Shooting Maximum Point-Blank Range

AmSJ ^ | 8/1/2022 | J Brooks

[w1n1]

Learning this method can be advantageous for big game hunters – especially if there is no time to calculate all of the variables needed to adjust the scope.
As I lay prone on the ground, squinting at the target only 100 meters away, the training instructor began shouting orders. I was a young airman basic in the United States Air Force and, unlike other branches of the US military, we only got to spend one day at the firing range. Using an M-16 shooting 5.56 NATO ball ammo, we were told to aim for “center mass.”
The target was a miniature silhouette of a person that resembled the average height and size of a soldier at 200 meters. The idea was that if you presented a smaller target at 100 meters, it would replicate the size of the target at the further distance. This I understood, but I was a bit perplexed at the aiming point. Why center mass and not try to hit the target where it would kill the enemy? Soon we found out how aiming at center mass would lead to aiming for "point-blank range." This means that if you aim for the center of the target and misjudge the distance, then the ballistics should compensate for any errors made and still hit the target.
Then there is the “Kentucky windage” solution where you sight-in your rifle for 100 or 200 yards and if the animal is further than that, you raise the sights and hope you hit the target. Judging a 12-inch drop at 400 yards is hard to do, as that drop is at 400 yards, not at the rifle itself. This means you need to pick out a spot that is 12 inches above where you are intending to hit the animal. And if it is 450 yards, it is now 13 or 14 or even more inches, depending on your rifle.
SIGHTING-IN FOR POINT-BLANK range, or more precisely "maximum point-blank range," is where you can use the ballistics of your rifle and make a humane kill shot by simply putting the crosshairs where you want the bullet to go, knowing you will hit somewhere in the kill zone. This is a simple explanation of maximum point-blank range, but there are a lot of factors to make this work.
The term maximum point-blank range means the farthest shot that can hit a certain size target without raising the sights. For the hunter, it all depends on the game you are chasing. The deer hunter has about a 6-inch circle to hit in the heart-lung broadside shot. Of course there is room for error even here, such as hitting too far back and still taking out the liver, which will cause fatal bleeding, or hitting too high and striking the backbone, causing incapacitation or death. Read the rest of the point-blank range story here.

[TermLimits4All]

I’d like to see an article with sub sonic rounds. I’ve got a couple calibers all set but cannot find a good sub sonic recipe for my 6.5 creedmoor. The creedmoor round I have is an accubond 140gr bullet using rl17. I can hit a sub 1” group at 100 and 200 yards without compensation on a 6” target. 300 yards I have to turn dial or aim an inch higher to hit target.

[ptsal]

bkmk

[Manly Warrior]

Sight your rifle to be 2 inches high at 100yds. At 200 you will be about the same, at 300, about an inch or two low and at 400 you would have to hold at the top of the 6 inch target to hit it near the bottom.

Or, you can zero dead on at 100, then shoot at a large paper target out to as far as you intend to shoot, aiming at a target high on the paper, make int about 36 inches tall overall, fire three or four shot groups carefully, then measure the drop of each group at each range and write it down. Range to your target with a laser RF or by expedient methods (mils/MOA etc) then crank on the needed elevation for each range....

Of course, this is just the tip of the ballistic iceberg and eventually you’ll learn about jump, precession, yaw of repose and things like that. Oh, and wind effects, and relative humidity and barometric pressure and temperature...

Easy enough out to about 600 yards, on calm days.

Sub-sonic-a whole other ball game past about 100 yds.

[airborne]

Aim small.

Miss small.

[gdc61]

What would be the purpose of a subsonic Creedmoor? Primarily a long range rifle. Your target will never hear the gunshot.

[Lurker]

For later.

L

[gundog]

Shooting up or down-hill adds another dimension, so to speak.

[Pythion.net]

I take exception to: 'Then there is the “Kentucky windage” solution where you sight-in your rifle for 100 or 200 yards and if the animal is further than that, you raise the sights and hope you hit the target.'

We sometimes colloquially refer to that as "Kentucky elevation." But the accepted terms are "Shooter adjustment" and "Arkansas elevation." Although there is some disagreement over whether they are precisely the same. Windage (from any state), it is not...windage is horizontal adjustment, such as adjusting for the wind, hence the name "windage."

Definition of Kentucky windage: (Merriam Webster)

a windage correction made by aiming a firearm to the right or left of the target rather than by adjustment of the sights

[Manly Warrior]

Yes, but this freeper won’t need to consider it at this point.

[Manly Warrior]

Angles, either up or down shorten the actual ballistic distance, so one would hit high either way. But, for example, the quick solution is distance to target times the sine of the angle from horizontal. So, even a 30’ slope word result in a range decrease of .988, 1000 yds becomes 988 yds, 12 yards short..... Well within minute of deer

[TermLimits4All]

Most of my deer are within a 50-75 yard range. A couple of my stands are good for a 200-400 yard shot though. My eyes however with my Leupold scope cannot take the shot that far out. I can’t judge how big the deer is at that range. Old eyes suck.

[TermLimits4All]

Sub sonic would be within 100 yards only. When target shooting I’m within 2” at 300 yards and on target at 400. 400 yards I can’t see well enough to be as accurate, it’s operator error. My friend can get within 2” with my rifle at that range. He’s 20 years my junior though.

[Manly Warrior]

Indeed SS is for back yard or special ops, and generally a high intensity cartridge like the 6.5 isnt used that way.

When you say “within 2””, and on target at 400 etc do you mean a 2” group? or somewhere around the aiming point, about 2”?

A 2” group at 400 is a really good outcome. I mean really good. That’s a better than a half MOA (1.047 inches per every 100 yards).

Can you hit with a 4-inch diameter painted circle or a 4-inch steel target at 400? If so, you are doing great.

[TermLimits4All]

Thanks. To clarify I it’s a 4 inch range at 400 yards. 2 inches either side of my aim. Still a shot in vitals for whatever animal I’m hunting. My sweet spot for these old eyes is 200 yards and within. I’ve got a Mauser with the Leupold VX5HD 3-15x56 scope.
It took me a few months of trial and error to find the perfect round for that rifle.