and leave an animal only wounded if you even manage to hit it! When you pull the trigger you should feel 100% confident in a clean kill! I just don't see how you could know that at that distance! Like I said.....JMO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arrow32 Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? My comfort range with a gun is 100 yards. Dont use them enough and dont have really many places where you have to shoot over 75 yards anyhow but heck why would you need to shoot a deer 700 yards away for? Practice and get comfortable range for yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnf Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? Something to think about. I went on Winchester.com and looked up some ballistics on the 270. They only go up to 500 yards so I had to use some "creative" math but I think this will be fairly accurate. At 700 yards (2100ft) the fastest, flatest bullet will have somewhere close to these stats. Velosity 1700 ft/sec. so the bullet will take around 1.3 seconds to get to the deer. How long will it take the deer to move into a position where you will wound it or not hit it at all? Energy isll be around 850 ft/lbs. The recomended minimum for whitetail deer is usually 1000. Trajectory- Near as I can guess (this was the hardest) you would have to hold over somewhere between 90" and 128" That's 7.5 and 10.5 feet over the point of impact. Is that really something you want to guess at when trying to ethically hunt an animal? This doesn't cover wind drift. Now there's a nightmare to add into the equation. Under perfect curcumstances I would love to shoot a target with my 25-06 at that range, but I would never even think about shooting at an animal. At 300 yards the same bullet would get to the target in .4 seconds, have almost 1700ft/lbs of energy and is a managable 6.5 inches low. At 200 yards it'll take .23 seconds, will have almost 2000lbs of energy and will be dead on. 200 yards is a lot longer than you think. At 100 yards it will take aroun .1 seconds to reach the target. will have 2300 ft/lbs of energy and will be 1.4" high. I haven't hunted for a long time (8 years) but have found that passed 150 yards, deer pretty much ignore you within reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ky_deerhunter_77 Posted March 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? Thanks for the info. I have no intent of tring a 300 yds shot much less a 700 yds shot. I just wanted to know the capability of the 30-06. I was using an old 12 ga. for the first 4 yrs. so the 30-06 was the first high power rifle I used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnf Posted March 4, 2007 Report Share Posted March 4, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? Sorry, I was thinking 270. FYI the 30-06 for the most part doesn't shoot as fast or flat as the 270. I have shot the bottles out to 300 yards and it's a blast. Do it if you get a chance. Before then the longest shot on a deer I had taken was about 60 yards. After quite a bit of practice last summer I was very comfortable shooting one at 180 yards this fall and made a perfect shoulder shot and had a very short tracking job. Practice and knowing your limits are the keys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted March 4, 2007 Report Share Posted March 4, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? [ QUOTE ] I wonder how small a deer would look at 700 yards? [/ QUOTE ] Small. I have a foodplot I watch that is 620 yards to the back corner. My "foodplot gun" wears a 6x20 Weaver Grand Slam scope with a fine crosshair and 1/8 MOA dot. At 620 yards, they look darned small.............even on 20X. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ky_deerhunter_77 Posted March 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? Have to ask what is your "foodplot gun" ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted March 4, 2007 Report Share Posted March 4, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? IME, you don't really want fast to shoot accurately at long range. You want a high ballistic coefficient with the heaviest bullet matched to the twist of your rifle you can shoot. The way ballistic coefficients work some of the heavier bullets that start out slower actually end up traveling faster at long range than lighter bullets that were launched at higher speed. The heavier bullets with the higher ballistic coefficient loose velocity much more slowly. Plus the heavier better BC bullets are less effected by wind. Go to Federal Cartridges website and compare the down range ballistics of a bunch of loads. Most of the 30caliber long range shooters shoot either a 180gr or a 200gr bullet Practice and shoot the heck out of that gun, see what it will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted March 4, 2007 Report Share Posted March 4, 2007 Re: How far is to far ? [ QUOTE ] Have to ask what is your "foodplot gun" ? [/ QUOTE ] It's an accurized Winchester Model 70 Classic Stainless in 7mm STW. It's got a Weaver Grand Slam 6x20 on top. I load a 140 gr. Nosler AccuBond over approximately 1/2 bushel of IMR-7828 for 3605 fps at the muzzle. 2 1/4" high at 100 yds. puts me dead-on at 300 yds..... 6 3/4" low at 400 yds...... 18" low at 500 yds..... and 40" low at 625 (the back of the plot). However the Grand Slam has finger-adjustable turrets. So I sight in dead-on at 100 and adjust accordingly after lasering the distance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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