My longest shot yet

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jdanvers

jdanvers

Member
Jul 7, 2019
906
283
South Central Upstate NY, United States
. . . I gotta get a scope cam setup - thats all there is to it. I sooooo wish I had video of this to show the guys @work. 

Readers digest - I dropped a wood chuck at 119 yards yesterday and was ( still am - lol! ) stoked about having made that shot. I'm learning how to use strelok for yardage calculations / hold overs and hold unders / but more specifically dialing up/down on the scope elevation turret. I went out to a spot that I have permission to shoot on and the farmers have recently mowed down the fields and bundled up hay bales. I've known that there are a number of wood chucks in there but they've been able to be "stealth" due to the deep grass. Not now. ;-)

I'm zeroed at 40 yards and my scope has a thing where you can lock the zero so you can't dial below your chosen zero. You'll just have to use the hold under marks on the reticle if shooting at anything inside of 40 . . . So anyway - I get there, take a shot at 40 just to check / verify I'm good and then I set a soda can out on some hay bale I see out in the field - it's not very far away and I guess it to be 70'ish yards. My rangefinder tells me 66. OK. I key 66 into strelok and it tells me up 8 or 9 clicks - I forget exactly what it was. I dial it up on the turret and (pew!) - bingo - pretty much dead on. I'm happy with that. I'm thinking I'm going to set something out a little further and keep testing this and checking to see if it's consistently accurate ( do I have strelok "tuned" to this gun pretty well? )

Then I see mr woodchuck . . . . ;-)

S/He is quite a ways out and I mumbled to myself " . . . . that's gotta be 100 yards or more. . . . " I've never taken a shot at that distance. I ranged it and my rangefinder told me 119. "Whoa . . . " so I tell strelok 119 and it tells me 45 clicks up. I dial to 46. The wood chuck stood up like they tend to do and BAM - I dropped it! Wood chuck just crumbled too - dropped. No flinching, no spasm, no flopping around - just *dropped*. I couldn't believe it . . . I walked out to where it was and yeah - stone dead. Head shot.

I gotta spend a few bucks and get a scope cam setup . . . 

Taipan Veteran Long, .22 cal, NSA 20.2g slugs running 920'ish fps


 
That’s a heck of a shot. I haven’t shot at any live game at that distance but I have shot at a bunch of paper. Only thing I can add is if there is ANY wind??? 


I can not read wind. But I know for a fact even a little wind will move your bullet left or right an inch or more. And it can also affect the elevation some too.
So if you miss read left or right you will miss for sure and for me I can’t always tell.
I’m fairly good if I get a second shot but one shot one kills at 119 is pretty good in that neighborhood 
 
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@bubblerboy64 -- thanks and yeah granted -- conditions were ideal. We had just had a pretty fierce thunderstorm roll through an hour or so prior so the temp had cooled off quite a bit and there was next to no wind at all. Right place, right time. ;-) ( for me - not the chuck!! ) Reading wind is yet another of so many things I'm hoping to learn / get better at.
 
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Great shot! If you would have asked me a year ago if I could shoot 100 yards or more I would have said NO! This year I'm routinely making 100+ yard shots. I never would have believed it. I really get being stoked. One's confidence level builds & we stretch it out farther & farther. I got to hunt a new property yesterday thanks to "pesty3782". Took out over 40 ground squirrels!!! My longest shots were 125, 118 & 108 yards respectively & I believe "pesty's" was 125 also. Between the great shots & # of kills we're still stoked. Keep pushing your limits. It'll only get BETTER. Congrats! I HAVE TO start using my Sideshot! So sorry we didn't have it filmed.
 
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My assumption is that hunting ground squires is much like hunting prairie dogs? That’s a question. 
never hunted ground squires I have hunted PD’s.
Boy if you want a challenge try long shots in the wind. I’ve never tried it with air rifles and quite honestly I may never. I tried it with various 17 caliber powder burners and my person experience is as follows. And I repeat my personal experience.

When you are hunting PD’s there is typically at least some wind frequently lots of wind. 
Secondly unless you are fortunate you aren’t likely to find a prairie dog town that hasn’t been shot in. 
So the dogs are pretty much going into their holes out to about 200 yards. 
Try hitting PD’s beyond 200 yards with anything under a 223 .
I tried 17 rem others and those bullets flying at close to 4000 FPS flew like curve balls.
I’m not trying to discourage anyone or suggest it can’t be done just so you know what you might face . 
Admittedly there are guys out their who are better marksman and CAN do it. They don’t do it with out a lot of preparation and experience. A LOT 









 
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You should be stoked, that's is a fine shot indeed! I get stoked if I hit a hosp at 20 yards 😂, I can't imagine hitting anything that far out.

Also, I'm very happy with my Tactacam 4.0 and will someday get the 5.0 for better slo-mo recording. I find it's a great tool when practicing judging the wind, as you can review your POA vs POI.
 
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@airgunbill - indeed, headshot. (luck!) And yes, all the more reason why I was amazed that the chuck crumbled like it did ( light slug - by slug standards ). I checked the distance against strelok and supposedly it was still carrying 24'ish ft/lbs on impact though. Looked like it penetrated just below, or possibly even ~through~, the woodchucks eye. It was like I hit its "off switch".

I have since taken out a soda can at 140 yards. Its interesting that you can "watch" the slug in flight at follow through ... first one on the soda can went a tad high. Second one would have been right where I wanted it but it went just right. ( little wind and/or my bad .... ) Third one was the charm. Dead soda can. ( lol )
 
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Thanks guys - I popped off two more today - one @82 yards and another one at (get this) 119 again. What is it with the 119?? ( lol ) Turns out that's where the chuck's hole is - must be a family of them living out of that one. I went out to retrieve the 119 one and sure enough - big ole hole in the ground about a foot or so from where I dropped it.

That particular chuck family is down two members now . . .
 
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