Depends on the gun i am packing. I have diffrent standerds with my 45lc black hawk than my custom 260 rem or a slug gun vs 357 carbine. Thats me.

Around here it depends on the person but very few shoot as god as they think they do.

Heck wolfie come west and shoot with the big boys. This range is 15 miles from my house. Black powder and smokeless rounds allowed. Silhouettes out to a mile. Separates fellows real quick.
https://gunblast.com/AndyTuttle_FOBD.htm

Man that look kinda awesome ! Makes me wanna save it even more for the Petersoli falling block !
Those dixion targets look especially interesting

Hippie, do a YouTube search on "Remington 700 bolt timing". I had not heard of it until my son and I dropped off all the parts for his build. I waited till he got his rifle back and we had wrung it out developing a load to send mine in for the aforementioned fix. I really don't know if it is a QC problem or a design issue. Whatever it is, it's inexcusable. If you have access to a TIG micro torch I think it would be pretty straight forward. At one time I did but never had the interest in building my own rifle. I was always a shotgun geek. I only really got into rifles in the mid '80's and was no longer able to get on the machine tools about that time. New job and responsibilities took care of it.

What cartridge are you planning on chambering, barrel maker, trigger, all the important stuff. My sons sports a 24 inch Proof Research carbon fiber barrel, Trigger Tech trigger, some fancy heavy recoil lug, all in an adjustable fiberglass stock from Stocky's, a 20MOA Seekins base and 30mm Seekins rings supporting a Nikon 4-14 Mildot scope. It is pillar bedded and floated. His total bill was over $3k. It's interesting that I recently acquired a new Christensen Arms Ridgeline in 7mm Rem Mag that I've gotten down to 3/8 inch at 200 yards pretty consistently. Surprised the stars out of me. Cost me just a hair under $2k then I added a Leupold 3.5-10 for $500. It still doesn't have the soul of a rifle that I built myself, just a gun I own. I envy you doing your own build/machine work. I miss that stuff now that I'm retired.

Depends around here... Some spots it'd be easier to club em with the butt. Other places are artillery distances.

One hole groups are always the ideal to strive for... But I consider target and hunting to be two different things. And I treat them as such.

I'm guessing 30-30 is still the main venison getter around here.

Mike

Check out Best of the West guns built in Wy 800 yard shots.

800 yards hmmm chip shots.

Depends on the gun. I expect at lest MOA out of any bolt gun. I have a 270 pump that will do sub moa and an old Savage 99 lever in 308 that will do moa also. My 45/70 guide gun will shoot 1 1/2-2" at a hundred with open sights, since I've never shot anything anywhere close to a hundred yards with it, this is more than good enough, and it is sighted in for 25 yards which is farther than it is usually ever used at. Longest shot I've made is 820 yards on an elk with my 7mm STW, two holes in it you could cover with a fifty cent piece. That rifle will shoot under three inch groups at 800.

I'm a guide, and I would be surprised at nothing anybody told me about how people sight their rifles in. I've had guys show up and refuse to shoot their rifles, miss an elk and still refuse to check their zero! I had a guy show up a year ago from New York whose dad brought him a rifle from Texas and handed it to him after he got there, then he informed me he was good to 500 (because his dad handed him a card with holdovers to 500 written on it). I've also had a guy miss (twice) an elk standing broadside at 70 yards while sitting on a stump, elbows on his knees and using a shooting stick. Then check his gun the next day and inform me it was shooting 2 inches left at a hundred. (So?) When he asked the following day, "what are we gonna have to do to get an elk?" It probably was not politic of me to reply, "hit it."

Here our average shot at an elk is around 200, a lot are shot closer, but a lot are shot farther also, and the farther you are comfortable shooting the more options you have. I want all my hunters to be able to shoot 300 and expect them to be able to shoot 200 anyways. Unfortunately that isn't always true. If you are going on a hunt out west, I recommend practicing for as long of shots as you can find a range to practice on; and then be honest with your guide, don't tell him you are good to 400 (or farther) when you have only shot 200. He very well may take you up on it. If you claim you are good to 400 and he spots an animal at 300, he isn't going to want to take a chance at spooking the animal trying to get closer when it is well within your claimed range. Also, when I set up for an evening hunt, I take into account how far the client is comfortable, if I know he is only good to 200, I'll make sure I'm within 200 of the most likely spot for an animal to come out, if possible. But if he is good to 500 I may very well set up in an area where I can cover more possibilities, even though they will all be 300+ yard shots.

