I felt the need for fresh air today and after a quick look at my work-diary decided I had the time to finish early and head over to the farm for a walk around; When I say walk around I mean shooting - Just to be clear. You see, if I'm not shooting there's no reason for me to be on the farm; It's not mine you see.
The farm I refer to is a cattle property and I am engaged to cull feral animals for the farmer who hasn't got the time to do it himself. Kangaroos, deer, foxes, hares and rabbits are on the hit list although it's mostly the first two I take.
Usually I take a rifle I built specifically for the job, a .243 Tikka CTR; It's lightweight and isn't too much for the job however today I decided to take my long range gun. That's it below; It's way overkill for what I was doing, but I wanted to shoot at range today.
This rifle is designed and built to shoot at long range and I've shot it accurately and repeatably out to just over 1,600 meters, that's one mile for those still using the old measurement terminology.
The calibre is 6.5mm Creedmoor and it shoots like a laser; Of course, no bullet flies completely straight like a laser, they arc into the target, however when I say laser I mean it is incredibly accurate.
When culling kangaroos there is an legal obligation to shoot them in the head to ensure a clean and humane kill so I usually do not take shots at much over 350m (382 yards). With deer I take them for the meat and so I usually head-shoot them also. With my culling rifle, which I left home today, I won't take longer shots than that to ensure that clean/humane kill scenario.
With the 6.5mm CM it's a different story due to its incredible accuracy and the energy the larger and faster projectile imparts upon the target.
This afternoon I was shooting at 795 meters (869 yards); I used data for 800m for the shots.
The snapshot below has come from my ballistics calculator, I use StrelokPro, and shows the DOPE I worked off today to determine my shots.
From left to right the numbers are:
Range in meters - Bullet speed (fps) - Energy (ft-lbf) - Flight time (seconds) - Elevation (MRAD) - Windage (MRAD).
The wind was coming from six o'clock at 2mph so it had no effect on the shot but you can see the elevation input required to get the projectile onto the target, 6.3MRAD for the 795m shot. (Working off 800m DOPE.)
The energy (in foot-pound, ft-lbf) is 860, so a decent amount to ensure the effective dispatch of the animal. It's interesting to note that with my culling rifle, the .243 (using the Hornady 87gr VMAX projectile), the same shot would only impart 294 foot-pound; Enough to kill, but I'd still not take a shot at this range with the culling rifle-system as I said earlier.
At 350m that .243 rifle imparts 823 foot-pound of energy, so essentially the same knock-down as the 6.5mm at 800m making 350 meters about the right range for shooting kangaroos.
Another interesting comparison is the bullet speed at 1651.3 feet per second (fps) for the 6.5mm and only 1191.8 fps for the .243.
This affects flight time of course, and flight time is important as the animal could move after I've sent the shot so...It could result in a miss. The faster it gets there the better. The 6.5mm is 1.21 seconds and the .243 is 1.41 in flight time. In fact, at 800m the .243 goes transonic, which means it drops below the speed of sound and from there accuracy falls away quite rapidly. So, at 795 meters the 6.5mm is a better option by far.
Today I set up in a snipers-hide I made, ranged out the area ahead of me with my range finder, drew up a mud-map of the area and ranges and simply waited.
Right around dusk a few kangaroos hopped the fence and I decided to take one.
At that range I had the scope magnification up to 20x (it goes to 24x) and with the wind coming from directly behind, blowing the way the bullet would fly, I was confident of the shot; No windage was required.
The trick was to time the shot to make sure the animal was not moving. I watched for a while as it bent down to nibble some grass then stand back up for a look around which it did several times. My plan was to take it as soon as it bent down for grass as I knew it would be there for a few seconds.
It did as expected and I sent it. Clean kill.
Looking through the scope for movement immediately afterwards showed me none. Job done. Its mates didn't bolt away either, so I took another, then the other two bolted.
I stayed in place for another hour and ended up with three more for the evening although they were taken by spotlight and at much closer range, only just over 250m meters.
The farmer was happy when I text-messaged him as he's been having some issues with them getting a little out of control and damaging fences which are costly and time-consuming to repair...Especially when cattle disappear.
I'll be honest, I don't really get into the killing, for me it's the enjoyment of being out in the countryside and having a shoot that is the attraction. As a marksman I'm very lucky to have access to this property whenever I like; Most shooters can only dream of properties like this. I can go there whenever I like and hone my skills in a natural environment rather than at the range which are rarely long enough for me to shoot at. I'm lucky to be trusted in this way, as most are not.
So, that was my Monday afternoon and early evening. I got home cleaned the gun, packed away my equipment - Job done.
How did you day go?
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
Discord: galenkp#9209
