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459 Yard Buck - and the founding of LRH.com

Thanks for starting a site where serious long range hunting can be discussed. Another site I frequent because it actually has some good information about subjects I'm interesed in had some poor fellow breach the subject of long range hunting and was "pilloried" and called all sorts of explicatives. I was quite surprised since the posters over there, with notable exceptions, are generally civil. One of the less opinionated suggested that the object of their scorn come to this sight where he might find a sympathic ear. How about finding some people that know what they're doing and where the interested can actually learn something from "doers" rather than "internet know-it-alls".

My own experiences with long range hunting are limited to shooting "big rats" aka grain field whitetail does in western Montana. My wife and I eat almost nothing but venison so grain feed is a great option. Were we hunt shots are rarely under 200 yds, maybe one in 10. Most are 350 or under but this last year I took 4 at over 400yds. If I had not shot those 4 we would have gone home with four less deer for the freezer. All were one shot kills, all dropped in sight, pretty easy since they were in a flat open grain field.

My rifle is a bit "off" from what most here would consider a perfect long ranger. However; it suits my purposes perfectly, that being killing deer at longer range, but being pleasant enough to shoot at praire dogs and long sessions at the range with little shoulder or wallet damage.

I took a Ruger tang safety action I had, put a .270 Lilja 27+ bbl. on it, bedded it into a glue-lam stock and had the trigger adjusted to my liking. I have a straight 10X Bushnell 3200 on it and I shoot plain base Hornady 130's out of it. With the bi-pod and cheek pad the whole thing weighs in about 12lbs.

Ho-hum, until the trigger gets pulled. Our little range here in Livingston MT only goes out to 550yds, which is fine since I rarely get shots at deer at that range even in the grain fields I hunt. The little rifle and I are pretty good at killing clay birds at 550 if I get the wind right and at 400, it's not a challange anymore.

I shoot a lot of "gophers" Richardsons ground squirrels with my CZ 22LR and CZ 223 varminter. I use the same model scope on all three rifles, I'm always seeing the same sight picture, familiarity builds confidence. All three rilfes also wear Harris bi-pods and I shoot prone whenever possible. I also carry a Stoney Point bi-pod that goes from sitting to standing for those places where prone is not possible. I do go off the same-same bit when it comes to triggers, the 22LR has a 1.5lb and the 223 a 1.5lb set, the 270 is 2.5lbs. Just my own thing as I tend to get a bit excited shooting big game and a 1.5 trigger is less controllable for me on the .270

My equipment is not top draw, did not cost a small fortune (I have a combination "bockbushsflinte" that's almost worth more than the three rifles combined) but results (what actually counts) are very satisfactory. The key as I see it is that I actually shoot the rifles on a regular basis, I am a carefull handloader, and I know my equipment ( the result of practice).
 
nice story len. thats all it took to get you hooked.
i wittnessed my first long range shot in 1956. 700 yards, i was shocked when the guy hit that deer. he was laying prone on a dirt mountain rd. and shooting across a valley. we had to stop as the road was blocked.
at that time i was using a 35 rem.
as you know this has been going on since the end of ww2 in north central pa. a very small group at first, but those numbers have grown significantly.
i first tuned into your site about 5 years ago. i was turned off by a big argument over some guys shooting an elk at something like 900 yds. i couldnt believe some of the comments.
similar to what you described receiving on your deer story.

congratulations on a great site and 10 years of success.
 
Len, great write-up for the anniversary of LRH.com. Even if I haven't been active for a while, I still enjoy reading the articles and looking for information on the site. As others have said, you have done a great job molding the site!
 
In 1997 I posted this story on a couple of forums or "newsgroups" and was absolutely hammered for being a good-for-nothing idiot to think that it is acceptable to shoot big game at long distances. (459 yards isn't even really very long, is it?). It was the first time I had tried to have a conversation about long range hunting on the internet.

I just had the same experience on a gun forum that I am very active on. I posted a story about my 970 yard antelope and most congratulated me, but a couple of know it alls questioned my hunting ethics as well as one calling me a liar when I stated that I had never lost a wounded animal while long-range hunting. In fact only one of my kills beyond 350 yds has required more than one shot.

I am very carefull about the long range shots that I take and know my limitations, especially when there is wind involved. Bottom line I only have to satisfy myself when it comes to my hunting ethics.
 
I'm going resurrect this old thread since @Len Backus posted a link to this article in a current thread. The responses to your long range kill are still a very common sentiment today. Thanks for creating a place for us like minded individuals who understand the amount of time and effort that goes into making long range hunting an enjoyable and ethical pursuit!
 
This is a thread for discussion of the article, 459 Yard Buck, By Len Backus. Here you can ask questions or make comments about the article.
Since recently introduced to this site, I spend more time on here than any other site.
Since I was a little kid, I have been obsessed with long range shooting, as early as using a bb gun, or even taking 200 yard shots with a 22 at pigeons on the farm.

Truly appreciate you taking the time to get this site up and running.
 
For me it was a process. I was always a hunter, and incurable gun nut. Started hunting deer at a tender age with a 30-30 (Because that's what I had) but was almost immediately disgusted with that. Being a JOC reader when I should probably have been playing with blocks, I just knew that a 270 was what I needed, and a reloading press followed a few weeks later. Used out to MPBR plus a little it worked as well as anything else I tried. Affordable LRFs that were worth owning hadn't made an appearance yet.

Then the STW arrived on the scene and I got on that wagon in a hurry. I was more than a little shocked on how utterly it out-270ed the 270.

Decent rangefinders and BDC reticles changed a lot; but when a hunting buddy picked a spot to stop for lunch that just happened to have some 1000 yard rocks sticking out of the snow and just happened to have a 338 Edge in the backseat my eyes got opened again. All I can say about that is that turned out to be the most expensive sandwich in my life. It was right to heavy barrels and cranking Mark 4s. Bad enough that I had to build rifles; I was buying properties to set up ranges. I'll get even if it's last friggin thing I do. :) There was a bit of help here and there by phone by guys like Ian Mcmurchy. Darcy Bowyer, and Ron Latawski who wa sthe guy who got we missed up on 1000 yard rocks.

The other bone I have to pick is with shooting friends that thought I should shoot F Class. Oh, they brow beat me, shamed me, I'm pretty sure threaten me until I showed up with hunting rifles. I beat my major instigator by 10 points over the weekend. Might not have been his best day though; since he'd finished his military career as a marksman instructor.

Got a little blurry after that. An ex-coworker that I used to tease about .308s happened to be at the same provincial FTR match, and we were shooting two to a mound the way we do. I'd like to say I beat him him, but I was ahead for 11 shots. That was a bit disapointing because in my petty sort of way I wanted to beat the old co-worker. We all have ego's right? Anyway, he got the gold and I got the silver, still are friends. We had a great talk where he explained how I had no gamesmanship technique, and really didn't know **** about wind flags. Not going to argue that; but can take a little solance from the fact that he won 6th in the world once. Maybe between culling opportunities world wide I don't completely suck.
 
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