Become Deadly at Distance: Long Range Shooting Tactics For Big Game Hunters
This Article Was Written By Special Ops Sniper “John” from Episode 131 of The First Gen Hunter Podcast
Anyone that’s felt the rush of hunting wonders what it would take to make the perfect shot happen. Especially someone who has connected with an animal and has looked across a field and imagined the buck of a lifetime walking out into the open but further away than they thought attainable. In this article, I’ll attempt to break down some of the barriers that keep someone from even trying to reach out with a rifle and minimal equipment so that the average or beginning shooter has the knowledge to get started.
Long-range shooting, which seemed unattainable before, has become more popularized with new purpose-built calibers and out-of-the-box systems. This can have someone thinking they need to sell everything in their safe and begin with a new setup to extend their hunting range past a few hundred yards. Many believe this involves starting with a new high-speed setup with a modular folding chassis chambered in the latest Wildcat cartridge.
The reality is that there are many capable rifles on gun racks or in safes across the country that, with a few tools, proper ammo, and some basic knowledge, can come to life and surprise you with their capability. There’s no denying that some of the new hot calibers, such as the 28 Nosler, 300prc, or 6.5x300 Weatherby (to name a few), offer some incredible performance. It’s not necessary to get into the game of longer-range hunting. Impressive ballistic performance comes at a high cost in the form of harsh recoil, eye-popping ammo cost, and impressively short barrel lives. The 28 Nosler, for example, has an expected barrel life of approximately 800 rounds. Many of these high-performance rounds are not ideal for beginners in long-range shooting. By this point, surely someone is screaming, WHAT ABOUT 6.5 CREEDMORE? While I agree it offers some great off-the-shelf performance and is a fine place to start if you’re looking for a first centerfire rifle; however, it is not magic. The 6.5CM has also enjoyed a generous market boost, evident by the fact that the 260 Remington was introduced in 1997. Aside from a few case geometry differences is essentially the same as the beloved 6.5CM. Plenty of capable rounds have been around, taking animals at a distance for a long time, whether it be war-winning workhorses like 30-06 or 308 which both served as sniper rounds for decades. My personal favorite overlooked cartridge is the 243 Winchester, a nasty little cartridge that can fly with the bigger belted magnums such as 300 WIN MAG or 7MM REM MAG. The rise of exciting new rounds does not render your current rifle obsolete.
The only criteria I'll place on your current setup is that you need a centerfire rifle capable of 2500 feet per second (FPS), minimum. (Most modern calibers will do this easily). Any slower and it will just go subsonic and become unpredictable too soon, as well as not be very lethal. As much as I love my 30-30, its flat nose hits like a hammer, but it hits the air the same way. Therefore, it’s not what I’m taking on an open, long range western hunt. After that, only a few things will make your current setup not usable for long-range hunting. First, is if your barrel is shot out (unlikely because most hunters don’t shoot enough), but if that’s the case, you’ll know as soon as you sight in because you’ll see wild grouping, ragged holes, or holes that look like a side profile of your bullet. The second barrier to long range shooting for a rifle is if the gun is fitted with too slow of a twist rate. Since long-range shooting calls for longer, heavier bullets relative to the caliber, this requires a tighter twist rate. (this will have similar symptoms to a shot-out barrel). This also shouldn’t affect most shooters. Ammo manufacturers will often post the required twist rate. One example was I purchased a Remington 700 in .243 from Walmart. There was no information on the twist rate provided. But after using a cleaning rod to test it (video in footnotes). I determined I had a 1:12” twist rate. For the bullets I was planning to shoot, I needed a 1:8”. After that, I called Krieger Barrels and now I have an absolute hammer of a .243.
Once we have the rifle we will use, we will choose our optic. This is the heart of any long-range system and can make or break your setup. Choosing an optic also can and should be the bulk of our budget. However, not everyone has unlimited funds, and it’s easy to go over $4000 on one. All that money will buy is an optic packed with features, most made with either competition or tactical shooters in mind. We should think about other priorities since we aren’t competition shooters on a flat range engaging steel for time, and we aren’t tactical shooters rapidly engaging movers at unknown distances. We are hunters and long-range hunting falls somewhere in between so we have to prioritize what features matter when selecting our optic.
