With hunting season right around the corner, we know that many readers will soon be out in the field — with a set of binoculars. On most game hunts, you’ll speed a lot more time glassing with binocs than looking through your riflescope. With wide field of view and extended low-light capability, a good set of binoculars will be your most important game-finder. And with premium LRF binoculars, such as the new Vortex Fury, one tool serves both for spotting and laser ranging.
In this article, Vortex Optics’ Mark Boardman, an experienced hunter, explains the benefits of using a tripod with high-magnification binoculars. Everybody knows that powerful spotting scopes work best when mounted to a stable tripod or otherwise secured to a steady mount. Yet when most folks use binoculars, they never even think of using a tripod, despite the fact that tripod adapters are available for many premium binoculars.
Outdoorsmans Tripod Adapters Outdoorsmans.com sells tripod adapters for various kinds of binoculars. “Mounting your binoculars to a quality tripod is a must for the serious western hunter. Without the stabilization of your binoculars [by] mounting them to a tripod … you will be missing a majority of the game you are glassing for.”
A serious hunter should learn how to glass with tripod support, using methods outlined here. With binoculars offering more that 8X magnification, you can really benefit from a steady mount. You’ll be amazed at the difference the tripod will make.
Story tip by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
Hunting season is coming up, so it’s time to get your rifle squared away. You’ll want to zero that rifle before the hunt, and you need to know how your shots will impact with a cold barrel.
Commonly, hunters won’t have the ability to fire one or two fouling shots before heading out on a hunt. Therefore it’s important that a hunter understands how his rifle shoots with a “cold bore shot”. Both the point of impact (and possibly velocity), may be different with a cold bore than with a barrel that has been warmed and fouled with a series of shots. In this video from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), you’ll learn how to determine your cold bore point of impact (POI) for a rifle that just been cleaned, as well as the cold bore POI with a barrel that has already been “fouled in”.
SGT Joe Hein of the USAMU shows how to plot cold bore POI with both a clean bore and a fouled bore. Note that the “cold bore” shot from a fouled barrel was closer to the follow-up shots than the cold bore shot from a clean barrel. This is typical of many factory barrels. SGT Hein provides a simple way to understand your rifle’s cold bore performance. Hein’s advice can keep you from missing that long range shot at that big buck on opening day. A little time spent on the range before that critical first shot will help ensure you have meat in the freezer this season.
Hunting season is coming up soon. To help hunters get outfitted with the proper hunting gear and clothing, MidwayUSA is running some big promotions. First, a wide variety of hunting clothing is now priced up to 50% off. Then on Tuesday, September 5, 2017, MidwayUSA conducts its Camo Tuesday One-Day Sale. Pitched as the “Hunters’ Black Friday”, Camo Tuesday will be a major, one-day Sales Event with huge discounts, starting at 12:01 AM on 9/5/2017. There is also a Camo Tuesday Contest with big product give-aways.
The new Side-Shot 90° clamp/lens adapter allows you to record your shooting sessions with your smart-phone mounted on your rifle. The Side-Shot’s smart design allows you to capture the actual POV through-the-scope image without obscuring the shooter’s vision through the optic.
Other smart-phone/camera mounts for rifles exist, but we believe this may be the first that captures video through the scope while still allowing the shooter to look through the scope in normal fashion. The Side-Shot mount does take up about 1″ of available eye-relief, but that should not be a problem with 95% of riflescopes.
Side-Shot was designed to give the individual the ability to record what he was doing without obstructing his view. Side-Shot mounts securely to the side of your scope, then your phone’s camera “looks” through your scope via a reflective lens. There are a variety of apps you can use with Side-Shot. The Side-Shot’s clamps adjust easily so it can secure various size modern smart-phones (e.g. iPhone, LG, and Samsung). The Side-Shot is not cheap — this precision-made adjustable smart-phone mount retails for $269.99 at Side-Shot.com.
WARNING: When attached to a rifle, your smart-phone will be exposed to shock, pressure, and G-forces during firing/recoil. Smart phones have many small internal parts (including accelerometers) that could be harmed by the shock/recoil of a high power rifle. Will your phone break? Probably not, but just understand smart-phones were never designed to be clamped to a rifle during live fire.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ):
What Smart Phones Work with Side-Shot:
Side-Shot: We’ve tested Side-Shot with the iPhone, Android, LG, and Samsung phones. Side-Shot is adjustable to adapt to a wide range of phones so you don’t have to keep buying more phone scope mounts everytime you get a new phone
Can I Use Side-Shot on Any Rifle?
