Accuracy

DeerMadness

Long Time Member
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How often have you missed a shot ? I have piled up 9 animals without missing until today. Two shots and no blood. Just wasn't my best shooting I guess.
 
I take pride in my shooting ability & haven't missed too many shots in more than 50 yrs. afield. The most bizzare miss(es) of all was recounted here in the past, so rather than retype it, here it is copy/pasted:
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A member of our old Hunting Forum on Compuserve invited me to hunt whitetails on a ranch near Del Rio TX. (Yup, same one with the rat in another thread!) The place was huge, and there were only three of us hunting. It was neat because I could hunt it without being confined to a blind.

The first day I passed on several small bucks I had glassed. On the 2nd, I had walked about a 1/2 mile from the ranch house at dawn & set up to glass from a hilltop. Minutes later I spotted a huge buck feeding smack dab in the middle of a big field almost a mile away. I quickly dropped down into a gulley & worked my way closer, staying out of the deer's sight & sort of parallel to the field. When I figured I was about even, I duckwalked up a hill & peered over the top. The buck was still there. It was no more than 250 yds.

I was able to shoot from a prone position. When the buck turned broadside, I fired. The buck never moved. I fired again; same result. I emptied the magazine; nothing. While I was reloading, the buck saunteredd off in a slow walk, directly away from me. I shot twice more without harming a hair.

To be sure I hadn't hit him even though he didn't react, I went out & carefully followed the path he took. Not a drop of blood or clipped hair anywhere. Dejected, I went back to the ranch house, packed my stuff & left a note for my host. I told him I had blown my chance & was heading home.

So a month later on my annual Steenkin' Peeg Hunt, I set up a target near camp at 25 yards & pulled out the rifle. Three shots never hit the paper.

It was really strange because I shot the rifle at a range just before the TX hunt, and it was dead-on where I wanted it to be. So when I got home I pulled out my bore sighter; it was so far off, I ran out of clicks!

I laid the gun down on the table, and that's when I noticed the problem; the front bell of the scope was way out of whack, canting down toward the barrel. With little effort, I was able to move it back to straight or to point upward, right or left.

Mystery solved. Evidentally, the weld between the bell & the main tube went kaput. Depending on the objective's orientation at the time, I was either shooting really, really high; really, really low; really, really left or really, really right at the TX buck.

So I made a call to the PR contact at Leupold. He used the replacement value of the old, now-discontinued scope, which I owned for 20 years, against a brandy new upgrade. That's the one in the photo.
 
Now you have to figure out if it was you, or is something wrong with the rifle or scope.
RELH
I think it was me. Dang it. I haven't been practicing this year. Spent all my time reloading or searching for ammo. . I'm chagrined and will spend more time shooting.
I think it didn't help that it was 75 yards and my scope was on 16x. Now everyone can laugh...it was offhand and I had a second or two.
 
DeerMadness, for us to laugh at you would be like the guy living in the glass house and throwing rocks. We all have done it at one time or another. Some will admit it, some will not.
RELH
 
I only remember two times I missed big game animals. One was near Chama, NM. (home of the Chama mamma). The other was an off hand shot on a blacktail buck where all I could see was head and neck. I knew it would be a clean kill or a miss. It was a miss. It was almost dark and I was out of breath trying to cut him off before he got in the timber.
 
Well I found the answer. I was out with my Uncle today looking at a new spot . Elk were coming out on almost every vehicle and I'm serious they really were. I think a bunch must have migrated over a place called Commissary Ridge and a shooting melee took place. Anyway the deer numbers are low so we decided to shoot a few rounds . Nothing was happening when he pulled the trigger but the primers had a small dent in them. Must be bad primers or the firing pin spring is weak.
When it was my turn he took his binos out to look if I was hitting where I aimed. A rock across the canyon that was fairly small. I hit it thefirst time and split it the second. So after my lack of shooting this year I know I flinched. I did use a fence post to steady the rifle. It is a .270 Kimber and has always been accurate. I have a VX-lll 4.5-14 ×40mm Long Range scope on it and I shoot Barnes TSX 130 grain bullets. I guess it us time to burn a few rounds .
 
I just remembered another incident where I missed badly -- a couple times. I was living & guiding in Colorado at the time. Because of the latter, I didn't get much time to hunt for myself.

