Shots over 100 yards: Mentors Needed

I was reading the thread about longer range guns that a good shooter can shoot accurately out to 500-600 yards. Cuz-Pat stated he has killed out to 530 yards with the setup he pictured. I realize from the picture he uses a solid rest and bags for an accurate shot. Here is my problem-Yesterday I had a coyote in the pasture a little over 150 yards. I placed my rifle on the top of a metal T Post to better steady my shot. He was walking and I fired and he takes off like he wasn't touched. At about 250 when he is burning it up directly from me, I fire again and miss. I didn't think I touched him, but I drew blood on the first shot. He never dropped in sight. Don't know where I hit him.

I have a history of about 50-50 on shots over 100 yards. I just need all the expert advice on how to up my percentage on kills at distances of over a hundred yards. I sometimes get lucky and have a post to lay my guns across, but not every time. I'm all ears for being a better longer range shooter than I am and plan on going through a lot of brass before next season to get better.

Thanks for all the help in advance
B

The first thing I would do is upgrade your trigger.

Here is a drill to do. Set your gun up (unloaded of course) and stack 3-4 dimes on the barrel. Practice dry firing without letting the dimes fall off. Get an upgraded trigger. On all of my long range rigs I have about a 1-2 lb trigger.

get a .22 LR rifle that comes close to matching your centerfire rifle in balance, set-up, etc., with a good trigger. practice, practice, practice at shorter distances in hunting scenarios ...

Equipment wise, consider a small sandbag. I have one I keep in my backpack that works great for box blind windows, fence posts etc.
https://www.wrightsandbaggers.com/index.html

I think they're still in business.

I placed my rifle on the top of a metal T Post to better steady my shot. This might be part of the problem. Did you have yThen, our hand under the fore arm? I'm not a sharp shooter myself nor a 2,000 yard sniper, but ...... 250 yards at a coyote running directly from you is nothing to sneeze at either. Next, 50-50 on shots over 100? My .02 for you, and take it more for some others, because I have a feeling you already know these. I have two suggestions for you. One, stay inside of 100 yards. Two, get your .22 out and go have "working fun" at a bunch of targets at different ranges from 20 yards to 100 yards.

Clays and swinging at the eves of your house for wing shooters in the off season, (a lot of spouses don't like guns being swung inside the house), if your the man of the house and rule that house, you are either single or inline for it., .22 for handgun owners all the time, .22 for riflemen a lot in the offseason and even during the season, and dry firing on a spent round at least once a week.

If we all really want to get better I believe in friendly competition. The key word is friendly. One saying I have for people, "If you are in a group, and you are the smartest person in that group, you need a different group." That doesn't mean you have to leave the original group, because in that group you are the mentor, but you need another group where your are being mentored and growing. You can't grow if you are not being challenged.

I think you probably know all of these and you are just wanting to see what others on here have to say about your abilities.

When I was a kid, all we did was dog hunt with shotguns, so I learned to jerk the trigger at an early age. I still struggle with squeezing the trigger on my turkey gun. Took me into my late 20's before I could shoot a deer with confidence out past 200. Most of my triggers are factory, but a good trigger helps. It's all mental imo. You have to apply even steady pressure while holding the crosshairs still and let the gun surprise you when it goes off. I tell my kids you have to do those two things at the same time. It's against human nature to "not flinch" so I say practice, practice. Triggers are not magic bullets though, I'd lean more toward weight of the rifle. Takes more to flinch it. I sighted in a guys BAR the other day and it took me 5 shots I think to dial it in. Horrible, heavy, creepy trigger, but I squeezed it until it went off and it shot good. If I get a deer inside 300 now (in one of my shooting houses) he's dead.

Good habits and routine. Just get in a mental checklist and no matter what go about every shot in that order. I developed a slight flinch a few years ago and tried everything I knew to get out of and I only showed up every now and then. It was due to noise from muzzle blast. A friend of mine showed me the Howard leight ear protection and I keep em on my bino harness everyday. Problem is solved bigtime. Wish I’d covered my ears long time ago. It was just a subconscious flinch but little goes a long way.

Practice. Also, some serious questions, is your rifle sighted in? At what distance? Who sighted it in? Have you shot it at a target? Are you shooting the same ammunition that was sized to sight the rifle in? 200 yards with a center fire rifle and a scope should be no problem.

Lots of good advice in this thread but nobody has given him the right answer...

6.5Creedmoor ... according to what I've read here 6.5CM is the alpha and omega of accuracy, efficiency, & deadliness.

Sight in at a known yardage, practice, execute.
No substitute for trigger time.

I would also ask, you might need to learn to judge distance.

