Is 450 yards Long Range? - Bear Down!

[memtb]

Congrats.....beautiful bear! While not "super" long range.....it's plenty long enough to be a confidence builder! memtb

 

[Don A Parsons]

Beauty of a bear K Man...

We have some nice browns North of us,,, there a cross over to the cinnamon bears.

 

[Dosh]

Nice shot and I really like the color of that bear.

 

[Hespco]

It all depends. If your shooting across an open canyon with no vegetation to show if & how the wind is blowing. Open canyons can have up & down drafts ( wind shear ) . Also winds blowing at different velocities & angles at different spots across the canyon at the same time... No one can even begin to estimate how a bullet will react to these type of conditions. You might get a calm wind condition at one point in time & then have it change in a second. When you live in the mountains you get an understanding of how quickly wind conditions can change. Here where I live at 7630' it can be dead calm one minute & then out of no where get up to 20 mph in a flash. I've had the wind fluctuate like this up & down every few seconds & then go back dead still. I'm sure you understand wind conditions can change dramatically. You did well on this bear but never stop practicing. My hat's off to you on your shot.

 

[Johnny blade]

Great bear, perfect practice makes perfect, great shot!

 

[TitaniousReaper]

I shot this bear at 450 yards this week and when I only have to dial 5.5 MOA on the scope, it feels like an awfully close shot. I'm not sure if it is confidence in the gun, my shooting, or the fact that I practice at 800 to 1,000 yards, but 450 feels like a chip shot right now. The conditions were perfect as well, wind under 3 mph, calm animal, I'm Prone, etc. I love living in Idaho.

I have friends who do not shoot long range and 450 yards would be a hold over the animal and hope for the best kinda shot. I can't do that and won't risk it on animals. I had a great day out seeing tons of elk and deer, grouse. The bear was on the hillside just above the center of my scope. The 180 gr. berger went through the shoulder and destroyed the heart and out the other side, it only went 30 yards. Shooting Kelbly Custom, 7 mm WSM 180 Berger, norma brass. March scope, I know, I should have taken off the scope cover for the picture, it sure protects my March.

As I drove home from the hunt, I wondered what "regular" people do on their days off.

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Hell yeah man!! Practice definitely shows! Soon, with the right build you could being feeling the same way about 800-1000yds. Shooting one specific range can make you really good at that range, tell you move forward, and than you get to shooting 1950yds. 1000 will be easy for you whilst you'll be working on your accuracy at 1950.
But all in all job well done sir, nice bear btw & I totally agree with you, we like to be correct with where our gun is hitting.
I ain't gonna guess where my bullets hitting, I got my gun and app verified out to 1560yds with my current load. All I have to aim for after MOA adjustment is wind..

 

[Kaptoe]

Awesome bear and agree 100% on pushing your practice ranges to make your effective game ranges easier

I practice bow outside starting at 50 yards exclusively now and that has made a world of difference

Rifle minimum is 300

Living out west is a big help to long range practice

Awesome color on that bear

 

[DJ Fergus]

I shot this bear at 450 yards this week and when I only have to dial 5.5 MOA on the scope, it feels like an awfully close shot. I'm not sure if it is confidence in the gun, my shooting, or the fact that I practice at 800 to 1,000 yards, but 450 feels like a chip shot right now. The conditions were perfect as well, wind under 3 mph, calm animal, I'm Prone, etc. I love living in Idaho.

I have friends who do not shoot long range and 450 yards would be a hold over the animal and hope for the best kinda shot. I can't do that and won't risk it on animals. I had a great day out seeing tons of elk and deer, grouse. The bear was on the hillside just above the center of my scope. The 180 gr. berger went through the shoulder and destroyed the heart and out the other side, it only went 30 yards. Shooting Kelbly Custom, 7 mm WSM 180 Berger, norma brass. March scope, I know, I should have taken off the scope cover for the picture, it sure protects my March.

As I drove home from the hunt, I wondered what "regular" people do on their days off.

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Nice Bear and Nice shooting. I've taken whitetail at 400yds with a 1.25 moa rifle and 3-9x40 scope many years ago. That felt like long range for me at the time, but I've got better rifles & optics now. My son was taking whitetail & coytes @ 250-300yds when he was 9-10 years old. I would consider that a fair shot for a kid of that age. I would definitely be proud to take a bear like that @450yds. No complaints from me.

