Hit a Baseball?

I have several rifles / loads that are probably capable at the length of my range ( 300 yards ) even a couple handguns & loads ( Contenders & the like )... but I doubt I'd be up for more than 150 - 200 yards as the shooter :o
 
With my 308 and 30 06 i can do about 400 give or take with open on a base ball. If you want to call yourself a good shot, master opensights before you put a scope on your weapon.
 
Between work this summer and school now i've no time on my hands. So i've been out for about 3 months as opposed to shooting every weekend last year.
Depending on your definition of ideal conditions i would say with less than 5mph wind on a good string i could hit nine out of ten @ 300yds, maybe half the hits at 350yds could be pushing it though. :o Just depends on conditions really.

Gotta find some time and get back into it..
 
I may get a chance to try this before deer season starts. There's a 300 yard range nearby, I'll give it a go with my .204. I guessed 325, I'll see how I do at 300. A baseball is pretty small at that distance, even with 25x.
 
Though the rifle is now a 6mm wildcat, my .220 Swift, I think, could have been pushed to about 350-375 yards. My favorite load averaged 0.440" at 100 yards, with 10-shot groups. ..One ragged, little hole.

As for current rifles...
I think my .270 Win would edge the others out. I think I could do it to 250 yards without issue. Given a little more practice with my latest load, I think I could push that to 300.

But... I may be giving myself too much credit. There's only one way to find out. ;)
 
After I've doped the rifle to the conditions... 450 yards with consistancy.

Before I've figured wind drift, etc for the conditions? Probably 350 top end in nice weather. Just under 300 in high wind.
 
It is interesting to note that not one of the respondents to this post have replied that they actually went out and shot a baseball at (enter yardage) and hit it nine out of ten shots.

So I will say (with a sneer) "Talk is cheap." jd
Click to expand...

Dang, there I go sounding like a nasty, confrontational, A-hole again. I hate it when I do that.:o

Put in a gentler way, I think the nine out of ten thing is probably the killer here. I'm sure there are guys and rifles around here who can shoot 3" groups at three hundred yards, and that in itself is admirable for most of us, although apparently mundane for REAL long range shooters.

It just seemed that there were an awful lot of responses that made three hundred yards sound pretty easy. I'm thinkin that to take a 3" bulls eye and place it out at 300 yds., take your best rest, and fire ten shots at it, is gonna give most of us results that are kinda shy of nine hits.

I would love to see some real targets that would prove me wrong, or right, such as the case may be. I need to get out and try it myself also. For now, I'm gonna keep my estimate down around 200 yds; that would be with my M-77 Ruger 270, with Leupold 3x9. jd
 
The last time i shot 300yds i had 1.5" 3 shot group, then adjusted for a 5mph for around a 5 shot 3" group 2 very close if not on the bullseye the other 3 in the center. Before when i was shooting 155gr scenars @ 300 in 25mph wind, i shot and adjusted till i got to center. Granted i had very very inconsistent velocity with the 155gr scenars due to magnum primers. I'm talking around 50fps at times, so i had some vertical stringing. Last 3 shots were around a 1/2. Nine out of 10 is extremely hard on a given day, but the key is ideal conditions. Without having to account for a strong wind or having no wind at all, i think my trigger pull is consistent enough to get 9 out of 10 in a good string of shots. Now i'm not saying i could do it all day long but i believe i can do it at least once in ideal conditions.
175gr BT LRs
5d15b6.jpg

155gr Scenars
28lyhbl.jpg
 
Realistically

The rifle barrel on my Richard Marhoff drilling is chambered for .22 Savage High Power Ackley Improved. It carries a 4X K. Kahles scope. With a 70gr bullet and 34 gr. of H380 I imagine I could hit a baseball nine out of ten times at:
Offhand - 100 yds.
Sitting and kneeling - 200 yds.
Prone - 250 yds.
Bench rest - 300 yds.

George
 
Jdscholar,

The last time I shot long range (by my definition) was at 410 yards. It was only 3 shots, which isn't really a justifiable "group" but it was right at 3 inches. A few weeks later, I shot 290 yards. The group was odd, also right at 3" but it was almost PERFECTLY horizontal. There was less than .2 inches vertical spread.

