Some questions from a rifle newb

[Dimitri A.]

Good afternoon gents. I'm fairly new to using a scoped rifle. I recently purchased a Bergara B14 series rifle (Remington 700 clone). I've got my scope mounted and sighted in for a 100 yard zero. I plan on using this rifle for hunting and fun at the range. I have a few questions and hope some of you can help.

What info do you include on your DOPE cards? I'm especially wondering about windage. In my research I've found that a lot of people include windage, but if you go on a hunting trip for example, you really don't know what the wind conditions are until you come across your first game animal. I know some guys look them up online for a given area and avg them out, but does that work?

Also, do you guys use any fancy gizmos to gather wind and weather information like a Kestrel?

Can someone also recommend a decent laser range finder as well? Looking mainly at Leupold because I know they give range adjustments in both MOA and MRAD's, (I prefer MOA) but not sure about whether other brands offer changing between the two.

A few old timers have told me to just make a DOPE card adjusting for bullet drop out to various yardages with the particular loads I plan on using, and practice to become proficient using "Kentucky" windage.

Input appreciated.

[hermosabeach]

hunting- hold on fur

Sight in for 2" high at 100
On at 200
2-3" low at 300


If you can't get within 300, work on your stalking technique...

For hunting a simple 4X scope with a duplex works just fine

here is a trick- Figure out how long and tall your target is... and then mark that at the range

so If the animal fills your entire scope- nose to tail- what is that range?

if the animal fills the center duplex/ thin part of the recital, nose to tail, what is that range?

example
The mule deer is the larger of the two Odocoileus species on average, with a height of (31–42 in) at the shoulders and a nose-to-tail length ranging from (3.9 to 6.9 ft)









Based upon how much deer is in your scope, you can learn to judge the range...

[Jeepergeo]

In all the hunting I've done, I can't recall one stalk that provided enough time after getting reasonably close to game to allow one to whip out some gizmo, take a reading, consult the APP or card, dial things in, and pull the trigger.

You need to know what your target game looks like at 100, 200, and 300 yards, where to hold on the target at each distance, and your maximum one shot kill distance.

[hermosabeach]

range finders- I have one. If you are hunting you need a hard surface to get a bounce. Ranging grass does not work...

you really dont need a laser range finder- same with a wind gauge..


learn the fundamentals and learn to shoot from field positions to the limit of your gun.

Lets say your gun with hunting ammo can group 1 1/2" off of a bench rest.

Learn to shoot 1 1/2" from sitting, squatting, standing...



look up your bullet online and look to see how much wind effects it at hunting ranges- its not much

[hermosabeach]

https://www.hornady.com/team-hornady/ballistic-calculators/#!/standard

https://www.federalpremium.com/Ballistics-Calculator

a 30 MPH wind moves an 80 grain .243
9" at 200
and 20" at 300 yards

a 30 MPH wind will move me all over the place.... so stalk closer

[theLBC]

how big is the target you want to hit, and out to how far?

[Stumpfenhammer]

Congrats on the new rifle, Bergara makes good ones. What caliber is your rifle, what reticle is in your scope, what animal are you hunting, and what distance are you willing to shoot an animal at?

With the B14 being a mid-weight barrel I'll hazard a guess that you aren't going to be shooting past 300-350 yards, or probably shouldn't. At that range you don't "need" a rangefinder (unless you're hunting varmints/predators) and can get by knowing (as a previous poster mentioned) what the average size of your game is and how that equates to your reticle if it has Mil, MOA, or holdover hashmarks. Then make a simple bullet drop card for the major drop points in elevation, or just remember 2-3 holds for the ranges you plan to shoot at. Same for wind -- learn what 5, 10, and 15mph look like in grass and trees, have 2-3 holds written out for any distance where the round will get pushed more than two inches, and don't shoot past a given distance if the wind is over 15mph. Zeroing for 200 yards instead of 100 can make things simpler as well.

For under 400 yards a Leupold or Vortex rangefinder will work if you want one.

When I hunt at distance (500 yards+) I use a Milradian optic, a Swarovksi range finder, and a Kestrel, but then I'm usually using a rifle with a heavy barrel, an adjustable cheekpiece (or a removable cheekpiece), and a bipod and/or shooting sticks.

