Range/distance guessing

[trappa 517]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the distance between 2 lamposts was 30 yards. Is this right? im wanting to improve my guessing of distances as it will help a great deal when i start shooting with my centrefire. Is there any other things that i will see everyday that will help to better my range guessing?

Ps i know a rangefinder will be beneficial, but i cant afford one.

cheers

[Mr_Logic 5]

Centrefire distances are best just learned. Football pitch is, give or take, 100 yards, nice easy one to use.

 

but... rangefinder is best and about a hundred squid. Worth saving for.

 

Also, on your permissions, pace out fields and areas, it's worth more than anything else - once you know those distances you will find your ranging gets much better.

 

Also, remember that with 223, 22-250 et al, 200 yards is pretty much dead flat (3 inches or so, so half a mil on a mil dot scope) so it's easy enough until you start going out a long way.

[DogPaddle 0]

Have to agree with Mr. Logic.

One other method that I use is that I know the size of my quarry in my scope, and that tells me the distance. A mil dot or graduated scope makes a nice difference.

[Guest JohnGalway]

Some type of range finding scope, laser range finder or if you know something is under a certain range a handy thing to find out is your guns Maximum Point Blank Range, Chuck Hawks site has a good article on that

[mattydski 560]

One thing you can do on the longer range shots, is to half the distance to target and then guess that.

It means you have to mentally remember less distances. Shorter distances are easier to picture.

Also, are ther items in the foreground of the sight picture that can be used to help range. eg rock at 30 yds on a 90yd shot?

 

If i could afford a range finder, i'd get one, but i can't so i just use little tricks.

 

When i am out walking, i also play the "Guess the range game". Pick apoint 50-150 yds in front, guess the range, then pace it out. Amazing how accurate you can get.

 

Remember also that in different lights the ranges appear different.

 

Matt

[Rolfe 2]

One of the best methods for calculating distance i was shown out in the field was the "Fence Post" method. What ever land you are shooting on.......as long as it has a fence.........it is easy to gauge distance.

Simply pace out the distance between two fence posts.........(they should be equally spaced out as a rule) and using this figure you can easily calculate the rough distance of any object by counting the number of posts.

 

 

Rolfe.

[FJager 0]

The football pitch is a great method ie known distance, work out your rifles maximum effective range and go from there, basically you need to be coinfident that whatever you place the crosshairs on the bullet will strike. Not real interested in rangefinders or mildots, just more kit to f#ck you around when you should be concentrating on just shooting your target.

[jamie g 17]

i would get a range finder but you could download google earth to your pc then there is a little ruler on there that will tell you the size of fields in miles,ft,yards

 

its easy to use and is pretty accurate a lad off the bbs said he tryed it then went out with his rangefinder and was suprized that it was pretty much bang on give or take a yard or to

[SportingShooter 0]

Range was always drilled into me from a young age by the Head Keeper, who I used to follow around when I was younger.

 

He would let me take a shot with his .22 LR and ask me how far I thought it was, then he would pace it out and tell me the actual distance.

 

So in my mind, if a distance looks like 40 yards on a particular piece of ground I know it is slightly more or less. All because of this process. But I can normally do long distance to within 10-20 yards and short within about 5-10.

 

Its just an accumulation of experience.

 

Regards

SS

[richie 1]

i learnt my ranges by walking down the street/field & fixing my eyes on a position in front of me & taking a guess how far it was in yards & also by associating the ranges down the rifle club.

 

im probably the same as sporting shooter, guess my ranges within 5 to 10 yards.

 

but recently picked myself up a bushnell pro range finder which is accurate out to 600 yards, much easier. you can pick them up between 60/90 pounds.

 

rich

[arcpest 6]

i learnt my ranges by walking down the street/field & fixing my eyes on a position in front of me & taking a guess how far it was in yards & also by associating the ranges down the rifle club.

 

im probably the same as sporting shooter, guess my ranges within 5 to 10 yards.

 

but recently picked myself up a bushnell pro range finder which is accurate out to 600 yards, much easier. you can pick them up between 60/90 pounds.

 

rich

 

 

Hi chap where did you get your range finder from?

 

arcpest

[dicehorn 38]

i would get a range finder but you could download google earth to your pc then there is a little ruler on there that will tell you the size of fields in miles,ft,yards

 

its easy to use and is pretty accurate a lad off the bbs said he tryed it then went out with his rangefinder and was suprized that it was pretty much bang on give or take a yard or to

 

 

I'm with Jamie on this. If you are unable to use a rangefinder. Google Earth is the answer. As Jamie says just zoom into your permission fields and by using the gate/tree/water tank, it is easy to find the range to any other feature in the field.

 

I use night vision when out foxing and night vision can make a fox look much further away. So I study the field I am going to stake out remembering all the possible distances that I may need to take a shot - have been know to print several fields off the computer and manually mark the distances if I intend to move from one field to another.

 

I do have a rangefinder but prefer the google earth way when night time foxing.

 

Peter

[jamie g 17]

i would get a range finder but you could download google earth to your pc then there is a little ruler on there that will tell you the size of fields in miles,ft,yards

 

its easy to use and is pretty accurate a lad off the bbs said he tryed it then went out with his rangefinder and was suprized that it was pretty much bang on give or take a yard or to

 

 

I'm with Jamie on this. If you are unable to use a rangefinder. Google Earth is the answer. As Jamie says just zoom into your permission fields and by using the gate/tree/water tank, it is easy to find the range to any other feature in the field.

 

I use night vision when out foxing and night vision can make a fox look much further away. So I study the field I am going to stake out remembering all the possible distances that I may need to take a shot - have been know to print several fields off the computer and manually mark the distances if I intend to move from one field to another.

 

I do have a rangefinder but prefer the google earth way when night time foxing.

 

Peter

 

it is very good and easy to use. sounds like you got it sorted peter and as you dont have to use the rangefinder you have less movement to scare the fox. that means you can keep the lamp off the fox and just pick him off with night vision

[Deker 3,478]

The football pitch is a great method ie known distance, work out your rifles maximum effective range and go from there, basically you need to be coinfident that whatever you place the crosshairs on the bullet will strike. Not real interested in rangefinders or mildots, just more kit to f#ck you around when you should be concentrating on just shooting your target.

 

 

trappa

 

Pitch dimensions

 

Did you know that not all pitches are the same size?

 

The length of a pitch must be between 100 yards (90m) and 130 yards (120m) and the width not less than 50 yards (45m) and not more than 100 yards (90m). So a 30% variation in the length and 100% variation in the width!!!

 

Get used to pacing, or try a rangefinder

[Guest JohnGalway]

Learn to use the mildots