SHOOTING MAXIMUM POINT-BLANK RANGE Subhead here
Learning this method can be advantageous for big game hunters – especially ifSTORY thereANDisPHOTOS no time to calculate BY JASON BROOKS all of the variables needed to adjust the scope. STORY AND PHOTOS BY JASON BROOKS
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s I lay prone on the ground, squinting at the target only 100 meters away, the training instructor began shouting orders. I was a young airman basic in the United States Air Force and, unlike other branches of the US military, we only got to spend one day at the firing range. Using an M-16 shooting 5.56 NATO ball ammo, we were told to aim for “center mass.” The target was a miniature silhouette of a person that resembled the average height and size of a soldier at 200 meters. The idea was that if you presented a smaller target at 100 meters, it would replicate the size of the target at the further distance. This I understood, but I was a bit perplexed at the aiming point. Why center mass and not try to hit the target where it would kill the enemy? Soon we found out how aiming at center mass would lead to aiming for “point-blank range.” This means that if you aim for the center of the target and misjudge the distance, then the ballistics should compensate for any errors made and still hit the target. Though often taught in the military, shooting point-blank range is a technique that hunters can use afield. With all of the modern shooting tools out there today helping shooters and hunters make long-distance shots, the one variable that cannot be calculated is time. Using MOA scopes, laser rangefinders, wind speed calculators, barometric pressure and relative humidity readers to set up for the perfect ballistics calculations, the shooter can make incredible far-distance shots – but only if the animal allows for such time to use all of these tools. All hunters know that this is not always the case.
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American Shooting Journal // June 2022
