Wind drift: A  45-degree wind drift angle isn't half the drift of a 90º-angle, but is three-quarters the drift. It has around a 75% effect, even though the angle is only halfway between no drift effect and full drift effect. The drift effect is not proportional, due to the aerodynamic ballistics of a bullet in flight. Just remember that halfway between full and zero effect is nearly three-quarters the drift of 90-degrees.  Memorize these aerodynamic ballistic realities. "Multiply the 90º Full Value 'angle figure' by" 0.9 for a 65º wind angle; times .75 for the 45º wind drift angle ; by .5 for 30º angle; by .25 for a 15º wind angle.

Windage click adjustments in chart above are for a 90º angle @10-mph Left or Right windage correction. Divide the drift in inches by the fraction, the same for drop corrections. You can use those yardage fractions divided into the wind drift in inches, in the chart below. Example, a 20-mph 300-yd 12" drift / by .75" = 16-clicks with a common scope is .25" per click which equals one inch @100-yd scope, which is .75" per click @300-yds. To check the exact amount the clicks move the POI (.75"per click X* 16-clks = 12")


The above Sierra 100-grain bullet will mushroom enough on deer in my 243/06 Wildcat, but I will use 100-grain Hornady Interlock bullets in my .243 Win. I wish the 6mm 100 grain Remington Core-Lokt Ultra bullet was available for reloaders' as I need it for my 243/06 Wildcat cartridge! The Bonded bullet would be even better used on elk.

Most whitetails are killed at 100 yards or less and mule deer at 200 and under. Occasionally, you might take a shot at longer range—300 and 400 yards. Any competent rifleman should be able to hit just about every shot at 200 yards or under, but at 300 it really gets tough, and at 400 yards the odds are not good!

Today, 03/04/07, I just saw on the Men's Channel - Dish-TV CH 218, a massive old Elk shot at over 200-yards & dropped in his tracks with a .243-Winchester with open iron sights. They did not mention the  bullet weight or construction type, however, it proved to me that a Well Placed .243 bullet at 200-yards will deck the biggest Elk that walks. Therefore, my 243/06 Wildcat ought to do the job on big Mule Deer and on Elk with the Remington Core-Lokt Ultra bullet.

Also, with the 243 Winchester for large Mule deer & Elk, I would use the 100-grain Remington Core-Lokt Ultra bullet.

All those TV hunting programs should give all the fine point details about the rifle caliber & bullet weight, bullet terminal performance and construction type, etc. That would make those programs much more interesting to all of us.

Coordinating Trigger Squeeze with Sight Alignment
It is very important to practice squeezing the trigger gradually as you are aligning the sights at the point where you want the gun to fire. The nanosecond that the sight alignment is right the gun should fire! Aligning the sights first will often result in coming off the target during the time it takes to squeeze off the shot. Practice dry firing until the firing pin falls the instant sight alignment is right!

All leads are in feet for your deer rifle or coyote rifle cartridge's. There are many reasons why we should all improve our abilities to place shots in the kill zones on wounded running game such as deer, bear, elk, antelope, and other game including coyotes, etc. Being capable of anchoring wounded game on the run is a major plus.  I have watched numerous easy close-in moving deer shots on TV hunting Dish satellite channels that were passed up and a trophy buck got away that could have been harvested. There should be moving deer and coyote targets at every rifle range. Close-up to 100 yards will be the limit for most shooter's. The shot must be safe; there are very few good opportunities for legitimate running shots!

Speaking of safe gun handling, this should be taught to everyone that handles a shotgun or rifle.
Whenever you raise the bolt handle straight-up move the safety to the safe position before you chamber the next live round! When around other hunters' or when running to get to a downed animal, keep the bolt in the up but locked position where the rifle cannot fire even if the safety is knocked off!
On a pump action shotgun or rifle, when the action is slide all the way back immediately set the safety!
A gun should never be loaded magazine or chamber unless you are in the immediate area of the game you are going to shoot.
For many reasons, you are much more apt to have an accident resulting in shooting a person that is very near you in the field! Think about these scenarios, another close hunter stepping into the line of your fire!