 

[javman]

With dialing up drop and windage on scopes nowadays makes it a lot easier compared to the good old days of guesstimating and using old fashioned Kentucky windage!

Congrats on that bear, very nice!

 

[Kaboom]

Great bear. I love hunting Idaho!

 

[theosmithjr]

I shot this bear at 450 yards this week and when I only have to dial 5.5 MOA on the scope, it feels like an awfully close shot. I'm not sure if it is confidence in the gun, my shooting, or the fact that I practice at 800 to 1,000 yards, but 450 feels like a chip shot right now. The conditions were perfect as well, wind under 3 mph, calm animal, I'm Prone, etc. I love living in Idaho.

I have friends who do not shoot long range and 450 yards would be a hold over the animal and hope for the best kinda shot. I can't do that and won't risk it on animals. I had a great day out seeing tons of elk and deer, grouse. The bear was on the hillside just above the center of my scope. The 180 gr. berger went through the shoulder and destroyed the heart and out the other side, it only went 30 yards. Shooting Kelbly Custom, 7 mm WSM 180 Berger, norma brass. March scope, I know, I should have taken off the scope cover for the picture, it sure protects my March.

As I drove home from the hunt, I wondered what "regular" people do on their days off.

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Congratulations on the Bear bro. 450 yards is by NO MEANS A LONG SHOT in MO. However, given the situation, the excitement, the terrain and other unknown factors to, you performed well! Your practice at 1,000 yards made this opportunity a reality! Good job, great shot! Don't worry about anything else, its meaningless! You BAGGED YOUR BEAR, THATS ALL THE MATTERS! LIVE TO HUNT AFAIN! Theosmithjr

 

[RetiredSniper]

I shot this bear at 450 yards this week and when I only have to dial 5.5 MOA on the scope, it feels like an awfully close shot. I'm not sure if it is confidence in the gun, my shooting, or the fact that I practice at 800 to 1,000 yards, but 450 feels like a chip shot right now. The conditions were perfect as well, wind under 3 mph, calm animal, I'm Prone, etc. I love living in Idaho.

I have friends who do not shoot long range and 450 yards would be a hold over the animal and hope for the best kinda shot. I can't do that and won't risk it on animals. I had a great day out seeing tons of elk and deer, grouse. The bear was on the hillside just above the center of my scope. The 180 gr. berger went through the shoulder and destroyed the heart and out the other side, it only went 30 yards. Shooting Kelbly Custom, 7 mm WSM 180 Berger, norma brass. March scope, I know, I should have taken off the scope cover for the picture, it sure protects my March.

As I drove home from the hunt, I wondered what "regular" people do on their days off.

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I was a sniper in the military. With an M14 National Match, 7.62X51/308. 3-9X40 scope. We qualified at 900 meters or 984.252 yards. 450 yards is not a bad shot if you took that bear down with one shot. Keep practicing. You could probably make a 900 meter shot with that 7 mm WSM!

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

nice bear and good shot placement. yes we also shot at 1100 yards all summer and it makes shooting easy at other ranges and also long range hunting most of the time the game has no idea that you are there so you can pick your shot and take it on your time when everything is right

 

[razor41]

I shot this bear at 450 yards this week and when I only have to dial 5.5 MOA on the scope, it feels like an awfully close shot. I'm not sure if it is confidence in the gun, my shooting, or the fact that I practice at 800 to 1,000 yards, but 450 feels like a chip shot right now. The conditions were perfect as well, wind under 3 mph, calm animal, I'm Prone, etc. I love living in Idaho.

I have friends who do not shoot long range and 450 yards would be a hold over the animal and hope for the best kinda shot. I can't do that and won't risk it on animals. I had a great day out seeing tons of elk and deer, grouse. The bear was on the hillside just above the center of my scope. The 180 gr. berger went through the shoulder and destroyed the heart and out the other side, it only went 30 yards. Shooting Kelbly Custom, 7 mm WSM 180 Berger, norma brass. March scope, I know, I should have taken off the scope cover for the picture, it sure protects my March.

As I drove home from the hunt, I wondered what "regular" people do on their days off.

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Beautiful bear dude, good shooting, I personally consider 450yds mid range. I took my last deer at 754yds with my 7mm rem mag.