I went back and looked for that really large 2x2 (forkhorn) I saw on Monday, but couldn't find him. Today is the last day of the season, and I knew that I could only hunt the morning hunt. I passed a real young one early on this morning. I spotted this boy at about 550 yards away but had no place to make a shot. I thought he had his back to me and was not worrying to much about making myself small (which is difficult to do). I found a small alley way that would let the bullet fly free of brush, and wouldn't you know it, he had spotted me. I guess he didn't have his back to me the whole time after all. Just by the way he acted, I assume he had been pursued this season already. He was 430 yards from me, and disappeared going up a draw. I was hoping he would come out on top where I could see him. I pre-ranged the area I believed/hoped him to show up at. he didn't seem real spooked, so I felt like I had a chance. I loaded the Leopard, set up and dialed 7MOA, set the parallax, and waited. Somewhere between 3-5 minutes passed when he showed up where I thought he would. I re-lasered him @ 496 yards. I st up and made the shot. I saw him go down in the scope. This is the third big game animal I have taken with the 6.5 Leopard specialty pistol that Mac's Gunworks built for me. The 130 Berger leaving the muzzle right at 3100 FPS is amazing to watch on game. Since I wanted to take pics I packed everything to the Buck. I packed out all the meat (deboned) plus all of my gear, but the Black's Creek pack once again handled it all well. It may have been 496 yards to the deer but there were several draws that caused me to burn some extra calories though

I have a couple of doe antelope permits, another buck antelope tag, and a elk tag. We will see if I get to all of them or not.

Nice shooting Ernie!

nice Ernie .well done

You stood up and fired at 496yds/more than 453m - without support? Amazing. Where did you hit it? Was the gun dialed in dead on or did you hold over?

I am not Quigley. I do not shoot off-hand hardly ever, and never at mid-range distances.
There is a bi-pod on the forend (You can see it in the pic).
I shot from the prone position, as I usually do with a small leather field bag, filled with corn-cob media underneath the grip.
Bullet impact was just behind the shoulder, about 2 inches higher than I intended.

I mentioned in the first post I dialed 7 MOA (minutes of angle). I use a 100 yard zero.

So, once I dialed 7MOA (28 clicks), I held dead on (dot reticle).
Didn't hold any or dial any for wind-Bingo wind conditions, and at this short range, even if there was a 2mph crosswind for the entire distance, it would move the bullet less than 3 inches.

NIce work, Ernie!

Very nice shot anyway!

Once again, simply fantastic!



At this short range...wow! I'm hoping my 6.5 rifle build will be capable of the accuracy that Mac's pistols produce - but there is that little thing about shooter ability

Congrats!

Very nice, Ernie.

Poor typing on my part.
I should have said mid-range.
Why I said, "short" is because in a close to no-wind situation the bullet is forgiving, even if you are off some on your wind.
Wind is the most difficult part of LR shooting and or hunting.
When you can nix it at these distances, the hard part is over.
So it feels short even though it is truly a mid-range distance.
Who is building your rifle?

At the distances at which you practice and shoot, it probably feels like short range...nothing but respect here.

Steve Roe with Apache Machine is putting her together for me. Shouldn't be too long now.

Exactly!!

Very nice Ernie!!!

Great Shooting Ernie, and Nice Buck.

Wow...insane shot...496 might as well say 500 yrds.

Well, that is what the rangefinder confirmed more than once, so that is what I post. I try to be as accurate as possible when I post things.
Those distances are not that far for the rigs I use and the kind of practice I put in. Once my load is developed, and my drops are confirmed (usually out to 1000 or 1200 yards), I typically begin practicing @ 500 yards on steel. I rarely shoot any closer than that.
If you were with me and used some of my SP's, some of the mystic of mid-range and long-range shooting would fade.
In other words, you (or anyone else who applies themselves) can do similar things that I do.

With the single-shot specialty handguns, you can go a lot further than the 500 yard mark. Last year, on the same ranch with Dan Bower (A moderator here) I used his 7mm WSM XP with 162 A-Max, I nailed a buck antelope @ 1037 yards.
The circle is where I shot from:

Well im trying to get accurate at 100yds and your doing 1K...good on ya. Probably good have shot him from the porch at your house.LOL. Here in GA i can never see myself taking that kind of shot without hitting a few trees.

Simply amazing. Congratulations on the hunt Ernie.

The item in the white circle is my Tahoe.
Everyone has their starting points.
I started using single-shot SP's for hunting in the 80's.
I have always had an interest in precision shooting and shooting further. It really was a slow progression for Steve (sscoyote) and I.

That a real nice antalope....

Steve has never built me anything, but I have complete confidence in his gun building. I have seen a number of shooting reports from his customers and I believe he is truly one of the good guys.

500 yards on a animal, is not short range, but I did feel completely confident before I pulled the trigger.