Side-Shot: We’ve tested Side-Shot on pPellet guns all the way up to a.50 BMG. With big bore rifles, we recommend using a good Muzzle Brake for better video quality and overall control of your rifle.
What About Eye Relief — Is That a Problem?
Side-Shot: To make room for our reflective lens so you can get your phone out of your way, Side-Shot uses just over an inch of eye relief. Just as anyone can have their head too close to their scope and have the recoil push their scope into them, you can also have your head too close to Side-Shot and get the same result.
New Product tip from Boyd Allen. We welcome reader submissions.
Written by Sierra Bullets Ballistic Technician Paul Box
Judging by the calls I’ve had through the years, I think some shooters might be placing too much importance on Ballistic Coefficient (B.C.). The best example of this comes from a call I had one day. This shooter called wanting the ballistic coefficient of one of our Sierra bullets. After I told him he seemed a little disappointed, so I ask him what his application was. Long range target, deer hunting in the woods? Talk to me.
As it turned out, he hunted deer in open timber. He very rarely shot beyond 100 yards. I pointed out to him that, under 200 yards, B.C. has little impact. Let’s compare a couple of bullets.
Let’s look at the trajectory of a couple of bullets and see how they compare. The .30 caliber 180 grain Round Nose #2170 RN and the 180 grain Spitzer Boat Tail #2160 SBT. The round nose has a B.C. of .240, while the SBT is .501. Starting both bullets out of the muzzle at 2700 FPS [with a 100-yard ZERO], at 200 yards the #2170 RN impacts 4.46″ low while the #2160 SBT impacts 3.88″ low. That’s a difference of only 0.58″ in spite of a huge difference in Ballistic Coefficient. If we compare out at 500 yards, then we have a [significant drop variance] of 14.27″ between these two bullets. [Editor: That difference could mean a miss at 500 yards.]
Distance to Your Prey is the Key Consideration
In a hunting situation, under 200 yards, having a difference of only .58” isn’t going to make or break us. But when elk hunting in wide open spaces it could mean everything.
The next time you’re choosing a bullet, give some thought about the distances you will be shooting. Sometimes B.C. isn’t everything. If you have any questions, please give the Sierra Bullets technicians a call at 800-233-8799.
Never had a chance to hunt prairie dogs in the American west? Then check out this video. Dan Eigen (aka “Walleye Dan”), host of the We Love It Outdoors Television series, head to South Dakota for some varmint hunting. Dan teams up with Varmint Hunter Association President Jeff Rheborg to patrol some South Dakota Dogtowns where things get serious. In the video, you’ll see p-dog hits at distances from 70 yards to roughly 450 yards. The hunters were shooting from portable, wood-topped swivel rests, using AR-platform rifles on X-type sandbag rest. (Rifle zeroing session is shown at the 5:30+ mark.)
Multiple cameras were employed so you can see both the shooter’s POV and close-ups of the prairie dogs downrange. Watch the shooters having fun with a prairie dog cut-out and some Tannerite at the 9:00-minute mark. This guys are having a grand old time sending critters to Prairie Dog Heaven — we think you’ll enjoy the video.
Prairie Dog Hunting Starts at 2:00 Time-Mark in Video:
NOTE: This video actually covers three sequences: 1) Three-gun training; 2) Prairie Dog Hunting; and 3) Coyote Hunting. We’ve embedded the video so it plays back the Prairie Dog segment from 2:00 to 15:15. If you wish, you can slide the controls forward or back to watch the other segments.
Video found by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
Savage has a new flagship field rifle — the Model 10 GRS, fitted with a superb GRS rifle stock from Norway. We shot this rifle at SHOT Show Media Day and liked it better than many of the metal-chassis rifles being marketed to the tactical/PRS market. The Model 10 GRS is very comfortable to shoot, and the inherent accuracy is impressive for a rifle with a $1449.00 MSRP and “street price” around $1250. Two chamberings are currently offered, a .308 Win with 20″ barrel and a 6.5 Creedmoor with 24″ barrel. Between those two choices, for tactical games, we’d certainly favor the 24″ 6.5 Creedmoor.
The Model 10 GRS features adjustable cheekpiece and adjustable length of pull. The grip area is very comfortable, filling the hand naturally. The stock has a nice surface texture providing good “traction” on forearm and grip. The stock is fairly light but very strong, being made from 15% fiberglass-reinforced Durethan, with 65% glass bedding material.
Initial prototype Model 10 GRS rifles showed impressive accuracy (better than some of the metal modular rifles on the market). We attribute this to the fluted, heavy-contour button-rifled barrel and the user-adjustable AccuTrigger. We could get the trigger pull weight plenty low enough for tactical competition use.
