Mustangs Rule
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- Joined
- Feb 4, 2021
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“ Shooting Fast Is More Important Than Shooting Far ”
Every few months, I visit the shooting range with a young friend. He is 42 and a current big game hunting guide. Long, ago I was a hunting guide too, and I am now 77. We get to the range right at the first hint of light on a week day and have it to ourselves.
We practice two timed rifle shooting drills. Both require using binoculars to identify a target, assuming the proper shooting position and firing one round.
We take turns being the “Shooter” and then the “Slapper.” I will explain both those roles in a bit.
We begin by both doing a fast walk/slow jog, slightly uphill, to set two targets at 300 yards. They are simple black 8”diameter bulls-eyes on a 24” x 24” piece of cardboard. Then, which one of us is the Shooter, turns his back while the “Slapper” pins a 4”white paper square in the center of one target, and a 4”white paper circle on the center of the other. The “Shooter” does not know which is on what target.
Then we jog back.
For the 50 yard targets, each 8” black bulls-eye has a much smaller white square or white circle in the center of it. We sprint back and forth to our 50 yard targets.
At either 50 yards or 300 yards, binoculars are a must to see if the white paper in the center of these bulls-eyes is square or round.
As soon as we got back to the firing line, while still huffing and puffing a little or a lot. The “Slapper” slaps the back of the Shooter either once or twice. One slap indicates his target has the white circle. Two slaps indicates the his target is the one with the white square.
For the 50-yard target, the time allowed to raise the binoculars, choose the correct target, drop the binoculars, un-sling rifle from shoulder and fire one offhand shot was first set 5 seconds, but with practice was cut down to 3 seconds. The “Slapper” is timing the shooter and will slap his back, ending his time to shoot. Yes, that has happened just at let off!
For the 300 yard target, we allowed 7 seconds in the beginning, then worked our way down to 5 seconds to, lift the binoculars, choose the target, drop the binoculars, un-sling the rifle, get in a sitting shooting position and use either the Whelen Sling or handmade 48” long 5/8” triple oak shooting sticks. They are held together by superb duty rubbers bands cut from motorcycle tire tubes.
In an hour and half at the range, we would fire 6 shots each. Three at 50 yards, three at 300 yards and get a decent workout too
After practicing these skills for six months, ( and doing mock drills at home) we could hold a three inch group at 50 yards, firing that critical first shot in under three seconds, after doing the full drill.
At 300 yards, doing the full drill, we would each hold 4” to 5“ groups inside black bulls-eye while firing our first shot in just under 5 seconds,,,. without needing any external support or rest, be it rock, tree or mound of high mound of dirt.
Over the years we include variations and added other skill sets; longer range, always when afield automatically judging wind conditions, and estimating distances. We have learned the old art of sub-tending using the fat part of our scope cross-hairs to estimate range. We prefer simple scopes, fixed lower power or 2X to 7X variable scopes using the 2x for close shooting and set our scopes at 4x for the 300 yard range. Going to 7x later seems like an incredible bonus.
Our rifles are pretty basic, my friend uses a 6.5 Creed for deer and I use a 6.5 X 55. For elk we use the .308, 30-06 and we both like the.270 Winchester. We have had magnums but got tired of them.
For hunting further out we use Barnes TTSXBT, or TSXBT all coper Bullets, which we agree are like having “Bruce Lee” coming out of our barrels. All muscle, no fat and so fast, super-killers. For close range we load round nosed Lapua Naturalis bullets. Lead core bullets are overweight and dirty but for our target shooting, we do use lead core bullets close to the same weight. BC and SD and velocity as our much more expensive Barnes hunting bullets.
One day, maybe four years ago, as my friend and I were packing up and leaving the range, a group of hunters came in with someone who seemed to be their elk hunting guide.
He was taking his clients to range before the coming hunt. One was a father in his 50’s with his son and his son’s friend. Their rifle cases were big and long enough for Bazookas. The scopes were huge tactical models and on the end of each “pole vault” length barrel was a beer can sized suppressor.
From a distance I saw their loaded ammo and thought they looked like brass ballistic missiles.
They hopped in a huge 4X4 and set up their targets at first at 500 yards then later at the max.
As each sat down at the bench to shoot the Guide was using a big bag full of props to help them be stable. They had bi-pods, tripods and long mono-pods.
Covid came, I got it, then my knees went down hill. Scouting for elk, they did not hold me. I tumbled down a canyon side along the way hitting my head on a rock. I was a bloody mess. For “spite” I gave the rock a concussion.
Hunting, especially elk hunting has gotten much harder with age. I’ve had minor surgery on both knees, had one fully replaced. After all that I was hunting a sweet spot I had discovered scouting years earlier. It was less than half an hour’s walk from my truck, in a niche on public land. After working my way through a tangle of wild raspberry bushes, I picked up the hidden big game trail, also a once Native American migration trail. A sweet little creek was noisy. The year before I had taken four easy flop-falls here. I did not have a good leg to stand on. Now I had one good leg and an antler-less elk tag.
