Missed an elk at 200 yards. It’s what got me into precision rifle.
The Shot You’ll Never Forget Giveaway - Enter To Win A Barrel From Rifle Barrel Blanks!
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When I was 8 I had a pellet gun. By 9, I was pretty good with it. I went on a pheasant hunt out west with my dad, uncle, grandpa, and some of their buddies. While they hunted a section bird cover, I would usually tag along and shoot cattails with my pellet gun. They would puff when I hit them. Reactive targets for a 3rd grader!
I remember my grandpa driving up with his friend along side me on the road where I was shooting cattails 6 yards across the ditch. He was on oxygen, so he didn’t get too far from his truck. His friend says out the window “see that one with the crooked top? Bet you can’t cut it in half.” I knew at this point that the only way to actually cut one in half was to break the stem inside. Which is damn tough with a .177 BB, it almost never happened. You can shoot one 20 times and just have it puff seeds. In short, I was being set up. What they didn’t know is I had about 5 BB’s through that same ‘tail already.
So I concentrated on the center of that cattail and shot one BB. It cleanly broke in half. No clue how I managed it. The friend yelled “Holy cow he actually did it! Did you see that?” My grandpa was grinning from ear to ear. I didn’t know it at the time but he had won a few bench rest championships in his day, and I had made him proud, and in front of his friend was even better! Won’t ever forget it.
I remember my grandpa driving up with his friend along side me on the road where I was shooting cattails 6 yards across the ditch. He was on oxygen, so he didn’t get too far from his truck. His friend says out the window “see that one with the crooked top? Bet you can’t cut it in half.” I knew at this point that the only way to actually cut one in half was to break the stem inside. Which is damn tough with a .177 BB, it almost never happened. You can shoot one 20 times and just have it puff seeds. In short, I was being set up. What they didn’t know is I had about 5 BB’s through that same ‘tail already.
So I concentrated on the center of that cattail and shot one BB. It cleanly broke in half. No clue how I managed it. The friend yelled “Holy cow he actually did it! Did you see that?” My grandpa was grinning from ear to ear. I didn’t know it at the time but he had won a few bench rest championships in his day, and I had made him proud, and in front of his friend was even better! Won’t ever forget it.
A while back my hunting partner and myself were hunting crows in a large river bottom and in a large cow pasture. We were using my Remington model 700 in .223 Remington. With hand loaded 55 grain nosler Ballistic Tip bullets. Velocity was 3050 fps
We had killed several crows from 100 to 300 yards. As I was placing my rifle in the truck, my hunting partner said "There's a small bird in a bush further out than we had been shooting.
So I took the rifle out of my truck, loaded it and got into a good steady position. Ranged the bird at 376 yards. Light breeze from my left to right. Dialed my Leupold the correct elevation, held the target dot one inch left of the bird. Slowed my breathing, Then pressed the trigger-Boom!!! Longest shot ever for me at that time.
My partner watched the shot with Binoculars.
He said "If I hadn't seen it myself I never would have believed it"
I'm really glad he was there to witness that shot! It was 30 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday!
We had killed several crows from 100 to 300 yards. As I was placing my rifle in the truck, my hunting partner said "There's a small bird in a bush further out than we had been shooting.
So I took the rifle out of my truck, loaded it and got into a good steady position. Ranged the bird at 376 yards. Light breeze from my left to right. Dialed my Leupold the correct elevation, held the target dot one inch left of the bird. Slowed my breathing, Then pressed the trigger-Boom!!! Longest shot ever for me at that time.
My partner watched the shot with Binoculars.
He said "If I hadn't seen it myself I never would have believed it"
I'm really glad he was there to witness that shot! It was 30 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday!