Technically, I would have missed the ball on one of those shots by like .06 inches. ;)

I know what you're saying, real conditions are humbling more often than Internet claims would have us imagine but 300 yards isn't all that far, particularly since I specified "under IDEAL conditions".

My gun is a Ruger M77 MkII, chambered in .204 Ruger, with a 13oz Jard trigger, topped with a Mueller 8.5-25x50 scope. I load my own ammo and routinely hit woodchucks in the head at distances up to 300 yards, and rarely farther, for lack of available distance, not for missing.

Thing is, my gun and equipment are cheap and very average and my abilities are slightly above average, at best, certainly nothing special. Being that there are guys here on TFL with the equipment, time, ranges and ability that FAR exceed mine, I was truly expecting a few guys to claim distances approaching 1,000 yards. I'm certain there are a few who could do it.
 
A couple of months back when the "300 yard golfball" thread was created there was an article that i post of guy who had recorded golfballs hit at 800yds
 
How about 1.4" at 1000 yards.... these guys could hit a baseball at 2000 yards if the group held. 9 of 10, I'll bet they could do 700-900 pretty "easily".
 
Without a doubt. As most know shooting is about proper fundamentals and consistency to a large extent and for guys as you stated peetza that have the time to literally shoot 1,000s of rds a week that know how to shoot and have been at it for a while..i'll throw kraigwy in there considering he's been in the long range game for quite sometime, this challenge probably seems easy.
 
It just seemed that there were an awful lot of responses that made three hundred yards sound pretty easy. I'm thinkin that to take a 3" bulls eye and place it out at 300 yds., take your best rest, and fire ten shots at it, is gonna give most of us results that are kinda shy of nine hits.

I would love to see some real targets that would prove me wrong, or right, such as the case may be. I need to get out and try it myself also. For now, I'm gonna keep my estimate down around 200 yds; that would be with my M-77 Ruger 270, with Leupold 3x9. jd
Click to expand...

I completely agree with the claims being "optimistic" (including my own), since it's really hard to get real world conditions out of your head, if you've ever actually tried long shots on small targets. (Such as 500 yard prairie dog shoots... that are even more fun in variable 25 mph winds.)

But... Peetzakilla gave us the "ideal conditions" cop-out. With a perfect rest, no wind, ideal temperature, no mirage, etc... I think quite a few shooters might be able to pull off their claims.

The best we can do to approach proving or disproving the claims, is to try it in the best real world conditions we can find. (Such as Scorch using a 1.5" dot at 200 yards, in an attempt to prove a 3" baseball possible at about 400 yards.)

I'm really itching to get a shooting trip in, some time soon. I may pick up a few baseballs. Since I am fortunate enough to live where I can shoot to 1,000 yards (or more), I can try it at the proper distances.
 
I've shot 6 or 7 2" chalk targets in a row at 440 yards. That's as far as the range goes at the club. There aren't any places to shoot farther than that in my area. I could do 9 out of 10 at 440 yards but every time??? Nope. Wind is always a problem with my .223 Savage 12 LRPV. I could do it pretty easy at 350 yards but the bullets really start slowing down beyond that and they can get off target quickly if the wind blows. So consistently 9 out of 10 I'd say 350 yards.
 
*hangs head in shame*

Took a couple of old baseballs out on my day off , baseballs only withstood 3-4 rounds each. Didnt have enough, also, them bouncing all over caused an issue.

So instead, made targets of same size (printed on computer)


Savage Model 10, Using PRVI match grade, prone.

200 yards 9 of 10

250 yards 8 of 10

300 yards 10 of 10

350 yards 7 of 10

So I will restate My Max range 300 yards....

Not the best Ammo, but since I didnt use the good stuff, and this is all I could prove, its what I will claim.

At least now I have the peace of mind knowing that if ever we are invaded by undead mlb standard baseballs, I will hold fire until they are inside the 300 yard mark.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top