After one hunt, tho, there were still two days left in the season. A friend, who owned a large ranch, had given me the key to all his gates. So one afternoon, I decided to drive up a little two track to the end, where there was a small cabin & corral. I parked my Chevy 4X4 there and took off on the Red Creek trail up the mountain. Saw two does but no bucks.

After two hours, I did an about face so I could get back to the truck before dark. As I was walking thru a thick stand of aspens, I spotted two bucks in the trees about 75 yds. away. They walked onto the trail & stopped when they realized I was there. I dropped to one knee & shot at the largest buck -- a decent 4X4. He didn't flinch. I shot again; same result. At that point, I had no idea where the bullets were going. At the 2nd shot, the deer took off, bouncing thru the trees as they went.

Knowing I never miss at that kind of distance, I was plum dejected. When I got back to my truck, I decided to check out the rifle. I found a cardboard box & set it about 25 yds. away. Then I rested on the hood of the truck & shot. When I did I heard this loud sort of 'twang' sound. I quickly found out what caused it, tho. The bullet had put an 8" long cut & depression in the outer layer of the hood.

Later that week, I was cleaning the rifle & discovered the screw that holds the action & stock together was loose, which allowed the action to move up & down. My bullets were likely going into the ground well short of where the deer had been standing.
 
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I will never shoot from a hood of my vehicles or anyone else's. My Dad used the hood of a brand new Dodge Dakota I had bout in 1995 to shoot at a target. The powered blast removed some paint from the hood. To make things worse his suspenders damaged the leather on the back of the passenger seat. I wasn't happy but hey it was my Dad and he was the best Dad a guy could hope for. I would let him do it again just to have him back. Someday we will have some getting together again after this mortal life is over.
Back to shooting I may start carrying my shooting stick again. Life is good though. I can’t complain beating cancer twice on with some other things . It feels great to be healthy right now.
 
I think it was me. Dang it. I haven't been practicing this year. Spent all my time reloading or searching for ammo. . I'm chagrined and will spend more time shooting.
I think it didn't help that it was 75 yards and my scope was on 16x. Now everyone can laugh...it was offhand and I had a second or two.
That always happens when you jump out of the truck and grab your rifle and shoot too quick.....LOL and you only have a second or two ......
 
I’ve only missed one big game animal and was similar to eel’s there. Mule deer just showing his head to his throat patch and off hand. So it was either going to be a dead buck or a miss. Now coyotes, those f’ers I swear can dodge bullets like neo
 
The only thing I can hit reliably anymore is my shoes. Old dudes know what I’m talkin bout.:censored:
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I have always been amazed at the psychology of marksmanship. Very often I can tell if someone is about to make a bad shot just from their behavior and speech leading up to the shot. And every shot after that gets worse.

Confidence plays a strong roll in shooting.


At the same time I have noticed a doohickey/gadget culture becoming more pervasive amongst shooters. I am running into very few practical shooters anymore that can pick up a long gun quickly aquire a target and kill the animal in a matter of a few seconds.

Had a client two weeks ago. Got him up to an antelope.
"How far is he?"

"90. Maybe 100 yards."

He ranges the buck.

"He's 80 yards", he says and looks at me like I just tried to sabotage the hunt.?

He pulls out his phone and starts jacking with it. Then he starts turning nobs on his scope. Then he can't find the buck. THE SCOPE IS TURNED UP TO 30! The buck trotted away. He later missed the buck twice at a range of 230 yards by 6 feet.

?‍♂️


This is what more than half the hunts I guide are turning into.
 
I've always practiced and also gone to the field before a hunt and practiced seeing something then swinging up the rifle to acquire it quickly. The range I go to was closed this year and I didn't go find a new place. Its all good as I went out the next day and nailed the target perfectly then practiced acquiring.
 
My older brother was a fun guy to be around. He was a comical wreck just waiting to happen ( he was an accomplished electrical engineer) He liked to sight his rifle in on the way to go hunting. One time he is leaning across the hood of his near new bronco with the door partly open. Right when he squeezed the trigger a gust of wind blew the door fully open......he made a one shoot kill....the door didn't look to good in his trophy man cave...Ha.

Blue...Shockey's dad Hal use to say the reason he took Viagra was to keep from peeing on his shoes ! Ah old age kinda hard on the shoes !!!
 

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