After watching his channel for a bit, I entered Texas Plinking's 1MOA at 1000 yard challenge on YouTube (Episode 23). I took my MPA BA Comp in 6.5CM to try it out. I was the last one to shoot and the wind was crazy in west Texas... I had a pretty decent grouping going, but had not yet connected with that 10" plate by the time I got through my 9th round. I was sweating bullets when I sent that final round (even though it was like 30 degrees outside). Whew!!! I was so relieved when I saw the impact on the plate. For those that have never tried it, a 10" plate at 1000 yds looks tiny through your scope! It's also difficult to adjust off of misses when the wind is gusting and switchy... I had shot at that distance before, but only at much larger targets. It felt great to be able to connect and I'm looking forward to going back with a different rifle to try.
It was the Unholly Alliance match at black bear in 2024. I was waiting for 338 barrel blanks so I decided to take my 308 to an ELR match. The final two plate were 1865 and 1906 yards. Shooting a 208 Berger over a stiff load of Varget I managed 2 impacts at 1865 video and a first round impact at 1906 2nd video with the remaining 4 shots all around the plate. I only finished 23rd but taking a 308 against all those 338’s I beat my fair share of them. The first video is of the two impacts and the second shows the first round. The folks chatting in the background about my 308 was comical.
Well, I had just bought a new rifle, not brand new but new to me. It was an ex-police issue. You remember the ones that came with the HS Precision stocks. It had one of those MARS rails for night vision and a Leupold scope. I had been back in the field on the edge of the woods zeroing the rifle. It was the beginning of deer season and I had just learned how to dial a scope so after sighting in the rifle I went down the edge of the woods and taped trees with marking tape every hundred yards. After cleaning up and tinkering for a while it was getting on towards the edge of dark so I hopped in my truck and was just about to leave when out stepped a buck and he was standing right at the 500 yard tree I had taped so I knew exactly where to dial the scope. I laid the rifle right out the truck window and let it rest on my left arm, took a breath and pulled the trigger. The shot was true. The buck jumped and kicked so I knew I had hit him but he ran into the woods so I thought oh no, it's about dark and I gotta track this deer, but come to find out he ran about 25 yards into the woods and laid down. That was the first buck I ever shot. I still have the rack. I don't have the rifle but I wish I did. there was some luck involved because I hadn't even considered the height over bore but that day everything came together just perfect for that one shot.
Was doing a bit of varmint hunting, year before last with some buddies that I get together with every year in southern Idaho, we were on or third day out from camping, on a rise with a quarter mile plus canyon to the closest ridge of the other side, my buddies and I started glassing the far ridge which could give shots from 400 yards to 700 yards depending on how far around that ridge went, both of them spotted some chucks at the 550 yard range and started shooting at them. I started looking farther out from that ridge to a rocky hill farther back which ranged at 1100-1175 yards and spotted a chuck close to the bottom of that hill, this was a wish I had for the past three days, to try out my brand spanking new "long range rat killer" machinery, which is a Winchester M-70 Classic, chambered in 26 Nosler cartridge, with heavy straight tapered ss Pac-Nor barrel, with 1 in 7" twist, 30" long, on top was a Millet 6-25 Optic with MOA reticle. This cartridge in this gun gives a 110g Lehigh Controlled Chaos bullet a speed of 3962fps. The gun weighs 27 pounds and has a Fat Bastard 5 port muzzle break and sits in a Richards Micro-Fit laminated stock, that I have added more weight to, recoil is non-existent, I can watch where my bullets hit and don't need a spotter, one of my objectives.