The trail opens up near a huge pine Bear Tree, covered with claw marks. The country gets grassy, hiding the small opuntia cactus. I sat in them once. the nurse at the clinic could not stop small giggles as I told her the story as she was pulling them out of my butt.
Way up canyon there is a mound where the creek bends. Often elk are bedded there and watching.
Before going into the open I spent a half hour glassing with a vintage 20x50 Leopold spotting scope looking for elk sentries. I Jerry-rigged my shooting sticks to act as tripod for my spotting scope.
There were no elk there, fingers crossed!
I went up canyon and around the mound, stayed low along the creek. Mountain quail flushed, They make smile.
I was moving like an upright snake, “Look, tiny step, look tiny steps” I saw a line of elk walking on the canyon side. They were moving with purpose, not browsing, not trotting, but with each handful of seconds getting critically further away.
Without any thinking I glassed the herd with my binoculars, held tight against my chest with a custom strap. I picked out a yearling elk, legal with my tag, and wise for a solo elk hunter who is 75. The elk were well above me. The Whelen sling is useless shooting above level. The shooting sticks are ideal then. I already had judged six or 8 inches of wind-age was needed looking at how much the tall grass was bent by the wind. In open country judging range it tricky as is shooting at angles.
The fat part of my dual X scope reticle covers 6” at 100 yards, 12” at 200 yards and 18” at 300 yards, and 24 inches at 400 yards. A big mule deer’s chest depth is about a foot and a half, a bull elk about 2 and a half feet. A yearling elk’s chest is about two feet. My reticle covered a little over ¾ of the yearling's body. Range was between 325 and 350 yards and increasing fast too. No need or time to get my rangefinder out. Figured actual bullet drop with steep canyon angle for 300 yards. All these skills have been well practiced for moments just like this one.
It just took you way, way longer to read these last three paragraphs above, than it did for me to figure them and live them out in “real elk time”, which was just a handful of seconds. I shot fast and true!
I was using a pre-64 model 70 Winchester in .270. I bought it in a pawn shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming maybe about 1976. A widow brought it in to sell. It was her Cowboy husband’s only rifle. He bought it new in 1952. I put a new leather Whelen sling on it, and linseed oil on the walnut stock, stop there! Sent the Weaver fixed 4x scope that was on it, to Iron Sight Scope repair service to be checked and have the lenses polished. The scope was just fine. Looked like hell with so much bluing worn off going in and out of a saddle scabbard for decades.
Of course I put it right back on this old cowboy’s rifle.
It was not broke, no need to fix it.
MR
Every few months, I visit the shooting range with a young friend. He is 42 and a current big game hunting guide. Long, ago I was a hunting guide too, and I am now 77. We get to the range right at the first hint of light on a week day and have it to ourselves.
We practice two timed rifle shooting drills. Both require using binoculars to identify a target, assuming the proper shooting position and firing one round.
We take turns being the “Shooter” and then the “Slapper.” I will explain both those roles in a bit.
We begin by both doing a fast walk/slow jog, slightly uphill, to set two targets at 300 yards. They are simple black 8”diameter bulls-eyes on a 24” x 24” piece of cardboard. Then, which one of us is the Shooter, turns his back while the “Slapper” pins a 4”white paper square in the center of one target, and a 4”white paper circle on the center of the other. The “Shooter” does not know which is on what target.
Then we jog back.
For the 50 yard targets, each 8” black bulls-eye has a much smaller white square or white circle in the center of it. We sprint back and forth to our 50 yard targets.
At either 50 yards or 300 yards, binoculars are a must to see if the white paper in the center of these bulls-eyes is square or round.
As soon as we got back to the firing line, while still huffing and puffing a little or a lot. The “Slapper” slaps the back of the Shooter either once or twice. One slap indicates his target has the white circle. Two slaps indicates the his target is the one with the white square.
For the 50-yard target, the time allowed to raise the binoculars, choose the correct target, drop the binoculars, un-sling rifle from shoulder and fire one offhand shot was first set 5 seconds, but with practice was cut down to 3 seconds. The “Slapper” is timing the shooter and will slap his back, ending his time to shoot. Yes, that has happened just at let off!
For the 300 yard target, we allowed 7 seconds in the beginning, then worked our way down to 5 seconds to, lift the binoculars, choose the target, drop the binoculars, un-sling the rifle, get in a sitting shooting position and use either the Whelen Sling or handmade 48” long 5/8” triple oak shooting sticks. They are held together by superb duty rubbers bands cut from motorcycle tire tubes.
In an hour and half at the range, we would fire 6 shots each. Three at 50 yards, three at 300 yards and get a decent workout too
After practicing these skills for six months, ( and doing mock drills at home) we could hold a three inch group at 50 yards, firing that critical first shot in under three seconds, after doing the full drill.
At 300 yards, doing the full drill, we would each hold 4” to 5“ groups inside black bulls-eye while firing our first shot in just under 5 seconds,,,. without needing any external support or rest, be it rock, tree or mound of high mound of dirt.
