Head shots at 300m - which scope?

[SFSniper]

Hi There

If I may I would like to add my 2 cents. To answer the OP. The higher the magnification of the scope the better suited it would be to longer range high accuracy shots. I personally use NF NXS 5.5-22 x 50 on both my .300 WSM and .338 LM. I have personally shot sub 0.5 MOA groups out to 500m, the lack of longer shooting ranges prevents me from honing my skills on further distances.
Obviously field of view is something to be considered at higher magnifications as it will make quick target acquisition difficult.

As for the the secondary topic going around visa vie how ethical is long range hunting? I would like to say that I think it is dependent on the hunter. I know this may sound like one of those tales of: "I know so and so and he can shoot a fly off a springboks behind at 1000m", but please bear with me. My uncle, a sheep and game farmer in the Karoo, shoots almost every day of his life and he is a member of a local culling team. He only ever takes head shots and does so distances I would never attempt myself. Is this ethical? If I attempted it, definitely not. But he does so every day without fault.
What's my point? It comes down to the hunter. If you know you can take head shots, shot after shot out to 300m I say go for it. Is it more risky than taking a shot for the heart lung area? Without a shadow of a doubt.
The onus is on the hunter, if he/she wishes to attempt taking shots at those ranges to eliminate as many of the risks as possible.

[Knoffel]

A friend has the ability to take head and neck shots at 300m. His current rifle is a 308 and he has taken head shots out to 170m with a fixed scope.

We will load with 150gr SST's to start practising with. A 25-06 rifle is in the pipeline.

The big question: which magnification should he get? My suggestion was 4-16.

Brand is not that important: Lynx, Leupold or something similar will do.

I shoot 300m at 16 magnification using my Nikon Monarch scope and achieve a better than 1MOA. That said, I would, same as pretty much everyone else on this thread, not dream of expecting brain shots every single shot - the risks are pretty huge. A heart shot at 300m is easy, because if you miss it, the rest of the vitals are still there.
A dropped jaw will leave it alive and hurting for a few days.
Ethical hunting is the issue at hand here.

[gertjie87]

If someone wants to shoot at 300m first he really really needs to shoot at 100m
0.3 moa consistent accuracy will be needed imo. That would be a 1 inch group at 300m
Bullet drop at 300m also starts happening quite fast, a 20m misjudge of distance can drop you out of a brain shot so accurate range finding becomes extremely important. Knowing where the gun hits at 300m means nothing if you dont know where it hits at 250, 260, 270, etc.
And then wind a slight breeze will push you out of a brain hit. A slight breeze where you are aiming from might not exist where the animal stands which means your compensation will push you out of brain shot.
Bottom line this is a foolish errand. Top professional shots doing long range shooting for decades and compete in international events and world championships etc will not be able to do this consistently. By all means practice shoot gongs shoot groupings have a ball but dont think anyone will ever be able to consistently do head shots at 300m in hunting conditions.

[A-R]

The people who can actually make these kind of shots on demand (not just by luck) usually already know what they want in terms of equipment. They tend more to give advice than ask for it, but usually in a very modest manner.

I see lots of hunters and shooters with scopes on their rifles that actually surpass their owner's abilities.

[fkritzinger]

Ok, so I am going to go on a different approach here, and say this... You do NOT need a high magnification scope for accurate long range shots.

YES, the long range guys do use crazy big zoom scopes. BUT, they shoot from prome, off bipods and bags and all sorts of rests... they do NOT shoot standing using sticke of even off hand...

The larger the zoom, the more trouble you are going to have to keep the sight picture steady from less than perfect positions. So I would say anything with 6-9 times zoom is MORE than enough. even too much...

I would take a very good, clear, bright glass at 6 times zoom, over a 16 or 20x zoom any day! I have continuously found that at the range, 12 and 16 and 20x zoom is great when shooting off the bench. But, when I get in the field, and I have to shoot over a tree trunk or a rock or sticks, I dial back to below 9x to get a stable image... Yes! the zoom amplifies the picture and make it a lot bigger, but it also amplifies your movements, breathing and heartbeat suddenly starts having a huge impact and your cross hair is all over the place at the big zoom...

In any case, that is my opinion... and we know what they say about opinions... use it... don't use it...

[Dion]

Your breathing and shaking will move the muzzle of the rifle the same whether the rifles scope is on 8x or 25x. Yes it is more difficult to keep the cross hair stable "or at least the appearance of stable" when at greater magnification. But if you are shaking and moving enough to miss when 20x you sure as hell wouldn't have done any different at 8x. At 300 meters I will be aiming at a springbok with my scope on 5x. With the scope on 15x I'm aiming at the springboks heart.


Aim small miss small

[A-R]

I have done some long range shooting with various rifles and scopes. Nothing serious or competitive, just recreational plinking and popping a few crop-raiding baboons and monkeys.

The first scoped rifle I used had a 4x40 Niko Stirling Gold Crown (Japanese) scope on. With this I had no difficulty connecting with vervet monkeys at 200m.

When I started shooting at plates out to 700m, I used a Tasco (Japanese) 3-9x scope and had no issues seeing or connecting the targets. I just could not see the impacts on the rusty plates. More magnification and better glass may have helped with that.

While shooting at a plate at 1000m with 2 friends, I once forgot to dial the scope up to 20x, so I shot the plate on a 6,5x magnification setting on the scope. Only noticed it afterwards. The plate didn't notice the difference.

I have shot a few hunting rifle competitions alongside shooters with big-magnification scopes. Guess what? As soon as the mirage appears, they dial their scopes way down to much more "normal" magnification settings.

Yes, it is very nice to be able to see your bullet holes on a paper target out there in the distance, but that does not really make you a better shooter.

[Basie2]

Pressure... when you paying R14000 for an animal, I want to be very sure about the shot... the land owner who shot everyday on his property, has no pressure, if he miss, so be it, if me or you miss or it is a kakebeenskoot, you pay top $. My 2c

You do get very good marksman, but they are normally the non-talkers


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[Ds J]

Good news - I told the friend to have a look at this thread. He has been convinced to limit himself to 200m

[shooty]

Shooting 0.5moa on range from a Concrete Bench and a decent rest.
Does not say the shooter can match that in field.
Equipment like good rifle or good scope merely aids a shooter. It does not guarantee a good shot in field.
Alot of guys shoot of Rest on range.
Then move to Bipods for field use.
Bipods require a much different approach. As you need to preload them for one.
Shooters get very confident on range. Change all scenarios in field and still think they will achieve same.
Which just leaves a buck with a missing jaw. Or horn shot off. And every thing gets blamed except that they never practiced correctly.
Unless you practice on range to shoot in same way as in field. Please do not attempt 300m shots not even heart shots.
Keep it close.

Shooting a 200mm gong at 300m at range with my 308 on rest with a Lynx Lx3 5-30 can be done all day.
Heck my 11 year old daughter can hit it. As rifle is not moving and stable.
Now put a bipod on and no rear rest. Just your other hand to stabilize and adjust height. Like in field condition.
And do same shooting. Kinda changes the whole scenario.