Rick Jamison says an (SD) Sectional Density of .140 is the minimum for coyotes, an a lower limit of .210-SD for deer! In 6mm caliber I prefer 100-gr. @ .242-SD & the 95-gr. @ .230 sectional densities.

A 150-gr .308-Cal, SD is .225; 165-gr has a .248-SD.  The construction of the bullet is most critical to terminal bullet performance. Don't buy Match purpose constructed bullets if you want ballistic tip performance on coyotes! 

Sectional Density (SD) is the same irrespective of bullet shape, here is a list of 6mm SD's: 55-gr .133; 58-gr .140; 60-gr .145; 65-gr .157; 70-gr .169; 75-gr .181; 80 .194; 85-gr .206; 87-gr .210; 90-gr .218; 95 .230; 100 .242; 105-gr .252.
Here's the SD equation: SD is the ratio of bullet weight to the square of the bullets diameter.
Example: | .243 X's .243= .059049 (65-gr / 7000 grs per pound= .0092857 / .059049= .157-SD) Figure your own caliber/bullet SD.

The 6mm 55 grain Nosler bullet ( .133-SD) has a higher BC than the 55 grain bullet .224 bullet which has a higher .157-SD; the 60-gr .224  is .171-SD. I like my 243/06 wildcat for coyotes using the 80 grain Sierra Blitz BT bullet, SD .194; BC .319. I may drop down to the 70 or 75-gr bullets for coyotes in both 6mm rifles.

Rick Jamison writer for Petersen's Hunting Magazine, July 2002, p- 20, Guns & Loads Article Long Rangers, - http://www.huntingmag.com  says in essence that for deer sized game you need a minimum of 1000 ft/lbs of energy and 2000 ft/sec velocity at the impact range for adequate bullet expansion. The bullet needs a sectional density between .210 to .265 and a high ballistic coefficient for long range shots. This is a great Hunting Magazine, I subscribe through the local school magazine drives.

You can look at the various ballistic tables I have on the Net and determine the approximate outer range limit your cartridge and selected bullet will be capable of killing a deer with a well placed shot. If you can't put the bullet in the vital kill zone don't take the shot no matter how capable the cartridge you're using is at that range.

Let me know how this NEW bullet performs: the Remington Premier Core-Lokt Ultra Ammunition [View my test!]
The special bonded construction retains 90% of original weight and delivers controlled expansion "up to" 1.8 times the original diameter.

 Serious performance from point blank range "out to 500 yards. "Forget about shooting deer at 500 yards with any bullet with a standard 243 Winchester cartridge, 350 yards is about the limit,  --follow Rick Jamison's advice in the paragraph above!

Lead from the heart/lung area. I rounded off the lead figures in feet, 100 yards is about the limit of most shooter's ability to make killing shots on running deer. Safety first, shooting at running game can be a lot more dangerous, make sure there are no hunters in the area and that there is adequate background to stop the bullet!

The leads beyond 150 yards are for illustration purposes only. Unless you have practiced on a moving target similar to a deer and are proficient enough to know you can make a clean kill shot, forget about running shots. Friendly running deer target shooting should be conducted on every shooting range, it's a blast. Six shooters shoot all day long on the Potosi, WI target the first Sunday in October.
Look up the link on this site. From a rest, lately 10/18/02, 300 yards appears far enough on standing deer.  The new 95 grain Hornady SST bullet seems to group better in my .243/06 Wildcat than in my .243 Win.

In many southeastern states in the U.S., deer are hunted with trail hounds and running shots are the norm. Those Southeastern states include: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia. They post themselves at clearings where the hounds will push them through so they can get a quick shot at them in full flight! They use both rifles and shot guns with buckshot, quick shots in clearings at running deer is the rule. For clean kills the proper leads are required with both weapons. (This information is needed by a lot of deer hunters, so bear with me my friends.)

