Hitting a softball at 1000 yds

[Joe-boy]

I see you are a new member. Welcome to a LRH.

Yes I am, thanks! Very interesting forum, glad to be here.

The shot was made with a 6.5x284 Cooper 1:8tw, 142gr JLK(g7.323), 2975FPS, antelope-chest shot, DRT:10" vital area, 4500Ft, 46F, H 55%. Angle 5 degrees. Wind 11:30@3mph. Spin drift and CE compensated. Witnessed.
Why don't you search the archives. You will find hundreds of comparable shots made by members of this forum. I can assure you that I understand the math. You can do your math, and either gain some insight to increase "your" level of understanding ....... or continue to convince yourself that you will never be able make a shot like that. The latter would be unfortunate. The knowledge, technology, and assistance is there for you......if you have access to a shooting area, and you are willing/able to invest, and put the time in.

No need to assure me, I sure believe you do know the math. And the list of the parameters you provided is convincing and required to hit at that distance. Luckily the wind was almost parallel to the bullet path; would've been way more difficult if it would've been blowing from the side.

I know there's people succesfully killing animals from insane distances, and there's an endless supply of videos on YouTube as well.

What is your opinion about the softball thing; I'd still say it is practically impossible to consistently hit that. Occasionally yes, even most of the times, but consistently not. Do you agree with my calculations I posted earlier in pst #141? Your very, very impressive antelope shot requiring a huge amount of theoretical understanding combined with insane amount of practical experience and practice is still almost easy compared to hitting the softball consistently at 1000 yards.

I'm here to learn. Currently I cannot invest nearly as much time to practicing as I would like to (small kids, work), but I'm trying to get to the range as often as I can and learn as much as possible. I think I have some understanding about the science behind the LR shooting, but way too little practical and practical experience. Anyways, no amount of practice can overcome the laws of physics and ballistics, and I think hitting the softball consistently at 1000 yards is beyond the laws of ballistics and no amount of practice can help that.

 

[milo-2]

Ultimately , the point of my story is that I think that either or both of those men could probably hit a softball at 1000 yards about 50% of their shots .

DMP25-06

F-class shooters deserve more recognition than they get for sure, some awesome results get posted.

There could be a lot of scenarios in this softball shoot, and I would bet if you asked those 2 shooters just what their odds would be in attempting this task, they will demand some serious details on where the ball will be placed.
If you embed a softball into a F-class target as the x ring, using match rules, they will be all over it.
Tell them the ball will be hung from a wire 3 ft off the ground in the middle of the prairie with no berm behind it, no wind flags, now ask what the probability is.
Hang the ball 10ft in front of a dry berm on a windy day, again no wind flags, where any shooter will question the impact. Results would be different if the ball was setting on the berm.
A lot of days when we paint our range, a paint can gets stuck on the berm at 1K, if there are 3 of us shooting at it, rarely will it last 6 shots total. But if we walked it 20 ft to the right and placed it in the middle of the road which is a slight hump, barrels are going to be warm.

 

[GLTaylor]

Joe-Boy, welcome from Alabama!

 

[hunter67wa]

A lot of shooting stories are like Vegas stories. We always here of the wins but not the losses.

 

[Greyfox]

Yes I am, thanks! Very interesting forum, glad to be here.



No need to assure me, I sure believe you do know the math. And the list of the parameters you provided is convincing and required to hit at that distance. Luckily the wind was almost parallel to the bullet path; would've been way more difficult if it would've been blowing from the side.

I know there's people succesfully killing animals from insane distances, and there's an endless supply of videos on YouTube as well.

What is your opinion about the softball thing; I'd still say it is practically impossible to consistently hit that. Occasionally yes, even most of the times, but consistently not. Do you agree with my calculations I posted earlier in pst #141? Your very, very impressive antelope shot requiring a huge amount of theoretical understanding combined with insane amount of practical experience and practice is still almost easy compared to hitting the softball consistently at 1000 yards.

