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I see on this forum that some question the ability of long range shooting or hunting while using PCPs. Without getting into too far into the ethics of long range hunting and how far is too far to shoot, let me tell you how I do it.
I routinely make shots like this 106 yard crow.
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View thru the RF-1
First I have a moderately powerful 25 Condor, I say moderately powerful, because I shoot 25.4 grain Kings at 970 FPS which is in the mid 50 FPE range.
At times I have gotten sub MOA groups at 100 yards, but that it usually in the range of "Even a blind squirrel gets a nut now and then" reality. Normally I am talking 10 shot groups, with wind in the 2 inch realm at 100 yards.
Because our PCP's have tragectory akin to the bibical David's stone, we need three things, one is a Mildot reticle or something close, and you need a rangefinder. The use of a AO scope works for under 100 yards, but past that it is my opinion that a laser rangefinder is king. Also you need Chairgun or something similiar.
What I did was enter the ballistic information into Chairgun, and using the Reticle tool, I made two printouts for my rifle and scope. I am using a Bushnell 3200 5x15 tactical, it is true for mildot at 15 power, and with a 50 yard zero, I am right on the third mildot at 100 yards with that King going 970 FPS. So I made a printout of the reticle out to 124 yards, where the fine section with the mildots disappears into the heavy portion, beyond that with our tragectories your guessing.
Then I made a printout of the same load and reticle but this time on 5 power, this gives me a maximun range with my 5x15 of 204 yards. I also put in a 2 MPH wind correction.
With these two printouts taped to my Swarovski RF-1 rangefinder, I have a reference mark to use to 200 yards. But the real fine tuning has to be done in the field, because no computer program for ballistics has proven to me to be totally accurate.
So what you need to do is to shoot your rifle on a large piece of cardboard at various ranges.
With my Condor 25, I also have something going on besides gravity, velocity and wind. I have a 2 minute drift factor due to the bushings not being entirely straight, a problem I hope to remedy soon, but for now I must deal with. I have probably shot 200 pellets working on this from 50 yards to 125 yards.
We have PCP rifles that will kill at 200 yards, mine like I say is moderately powered, but it still has 6.6 FPE at 200 yards, which will dispatch a squirrel or a crow, if everything goes correctly.
As far as the ethics go for me, dead is dead, killing is either considered cruel or not, it is a personal thing. I grew up in agriculture, a coyote in the field during calving season meant a loss of revenue, if it ran off to die from a 22 slug that hit it in a less than ideal place, to my family that was far less cruel than it eating the rear end out of a cow that was calving.
Now later on in life, when I was hunting commercaily on Oregons south end Hi desert, that wounded coyote at times meant a loss of $60.00 if not retrieved.
When I hunt my beloved elk, I thank the dead animal before I gut it, so if it runs off to die a slow death, I don't sleep that night. On the vineyard here, a ground squirrel hit in an area that lets in run into it's hole to die or a starling hit and flies off in a cloud of feathers, is as good as it gets, I don't have to clean up after the vermin that are after my bottom line in the grapes.
So to each his own, whether you hunting or shooting cardboard, it is up to you, I hope this gets you going.
Regards,
Roachcreek.
I routinely make shots like this 106 yard crow.
G
] View thru the RF-1
First I have a moderately powerful 25 Condor, I say moderately powerful, because I shoot 25.4 grain Kings at 970 FPS which is in the mid 50 FPE range.
At times I have gotten sub MOA groups at 100 yards, but that it usually in the range of "Even a blind squirrel gets a nut now and then" reality. Normally I am talking 10 shot groups, with wind in the 2 inch realm at 100 yards.
Because our PCP's have tragectory akin to the bibical David's stone, we need three things, one is a Mildot reticle or something close, and you need a rangefinder. The use of a AO scope works for under 100 yards, but past that it is my opinion that a laser rangefinder is king. Also you need Chairgun or something similiar.
What I did was enter the ballistic information into Chairgun, and using the Reticle tool, I made two printouts for my rifle and scope. I am using a Bushnell 3200 5x15 tactical, it is true for mildot at 15 power, and with a 50 yard zero, I am right on the third mildot at 100 yards with that King going 970 FPS. So I made a printout of the reticle out to 124 yards, where the fine section with the mildots disappears into the heavy portion, beyond that with our tragectories your guessing.
Then I made a printout of the same load and reticle but this time on 5 power, this gives me a maximun range with my 5x15 of 204 yards. I also put in a 2 MPH wind correction.
With these two printouts taped to my Swarovski RF-1 rangefinder, I have a reference mark to use to 200 yards. But the real fine tuning has to be done in the field, because no computer program for ballistics has proven to me to be totally accurate.
So what you need to do is to shoot your rifle on a large piece of cardboard at various ranges.
With my Condor 25, I also have something going on besides gravity, velocity and wind. I have a 2 minute drift factor due to the bushings not being entirely straight, a problem I hope to remedy soon, but for now I must deal with. I have probably shot 200 pellets working on this from 50 yards to 125 yards.
We have PCP rifles that will kill at 200 yards, mine like I say is moderately powered, but it still has 6.6 FPE at 200 yards, which will dispatch a squirrel or a crow, if everything goes correctly.
As far as the ethics go for me, dead is dead, killing is either considered cruel or not, it is a personal thing. I grew up in agriculture, a coyote in the field during calving season meant a loss of revenue, if it ran off to die from a 22 slug that hit it in a less than ideal place, to my family that was far less cruel than it eating the rear end out of a cow that was calving.
Now later on in life, when I was hunting commercaily on Oregons south end Hi desert, that wounded coyote at times meant a loss of $60.00 if not retrieved.
When I hunt my beloved elk, I thank the dead animal before I gut it, so if it runs off to die a slow death, I don't sleep that night. On the vineyard here, a ground squirrel hit in an area that lets in run into it's hole to die or a starling hit and flies off in a cloud of feathers, is as good as it gets, I don't have to clean up after the vermin that are after my bottom line in the grapes.
So to each his own, whether you hunting or shooting cardboard, it is up to you, I hope this gets you going.
Regards,
Roachcreek.