Over the years we include variations and added other skill sets; longer range, always when afield automatically judging wind conditions, and estimating distances. We have learned the old art of sub-tending using the fat part of our scope cross-hairs to estimate range. We prefer simple scopes, fixed lower power or 2X to 7X variable scopes using the 2x for close shooting and set our scopes at 4x for the 300 yard range. Going to 7x later seems like an incredible bonus.
Our rifles are pretty basic, my friend uses a 6.5 Creed for deer and I use a 6.5 X 55. For elk we use the .308, 30-06 and we both like the.270 Winchester. We have had magnums but got tired of them.
For hunting further out we use Barnes TTSXBT, or TSXBT all coper Bullets, which we agree are like having “Bruce Lee” coming out of our barrels. All muscle, no fat and so fast, super-killers. For close range we load round nosed Lapua Naturalis bullets. Lead core bullets are overweight and dirty but for our target shooting, we do use lead core bullets close to the same weight. BC and SD and velocity as our much more expensive Barnes hunting bullets.
One day, maybe four years ago, as my friend and I were packing up and leaving the range, a group of hunters came in with someone who seemed to be their elk hunting guide.
He was taking his clients to range before the coming hunt. One was a father in his 50’s with his son and his son’s friend. Their rifle cases were big and long enough for Bazookas. The scopes were huge tactical models and on the end of each “pole vault” length barrel was a beer can sized suppressor.
From a distance I saw their loaded ammo and thought they looked like brass ballistic missiles.
They hopped in a huge 4X4 and set up their targets at first at 500 yards then later at the max.
As each sat down at the bench to shoot the Guide was using a big bag full of props to help them be stable. They had bi-pods, tripods and long mono-pods.
Covid came, I got it, then my knees went down hill. Scouting for elk, they did not hold me. I tumbled down a canyon side along the way hitting my head on a rock. I was a bloody mess. For “spite” I gave the rock a concussion.
Hunting, especially elk hunting has gotten much harder with age. I’ve had minor surgery on both knees, had one fully replaced. After all that I was hunting a sweet spot I had discovered scouting years earlier. It was less than half an hour’s walk from my truck, in a niche on public land. After working my way through a tangle of wild raspberry bushes, I picked up the hidden big game trail, also a once Native American migration trail. A sweet little creek was noisy. The year before I had taken four easy flop-falls here. I did not have a good leg to stand on. Now I had one good leg and an antler-less elk tag.
The trail opens up near a huge pine Bear Tree, covered with claw marks. The country gets grassy, hiding the small opuntia cactus. I sat in them once. the nurse at the clinic could not stop small giggles as I told her the story as she was pulling them out of my butt.
Way up canyon there is a mound where the creek bends. Often elk are bedded there and watching.
Before going into the open I spent a half hour glassing with a vintage 20x50 Leopold spotting scope looking for elk sentries. I Jerry-rigged my shooting sticks to act as tripod for my spotting scope.
There were no elk there, fingers crossed!
I went up canyon and around the mound, stayed low along the creek. Mountain quail flushed, They make smile.
I was moving like an upright snake, “Look, tiny step, look tiny steps” I saw a line of elk walking on the canyon side. They were moving with purpose, not browsing, not trotting, but with each handful of seconds getting critically further away.
Without any thinking I glassed the herd with my binoculars, held tight against my chest with a custom strap. I picked out a yearling elk, legal with my tag, and wise for a solo elk hunter who is 75. The elk were well above me. The Whelen sling is useless shooting above level. The shooting sticks are ideal then. I already had judged six or 8 inches of wind-age was needed looking at how much the tall grass was bent by the wind. In open country judging range it tricky as is shooting at angles.
The fat part of my dual X scope reticle covers 6” at 100 yards, 12” at 200 yards and 18” at 300 yards, and 24 inches at 400 yards. A big mule deer’s chest depth is about a foot and a half, a bull elk about 2 and a half feet. A yearling elk’s chest is about two feet. My reticle covered a little over ¾ of the yearling's body. Range was between 325 and 350 yards and increasing fast too. No need or time to get my rangefinder out. Figured actual bullet drop with steep canyon angle for 300 yards. All these skills have been well practiced for moments just like this one.
It just took you way, way longer to read these last three paragraphs above, than it did for me to figure them and live them out in “real elk time”, which was just a handful of seconds. I shot fast and true!
I was using a pre-64 model 70 Winchester in .270. I bought it in a pawn shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming maybe about 1976. A widow brought it in to sell. It was her Cowboy husband’s only rifle. He bought it new in 1952. I put a new leather Whelen sling on it, and linseed oil on the walnut stock, stop there! Sent the Weaver fixed 4x scope that was on it, to Iron Sight Scope repair service to be checked and have the lenses polished. The scope was just fine. Looked like hell with so much bluing worn off going in and out of a saddle scabbard for decades.
Of course I put it right back on this old cowboy’s rifle.
It was not broke, no need to fix it.
MR