Meanwhile back to the rock-rat, it was sitting on a boulder sucking up the mid-morning sun trying to figure out where all that racket was coming from that my buddies were making, down below. I set the gun on the front storage box of my Polaris ATV which makes a nice solid "mini-shooting bench" and ranged him at 1123 yards, the wind was barely moving, coming at me at about the two-o'clock direction, so I made my elevation and windage adjustments and squeezed off the first shot, which I saw hit a large boulder about 10-15 feet behind where the chuck was laying, my shot was dead on for elevation but to the left maybe 3-4" so the wind must have been blowing a little more across that canyon, I suspected it might be. The chuck changed position after that bullet hit behind him and was now looking to his left and a little farther behind the boulder he was laying on, which gave me a smaller target, I waited to see if he was going to make any more moves hoping he would climb up a little more and give me a bigger target, but he was refusing. So, I dialed in the necessary windage and left the elevation the same, then fired round two. To put it simply, it looked like I hit a gallon can of red paint, end of that rock-rat
Meanwhile back to the rock-rat, it was sitting on a boulder sucking up the mid-morning sun trying to figure out where all that racket was coming from that my buddies were making, down below. I set the gun on the front storage box of my Polaris ATV which makes a nice solid "mini-shooting bench" and ranged him at 1123 yards, the wind was barely moving, coming at me at about the two-o'clock direction, so I made my elevation and windage adjustments and squeezed off the first shot, which I saw hit a large boulder about 10-15 feet behind where the chuck was laying, my shot was dead on for elevation but to the left maybe 3-4" so the wind must have been blowing a little more across that canyon, I suspected it might be. The chuck changed position after that bullet hit behind him and was now looking to his left and a little farther behind the boulder he was laying on, which gave me a smaller target, I waited to see if he was going to make any more moves hoping he would climb up a little more and give me a bigger target, but he was refusing. So, I dialed in the necessary windage and left the elevation the same, then fired round two. To put it simply, it looked like I hit a gallon can of red paint, end of that rock-rat
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First competition, friend let me try his PRS rifle at 1100 yards. On target first try. It had a been a steep learning curve day, was VERY happy. 
Going shooting with my dad. He had fired maybe 50 rounds of ammo through a centerfire rifle in his life prior to this. We were shooting 5-shot groups for group size with my Tikka CTR in 6.5 Creedmoor at 100 yards. He shot the below 0.19 MOA group. That's amazing for someone with basically zero shooting experience.
I was walking to my shop out in the desert and saw a small gopher ahead, about 30 yards or so away. I fired a shot from my .380 lcp and somehow hit and wounded it. I fired a second shot without even stopping walking and hit it in the head, killing it. I was pretty impressed with the little pistol and myself.
The next morning there was half a dozen of them or so behind the house probably 10 yards at the most. I got a spare mag ready and carefully aimed, fired the first couple of shots, then mag dumped the rest and the spare mag too. I didn't hit a single one. I should have bought a lotto ticket the previous day.
The next morning there was half a dozen of them or so behind the house probably 10 yards at the most. I got a spare mag ready and carefully aimed, fired the first couple of shots, then mag dumped the rest and the spare mag too. I didn't hit a single one. I should have bought a lotto ticket the previous day.
There was a terrorist squirrel terrorizing my buddies house. I saw it jumping from the garage to a bird feeders on a metal pole alot. So I set up to take the shot at about 90y in between the two. I was going to try it twice the get him in a tree when I failed. But I hit him on the first try. I thought I missed but he was rolling around when he hit the ground. I hit him in the ribs, he didn't die as quick as I would have liked. I was using my gamer gun: 6mm dasher (alpha), 105 hybrids, cci 450, varget, impact 737r, bartlein mtu 26", mdt acc elite, tract. I just lined it up watching it jump, then waited till it jumped and boom, pure luck 
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On an ATV roaming our ranch and spotted a coyote at full gallop. Hit him at a full run from a moving ATV with an AR15 with an EOtech at about 150 yards, one shot. Rolled him right up, even I was more than a bit surprised that I hit him lol.
Approaching 60 years old and have had many pistols and rifles pass through my hands over the years. I was introduced to shooting when I was 6 years old. My dad's only rifle was a .22LR Rem 550 semi-auto with a tubular magazine, which was always a pain to load, but I really enjoyed shooting it with him in a local dirt "quarry". When I was 10, my brother-in-law left a rifle at our house for some reason- it was a Ruger 10/22 in the unmistakable small wooden stock. Being blessed with small height and stature, it seemed to fit me like a glove. We took it to the quarry and shot at seemingly every dirt clod and rock within 30 yards, as well as some beer cans found in the ditch. I made those beer cans Dance! My dad was quite proud of me and I was Hooked. Not really one impressive a shot, but that rifle has led to a lifetime of chasing the newest and most accurate guns that I could/can afford! Thanks for a great site with great information.
