The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - What cartridge would you choose for long range big game hunting?

Art Eatman · August 19, 2008, 10:40 AM

I'll stick a comment in here about range estimation. My uncle was a gunsmith, and often sighted in rifles for people at his 100-yard range. His common sight-in was for 2" high at 100 yards, which works quite well for almost all of the non-magnum deer cartridges and for the typical distances at which 90+% of all deer are shot.

So a customer comes in, complaining that Joe's sight-in didn't work. He'd missed a deer at 300 yards. Joe takes him and the rifle to the bench. "Yeah, that's it! That's 300 yards," the customer exclaimed. They darned near got in a fight over it, with the customer refusing to believe that the "long distance" was only one hundred yards...

August 19, 2008, 10:40 AM	#60
Art Eatman Staff in Memoriam Join Date: November 13, 1998 Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA Posts: 24,798	I'll stick a comment in here about range estimation. My uncle was a gunsmith, and often sighted in rifles for people at his 100-yard range. His common sight-in was for 2" high at 100 yards, which works quite well for almost all of the non-magnum deer cartridges and for the typical distances at which 90+% of all deer are shot. So a customer comes in, complaining that Joe's sight-in didn't work. He'd missed a deer at 300 yards. Joe takes him and the rifle to the bench. "Yeah, that's it! That's 300 yards," the customer exclaimed. They darned near got in a fight over it, with the customer refusing to believe that the "long distance" was only one hundred yards...