The first thing to decide is the unit to work with, the two industry standards are minutes of angle (MOA) or milliradians (MIL). These are units of angular measurement, so they are universal no matter what you are shooting. The difference comes down to preference. MOA is based on degrees, is very precise at about 1” at 100 yards, and uses fractions in ¼MOA increments. However, they can sometimes be cluttered. MIL based on π is the most popular in the industry, and 1 MIL being 3.6” at 100 yards uses decimals in .1 increments, the MIL is slightly less precise, but many people find this simpler. The choice is purely personal as long as the units on the turrets match the units in the reticle.
After deciding on a unit the next thing to look for in an optic is a reticle that fits the criteria for the job in mind. This is where you’ll get all your information from your optic. And the lack of options geared toward hunters is my big frustration with the industry. At one extreme, we have the classic DUPLEX reticle that has arguably killed more animals but also wounded more than any other reticle. The reason is because offers little to no information except a single point of aim set for the distance and conditions you sighted in ( zeroed), anything else is a total guess. At the other extreme is something like the TREMOR3 an awesome tactical reticle with a ton of information and tools built in, but all of that can make for a cluttered field of view with so many lines you can get lost in it. You want a good mix of information and a clear field of view for hunting. A few examples could be something like a TMR, EBR, or classic MIL dot, to name a few, something clean but offers the shooter good information.
See diagram citations below.
An option often marked to hunters is the Bullet drop compensation, (BDC). These I don’t recommend for long-range hunting. The main reason is that the bullet drop subtensions (lines below the main crosshair), in these scopes are decided in a factory for the parameters of what the factory determined to be “standard conditions” and any deviations from those parameters be it caliber, velocity, bullet weight, ballistic coefficient, or environment, can result in a very different impact from that factory prediction. The better answer is to use our ballistics and environmental data to then use our optic to adjust to that by holding elevation using the reticle (fastest) or dialing it into our elevation turret (most precise).
After reticle selection, the next step is to decide what other features are important to you. And make your choice based on your priorities. Scopes will be labeled something like (5-25x56x34, FFP). To break that down 5-25 is the magnification range. For hunting, I look for a low, low power like a 2 or 4 and a mid-range high power such as 14, 18, or 20 tops. There’s no need to get carried away, 20 power is adequate for shooting well over 1000 meters. The next number is the objective lens or the front piece of glass, which will gather all the light into the scope. So bigger is better, especially in low-light conditions. But a big objective can add weight and the tendency to scoop up every piece of debris in the woods. It also may require tall scope rings not to contact your barrel. The next number is the main tube. This is where our scope meets the rings and where most of the moving parts are housed. So, a bigger main tube allows for more elevation adjustment as well as a large surface for your rings to mount to. but again more weight and generally more cost. Lastly, we have the first focal plane (FFP) or second focal plane (SFP). This is where inside of the scope the reticle is etched. With FFP, the reticle will not move as you zoom in and out. At low power, the reticle will be very fine, even hard to see. And very large at full power, the big advantage is that your MIL/MOA units stay true at all magnification levels. With SFP the reticle will always appear the same but your units are only true at full power or doubled at ½ power. While FFP is more popular it again comes down to preference.
To help put some of this into practice I have compiled a list of optics I would not hesitate to take into the field broken down into 3 price ranges, this is by no means a complete list. Just brands I have experience with. I encourage you to do your research, but hopefully this will get you looking in the right direction.
<$1000, unfortunately, this is entry-level for long-range shooting, and options are limited. In this price range, I recommend primarily using holds as opposed to dialing turrets. This is because, at this price range, it is harder to depend on the mechanism inside to dial elevation and return back to zero reliably. However, some options in this range perform very well.
Nightforce SHV line, at right around $1000 is an incredible optic for the money and one of the overall best hunting-marketed optics on the market.
Vortex Viper PST gen II, good glass with great reticle options. Mixed reviews on turret tracking backed up by incredible warranty and customer service.
Leupold Mark 3HD: great glass and good reticle, but minimal elevation in the turrets.
$1000-$2000, this is where you can get into some nice reliable optics. Where my favorite hunting optics live. Everything in this price range and above should have “zero stop” a feature to look for so you can turn your turrets to the max elevation and all the way back to zero without having to count turns or clicks.
Leupold Mark 5 HD, Leupold’s professional line with Anti-bump turrets. The 3.6-18X 44 may be one of the best hunting setups there is.
Nightforce NXS/NX8, another great option, the NX8 2.2-20X 50 is an amazing magnification range for hunting in any situation.
