It was with my buddies dad's 40 year old 10/22 probably 15 years ago. His old simmons 4x has quit holding zero, so i donated a 4x bushnell i had and zero'd it at 20y for him. Then my buddy and i went squirrel hunting, i took his old man's 10/22 with the same ammo i zero'd with. the only tree rat we saw was about 25 feet up in a tall tree about 90 yards out. I held over and squeezed of the round. when i went back to look he was gone. i said to my buddy, where did he run off to? He said, he didnt run. He went straight down. To this day he still talks about that shot. It was luck. I got him in the head.

In the Marine Corps, way back in 1989, on the KD (Known Distance) range on Okinawa, with an M-16A2 with iron sights, from the 300 yard line, my shot hit the plug that held the last shot’s marking disc in place. In other words, the round went into the exact same spot as my previous shot! Not sure how often that happened, but it was talked about for a while.

Best I saw personally, my brother was firing a borrowed long-barreled shotgun, for the first time. Fired a slug that cored the dead-center of a paper target at 50 yards. First hit on that paper and it was a 1/2" hole. No doubt. He handed back to our mutual friend and said "can't top that" or "nice shotgun" with a sheepish grin. He knew better to recreate that shot.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Batty67,

PA deer season, late 90s.

I was sitting in a ground blind with subzero temperatures and at least 8 inches of fresh snow on the ground. I heard a shot way off in the distance. A few minutes later I hear/see a wounded doe running for its life with a bad gut wound. I had a Remington 700 BDL Deluxe stoked with 180 grain core-lokts and iron sights at the time. Raised the rifle, estimated the distance, and dropped her on the run with one shot. Afterwards I stepped it off at 175 yards. Never saw anyone track her to were I was, so I tagged and kept her. One of the most exhilarating shots of my hunting career.

Tough to recall a best single shot -- maybe hitting a small target at long distance, in nasty winds. Had my share of successes and failures in such instances. They seem to blur together.

My best shooting was likely a match stage, not a single shot. It occurred last summer, at the Raton, New Mexico 2-gun match.

We started the stage with full pack on, precision rifle slung, AR-15 in hand -- held at low ready, loaded, and on safe. Time starts. Shoulder the AR, hit twin 5-ish inch steel plates at 100 yards from standing. Move right about 10 yards, hit twin 6-ish inch plates at 125 yards from standing. Move right again about 10 yards, hit twin 6-ish inch plates at 150 yards from standing. Unlimited rounds were allowed for all AR-15 targets.

Move right again about 5 yards. Make AR safe, ground rifle, ground pack, ground precision rifle. Engage 2 flasher targets of about 10" in diameter, at 300 and 350 yards from prone with AR. Make AR safe.

Move right again about 5 yards with AR, engage two more flasher targets at 350 and 400 yards from prone, unload AR-15, ground and make safe.

Move left about 5 yards, engage two precision rifle (bolt action) targets at 400 and 500 yards from prone. Make precision rifle safe, move 5 yards to right, engage three bolt action targets at 600, 650, and 700 from prone. Precision targets can be shot at (up to) twice. A first round hit counts for 2 points, and you move on to the next target. A second round hit on a target counts 1 point.

I cleaned the stage, getting all 20 points. I recall shooting about 20 rounds with the AR-15 to hit all 10 targets, and 5 rounds with the bolt action rifle. My 5 minutes were gone just after the last round hit the 700 yard target. Not a moment to spare. Very few people cleaned that stage, including those with substantially more experience and skills than I.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
When I was 19 I did a guy in Laos from 1,000 yards out. Rifle shot in high wind. Maybe....8....or 10 guys in the world could have made that shot. It was the only thing I was ever good at.

You are a lethal weapon!

Late to the party...my first deer ever was taken with a neck shot offhand at @125 yards with a Remington heavy barrel Varmint .308. It was at the end of the day close to sunset; a little doe had stepped out and the only her neck and head were exposed.

675 yards at 2:00am with a 4x night vision scope, cold bore. Dropped the deer where it stood.

400 yards with a 300 blackout subsonic with night vision.

We have nuisance permits.

My first deer a few years ago. I spotted him 200yds up the hill. The hill was about 30˚ and made of shale rock. I used my LRB M25 (scoped M14 weighing 12.5#) as a walking stick an climbed up the hill. It was late in the afternoon and maybe 80 degrees out.

I got to the top and he was about 100 yards away through the trees. He saw me and started trotting away to the left. I still had my scope on 14x mag so I could positively identify antlers and I was very winded. I missed my first shot but he just stopped and looked right at me. On my second shot, all I saw was fur and I had no idea where on the body the crosshairs were.

I broke the shot through the trees and he disappeared. I thought he leapt away. After 10 minutes, I found him in the tall grass. The bullet went in just below his left eye and came out the base of his skull, completely severing every connection to his brain.

Another time, I was out at my mom's property in the CA foothills. She had a pellet gun with a scope on it. I sighted it in and noticed a gopher digging 15 yards away. I set up on a table and fixed the reticle on the hole. I watched his head just start to pop up and go back into the hole several times. The last time, I broke the shot and actually got a head shot on him. I shoved him back in the hole and stuffed it with dirt.

Tony.

My long range rifle target is 275 yards. Coyote chasing sheep saw me sneaking up and took off ruining full bore, pass shot right to left - my most favorite shot.
Shot offhand, lead one 1/2 coyotes and up about 8" with my CZ 223. I saw the coyote, then his feet pointing into the air and he was down. My Hornady 50 grain SX bullet hit just behind his skull only pieces remained inside of his spinal cord, there was no exit wound.

His mistake was running the exact distance I practice most of the time with that rifle and providing me with my favorite pass shot left.

His hide is nicely rolled up in my safe and I smile every time I move it.

While in JROTC in HS, my Command Sergeant Major had a Browning BAR in .300WM. He hunted elk in Colorado with it and said it was like shooting a Cadillac. I always wanted a BAR in .300WM.

Upon my graduation from HS, my Dad bought me a Browning BAR in .300WM. I took some money I saved and got a Browning Hard Case and a Leopold Vari X III 3.5-10AO optic. We took it to my Dad's friend's property. He mounted the scope and we zeroed it in at a 100yd target.

Target was white butcher paper with a '+' made out of electrical tape. Once zeroed, I shot a group. We thought I missed the target entirely. We walked up and checked the target. I managed to put three rounds cloverleafed in the center square where the electrical tape crossed.

I still have that rifle, set up just like it was back in the day. That reaffirmed my love for Brownings and all things FN.