pigdog wrote:thanks for that info razer some great info there mate, your scope with the fine duplex I'm guessing this is for range use only at targets of known distance would that be right? as your not using it to range targets? What are your thoughts on scopes such as nightfore compact mil mil, or similar scopes used to range targets in the bush or on the farm of unknown distance without a range finder? Ive been watching the sniper 101 series on youtube dunno if anyone here has seen it but this guy seems to know his stuff and is doing the type of shooting I'm interested in ie shooting in the field at targets of unknown distance, he uses these types of scopes to range targets in the field he also has a range finder as well but emphasises the need to have pratical skills if needed to manually calculate uses math to make extreme shots out to and over a mile with his 338 lapua very interesting.
Mastering the skill needed to field shoot eg range finding with the mil rectile is a skill with in itsself ! It's fine to be shooting Steele out in a large paddock with limited marksmenship skills . But Lr hunting is my belief something that you have to earn and qualify for ! Eg you can't fluke wind reading ! It's a skill that can take a lifetime to fully master ! That's where you should get into f class at club level ! Then you really see what's happening when wind comes to play and how accurate your rifle really is ?
I remember the first time I shot with my 20" .308 at Belmont when it was blowing a gale and couldn't believe how much correction I had to add , from memory about 1.8 mills or 1.3 m's ! So it opened my eyes to how much work I would have to do to master wind reading and even think about pulling a 400m shot in any wind !
These days in the field my errors are ranging errors as milling out is not perfect and you really should only use a Leica range finder as an error of 50 m is the difference of hitting and dropping short . My winds calls are mostly sound ( nobody is perfect!). But I've mastered wind calling through lots of comps and club work to call the wind and mirage in varying conditions! Something that I would have never learnt without competing ! Or learning to be calm under pressure!
These are skills that just can't be fudged ! And out in the field when it comes time to pull that trigger on a pig or deer at 600 yds . YOU WiLL Be found wanting at the expense of a live animal ! Maybe even dialling one whole turn out on your dope and endangering others over a 1000 yds away ! Buck fever or pig fever will cause this !
If you don't want to qualify as a marksmen via f class or practical rifle competition, then limit your shots to 350 m's at the most and practice in the paddock up to that range !
Otherwise you have no business going any further!
It's like driving a bobcat ! Anyone can move a bucket of dirt from a to b ! But you most certainly notice when a master gets behind the controls !
I am a hunter before I'm a f class shooter and have been since I was 13 . The type of shooting you are interested in also interested me too!
I started out with a howa .308 and Nikko nighteater scope in mills . Just a side note , for field shooting, milrads is the only angular measurement to be used as it's just so easy and quick!
Anyway I cut bits of 90 mm pvc at about 500 mm and 600 mm and fixed them on a heaps of trees at unknown distances and just practiced every afternoon with the bolt out , doing the math and ranging out 400 m 's . Then I went about proving it with the ballistics. But at that stage I was very green and wandered why I was on target at 150' m but was off the target at 400 m !
It was the wind ?
I milled out more times than I cared to count and made first round hits in wind at extended ranges !
All I can say is more trigger time than you can even start to think you need !practice, practice and practice.
Most notably was on steel with my .338 at 1700 m cold bore ! ( well ok it was 12" disk and it went just skimming at 11 o'clock with fair bit of wind but suprised even me at how close we got it first shot . Wind About 5-6 mph 1-3 o'clock .
The Leica runs out of puff (1600b) on large targets at about 1200 yds depending on conditions. So we had to mill it out with a 2850 mm (from Memory) piece of pvc pipe .
https://youtu.be/XHGKIzCcVa0But in summation, ! Anyone can plug in a few numbers in ballistics calc and think they are a marksmen !
But that title has to be earnt! I highly recommend you joining a club and learning ! As there is just a mountain to learn to get that proficient to be able to earn the right to LR hunt !