There is always a lot of talk about long range shooting and of course I am one who likes to think I can “make that shot”.  A whole bunch of ethics is involved when taking those long range shots at game animals and I hope you don’t think I would like to wound an animal by taking that out of range shot.  But, in shooting paper, balloons, metal targets and the like, those long range shots are really fun.

There are long range shooting companies around the Northern Utah area.  One has a shooting golf course set up and you have 18 different targets to shoot at and they vary in distances.  One is out to 1,000 yards.

Another guy has a two day course he teaches that he guarantees you will group shots out to 1,000 yards by the end of the second and final day of the course, or your money back.

There is a shooting club that shoots mostly the old Quigley blackpowder cartridges and they too shoot out near the 1,000 yard mark.  There must be something magical about 1,000 yards.  And when you think about it that is 3,000 feet….with 5,280 feet in one mile…that equates to almost 6/10ths of a mile….for sure well over 1/2 a mile away…dang that is a long ways.

I could hit a target out that far with my 54 cal. rifle…….if the target was big enough.

So, with todays military fighting in very strange lands it has become a necessity to take down the king pins by shooting them at distances where they don’t have a clue that they are being aimed at.  We have seen the videos on the web of our guys shooting the “bad guys” out to 1,200 yards and more.  I’m glad these sharpshooters are on our side.  There is nothing new about the long range shooters as it was and has been done in nearly every war known to man.  Even if the weapon was a bow.  How about David and Goliath?  I’m sure David would have considered his rock throwing ability with his leather thong a long distance shot at Goliath’s head.

So, now someone has invented an aiming device that is sure to take the world by storm.   A scope mounted on your rifle that takes all the guess work out of your shot.  You first acquire the target and push a button…it marks your target and then you squeeze the trigger….the next time the reticle inside the scope crosses the mark you placed on the target, the gun fires and the projectile hits right where you marked it.  And they claim it is accurate to 1,200 yards!  Amazing.

I had a discussion with Wapiti last week.  He related a “gang banger” story about two rival gangs in one of our big cities shooting nearly 1,000 rounds (there is that 1,000 number again) at each others gang members and not one person was hit during the ma-lay.  Hard to believe isn’t it?  Later he was talking to a local police officer about it and the suggestion was brought up to teach those two gangs of people some “aiming techniques”…take a few of them out and maybe there wouldn’t be such a gang problem…..just a thought.

So perhaps this invention will do just that…just another thought.

After you view this video you too might come to the same conclusion as I have, is this a good thing?

It is in the right hands.

Bears Butt

Dec. 9, 2012