At longer distances you usually have time to set up. The closer you are the less that happens.

Gut shooting or even worse, wounding and losing an animal, really sucks, so know the limitations of your skill and equipment and then stay well within that envelope.

[Dimitri A.]

how big is the target you want to hit, and out to how far?

Wild boar and deer. Max distance of 500 yards as I become more proficient, but plan on limiting myself to 300 until that time comes.

[Dimitri A.]

Congrats on the new rifle, Bergara makes good ones. What caliber is your rifle, what reticle is in your scope, what animal are you hunting, and what distance are you willing to shoot an animal at?

Thank you, and thanks for your input.

I jumped on the 6.5 CM bandwagon. I purchased a Leupold firedot VX-R 3-9x40 with windplex

With the B14 being a mid-weight barrel I'll hazard a guess that you aren't going to be shooting past 300-350 yards, or probably shouldn't. At that range you don't "need" a rangefinder (unless you're hunting varmints/predators) and can get by knowing (as a previous poster mentioned) what the average size of your game is and how that equates to your reticle if it has Mil, MOA, or holdover hashmarks. Then make a simple bullet drop card for the major drop points in elevation, or just remember 2-3 holds for the ranges you plan to shoot at. Same for wind -- learn what 5, 10, and 15mph look like in grass and trees, have 2-3 holds written out for any distance where the round will get pushed more than two inches, and don't shoot past a given distance if the wind is over 15mph. Zeroing for 200 yards instead of 100 can make things simpler as well.

For under 400 yards a Leupold or Vortex rangefinder will work if you want one.

When I hunt at distance (500 yards+) I use a Milradian optic, a Swarovksi range finder, and a Kestrel, but then I'm usually using a rifle with a heavy barrel, an adjustable cheekpiece (or a removable cheekpiece), and a bipod and/or shooting sticks.

At longer distances you usually have time to set up. The closer you are the less that happens.

Gut shooting or even worse, wounding and losing an animal, really sucks, so know the limitations of your skill and equipment and then stay well within that envelope.

[MeatyMac]

Dimitri, what cartridge is your rifle chambered in?

[scotty99]

[d.f.anonymous]

Good afternoon gents. I'm fairly new to using a scoped rifle. I recently purchased a Bergara B14 series rifle (Remington 700 clone). I've got my scope mounted and sighted in for a 100 yard zero. I plan on using this rifle for hunting and fun at the range. I have a few questions and hope some of you can help.

What info do you include on your DOPE cards? I'm especially wondering about windage. In my research I've found that a lot of people include windage, but if you go on a hunting trip for example, you really don't know what the wind conditions are until you come across your first game animal. I know some guys look them up online for a given area and avg them out, but does that work?

Also, do you guys use any fancy gizmos to gather wind and weather information like a Kestrel?

Can someone also recommend a decent laser range finder as well? Looking mainly at Leupold because I know they give range adjustments in both MOA and MRAD's, (I prefer MOA) but not sure about whether other brands offer changing between the two.

A few old timers have told me to just make a DOPE card adjusting for bullet drop out to various yardages with the particular loads I plan on using, and practice to become proficient using "Kentucky" windage.

Input appreciated.

What scope do you have? You only need dope cards if you plan on using the reticle and/or the your turrets. If you plan on going down this route, you’ll need to learn somethings. Also, keep your range under 2-300 yards if you’re not certain you can 100% for sure get a bullet in the vitals, for the animals sake.

The leupold 2800 is a good long distance range finder. Don’t use it to tell you any moa or mils. Your density altitude and Mach will be different per location during various times of the year, depending on the season and when you shoot. This is why people use ballistic computers like applied ballistics now. In the old days a dope card was various amounts of information to include drop at a particular DA.

Wind is a science and an art. Its too complicated to explain if you’re not familiar with the basics. I do recommend a kestrel. It’ll allow you to dope the wind at your location to 1mph. If you use one with a solver built into it, you can capture the direction of the wind, then your direction of fire and it will calculate the wind value for you. It’ll also give you the hold over in an average and also at high gust. Since wind isn’t a linearly quantifiable, there’s an art to it as well. Especially when you get into various winds across a longer distance, you might have to break it down between wind at the shooter, mid range wind and wind at the target. There are various ways to attack the linear part of wind but the art part only comes from experience.