🤪

Alot of good advice and you left a few questions unanswered. Make sure your hunting with the same ammo you practice and sight in with. Most rifles sighted in 1" high @100 yards will be the same hold at 200. Practice, practice, practice. You can shoot a .22 just to get some trigger time and will help if your recoil shy and don't even realize it. Then practice some more. Don't shoot at the deer, pick a spot on the deer and shoot that spot.

Tikka 7mm-08 Zeiss Conquest scope is my hunting setup I shoot the coyotes with. Remington core-lok from the same lot. Sighted in 1" high at 100 yards and will shot 1 inch groups all day long from my lead sled on my bench. Distance judging is a no brainier so no issues here with holdover. I just have trouble with the shots that aren't from the bench and are many times free handed. I want to practice and do what the good ones do to make it happen.

It drives me absolutely bonkers when I miss. Too much OCD says my wife.
B

You just told yourself where you need help, get off the bench. Offhand practice with a .22 for trigger time . Offhand practice with your 7-08. Practice prone, kneeling and standing. I know you already know this , but once you get off the bench, prone gives you the best stability followed by kneeling and standing off hand . The bench is only for making sure you're on target and hitting where you're aiming.

I’d also shoot it without the lead sled just to insure it’s shooting right

You just told yourself where you need help, get off the bench. Offhand practice with a .22 for trigger time . Offhand practice with your 7-08. Practice prone, kneeling and standing. I know you already know this , but once you get off the bench, prone gives you the best stability followed by kneeling and standing off hand . The bench is only for making sure you're on target and hitting where you're aiming.

Get rid of that stupid lead sled. How can you learn to shoot when you don't know how to achieve a consistent shoulder hold with your rifle. Use a rest like a Caldwell rock and rear sandbag. 7-08 with 140 gr bullets will need to be @ 1-3/4" high at 100 yards for a 200 yard zero

Practice by dry firing at the range. Follow through the trigger squeeze and see if you aim has shifted after the trigger breaks. Practice by dry firing until you can follow through and maintain, your point of aim. The start shooting.

I've missed my share but when I calm down and just focus on crosshairs on animal let the trigger surprise u you'll do better I missed buck of lifetime at 100yrds this year then killed one at 260 couple weeks later.. I have to think about the process I also killed a yote at 240 couple weeks ago..i got bad habits and have to concentrate a lil harder to make good shots..i don't shoot enough for it to be 2nd nature for me...pistol is different story...

Come on, you know you ass a question all the time.

Lots of great tips already. Get a lot of GOOD QUALITY practice time behind your rifle. Don’t beat yourself up over this. Most folks aren’t nearly as good of a shot as they’d like to think they are and I’d venture to say 80% or better are not nearly as good on offhand shots as they’d like to think. Like 257 said get a pre-shot routine just like with a bow. Follow it religiously til you don’t even have to think about doing it. It just happens. The biggest reason most folks aren’t as good as they think is simply because they don’t practice it enough. Get to Know your rifle. I try to use a bag whenever possible. They help a ton.

More practice

Practice shooting at long distances, practice breathing while shooting, and get something like a timney trigger. Like anything else ,practice and you will improve.

I’ve trained with the worlds greatest soldiers and I have neen baffled by how some folk who never picked up a gun can become some of the worlds greatest marksman (following instruction) and some folk who handled guns all their life were forever mediocre, then there were those who just could not shoot well.

Agreed. Also 99% of all women I've seen behind a rifle are better shots than most men. Myself included, although I can give the broadside of a barn hell at 50yds

I wonder if the caliber choice is important?

It's hard to break folks of bad habits if they dont have habits you can teach them the proper habits its amazing to witness too

If money was no object....
https://www.tracking-point.com/weapons/shadowtrax6-6-5-creedmoor-bolt

or better yet...

https://www.tracking-point.com/weapons/shadowtrax8-338

This. I'm sure an instructor would go nuts trying to break me of all of my bad shooting habits. A good friend of mine's daughter is a flat out killer at long range, and has been dropping deer in their tracks out to 500 yards from the day she started hunting. He bought her a 7-08 which she doesn't use. She always wants to use daddy's 30-378 Weatherby magnum. I told him he will have to just give her that gun.

150 yards trotting right to left broadside. Dogs were barking at this big male today and he wasn't scared of them at all. He was in the pasture with the cows and I had to wait a while to get an all clear angle. Felt very good as the trigger broke and he was DRT. I hate these things and they are really getting brave around folks and animals.

I have the feel good effect on for today after missing the small female on Saturday. Now I have to cross the creek to get him out of the pasture.

