Re: Best long distance rifle?
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Greg Langelius *</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'm not a big fan or LR hunting. While I know it's possible to deliver effective terminal performance with reasonable accuracy at extended distances, the challenge of hunting, for me, is not about how far I can deliver doom, but how close I can get before I am required to make the shot.
For me it's about the stalk, and the marksmanship is only the ultimate culmination of many factors that comprise an especially enjoyable hunt. That's a big bunch of the reasons why I favor less potent chamberings, like the .260.
While no slouch (I would rate the .260's accuracy and terminal performance as somewhere between the .308 and maybe a bit closer to the .30-'06 at extended distances), I'd rather not overstress the abilities of the .260, or my own LR capabilities with any other cartridge, beyond the best (read shortest) distances I can reach on a stalk.
If I'm not absolutely confident I can make the shot without allowing the animal to escape wounded, I won't take it. No animal deserves to be left to dies slow and hard; or worse, live with a debilitating injury.
The first deer I ever harvested had a broadhead imbedded and chronically infected in its right shoulder muscle. To be safe, I felt it necessary to discard most of that shoulder and leg. I was also forced another time to dispatch a buck which had been blinded and horribly maimed, by all visible evidence, at least several days prior to my encountering him. The smell of the infection was bad enough to make getting close enough to examine the damage simply sickening. I get kinda hot sometimes when I find myself tidying up after other 'hunters'.
For me, hunting isn't about proving anything to anyone, including myself. It's about harvesting nature's best delicacies in a humane and efficient manner.
Greg </div></div>
well said.