I’ll tell you what. Google JBM ballistics. Go to trajectory, and you’ll be able to make yourself a dope card for free. Here’s the thing, close enough, is not good enough. If you want to be proficient, make sure the information you put in is near perfect. If you put garbage dope and weapon info in, you’ll get garbage out.
If you have specific questions, or want to some aids on wind, make another post specific to it or message me. I have every dope card and method of gathering dope that you can imagine short of a 6 dof computer. Also there are ballistics apps on your phone if you’re not into the kestrel AB or kestrel 4 dof. Hornady has a free one, ballistic ae is jbm, and applied ballistics is...you know...applied ballistics, just to make a few reputable ones.

[d.f.anonymous]

Also you CAN Kentucky wind it. I challenge you to be better than that. It’s doable.

[Stumpfenhammer]

No holdover marks with the windplex reticle unfortunately, but I am indeed planning on a bullet drop card. Will be heading out to the range tomorrow to make my “DOPE” card for my preferred hunting load out to 500 yards (if I’m able to hit targets that far lol). I specifically selected the windplex reticle so that I can practice windage adjustments via Kentucky windage as opposed to adjusting my reticle.

By the way, why would you advise against shots beyond 350 with a mid-weight barrel? Also, why would it be simpler to set my zero for 200 instead of 100?

The Optic I purchased is calibrated for MOA. I’ve read most people seem to find it easier to understand MRAD’s, but I found it easier to understand MOA for some reason. Maybe I’m the odd man out? My next scope will likely be an MRAD as there seems to be a lot more scope options compared to MOA scopes, especially in available types of reticles to choose from.

RE: DOPE cards, I think what they meant was "holdovers", DOPE is a bit more involved. Holdovers are fine within a certain range as predicated by equipment, caliber, skill and ethical boundaries.

RE: Windplex - no holds but it appears it does have 1 MOA hashmarks, so even better if you get a Kestrel with AB software or, spend less money, and get a ballistic app on your phone. A little more work to learn the equipment and terminology (e.g Density Altitude) but not as complicated as it might look, and it's fun and satisfying once you get comfortable with it.

RE: Zero at 200 - if you have already taken a previous posters' advice and have read up on Maximum Point Blank Range, you probably figured this out for yourself. If not, it simply extends your MPBR https://www.longrangehunting.com/thr...d-zero.196860/

RE: Mid-weight barrel & 300-350 yards - I wasn't as precise as I could have been when I wrote that. A mid-weight barrel can be just as precise at 1,000 yards (just using that yardage as an example) as a heavy profile barrel. It probably won't be on the second, third, etc., shot in a string though (thermal mass, harmonics, science, blah blah). Besides thermal mass and harmonic damping, a heavier barrel (aka cantilevered weight) also has a greater stabilization affect on the entire weapon platform. The downside of the heavier barrel is increased inertia/momentum when you need to snap/swing the barrel quickly, as in a hog hauling bacon at 60 yards. And of course, it's heavier to hump all day.

What I really meant to say is...that barrel and that stock are not optimal for consistent long-range accuracy/precision, and given your newness to hunting at longer distances, you should probably (by my standards and hunting ethics, not necessarily yours) limit yourself to a 350-yard (or less) envelope.

RE: MOA vs MILS: You made the right choice, they are both different languages for the same thing (units for angular measurement) https://www.longrangeshooting.org/ar...mils-explained

I use Milradians because that's what the guys I learned with used, and we all had a common language of Mils. The outcome is the same whether you use Milradian or Minute of Angle, and since you are used to the Imperial/US Customary system of measurement, MOA is familiar ground. What I would advise is to stick with MOA turrets if you have an MOA reticle. I don't know if anyone still mixes reticles and turrets but they used to, and it's unnecessarily complicated.

Here's a link to a product I've found useful on straight-comb rifles: https://bradleycheekrest.com

Note: Not a PhD, so please excuse any butchering of scientific principles/terminology.

[Dimitri A.]

Thank you for the info, especially about MPBR. That is something I didn't know about, and is an extremely helpful piece of info.