[W. C. Quantrill]

I am a very good shot, and I have a very good rifle. I know my limitations, and the limitations of the bullets that I use. I limit my shots to 400 yards, and I have taken a lot of game at that range because of the wide open country here prevents you from stalking any closer.

There isnt any deer that is worth trying a 600 yard shot and wounding it. Your bullets will not perform at that range, your speed has fallen way off, and wind and elevation are serious factors not to say anything about inclination. I shoot a .30-06 btw, with Hornady 165 gr boat tail sp's. I am shooting military brass with a max load of 4350 powder. That is a compressed charge by the way. Speed is right at 2950, and it is sub MOA at 400 yards. I also shoot a mil dot scope, and I know within an inch where my bullet is going to hit at that range. Even as confident as I am with my ability and my equipment, I would never ever take a 600 yard shot on a live animal, and from what I'm reading into this, I doubt that the OP has either.

[JimRau]

I have to agree with MANY here who caution you on the '600 yds' hunting shot. The longest 'hunting' shots I have ever made were on deer at 460 yds, DRT, BUT these were under IDEAL conditions (NO wind, solid rest, and gun/load combination that was VERY accurate).
You literally need a rifle/load combination which will shoot 'one hole' five shot groups at 100 yards to start with, and then you need the bullet to be one that will still have effective terminal ballistics at that range! That my friend is a tall order!!!!
I have had two guns/loads which would do that in my life. You can't compare the info you read about long range 'sniper' shots to 'hunting' shots. When I was shooting at the 'enemy' a non expanding bullet was the order and it works just fine on a 'human' target, not so on a 'game animal'.
Just a little advise for someone who has been there, done that, and has the scars to prove it!!!

[ikeepem]

Better put in some hours upon hours of practice for those kind of distances that's all I have to say...there's plenty of good rounds but are you good enough?

[lucznik]

I don't consider myself to be any kind of ultimate authority on this matter and I sure don't intend to offend anyone but...

The longest shot on a big game animal I have ever personally witnessed was at a laser-measured 806 yards on a large buck antelope. The hunter was a friend of a friend and I was just there for the ride and to help glass up animals so; it wasn't really my call to make. The rifle was a .300 Weatherby Mag shooting (if I remember correctly) 180 gr. premium ammo. The shot was perfect; hitting the front shoulder, plowing through both lungs and exiting out the far shoulder. There was energy aplenty there (1350 ft lbs at least). Nevertheless, the antelope still managed to run over 100 yds before collapsing and then attempted to get up at least twice more before finally succumbing to its wounds. Had we not been in wide open sage flats we would likely have had difficulty finding that buck. This "hunter" was awfully proud of his accomplishment, but I felt ashamed to have been a witness.

The longest shot I have ever personally made on a big game animal was 424 laser-measured yards on a mule deer. It happened 10 or so years before the events of my first story. Gun was a .264 Win Mag shooting 140gr. Nosler Partitions. The rifle was topped with a 6.5-20x40 Leupold Vari-X III scope. I don't know why I felt so compelled to kill that deer as it wasn't all that big and shooting conditions were not ideal but, I was a lot younger and dumber then. I did kill the deer but doing so taught me a lot about the challenges of long-range hunting and what really constitutes an ethical shot. As a result, I don't shoot that far at animals anymore unless conditions are absolutely perfect.

No hunting scenario is the same as any other and I'm not trying to judge the ethics of the hunter in my first story based on that one animal. However, that bullet took more than a full second to reach its intended target and a single errant step could have turned that shot from a kill to a maiming. And at that distance, we would have never tracked down a maimed animal. As it was, with a perfect shot using a gun that almost defines the idea of "overkill," the result was less than stellar.

Sometimes that happens. Some animals die harder than others. I've seen animals (though not many) shot at under 100 yards that also managed a good run before dying. But, the point is, in both cases, we should have done all we could to ensure a quick, clean kill. We should have tried to get closer and we didn't. The animals deserved that respect.

As a result of these (and other) experiences I now limit my personal shooting on unwounded big game animals to no more than 400 yards and then only when conditions are absolutely perfect and I try to do all I can to be well under 300 yards away before shooting. I also consider any shot at unwounded big game animals over 500 yards to be unethical; irrespective of the conditions, the equipment, or the shooter.

As JimRau points out, sniping an enemy combatant in a wartime situation is not the same thing as hunting. For the former all you need is a hit. Hit the arm, the leg, the torso, it doesn't matter. Any hit will take that combatant out of the picture. For the latter, you have to hit the animal's vitals with a bullet that will still perform its job of executing a quick, clean, humane kill and you really need to do it on the first (and hopefully only) shot. There are just too many variables that come into play and that the shooter cannot hope to control when distances get long for this to be an ethical practice.

[axxe55]

practice, practice and more practice! the problem is many hunters will maybe work up a few loads to try or check the scope settings before hunting season and maybe, a big maybe shoot 20-40? rounds of ammo in a year. sorry, but that don't cut it trying to make long distance hunting shots by any means. the longer the distances you want to hunt, the more time nneds to be spent behind the trigger practicing. the paper target is what's used to practice on, not the deer at 500 yards. if you can't do it on a paper target 10 out 10 times, then you have no business shooting at an animal at that distance. a miss on a target at 500 yards is just a miss, but a miss on a deer at that distance is unethical and stupid. the maximum distance a person should hunt at is the distance a person can accurately shoot at consistently, each and every time they pull the trigger. this distance will vary between people and the equipment used.

[Tuner]

You asked what you should GET, and yes, I am going to be the "douche bag" you mentioned in your later post.

I think you should GET closer or a class in hunther ethics and compashion for the game you are hunting! If you have to ask about an appropriate cartridge for this range you obviously don't have the shooting experience to attempt shots at this range. You may be a good shot, but that does not provide the knowledeg to dope the wind at long ranges. Everybody quotes the successful long range shot; 500, 600, 700 yards they made or saw someone else make, but no one quotes the missed shot or worse the wounded animal that died a suffering death because some unethical hunter took that long shot. Probably in many cases the hunter never knew they wounded the animal. I would bet there are a lot more long shots that made buzzard bait then wound up on the dinner table.

The 300 yards you mentioned in your later post is significantly more reasonable and ethical and I am glad to see your revision.

[swann]

Thanks everybody I decided to go with the barrett 50 cal rifle I think that may work now I just need a good scope I'm thinking about getting a night vision scope for the big deer that come out at night do you guys know a good night vision

[Tuner]

Now swan, are you baiting posters?