I got one shot during the entire 2000 Wisconsin deer season and dropped a nice doe running full throttle broadside at 100 yards. I admit, I lead from her head instead of from the heart/lung area, so the 100 grain Sierra BT/SP bullet broke her neck, she fell in a pile and never moved. I felt very comfortable and confident taking the shot in an open field, --had I passed that running shot up my entire deer hunting season would have been a total wipe out. It is always better to over lead and miss than to under lead!

Position yourself instantly in relationship to the direction the game is running. Find a rest to shoot from ahead of time or drop to one knee if you can, or sit down if possible. You need to be in as stable a shooting position as possible but that allows you a smooth swing ahead of the big game. Since I usually shoot right handed I have more stability with my left side facing the path of the deer or coyote. Keep your weight on the balls of your feet and do the swinging by slowly pivoting your entire body while keeping the horizontal cross-hairs level as the vertical reticule maintains the desired lead for an instant when you squeeze the trigger and follow through with your eyes and body after the shot.

Always swing through from behind the game so you will be following any vertical angle of ascent or descent of the moving target.

We need running deer and coyote targets on most of our rifle ranges to foster some friendly competition. Back around the late 1950's and early 1960's they rigged up a pretty good running deer target near Glen Haven, WI.  I loved those competitive events, --we need more of them today! The winner of each group 6 shooter's got (I believe) a frozen turkey or turkey breast.

This is the way they set it up at Potosi, WI. I had not shot my rifles for 28 odd years as I was working in a couple of cities and left my rifles back on the farm which was many hundreds of miles away. I shot the last ground offhand with my 243 and an old K4 weaver scope on it and scored a 2 inch hit at 9 o'clock from the center of the bulls-eye on the deer, which won that 6 shooter round by a good margin. They had some great shooters and they keep blazing away at the running deer target all day long. They only hold that shoot once a year and it is the first Sunday of of October. There was one big fellow shooting a 416 mag all day long and scoring well with it too! I'll stick with my 243 Winchester.

In this age of technology advancements we need to have moving targets at every rifle range! Lets get it done, some commercial enterprise could make a ton of money designing and selling workable moving rifle target systems.

MOA is .25" per click at 100 yards,  with the inches per click at various yardage's shown on the row below Range in yards. Animals at 300 yards or more will usually give you time to zero at those yardage's. You have to decide at  what yardage you feel you need to adjust for drop or windage. If you see any errors on my chart, let me know!

An Illuminated Mil Dot reticule is the best for accurate judging of ranges and providing hold on increments with which to adjust for drop and windage without using manual clicks. These scopes should greatly improve your ultra long range scoring abilities and facilitate dawn and dusk hits on coyotes and other varmints.

All I have 3 old scopes: K4; K6, and a K10 Weaver scopes with plain rather fine crosshairs. I need to find out how much area these crosshairs cover at extended yardage's. If you know, e-mail me, otherwise I will have to find out for myself as it could help me determine the range on coyotes, deer, etc.

Hornady's New 6mm SST Bullet | B.C., may be .355?| 95 gr. SST BT tip with a flat-base to provide the needed stability. In 1 in 10" twist barrels at .243 Win. Velocities, their ballistics experts said, with a boat-tail the bullet hit target sideways at 200 yds. I'm going to start shooting more flat-based bullets in my 6MM's, the claim is that they are not as hard on barrel's and tend to be more accurate.

I filled an empty gallon plastic milk jug with water and shot it with the new 95 grain SST bullet. It appeared to be the most explosive bullet I have tested in my .243 Winchester. The hydraulic shock of this bullet on broadside heart and lung shots ought to be devastating. As of the 2005 deer season, I will NOT use it on deer anymore because too many times hunting in WI you do not get clean broadside shots!

  http://www.udarrell.com/leadingrunninggamerifle.html
  http://www.udarrell.com/ultimate_deer_cartridge.htm
  http://www.udarrell.com/wisconsin_coyote_hunting.html
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          Darrell Udelhoven - udarrell
          Posted: 09/06/01; Date of Last Modification: 11/12/07