Features & Benefits:
GRS adjustable stock made of 15 percent fiberglass-reinforced Durethan
User-adjustable Savage AccuTrigger
Slim grip and fore-end with textured rubber grip surfaces
Adjustable length-of-pull from 33.5 to 36.5 cm
5/8-24 threaded muzzle
Fluted heavy barrel
10-round AICS-compatible magazine
Flush cup sling loops plus sling mount for bipod use
In this excellent video from SilencerCo.com, NFL Pro Bowl Tackle Fletcher Cox works with LG Outfitters to stalk and harvest Nilgai Antelope using a suppressed rifle. “Nilgai are pretty special animals — they’re from India. Originally brought down by the King Ranch in the 1930s, they’ve just gone nomadic and they’re all over South Texas.” — Leeroy Gonzales, LG Outfitters.
Click below to watch the video.
“Hunting goes back to the way you approach things. You’ve gotta have a game plan.”
As all committed hunters know, the majority of the hunt is in the preparation. Selecting your gear, choosing the perfect location, waking up before dawn, posting up to patiently wait…
Fletcher Cox is all too familiar with putting time and effort into perfecting his craft and honing the execution. As a Pro Bowl defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles, Cox knows that dedication and practice make for the best possible outcome.
Fletcher Cox confirms his Zero before the hunt.
Only the split-second trigger pull is the actual act of the harvest. The rest? That’s the game plan. Here (1:42) Fletcher Cox makes a successful shot on a Nilgai: “We got meat on the ground boys…”
by Gavin Gear, UltimateReloader.com
Norma is known for its high-quality brass and ammunition. I’ve used Norma brass for precision reloading in calibers like .30-06 with great results. Recently, I saw that Norma had announced a new addition to their Professional Hunter lineup of ammunition: in 6.5 Creedmoor! I thought I should try some out with the Ruger Precision Rifle, and that’s what I’ll cover in this post.
As you saw in the video, this ammunition behaves more like match ammunition than it does hunting ammunition — I really wish it was deer season! Here are the chronograph results:
This article comes from the Midsouth Shooters Blog. You’ll find other helpful gear reviews, reloading tips, and technical articles at www.MSSBlog.com.
With an SD of 13.7 FPS, this ammunition is very consistent in terms of velocity. It’s not surprising that the first four shots went into a .5″ group. This new ammunition is built around the Swift Scirocco II 6.5mm Bullet, and here’s more info about this precision-oriented hunting projectile:
Technical Information
Caliber: 264, 6.5mm
Bullet Diameter: 0.264
Bullet Weight: 130 Grains
Bullet Length: 1.350″
Bullet Style: Polymer Tip Spitzer Boat Tail
Bullet Coating: Non-Coated
Ballistics Information:
Sectional Density: .266
Ballistic Coefficient:.571
This is certainly a great choice of ammunition if you are hunting medium game with a rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. Can’t wait to sit down again with this ammunition to see if I can get that 3/8″ 5-shot group I know this ammo is capable of! If you want to try this Norma 6.5 Creedmoor Professional Hunter ammo yourself, you can purchase this excellent ammunition at Midsouth Shooters Supply.
The IWA Outdoor Classics trade show, aka “Euro SHOT Show”, opened today, March 3rd, in Nuremberg, Germany. For the next four days (March 3-6), 1455 exhibitors will show their products at the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre. This is a hugely popular event — last year’s IWA Outdoor Classics trade show attracted 45,530 trade visitors from 115 countries, and attendance should be even higher this year. IWA is Europe’s biggest combined trade show for the hunting, shooting, and civilian/military security industries. And this year, IWA Outdoor Classics was coordinated with EnforceTac, a two-day Law Enforcment/Security trade show held in Nuremberg March 1-2, 2017.
IWA even features an indoor Archery Range. For many years, the Archery Range has been a popular gathering place where exhibitors and visitors can practice their skills and learn about the latest archery products up close and personal.
About the IWA Outdoor Classics Trade Show
What is now the IWA Outdoor Classics trade show began 44 years ago as Germany’s national product show for gunsmiths and gun retailers. That product show started modestly in 1973 with less than 100 exhibitors. Over the past four decades IWA Outdoor Classics has grown into a massive event, drawing the major players in the hunting, security, and shooting sports industries. In the firearm universe, the IWA event is second only to America’s SHOT Show in importance.
Outdoorsmans Tripod Adapters
Never had a chance to hunt prairie dogs in the American west? Then check out this video. Dan Eigen (aka “Walleye Dan”), host of the 