I'm here to learn. Currently I cannot invest nearly as much time to practicing as I would like to (small kids, work), but I'm trying to get to the range as often as I can and learn as much as possible. I think I have some understanding about the science behind the LR shooting, but way too little practical and practical experience. Anyways, no amount of practice can overcome the laws of physics and ballistics, and I think hitting the softball consistently at 1000 yards is beyond the laws of ballistics and no amount of practice can help that.

I think hitting a softball at 1000 yards "on demand"(no spotters) would be extremely difficult, and I wouldn't take a bet on a first shot hit. While there are rifles that are capable of the accuracy/precision to accomplish such a hit, interpretation of the variables(conditions) by the shooter introduces uncertainty. while some may be better then others, wind still an in-determinant, and you are playing the percentages.
The shot discussed in my prior post would have not been taken under a more uncertain wind condition. You are correct, I was quite confident on the shot due to a consistent, low wind angle, with pretty high confidence in my wind reading at short, mid, and max range.

 

[Airedale56]

I can hit a golfball a mile, in the right conditions-- be careful of the words that someone says, they might be saying something different than what you are imagining --politicians are really good at it-- "watch the words coming out of my mouth" --once they start describing their words in detail is when the truth comes out

Thanks for the Tin Cup video.
I got a big laugh out of seeing the tall, bald guy (Rex Linn) with the mustache in the background.
Graduated high school with him 45 years ago. Too funny.

You guys shooting softballs at 1000 are pretty dang good.

 

[denobravo]

I'm gonna have to say doubtful for most with a cold bore shot. For example, with a 7mm 180 grain Berger VLD (which is a very good long range bullet) leaving the muzzle at 2900 fps, will get pushed nearly 6" with just a 1 mph wind.
I know there are some guys that can do this, but these are extremely skilled shooters

its all about the "COLD BORE"

 

[greatwhitehntr]

Define a hunting rifle mime are 12-15lbs for hunting in my home state of Nevada. I have a 30-30 and a 24" barlled 30-06 for in close or thick cover I also have a 6.5x284 that tips in a 7.5 lbs that is good to 600 yards on a good day for sheep huntingin Alaska and I can assure you that they're all different animals.
Cold bore is all that counts. 1shot hits.
Everything is a constant in long range except the WIND. The wind is what will get you every time.
There is a reason that they started King of the 2mile and you don't get all of the sighters or walk the round in for a new record.
If the OPs request is for a savage or Remington or Winchester off the shelf with a Bushnell or Nikon 3-9x40 and some cheap blue box federal s to shoot a thousand yards and consistently hit a softball, then NO.
For someone who is trying to ethically take game at a thousand yards and spends thousands of dollars on optics,thousands of dollars on a rifle, thousands of dollars on reloading equipment, thousands of dollars on components to make consistent ammunition and practices alot. I don't mean on bluebird sky no wind days.I mean it's steady 10 mph to 15 -20 mph gusts I got to get my *** out of the house and go shoot to see how this works practice, Then yes.

 

[mpayne]

I have a 36" round plate up, you shoot from east to west I don't run around with a bunch of great shots but some think they have the game down. Most can't hit it there first time or two, if the didn't have a spotter they probably never hit it.

 

[kiwiken]

More wallets would loosen up on that bet.

Yep and so would more buttholes

 

[25WSM]

I'll take a crack at the egg.
Shep

 

[bigngreen]

Doesn't seem like many guys have fun shooting clay pigeons on the 1000 yard berm!!

 

[25WSM]

What you talkin about Willis. I love shooting the clay birds. At Williamsport they are 1060 yards away. I tagged 5 in a row with my 6slr first yr there. Then they said your not supposed to hit the bird it's just there for an aiming point. So I bring my own clay birds now for practice time. It's a special feeling watching that bird break after what seems like forever for the bullet to get there. Sighted in at 1000 yards my rifles are 16 to 18 inches low at 1060. That's some crazy drop there.
Shep

 

[auminer]

Where I live in Wyoming hitting a softball sized target consistently at 1000 yards is impossible because the wind changes on the second from a 45 degree angle and up to10mph across the target distance.