After doing another year of sight in service for the Hassayampa Rod and Gun Club, I am left with this observation, That there are one heck of a lot of 300-400 yard rifles in the hands of 50 yard riflemen.

Ain't that the truth, JB. I was out at CRC yesterday practicing HP. A dozen or so club members were sighting in their big game guns...off the bench of course. Several of them were awe struck that I was repeatedly hitting our ten inch diameter chicken gong. No one would step up and try an offhand shot at it. There will be plenty of wounded game running around again this year.

Jim:

I also have worked hunter sight-in at a club I belong to for a number of years. I am assuming that the 50yd marksmen you are referring too are the 25% that don't flinch so bad they would miss a 50yd offhand shot?

Try being the one that gets elected to help the new muzzleloader shooters during hunter sight-in. I think I should have gotten hazard pay. At least it's fairly easy to see when a modern rifle is loaded and usually fairly easy to unload it.

My experience with sight-in day is it they can hit an empty beer case at 50yds they are happy. That is one big reason I don't hunt anymore. The field is full of incompentent idiots.

Jerry G wrote:My experience with sight-in day is it they can hit an empty beer case at 50yds they are happy. That is one big reason I don't hunt anymore. The field is full of incompentent idiots.

And if you go on open land it's probably their beer can they toss 'WHILE' their hunting.... Been to open state land and seen far to many people relaxing with their 'favorite beverage' WHILE hunting, that's why I stopped hunting about 5 years ago, unless I go to my friends private land.

No Jim T. The worse case scenario is one of them taking an offhand shot, however the intended animal wouldn't put up an argument I'm sure, but on the other hand anything around it would be a little nervous or down right scared.
I myself am not any kind of a mechanic, so I wouldn't pop the hood and start tearing down my engine, so I don't know where these guys reasoning skills come into play when they have to pay someone to sight in their rifles and then want to take a 400-600 yard shot?

Spray and pray that is what a lot of them do Jim

Jim T. wrote:Jim:

I also have worked hunter sight-in at a club I belong to for a number of years. I am assuming that the 50yd marksmen you are referring too are the 25% that don't flinch so bad they would miss a 50yd offhand shot?

Do you mean the ones who are not bleeding from their "magnum eyebrow"?

The guy who sold them the 7 Mag said it was just the ticket for a little white tail.

And all this time I thought the game was supposed to follow you.

http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums/af2 ... kins_2010/

Innocent

Forgot to mention that most of the shooters that I helped, had factory ammo, I ask a few what it set them back for 20 rounds, and most replied around 60.00. I guess at 60.00 bucks a box, it wouldn't take that much to justify a master reloading kit.

The really sad thing is that $60 box of 20 rounds will probably either be lost or given away due to upgrading to the latest and greatest new caliber several years later before all 20 rounds are even fired. It is amazing to hear the deer hunters around the shop talk about how they would never hunt whitetail deer with less than a .300 Win mag because if the knockdown power it has. Even better are the stories of the 4-500 yard shots made off hand from a wind blown tree stand. Some of it is quite entertaining.

Jeaux,

And every one of those shots was a clean, one shot kill no doubt.

There are, of course, very experienced shooters who know their rifle and shoot from a rested position, if not a rest, at long distances with the aid of a laser range finder.

The opposite are the ones who shoot a .243 Win with varmint weight bullets, hit the animal in a non-lethal area only to watch it wander off and, worse yet, are satisfied with what they are doing.

Oh well, the coyotes clean up.

The gun range is a shady place to be near hunting season. It is amazing, or maybe disturbing, to witness the lack of safety or plain ignorance of some people. There is a huge difference between shooters and gun owners.

ter wrote:The gun range is a shady place to be near hunting season. It is amazing, or maybe disturbing, to witness the lack of safety or plain ignorance of some people. There is a huge difference between shooters and gun owners.

Indeed, and something for all of us to work on.

Cheers