Long Shot

My friends did not believe me....

...When I told them I was punching steel at 800 yards few months ago. 

So, when we got together over the weekend at the ranch, they said "prove it". No pressure there!  

Let me rewind a bit...about 3 years ago, I really started thinking about getting into long range shooting. I started to spend some time setting up targets at 150, 200, 250 and 300 yards, whereas before I had simple stuck around the 100 yard mark. Two seasons ago, I got a great management buck at 212 yards...my longest shot at a whitetail. I really wanted to get comfortable at 300 yards and under, and hopefully move beyond that someday.

As some might have read in a previous post, I decided to go big and get a custom rifle for my 40th bday back in April. After many discussions with some awesome members on the Texas Hunting Forum, I contacted Jason Garvey (http://www.precisionriflehunters.com) and we discussed plans to develop a .280AI rifle and ammo specific to what I wanted. He put together the perfect rifle and ammo for my needs and when I went and took the class and picked up the rifle, he had already doped out the rifle for me. I slapped on a new MIL scope (had always been an MOA man before this) and went to town on the targets. 

Fast forward to last Thursday, when I checked my "0" at the ranch with my buddies. 100 yards was center bullseye. I set up my new metal targets from member "jbd76266" at 200 and 300 yards. I had to make a couple minor adjustments at 200 and 300 yards for holdovers, as I was .3 mils low at 200, from my previous doped 200. After my adjustments, I took a rip at 300 and was less than an inch left of the center....and I felt good with that. Wasn't going to go for a deer past 300 this trip, so I didn't set up targets beyond 300 that day. Well, after I took those 4 shots in total, I put the rifle up for the day.  

The next day, my friends and I found a good chance to set up a long range target. From the field in front of the ranch house to a blind we could see (without any interference), we could set up for a 756 yard max shot. They set up a metal target with a paper target in the center, while I drove out to the blind. I got a sack of corn that was about 1/4 full and used that as a rest on the thin, dingy window pane and set up for the shot.Called to make sure it was clear down range and got the green light. 

My previous (DOPE) hold over was 5 MILs at 800 yards at Jason's range. But, now I was in South Texas and I knew I had to make some slight adjustments. I knew I was .3 low at 200 and 300. After doing some estimating, I decided to go with a 5 MIL adjustment at 756 and see how that did. 

Here's the result:

7" right and 1" high

I did not do any corrections for wind, mind you. The wind was coming and going, and swirling around, as the front was starting to come in. So, for a cold bore shot, with no warm ups that day, and 5 friends eagerly wanting to see if I was able to replicate my July JG range shooting (think some of them wanted me to fail! LOL), I felt really good with the result! My buddy's are starting to think about upgrading their gear as well now. 

Also, I got my first blood with the rifle on Saturday night, when I did a walk and stalk and then had to belly crawl into position to make a shot on a huge doe at 150 yards, while shooting prone. Felt good to break in the rifle with that shot, as opposed to shooting from a blind, which is usually the case at that ranch. I would have been happy either way...but it felt like I had to work a tad harder to get into position and that made for a fun memory. 

Just wanted to say thanks again to Jason for putting together my rifle, making some SUPER reliable ammo, and for training me and helping me build my confidence as a shooter. Now, it's just range time to sharpen my skills even further! 

​Ready to take your shooting to the next level? Contact Jason Garvey: 
http://www.precisionriflehunters.com