My most memorable shot was with an osage selfbow.
I was walking across our horse field two deer seasons ago. This was during archery season and the rut. I was using an osage selfbow, when I was about 20 yards from the woodline I threw out a social grunt. I got a return grunt and then a whole bunch of crashing and banging through the trees. All of a sudden this buck came straight at me, head down and charging like a danged shorthorn bull!!!.I barely had time to react, I jumped sideways at the same time I snap shot an arrow from about 3/4 draw. (All those years of bowfishing paid off) The arrow went through his neck and busted his spine, dropped in his tracks (thank goodness). If he hadnt I would have been in serious trouble, no way I could habe nocked another arrow.I cannot express the adrenaline dump I experienced, my entire body was vibrating. My wife witnessed the entire event from our porch about 125 yards away on a hill.
I was walking across our horse field two deer seasons ago. This was during archery season and the rut. I was using an osage selfbow, when I was about 20 yards from the woodline I threw out a social grunt. I got a return grunt and then a whole bunch of crashing and banging through the trees. All of a sudden this buck came straight at me, head down and charging like a danged shorthorn bull!!!.I barely had time to react, I jumped sideways at the same time I snap shot an arrow from about 3/4 draw. (All those years of bowfishing paid off
) The arrow went through his neck and busted his spine, dropped in his tracks (thank goodness). If he hadnt I would have been in serious trouble, no way I could habe nocked another arrow.I cannot express the adrenaline dump I experienced, my entire body was vibrating. My wife witnessed the entire event from our porch about 125 yards away on a hill.This was a few years ago. Just got back from an archery hunt where I killed a stud 10 pointer and a doe within a day of each other.
The following week it was gun season and was fortunately invited to some private ground with some good friends. I showed up on Friday. After about an hour in the stand I had a code brown and HAD to get down. 10 seconds after climbing in the stand there was a giant 9 pointer that ran 20 yards right in front of me that one of the other guys bumped. My best ever year and probably won’t ever repeat that in my lifetime.
The following week it was gun season and was fortunately invited to some private ground with some good friends. I showed up on Friday. After about an hour in the stand I had a code brown and HAD to get down. 10 seconds after climbing in the stand there was a giant 9 pointer that ran 20 yards right in front of me that one of the other guys bumped. My best ever year and probably won’t ever repeat that in my lifetime.
My most wild shot was my first deer when I was 11. My dad had shot a doe on our farm, and we were dragging it out. I had a Winchester 30-30. We got to a drainage ditch and were taking a break. I heard galloping and looked up as three deer were leaping over us. I threw up the 30-30 and worked that lever, I think I shot 3 or 4 times, but I saw one of the deer shake his head and heard a thud. Got out of the ditch and I had hit him right under the chin. My dad always said, be glad I was here because no one will ever believe this one. I said it was like shooting ducks.
My best shot ever was on a steel plate 18”x24” at 1560 yards! With my 6mm Creedmoor!!! I had a good group of shooting buddies and we would practice in this corn field in Upstate NY. One day we decided to see how far we could get out to, so we put a plate at 1560, unfortunately the field was a little too wet to get any further so 1560 it is! And then everyone started taking shots at it, almost all rifles were 6mm of some variety and 1 300 wm. It was really tuff but on the 3rd or 4th shot I hit it, and managed to hit 3 more! I was stoked to be able to hit a torso sized target at that distance!!! One of my buddies is a Marine Scout Sniper, and couldn’t hit it… not because he was not a better shot than me, he definitely was, but he was running his ammo at around 2800 fps and I was at 3040 fps! His rounds were falling just shy of the plate, just didn’t have enough UMPFF!!! That’s my best ever!!!
