Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

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21step
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Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by 21step »

Does anyone out there shoot the Long Range Bench Rest Varmint Silhouette at Ridgeway? I was curious what power scope, size dot, MOA base to use. I shot the match Sunday with a fixed 12X leupold with a 1/8 dot. Needless to say the crow was almost invisible when I covered him with my dot. I was two minutes away from being maxed out on the coyote with a 6.5-284. I see all these big scopes with big $$ tags but I do not want to just jump into one without seeing what others are shooting.

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litig8or
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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by litig8or »

First, the Varmint Bench Rest Silhouette is one of the most exciting shooting sports going. For those who are unfamiliar, it is a 40 shot match with metallic silhouette targets: 10 crows at 850 yds., 10 ground hogs at 900, 10 bobcats at 950, and 10 coyotes at 1,000.

Having only shot it twice, I have had moderate success using a Weaver T-24, with a fine target dot, on a 20 MOA rail. Many shooters are using T-36s and I'm debating going that route. Both of these scopes are relatively affordable and should be able to get the job done.

Hope to be there on June 3rd!
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Jason
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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by Jason »

I've never heard of this. What makes shooting off the benchrest exciting?
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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by Innocent »

The distance and the size of the animals.....and some age.
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litig8or
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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by litig8or »

Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it.
Most shooters couldn't hit the side of a milk truck at 1,000 yards yet alone a coyote. And that's from a bench!!
The allure lies with the meticulous nature of this game, e.g. load development, rifle mechanics, and analyzing conditions. Not to mention what a hoot it is hear the report and feel the recoil of a 300 WSM and then watching your round smack metal at 1,000 yards !!
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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by Innocent »

Litig8or, I'm not knocking it, I have had the opportunity to shoot at 1000 yds from the bench, COOOL, and I even got lucky and hit it. But to some of the younger generation there is a lack of understanding,
maybe a bit like the young bull and the old bull looking down on the pasture of cows....
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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by Jason »

... or the fact that some of us came from benchrest to silhouette and know about the meticulous prep, etc. and decided that we wanted a game that was more shooter and less equipment...
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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by 21step »

I was just wondering what may be the best optics for the game. I did not recieve any advice on here so I went with what my co-worker recommended. He is a 1000 yard paper puncher but seems to know his stuff. I went with a Sightron SIII.

"More shooter and less equipment" here is my experience with long range.
Savage Model 111 long range hunter 6.5-284 ($700), Luepold 12X40 ($300), home-made rest ($7) , about two years of shooting silhouette = 12 animals and a pile of fun.
The guy next to me:
Monster gun that tried to blow my hat off and cussing after every shot ($$,$$$), nightforce scope ($,$$$), some high dollar futuristic looking rest (?,???), I didn't count his animals but I have a real good feeling my hits were less expensive per animal. So much for the equipment eh?

It is a good time, and yes it's still challenging for some of us shooting a gun that can fall into the standard class for HP.

My HP experience:
$1400 Springfield M1A, Brake line/football jersey brass catcher (free) = a whole pile of fun
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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by dondlhmn »

The folks that think hitting small (or ANY, for that matter) targets out at 7,8,900 yards is easy don't have a clue. Resting the gun on a bench will NOT make you any good at doping wind! I used to shoot NRA and IHMSA Standing Hunter pistol back in MD, PA, VA, NY and DE a bunch and was not exactly a slouch, but we NEVER had to shoot in really tough winds. I now live in Reno, NV and shoot local rifle matches called "long range varmint", which are shot off of a bipod or a field pack and the guys that are good at doping the wind are consistent winners. I am not a bad shot (NRA Master), but I am NOT good a doping wind. A wind of even a few MPH, especially one that gusts or is really "switchy" direction-wise is enough to make a grown man cry. Folks that haven't shot in the wind don't realize just how far the wind can move a bullet...example: .308 Winchester with a 168 gr Sierra HPBT MATCHKING that leaves the muzzle at 2700 FPS will blow around 19 INCHES left of the aimpoint when the wind is from 90 degrees right of bore-target line at only 10 MPH. Now, let the wind switch around, direction-wise and gust, say down to 5 MPH and up to ONLY 15 MPH and it becomes VERY tough. I say to those "scoffers"....go give it a try and then let's hear what you think!

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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by Jerry G »

I have been doing one shot at 500m and one shot at 1,000 yards every morning. 500 isn't very hard anymore but that damn 1,000 yarder is tough with my old 243 shooting 107s. I'm convinced you nedd a heavy, slick bullet going fast. My 18x40 bumped Leupold works fine with the 3/8 dot. Half min dot would do fine also. In theory, what your dot covers you hit. Hell of a theory. :ymdevil:
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Re: Long Range Varmint Silhouette Scope?

Post by ppkny »

I'm going to try this long range this year. Just bought a Savage Mod 10 Pred Htr Max10 in 260 caliber. I got some good advice over on the HP forum and some starting loads.
I'll be using one of my Leupold 6.5x20's mounted on a 20 MOA rail.
It looks like a challange in both loading and shooting at the long distances.
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This is the range at Ridgway before they added more animals at the longer distances. The specs at the top are 1000 yards.
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