“Shoot the 50-yard target, you should be dead-on!” said Tim Fallon as I shot my .375 Ruger in Ruger’s FTW Hunter, loaded with Hornady 250-grain GMX. Tim has been my hunting partner on numerous adventures in Africa, Asia, Europe and Alaska, and I trust him completely when it comes to sighting-in. We were at his FTW Ranch’s S.A.A.M. range, and Tim was helping me prepare for my safari in South Africa. “So if you are hunting red duiker and bushbuck in the Eastern Cape in tight cover, but also Cape kudu and Vaal rehbok where you might be shooting at distances between 50 yards right out to 250 yards. At that range, you should be just three inches low.”
Having travelled as far as South Africa, it would be a shame not to nip over to Namibia, so I planned to tack on a hunt with Corne Kruger’s Omujeve. I’d be tracking eland in the Waterburg National Park and then going to the Namib Desert to hunt springbok, gemsbok and klipspringer. As Tim pointed out, “Your shots there could be at less than 50 yards or out to 250 yards and beyond. Dead on at 50, you’re only going to be three inches low at 250 yards and eight inches low at 300 yards. Even with no adjustments, if you’ve sighted in at 50 yards, your shot will be in the vitals of a kudu, gemsbok and eland at 300 yards.” We decided once I’d sighted-in at 50 yards, we’d check those bullet drops afterwards. This would mean that if I needed to take a longer shot, I’d have plenty of time to dial up based on the range card Tim would provide.
A few moments later I put two bullets through the same hole on the 50-yard target. After letting the rifle’s barrel cool, I shot the 200-yard target. Tim was dead on: my bullet struck the target exactly three inches low of dead center at 250 yards. At 300 yards the Hornady bullet struck the target almost exactly eight inches low.
“For grins shoot at the six-inch steel plate which is at 400 yards. You should be 20 inches low. You’ll want to use a bit of hold-over here, so use the bar from which the plate is hanging as a guide for that, which is 14 inches above the top of the plate. You won’t always have time to dial up, and you might have to use the hold-over method,” said Tim, adding that with no wind, I should be around two inches high of center.
I got a good solid prone rest, held over as Tim suggested, took several deep breaths, let out all my air, then squeezed, squeezed, squeezed the trigger. Almost immediately I heard Tim say, “Hit! Two inches high of center! What did I tell you? You’re ready.”
