RockyMtnMT
Official LRH Sponsor
I had posted a little while ago that we wanted to do our version of the milk jug challenge. But I did not want it to look like it gives long range guys a black eye.
We did shoot it yesterday. It was probably one of the most worthy shooting events I have been part of. I think we got great footage for the show and all of us shooting had a ton of fun. Blowing up milk jugs doesn't get old. Giggled every time, even at the end of the day! We set up the shoot on Saturday and shot it yesterday. Started shooting about 6 am. When we set it up we did not use any range finders. Most of the shots were in the 100y to 400y range with several in the 400y to 500y range and a couple to close to the 600y mark. I would say that we went about 98% under 500y. Maybe better. All of us missed what I would call a gimee shot. Our shooting was all from field positions that you would use if you were hunting in open country. We utilized mostly prone off backpack, bipod, or combination of. Rich shot pretty much all off tripod with arca rail attachment from a seated position with a backpack for rear support. I didn't try this but worked very well. I shot quite a bit using tripod and arca rail from standing out to about 350y with the 7-08 then started shooting prone off a backpack. When I switched to the 25-284 I shot everything prone off my pack wedged into a rock formation. It was very realistic for what a guy would do when hunting. Under 500y yards I think we all missed a couple of shots. Over 500y we were probably closer to 50%. For the shooting of the video I think we each had about 20 shots. Toward the end of the video we still had quite a few jugs set up that we shot from about 600y to 800y that we decided to shoot for fun. We all made good shots on these but worked more as a team to do so. We were dealing with a 10-15 mph switching wind that changed a lot with the terrain. Past 500y it made hitting a 6"w x 8" tall jug difficult.
In the first set there was a target set up at 400y that we all struggled with. I think Rhian was the only one that smoked that one. He went the longest without a miss. That was when I switched to the fast gun. The one shot that I could not believe that I missed was at 340y. Everything felt perfect but missed. Shot it again with the same hold and drilled it. Brian gave us the first miss at about 120y. Laying prone he didn't quite clear the sagebrush in front of him. Easy mistake to make in the prairie. Another thing that I noticed is that at the end when we were messing around, I think all of us got better. I pulled the 7-08 back out and was shooting it off the Viper sticks and was feeling very comfortable with it.
I must add that my Uncle came out and helped set up and brought his vintage WWI Enfield 30-06 full military rifle. Shooting the peep sights he was pretty darn deadly out to about 300y. And he didn't have a range finder! He shot sitting in a chair off a Bogpod front rest.
Another thing that I noticed was the wind hold was pretty much the same for all of us regardless of bullet bc. If anything I felt like the fast guns had the wind advantage. Particularly Brian when he was running the 28 Fatgirl with the 154gr prototype with a high bc and 3575 fps vel. I don't think he held any wind until we got out to 600y.
We got everything cleaned up and ready to leave yesterday afternoon just as the thunder storms started to roll in. If that had happened earlier in the day, we probably would have missed most of the shots. All in all this was very worth the effort and all of us agreed that we need to get together to do this a few times a year. Priceless practice!
I didn't take a single pic! @RichCotte or @bigngreen if you have pics post them! Also add your take on the day and how it was for you.
We did shoot it yesterday. It was probably one of the most worthy shooting events I have been part of. I think we got great footage for the show and all of us shooting had a ton of fun. Blowing up milk jugs doesn't get old. Giggled every time, even at the end of the day! We set up the shoot on Saturday and shot it yesterday. Started shooting about 6 am. When we set it up we did not use any range finders. Most of the shots were in the 100y to 400y range with several in the 400y to 500y range and a couple to close to the 600y mark. I would say that we went about 98% under 500y. Maybe better. All of us missed what I would call a gimee shot. Our shooting was all from field positions that you would use if you were hunting in open country. We utilized mostly prone off backpack, bipod, or combination of. Rich shot pretty much all off tripod with arca rail attachment from a seated position with a backpack for rear support. I didn't try this but worked very well. I shot quite a bit using tripod and arca rail from standing out to about 350y with the 7-08 then started shooting prone off a backpack. When I switched to the 25-284 I shot everything prone off my pack wedged into a rock formation. It was very realistic for what a guy would do when hunting. Under 500y yards I think we all missed a couple of shots. Over 500y we were probably closer to 50%. For the shooting of the video I think we each had about 20 shots. Toward the end of the video we still had quite a few jugs set up that we shot from about 600y to 800y that we decided to shoot for fun. We all made good shots on these but worked more as a team to do so. We were dealing with a 10-15 mph switching wind that changed a lot with the terrain. Past 500y it made hitting a 6"w x 8" tall jug difficult.
In the first set there was a target set up at 400y that we all struggled with. I think Rhian was the only one that smoked that one. He went the longest without a miss. That was when I switched to the fast gun. The one shot that I could not believe that I missed was at 340y. Everything felt perfect but missed. Shot it again with the same hold and drilled it. Brian gave us the first miss at about 120y. Laying prone he didn't quite clear the sagebrush in front of him. Easy mistake to make in the prairie. Another thing that I noticed is that at the end when we were messing around, I think all of us got better. I pulled the 7-08 back out and was shooting it off the Viper sticks and was feeling very comfortable with it.
I must add that my Uncle came out and helped set up and brought his vintage WWI Enfield 30-06 full military rifle. Shooting the peep sights he was pretty darn deadly out to about 300y. And he didn't have a range finder! He shot sitting in a chair off a Bogpod front rest.
Another thing that I noticed was the wind hold was pretty much the same for all of us regardless of bullet bc. If anything I felt like the fast guns had the wind advantage. Particularly Brian when he was running the 28 Fatgirl with the 154gr prototype with a high bc and 3575 fps vel. I don't think he held any wind until we got out to 600y.
We got everything cleaned up and ready to leave yesterday afternoon just as the thunder storms started to roll in. If that had happened earlier in the day, we probably would have missed most of the shots. All in all this was very worth the effort and all of us agreed that we need to get together to do this a few times a year. Priceless practice!
I didn't take a single pic! @RichCotte or @bigngreen if you have pics post them! Also add your take on the day and how it was for you.
I enjoyed reading your account. Thanks.