B

Sight in at a known distance (100 Yards is always a good start), know the trajectory of your gun, have a good idea of your target distance, cross wind can be a problem, have a good rest, and squeeze the trigger ever so gingerly....every mistake is magnified at distance.

as a FBI trained Firearms Instructor I taught a LOT of folks for many years. Easiest to train to shoot GOOD is someone who has never shot a gun before. Worst set those damn idiot cowboy wanna be's

OP needs to take a .22 and LEARN how to shoot a rifle. Offhand at 20 yards at 1/2 targets 90% of the shooting. Thats is how I trained when I shot on the State Police rifle team. Rarely shot a big gun.

most important is to separate the trigger pull nerves from the ones that control the rest of the arm and hand. Hard wire that single nerve.

this is the biggest factor right here you'll be surprised at how much better you can shoot with a crisp 2.5lbs pull compared to the sloppy 5-7 lbs some off the shelf rifles have. the more force you use to pull the trigger the more you pull the shot off target.

Great tip. And HARD to learn. Its easy to torque the grip with your thumb and fingers as you squeeze the trigger. I try to keep my fingertips off the grip and just use the second joint of my fingers to apply pressure to to front of the grip and pull the stock back into my shoulder with consistent pressure. I just gently lay my thumb on top or to the side of the grip with little to no pressure.

I remember the first time I went shooting with my wife. Let's just say I drove home in humility. I later found out she was on the rifle team in school. I jerk the trigger and it drives her nuts.

I was at an indoor range in Tuscaloosa on night. There was one of those hot shot cowboys and his buddies shooting beside us. He talked his 19 year old girlfriend into shooting his 357mag with HOT loads for her first ever shot with any gun. Scared the crap out of her and they laughed their asses off. She was mad and sat down. I let her stew for ten minutes and then told her to try my gun, I had to promise her it wouldn't scare or hurt her. Pre War Colt Woodsman with std velocity shells. She agreed to try it and within ten minutes had shot up 50 rounds. I gave her another box AND a brief form shooting lesson. After that box I gave her my S&W66 and a box of wadcutters and another lesson. Halfway thru that box her boyfriend couldn't stand it and came over and asked if she could hit anything....I pulled her target and it was way better than his target. He shut up and went back to shooting. Girlfriend shot up another box of wadcutters. I told her she needed a new Colt Diamondback .38 from her idiot boyfriend to make up for his being an azzhole.

I love to take my wife to the pistol range and watch her out shoot the guys.

Adjustable shooting stick at the butt can also help you(if you have the time)

learn to shoot good offhand and everything else comes easy.

That's awesome. This sounds like a kid after my own heart.. Shooting a 30-378. I am going to guess she is not recoil adverse. To be fair I'm guessing she isn't shooting 50 rounds either, but.....

Look at it this way... a 3" 12 gauge has 50+ lbs of recoil. The 30-378 has just over 40. Most people complain about a 30-06 which has about 20.

Reconcile all that in your head and get back to me.

Recoil.... psh! Your poor shoulder.

The gun has a muzzle brake, as all Mark V rifles in that chambering now come with a brake. She's about 5'-4" and 110 lbs. If the gun didn't have a brake it would probably knock her down. I've shot the rifle quite a lot myself and it's a very manageable rifle with the brake, just wear some hearing protection!

I read an article a while back about Phil Shoemaker's daughter, Tia, and a custom rifle built for her by D'arcy Echols. It's a compact, lightweight 416 Remington magnum, without a brake. It weighs in at 8 lbs, fully loaded and scoped. I would be scared of that gun...

5.5 lb .338 win mag.Yes it hurt.

Some rifles are a bad idea. My custom 338 win mag weighs in a little over 8 lbs scoped. I wouldn't want it any lighter.

Yea... I would rather tote the extra 2 pounds. It's an attention getter but it don't "hurt" for more than a few seconds. Kinda like getting a shot. In my book.... Works better than trying to figure out which way it went.

I'll have to weigh it, but I'd say my 375H&H is right at 7 pounds bare.

My 375 is a little heavier, but the recoil pad is hard rubber, not a decelerator pad. Its really not too bad though, and I think a lot of Turkey loads kick harder.

only prob with my 375 is I had to wrap a small pad on the rear of the trigger guard because it bruised my bird finger when it recoiled, otherwise not too bad. Less than a damn 835 with 3.5 turkey loads for sure

That’s for sure. I have the old original 835. Twice it has bloodied my nose turned funny on a turkey. First time I was disoriented for a bit then the flopping wings straightens me back up. Lol. Now I shoot 3 inch and have a red dot on it.

I just don't get y'all sumbitches that choot cannons just to kill an ugly bird. I bought a turkey gun in a moment of weakness a couple of years ago. Only had two shells shot through it and been hunting one weekend. All it does now is take up space in my safe.