Most memorable: is technically a string of shots. 7 or 8 years old my uncle brought to a range during a family reunion. He handed me a single action .44 or .45 something. Must have been hand or reduced loads because I don't remember a ton of recoil. 6 shots later and didn't hit a god damn thing...
That moment stuck and is ingrained in my being..
That moment stuck and is ingrained in my being..
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2014? Granby bow and gun in MA. We spent a good portion of the summer cutting down trees and bulldozing. It started at 50 yds and made it to 1020.
Since it was really his baby (and bulldozer) I let Andy take the first shot at 1000 with my rifle. Chad Dixon (name?) at LRI built A.I.C.S. left-handed Stiller Tac-30. Chambered in M118LR handloads..
First round... Ding!
It was a good day.
Since it was really his baby (and bulldozer) I let Andy take the first shot at 1000 with my rifle. Chad Dixon (name?) at LRI built A.I.C.S. left-handed Stiller Tac-30. Chambered in M118LR handloads..
First round... Ding!
It was a good day.
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Me and a buddy was setting up our rifles for hunting season and he kept complaining about a horsefly on his target and that is why he was missing at 300.We’re giving away a free rifle barrel to one lucky shooter—and all you need to do to enter is share a story.
We know there are a lot of different shooters out there, so the winner has their choice of barrel from https://riflebarrelblanks.com/
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Tell us about the best or most memorable shot you’ve ever taken.
Whether it was a perfect bullseye at 1,000 yards, a successful hunt after hours in the woods, or a lucky shot—we want to hear it! Bonus points if you’ve got a photo or video too
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I told his just shoot the center of the target who care about the horsefly. He said you try to shoot the target.
I picked up my rifle set it on the bench and settled in and splattered the horsefly at 300 yds. We laughed and I said there you go.
I have many memorable shots taken over the years, but the one that stands out the most to me is when I first shot out to 1000yds using my new full custom built 6.5x47 Lapua switch barrel rifle. I was able to shoot 4 rounds into a 4-inch group on a deer silhouette target.
There was this horsefly we had been tracking for over a mile, when suddenly, at 500 yards, we saw him zip out from the cover of a Griz he had latched on to, to throw off our tracking. My spotter followed him, miraculously, till he landed a just a bit further out on the wind swept terrain. The spotter then realized we were upwind of the Griz, who suddenly started leaping our way at about 35mph. We knew if we were to fill our horsefly tag that day, it was now or never.
Just then, the wind picked up, probably gale force strength I reckon, as branches on the far brush were being torn off from left to right. There I was, trying to line up the shot of my life while firmly holding my Barrett 50bmg off hand as best I could. I had my Niteforce 8-40X60 scope, that I got a great deal on from Aliexpress, zoomed in such that the fly was moving in and out view with each beat of my beat of my heart. But I was used to that and could time it perfectly as the fly swung across the reticle probably 100 times per minute. As good as that Aliexpress scope was, I'll admit the reticle was canted maybe 15 degrees, so the math was a bit tougher, especially with the 22LR bdc reticle. No matter, I have bagged dozens if not hundreds of horseflies using the same scope, albeit not at 500+ yards. This was to be the culmination of all my training and gear setup.
The fly was quartered to me so it was not as easy as it might first appear. Where to aim was the question. My spotter yelled out the Griz was closing in, that I had to take the shot, now or never. But in my mind, I calmly mulled over the strategy of putting him down, DRT, or taking a more conservative shoulder shot and having to follow the blood trail through the thick brush, with at least one Griz beelining our direction. Decisions.
I considered going high of the shoulder, for the spine shot, but then realized the fly has an exoskeleton, strategically thwarting hunters from taking that often successful shot. So as I peered through the somewhat foggy scope I dialed in the turrets for a head shot. That was the only answer to this situation, but could it be done?
With the sound of heavy breathing and grunting in the not too far distance, I lined up the shot, hoping against all that made sense, that the sound was emanating from my spotter. You have to have nerves of steel in such situations. My finger moved to take the safety off and just ever so slightly began to touch the trigger. It was a half pound trigger, so naturally the gun went right off that split second much to my surprise!