I'm happy if I can hit a paper plate at 50 yrds.
My deer gun of choice is a 870 with a slug barrel.
I set myself up in thick cover where the deer like to bed/travel.
If I had to put an estimate on it I doubt I have ever shot a deer over 25 yards. Most likely its less.


I did hunt once with Rem. 700 30-06 that was scoped. ended up shooting a buck at about 10 yards, it was coming towards me and went out of sight at the bottom of the hill I was sitting on. As it came up the hill I waited till it came back into sight. It was about 10 yards away at that point and I let him have it. I could of shot him when he was farther away but why, he was heading towards me so the longer I waited the easier my shot would be.

I'm always perplexed by the guys who set up tree stands so they can see acres and acres or land when the deer spend most of their time during shooting hours in thicker cover.
Figure out how and where the deer travel in that cover and park yourself so you can stay warm and still.

Other deer hunting for squirrel hunting I use a scoped .22. If I can hit a quarter sized target at about 30-35 yards thats plenty good for squirrels.

I know I'm no great shot, I like to set myself up for as easy a shot as possible, I wait till a good shot presents itself. I shoot from sitting positions the vast majority of the time so I'm very steady. If I don't go home with meat cause of that I'm OK.

Wow.The longest shot I have shot deer is around 300 yards.

Have documented it here a few times, but about a year ago I resumed reloading again after about a 40 year break. Purpose was to assure a reliable source of ammo. As these are flat shooting deer hunting rifles , goal for all of them was 1 MOA or better. Sighted in to center that 1 MOA group 1 1/2 inches high at 100 yards. That allows the hunter to aim at where they want to hit out to 200 yards with no compensation needed for elevation.

After that, hunter ethics kicks in....or as Clint Eastwood once remarked, "a man has got to know his limitations". At 200 yards, some can pick up that gun and hit a baseball.....some can't hit a beach ball. If they can't shoot well enough to reliably make a one shot kill, they have no business taking the shot. Very few things pop my cork more than wounding animals that get away. Have a couple relatives that struggle with that concept and it is a problem. They have wounded and lost far more than they have killed. With both guns and arrows. If not for the fact they are relatives with as much right to use the property as I have, they would never set foot on the place again.

If you want to shoot to 200 sight in at 200. The whole so many inchs high at 100 or dead on at 25 is all bunk. Shoot the thing. Stop guessing. Find out what you and your rifle can do.

Then you hit to high at close range.I would rather hit just high at 50 yards and right on at 200 yards.

all this discussion of what people expect from the bench and sight in

AND then there is the discussion of YOU

so from a bench if you can make a 2 inch group at 200 yards great , what can you do sitting , standing, kneeling , prone how fast can you get into those positions

Yep. Shoot the thing. Find your limits. Then hunt/ take shots accordingly.

I guess I dont get what your saying? If you sight in at 200 you will be hitting dead on at 200. Won't you?

what he is saying is a lot of people don't have a 200 yard range so they go 3 inches high at 100 or something like that many even try to figure it on 25 or 50 yard zero , since it changes for every scope height over bore axis you should actually shoot it if you intend to try in the field , you might need to find a different range to do it.

but it is good practice

steel is getting cheap enough and painted black you can see hits a long ways with basic binoculars a 8 inch plate is about the size of vitals , when you can't hit it 100% you found your limit.

shooting in wind is another good thing , learn how your round reacts in wind

Find a good rest when possible like a tree,limb,rock,or shooting sticks.

Yes but what are you then hitting at 25,or 50 yards after sighting your gun dead on at 200 yards?Betting your hitting very high at 25 or 50 yards.

the trajectory for my 270 weatherby, numbers are iin moa


so it would be 1.1" high at 50 yards, .6" high at 25.
the way I sight in at 300, I hold lower third of the shoulder out to 200 yards, dead on at 300, just under the hairline at 400, and 12" high at 500. My long range rifles I dial each shot, have taken 7 beyond 1000 yards, farthest was 1350.