Long Range Shooting Rifle Options

Bad thing is, they have only been out a few years, now Tactacam is discontinuing them. I received the fts unit, shortly after I posted the question. The specific micro sd card it needs, will be here tomorrow. Ski

 

I looked through a few cheaper ones a few years back. Less than $1000, they weren’t really worth much of anything. I got lucky and bought a used Swarovski str with an mrad eyepiece. Don’t think I will ever need another for my lifetime. 2 miles away on a good day with little mirage and I can pretty clearly see what’s going on out there. It’s impressive. Image quality is superb. Price point definitely reflects it. Eyes are subjective though, you have to look through a few before you buy. You might like a vortex more than a NF and so on.

 

Thanks

I already have vortex binos and love them during deer season.

Swarovski definitely knows their shit with glass I just have bad vision already so not sure it's worth the extra nut

 

I'm dying to get out and shoot. Weather's been abysmal for getting out on farm fields. From muddy to frozen and covered with snow and back to muddy.

 

Got one of them song dogs last Thursday night. I don’t travel and hunt very much, most everything is within a mile from my house. I have 5 dogs and the ruckus they create seems to draw coyotes in every few days especially during breeding season. Got this one off the back porch. They were 1500 yards out in a tree line, 2 come running in, other 2 wouldn’t respond. 1 of them took a dirt nap and got a free utv ride. The bastard thought he was slick and hid behind a big pile of snow way out in the field, I think he knew something was up, as soon as he popped out, it was game over.

 

Nice job Dillon!

Ski

 

That Proof barrel improved its proven proofness of getting the job done proofully.

 

It shoots good. Pretty lightweight, so far I like it. I had more last night at 900 yards, but they wouldn't come any closer. 500 yards id take the shot, 900 would be impressive on a thermal. Would make for a good video. Its only about 7mils of drop.

 

Remind me what round you're shooting again. I don't have my DOPE book in front of me but I don't think my 6.5CM even shoots that flat. That's impressive.

 

Just a 6mm Creedmoor. Definitely flatter than the 6.5 creed. Factory ammo I'm getting about 2950fps, handloads id be able to speed it up some and flatten it out even more. It looks like around 6.7mils for 900. Id have to dope that, but i imagine its within a tenth or two. The 6.5 takes over if you get past like 1500 yards, but you're kinda spitballing out there with a little 6 or 6.5mm. The 6.5 is like 7-7.2 mils at 900 (depending on MV) so considerably more, but if you know your distances, its not really an issue. Now im curious what kinda groups this can hold at 900-1000. From 0-500 its a cake walk. Doping out a thermal sucks, in my opinion. I have yet to find a reticle i genuinely like.

 

Gotcha, that all makes sense. If memory serves, my 6.5 gasser is ~9 mils @ 1k yards w/ factory 140gr ELD, depending on conditions. And that's the flattest shooter I own. Unfortunately, 1k yards is the longest I have available to shoot. Really want to stretch the legs of that thing some more as I know it's plenty capable.

Still haven't ever played with thermals or NV. Definitely hoping to make that investment sometime in the next couple years.

 

i gotta get a chrono or wait for my brother to get the garmin. My magneto speed v3 got stolen at a private range off the Long range benches.( Strategic edge for you TN peeps) I left it so that's on me but this was a place where you think things wouldn't get taken. O well

I need to chrono the 6mm and my ruger SFAR. My SFAR keeps surprising me on it's accuracy. It's not a precision rifle of course, but I'm getting good enough first round hits to kill an animal to 400 yards. I haven't been able to take it and further.

 

Thermals are fun, especially if your allowed to hunt with them. They do get very expensive very fast.

 

yeah I wonder if it's worth the effort of hunting at night sometimes but when it works out.. it's a lot of fun

 

The new Garmin Xero pro c1 is pretty awesome. The prices are starting to come down. Anarchy outdoors had them on sale this week for 499.99. sold them all in minutes. Wife bought me one for my birthday, a few weeks ago. Ski

 

Labradar is coming out with a new style, similar to a garmin. Couple ELR guys are testing them, i imagine itll be just as good as the garmin. I have the garmin, its badass. If you wanna save a little money, just get a magnetospeed. I used one for years, thousands of rounds. They work great.

Thermal hunting at night is a lot of work, but ya it is fun as hell when it all comes together. I rarely drive around to search for them, if i didn't live out in the country i probably wouldn't do it. I'm lucky enough to shoot them off my porch and backyard. I know a lot of guys that hunt all night long 3-4 days a week. It is a lot of work, i don't really have the time or desire for it LOL. I just keep them far enough away off my property, so my dachshunds don't end up a snack. The other thing that sucks, and i know every state is different, Illinois is only from November-March, so your usually freezing you ass off out there.

 

Are they managed as furbearers? They're not native here in Kentucky and they're considered a nuisance so it's year round.
I used to work at an Amazon warehouse in Lexington. They have a Canada goose problem. Someone thought it would be worth a shot to set up coyote archery targets on the berm next to the parking lot. Naturally the geese completely ignored them. However, the urban coyotes don't ignore the geese. It isn't unusual for one to snatch one by the neck and drag it off into the brush.

 

Sounds like a good reason to have coyotes in your area.
I hate those damned geese.

 

I should have worded that better. It’s 24 hours a day 11-10/3-15. You can hunt them any other day of the year, but it’s 1/2hr before sunrise until 1/2 after sunset. Any optics are allowed. I very rarely see them during the daytime, maybe 10-1 in comparison to night. I guess I’m honestly surprised Illinois lets us use rifles at all for coyotes. It seems like everyone and their brother went out and bought thermals over COVID, I can only imagine the rounds getting slung all over the place. Some of these people I run into and talk with about the nightttime stuff I wouldn’t trust within 5 square miles of me. Even heard some stories of shooting peoples dogs on accident, and that’s not cool at all.

Geese are annoying and crap all over stuff around me. I wish they were open game 24/7 here.

 

Coyotes are year round 24/7 here. I think trash pandas and possums are Oct-Feb. Very few people hunt them anymore. We've had a big drop in turkey numbers, at least partially due to the abundance of predators. Wouldn't be a bad thing to try a year round season for the coons and marsupials. I know they enjoy eggs.
The geese are out of control. Can't go fishing at the city park without stepping on their green land mines.