My spotter, who was sweating bullets himself by then, jumped almost peeing in his pants.
Luckily, and I know you might find it hard to believe, the blurred image of a fly flew past the reticle in that moment...just enough off center to make my calculated wind hold off just perfect, or so I hoped. As the bullet was in flight, we silently held our breath and crossed our fingers.
"Hit!!!" yelled my spotter. "You took the head clean off". There was horsefly blood everywhere, as it squirted from the torso, wings still flapping occasionally.
Was it an ethical shot? Well, maybe not. But that day, it worked out for my buddy and me. We had big smiles on our faces as we ran full speed from the brown monster hot on our trail. We would have to locate and field dress our quarry the following day, assuming wild animals didn't get to the carcass first. We slept well that night, let me tell you straight.
Just then, the wind picked up, probably gale force strength I reckon, as branches on the far brush were being torn off from left to right. There I was, trying to line up the shot of my life while firmly holding my Barrett 50bmg off hand as best I could. I had my Niteforce 8-40X60 scope, that I got a great deal on from Aliexpress, zoomed in such that the fly was moving in and out view with each beat of my beat of my heart. But I was used to that and could time it perfectly as the fly swung across the reticle probably 100 times per minute. As good as that Aliexpress scope was, I'll admit the reticle was canted maybe 15 degrees, so the math was a bit tougher, especially with the 22LR bdc reticle. No matter, I have bagged dozens if not hundreds of horseflies using the same scope, albeit not at 500+ yards. This was to be the culmination of all my training and gear setup.
The fly was quartered to me so it was not as easy as it might first appear. Where to aim was the question. My spotter yelled out the Griz was closing in, that I had to take the shot, now or never. But in my mind, I calmly mulled over the strategy of putting him down, DRT, or taking a more conservative shoulder shot and having to follow the blood trail through the thick brush, with at least one Griz beelining our direction. Decisions.
I considered going high of the shoulder, for the spine shot, but then realized the fly has an exoskeleton, strategically thwarting hunters from taking that often successful shot. So as I peered through the somewhat foggy scope I dialed in the turrets for a head shot. That was the only answer to this situation, but could it be done?
With the sound of heavy breathing and grunting in the not too far distance, I lined up the shot, hoping against all that made sense, that the sound was emanating from my spotter. You have to have nerves of steel in such situations. My finger moved to take the safety off and just ever so slightly began to touch the trigger. It was a half pound trigger, so naturally the gun went right off that split second much to my surprise!
My spotter, who was sweating bullets himself by then, jumped almost peeing in his pants.
Luckily, and I know you might find it hard to believe, the blurred image of a fly flew past the reticle in that moment...just enough off center to make my calculated wind hold off just perfect, or so I hoped. As the bullet was in flight, we silently held our breath and crossed our fingers.
"Hit!!!" yelled my spotter. "You took the head clean off". There was horsefly blood everywhere, as it squirted from the torso, wings still flapping occasionally.
Was it an ethical shot? Well, maybe not. But that day, it worked out for my buddy and me. We had big smiles on our faces as we ran full speed from the brown monster hot on our trail. We would have to locate and field dress our quarry the following day, assuming wild animals didn't get to the carcass first. We slept well that night, let me tell you straight.
Thats just...wrong.
I'm calling PFTETHF...People for the ethical treatment of horse flies. You'll be hearing from them
Was out shooting in the CA desert about 10 years ago with some friends. We had a piece of C-Zone steel set at about 350 yards just to shoot our scoped rifles at. I had a cheap Rock Island 1911 with one round left in it so I figured I'd just send it at the far target and see what happened, aimed roughly 15-20" high and 20" to the left because of the 20mph wind. Took the shot and started to turn around and walk away but heard the steel ring out. Everyone else was just sitting on the truck eating lunch staring at me with their jaws open. Couldn't believe I hit it. Making the shot was cool, but seeing their faces was priceless.
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