How much do you think wheat stubble effect a bullets POI.

death-junky

death-junky

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Ok I have a question, I've narrowed it down to either operator error or the bullet hitting some wheat stubble in flight to target. Anyways I filled my one of my mule deer doe tags on the weekend, the shot was around 300 yards in a wheat field I was shooting prone and from a bipod I was going for a neck shot the deer was also broadside. Anyways when I fired and the doe dropped like a ton of lead bricks didn't even take a step. So I walk up to the deer and notice that the shot wasn't in the neck but a foot to the left right behind the shoulder otherwise a perfect boiler room shot. So I was perplexed as I had just sighted my scope in the week prior, so I ended the day even though I have another MD doe tag and a WT doe tag. I wanted to be sure the the scope didn't get knocked.
I took it out this after noon and fired off 3 groups of 5 and I guess my rifle doesn't like this load as much as other of my hand loads 1.25" groups @100 but its consistently and satisfactory on target. This tells me that the rifle wasn't bumped out.
So my question is would it be more likely that I pulled or flinched as I shot (I don't feel I did but I cant rule it out) or could a piece of that wheat stubble that could have possibly been it the path of the bullet cause that foot change in POI.
 
wind was dead, it was 9 am in the morning and -3 C out. I was shooting my Remington 700 XCR tactical LR in 300 win mag. The load was my designed for my step dads rifle and as I didn't have time to switch my dies settings and load some more rounds (millwrighting school right now) I just sighted my rifle in with the extra rounds I had made for him.
 
I'm of the mind you may have pulled the shot a bit but who knows? Seems like a piece of wheat stubble wouldn't affect a bullet of that size but then again who knows? I know it sure changes the flightpath of a 17HMR round when you hit some tall grass on the way to a gopher! It will result in a miss every time. You sure you didn't hit the ground and bounce that round into the boiler room? :p I was down south in August at a trap shoot(Swift Current) and from Kindersley south there wasn't a wheat crop taller than 6"-8" with this years drought! Hard to believe there is any stubble taller than an inch after this years combining efforts down that way?!
 
Stubble or hay will pull a bullet down. I have never heard of it pulling it left or right.
A slight flinch can move a bullet 4 inches at 100 so 10 or more at 300 is in the park.
 
Theres not much to go on, but I do know that if a bullet touches anything, all bets are off. The farther it has to travel the worse the chances get. Do you have any particular reason to believe you hit stubble?

A possibility is canting.. Nobody believes they do it; but a bit of time with a scope level might convince you that nobody can judge it as well as they think. Non swivelling bipods and field shooting area poor combo. Eyes play tricks.
 
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hoytcanon said:
Smart bullet... it did what you should have done on a broadside deer @ 300 yards.
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First things first if I had have aimed for the chest I would have put the bullet in the guts and no one wants that, 2nd if your off shooting in the neck you either miss clean or put it through the front shoulder and into the boiler room sure you mess up the shoulder and more trimming is needed but the deer is dead quickly. if you hit the neck anywhere with a 300 win mag the deer is dead. Even if you don't some how destroy the spine you sever all the main arteries and its dead in seconds. 3rd the rifle I'm using I'm very comfortable with and normally never flinch I can hit 6" gongs with it easily at 600 yards so shooting a deer in the neck is not the issue here.
 
the bipod was set at 6" and i was laying in the field that's why I thought that I could be that and canted could be an issue never thought of that I wasn't exactly as comfortable as I normally am when shoot as I was in the field hahaha.
 
death-junky said:
First things first if I had have aimed for the chest I would have put the bullet in the guts and no one wants that, 2nd if your off shooting in the neck you either miss clean or put it through the front shoulder and into the boiler room sure you mess up the shoulder and more trimming is needed but the deer is dead quickly. if you hit the neck anywhere with a 300 win mag the deer is dead. Even if you don't some how destroy the spine you sever all the main arteries and its dead in seconds. 3rd the rifle I'm using I'm very comfortable with and normally never flinch I can hit 6" gongs with it easily at 600 yards so shooting a deer in the neck is not the issue here.
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No offense, but your rationale is ridiculous. Maybe it's an experience thing, but having hunted for close to five decades in addition to outfitting and guiding, I have witness so many neck/head shots go bad... and that is largely preventable on a broadside animal when the heart/lung target allows so much more margin for error. Regardless of you making a bad shot in this instance, it does not justify taking a lower percentage shot, particularly when the distance is at 300 yards and beyond. This is a public forum and open to opinions.
 
death-junky said:
the bipod was set at 6" and i was laying in the field that's why I thought that I could be that and canted could be an issue never thought of that I wasn't exactly as comfortable as I normally am when shoot as I was in the field hahaha.
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I would say a pulled shot if you were not comfortable. if you hit a piece of stubble you would not likely be on the deer at all at 300 yards, 300 mag or not.
I have seen pulled shots go quite a ways off of the POA before, it is not unusual.
Cat
 
Dogleg said:
Theres not much to go on, but I do know that if a bullet touches anything, all bets are off. The farther it has to travel the worse the chances get. Do you have any particular reason to believe you hit stubble?

A possibility is canting.. Nobody believes they do it; but a bit of time with a scope level might convince you that nobody can judge it as well as they think. Non swivelling bipods and field shooting area poor combo. Eyes play tricks.
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Don't have much experience with canting... but I'm a believer in grass or a twig will send your shot off into the 'toolies'
 
If the bullet hit an obstruction near the deer it might have created what happened. If the bullet hit an obstruction near the muzzle then by the time it got to 300 yards it could be much further off than a few deer lengths. That said, most misses are operator error.
 
I suspect that you just plain missed your point of aim. Fortunately your miss didn't mangle the deer's jaw, leaving it grievously wounded but still alive.
 
A head shot and a neck shot are 2 very different things. There a huge margin for error doing a head shots and I will never do one. A neck shot you have an 6" kill zone. I aim for the center of the neck not neer the head and it's done me good for years. No wasted meat and the animal drops in its tracks. That being said if the animal is further then that 300 yards then I normally take a chest shot.
 
Because very few else will do it. OP, I will admit I do not hit where I aimed every time.
Few will admit it, we really don't care though. It's not like 'Brewer's droop' at the orgy.
You already threw down the '6" plates easily @ 600 yds' IIRC... we know how it's likely to go.
Doesn't have to be that way though.
 
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