>$2000, this is where the bombproof optics built to withstand anything and packed with features can be found. As great as these are for hunting it's important not to get carried away. While the big 7-35X56 military-style optics are great to shoot. They are heavy and way more than you need for hunting.
1.) Nightforce ATACR: extremely rugged and reliable. Currently fielded by most U.S. special operations
2.) Vortex razor HD: The top of the line for vortex.
3.) Zero Compromise: if you really have money to burn, you won’t be disappointed.
Once you’ve picked out an optic you’re almost ready but next you need a good solid scope base and rings properly torqued. Skipping on this can lead to a lot of frustration. A major problem I see is rings that are over-torqued and bases that are under-torqued. Check with your manufacturer, but generally, rings are 25inlbs, and bases are 65-100inlbs. Most of the brands mentioned above make good solid rings. But some other notable options would be Badger, Warne, American defense, or Hawkings to name a few. Some of these even have a built-in level, bringing me to one last piece of gear I will always have on a long-range gun.
Having a level on your gun is a relatively inexpensive way to eliminate impact shifts caused by your optic not being level with the earth; just a degree or two can cause a bad hit or altogether miss out at a distance. And a few degrees is very easy to unknowingly induce in the side slope of a mountain or in an awkward shooting position. This makes a level on your gun a great tool to boost your confidence and effectiveness.
Now that your weapon is set up, it is time to get to the range! This is the gun part so don’t overthink it. Start with a good solid 100Y/M sight in. This allows for the most precise sight in with minimal variables and simplifies your down-range holds later. Spend some time here, practicing your fundamentals at 100, (body position, breathing, sight picture, trigger control, and follow through). Work on getting your groups as tight as possible, if your fundamentals are sound at 100 yards there’s no reason you can’t shoot a mile, the only thing that changes is bullet drop and wind.
Once you’re good and dialed in at 100 yards it’s time to start reaching out to longer distances and determining your bullet drop. There are multiple ways to do this and you can spend thousands more on equipment to help with this, but it isn’t necessary. As long as you can access some distance and steel targets you can accomplish this. If you have the distance, but are without steel targets- paper will work as a good substitute. Start close where the drop is minimal at 200 yards then 300 and work your way out. If possible, have a buddy help spot hits and misses with a spotting scope or binos. Be sure to keep note of your elevation that hits at each range. Many people have heard the term DOPE, I.E. “dial your 300-yard dope,” but are unaware that it’s an acronym: Data Off Previous Engagements, and that’s exactly what you’re establishing now.
If you need some technological help. There are some options, whether it be a lack of range access or trouble at further distances. While the gold standard is a Kestrel 5700 ballistic weather meter. Those are spendy and have their own learning curve. There are some apps available either free or reasonably priced. I recommend applied ballistics but it is important to remember that even with the best peripheral equipment D.O.P.E is the only true way to know your bullet path. So spend more money on ammo and get out, shoot, and establish some D.O.P.E.
Everything up to this point in the article was to help you work with gravity, but there is one more and possibly a greater adversary: wind. The wind is the only reason I would pass on a long shot to an animal. And unfortunately, there is no easy answer, no formula or device that will solve this problem for you. Calling wind is purely experience and time behind the gun. There are guidelines and strategies. But a 20MPH wind in South Dakota looks much different than 20MPH in Florida. So the best answer is to learn your gun and your environment. Shoot on good days and bad days. Once you hit a target in 30MPH winds a 5-10 will feel like nothing.
I hope this has provided useful information for someone looking to extend their effective hunting range, and make the process seem less intimidating and more attainable.
The world is a better place with more people capable of shooting far.
Reticle Diagram Citations:
Duplex & TMR Reticles: Digital catalogs: Leupold. Leupold. (n.d.). https://www.leupold.com/learn/digital-catalogs
Tremor 3: Tremor3TM ussocom chosen reticle - horus vision. Horus Vision -. (2022, July 25). https://www.horusvision.com/reticles/tremor3/
EBR: Vortex Optics. (n.d.). Razor HD Gen III 6-36X56 FFP. Vortex . https://vortexoptics.com/razor-hd-gen-iii-6-36x56+reticle-EBR-7D~MOA
MIL DOT: Bass Pro Shops (n.d.) https://assets.basspro.com/image/upload/b_rgb:FFFFFF,c_pad,dpr_2.0,f_auto,h_250,q_auto,w_400/c_pad,h_250,w_400/v1/ProductImages/450/master1_10213142_alt5?pgw=1