My letter to David Petzal.. and his reply!

David Petzal is my FAVORITE. I e-mailed him today asking his advice on bullets for sheep (Quinton, I know you made a recommendation, but I thought it would be cool to see what he said) and he wrote me back within 20 minutes!

Here is my letter and his reply(and yes, the part about my writing him and getting my letter published is true):

Mr. Petzal,

A few years ago I e-mailed you and asked about whether or not a .270 would be appropriate for both varmints and big game. You were kind enough to e-mail me back and although you recommended getting a varmint -specific rifle for that type of hunting, you also suggested that "buying a .270 is always a righteous choice."

I was pleased when a few months later, my question appeared in the pages of Field & Stream! At any rate, I did go on to purchase a Remington 700 ADL in .270 Win. My WalMart special, topped with a Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40 (a gift from my father) and I have successfully harvested several deer over the last 3 years.

I have fed this gun el-cheapo Remington PSP 150 grain ammo, and it seems to like it well enough. Oddly enough, my rifle hunting distances are far less than 150 yards, where I have killed several deer in excess of 160 yards with my shotgun (thick timber vs. open corn and bean fields)! Because of my short distances hunting with my .270, I have been quite content with the 1-1.5" or so groups at 100 yards I am currently experiencing.

The issue is that come next February, I will be lugging myself, a frame pack, and my rifle up and down some nasty mountains in New Mexico in search of Barbary Sheep. My friend/guide who I will be hunting with says that he has taken sheep out to 600 yards with his Weatherby 300 Mag, as the hunting is very difficult for these animals and thus requires some long-range shots.

To my question: Being a fan of yours, I have read a great deal about what you have written regarding cartridge selection, so I understand the best option in order to see what my rifle will digest is to buy different brands and see what they do out of my particular firearm. However, I have NO idea where to start. I don't anticipate trying to kill a sheep at 600 yards, but I intend on practicing out to 400. What I was wondering is, can you recommend 3 or 4 different loads that I can purchase at my local sporting goods store, or order from Cabela's or BPS that should, theoretically, allow for a fair amount of accuracy out to these ranges. There are so many choices, it's all a bit confusing, not to mention my budget will not allow for me to purchase 20 boxes of $40 ammunition to run tests as to which prints best at 300 or 400 yards.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my ramblings, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Stephen Plumbley
Elsie, MI


And his response:

Dear Mr. Plumbley: For a second I thought you were going to ask me about
making 600-yard shots. I would like to see some of those 600-yarders your
friend says he made. 400 on the other hand, is extreme, but doable.

The sad truth is that just about any ammunition will do. Barbary sheep are
neither big nor very tough, so you don't need premium bullets. I would start
with Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertip ammo. It comes in 130 grains
only, and is very accurate, quick expanding and has a good ballistic
coefficient. If that doesn't work, try eenie meenie miney mo. I'm not
kidding. There are only four factors that matter here:

1. You have to know how far the unfortunate sheep is, which means you must
have a rangefinder.

2. You have to know how far your bullet drops at 400 yards, and you have to
know where to hold to compensate for the drop.

3. You have to be able to dope the wind. At 400 yards, the wind will kill
you.

4. You have to be able to shoot good.

Choosing ammo is the least of your problems. If it will shoot inside of 1.5
inches at 100 yards, it will do the job.

Best of luck, DP


Anyway, agree or disagree, I think it's pretty cool he wrote me back so quick.... Just thought I'd share!

its always nice when people take the time to writte back.

Yeah, Like I said, I wrote him a couple years ago, and within a few hours then he personally wrote me back. Pretty cool. Easily someone I would love to meet.

Plus I thought this would be helpful to us who will be hunting out there, especially if we don't have a lot of experience at longer ranges.

That's pretty cool Stephen. I guess you better start practicing!!!

And then get on the stair climber!

I agree with him completely. Quinton is a total liar about his 600 yard shots and Barbary sheep are pansies.

No kidding, dude.... treadmill and stairclimber are gonna get some serious action. We also have a park about 4 blocks from me that has a walking path, so I'll be doing a couple miles on that as often as I can.

Jack, you slay me....

Ummmmm, I aint no Dave Petzal, but I have ALOT of experiance hunting sheep, and I disagree with the sheep not being tough animals. I have seen it first hand. The big ram my brother shot 2 years ago acted like he wanted to step up and kick our asses after he shot it. I swear to God himself that blood was shooting 20 feet out of that animal and chunks of his heart fell out the other side. When we opened him up there was NO heart what-so-ever in him. After he hit him, the damn thing turned around and stared us down like he wanted to fight for what seemed like 30 seconds, then he turned and walked off over the hill. Granted he didn't make it far, but damn, that is one bad ass animal.

Also, the Silvertips are OK IMO, like I said I am no Dave Petzal, but I hit a mule deer with em a few years ago and the bullet went into about 50 different pieces on impact. We were finding little pieces of bullet all in that animal while we processed it.

Like I said, I admire anybody who has accomplished so much as Petzal has, but I can disagree with him also. I have been hunting all around the west since i was 9 years old, and guiding since i was a sophmore in high school. I like to think I know a little about what I'm talking about. Next time you talk to Dave tell him to come along with us, and I will show him a 600 yard kill shot.

Q!! wrote:Ummmmm, I aint no Dave Petzal, but I have ALOT of experiance hunting sheep, and I disagree with the sheep not being tough animals. I have seen it first hand. The big ram my brother shot 2 years ago acted like he wanted to step up and kick our asses after he shot it. I swear to God himself that blood was shooting 20 feet out of that animal and chunks of his heart fell out the other side. When we opened him up there was NO heart what-so-ever in him. After he hit him, the damn thing turned around and stared us down like he wanted to fight for what seemed like 30 seconds, then he turned and walked off over the hill. Granted he didn't make it far, but damn, that is one bad ass animal.

Also, the Silvertips are OK IMO, like I said I am no Dave Petzal, but I hit a mule deer with em a few years ago and the bullet went into about 50 different pieces on impact. We were finding little pieces of bullet all in that animal while we processed it.

Like I said, I admire anybody who has accomplished so much as Petzal has, but I can disagree with him also. I have been hunting all around the west since i was 9 years old, and guiding since i was a sophmore in high school. I like to think I know a little about what I'm talking about. Next time you talk to Dave tell him to come along with us, and I will show him a 600 yard kill shot.

"You tell him Q is coming for him, and hell's coming with him".

LMAO, I won't bring hell with me, but I will bring the .300 Weatherby and show him a solid 600 yard shot.

Q!! wrote:LMAO, I won't bring hell with me, but I will bring the .300 Weatherby and show him a solid 600 yard shot.

600 yard shots take practice but can certainly be done with the right weapon and ammo. Some people think 600 yard shots are impossible just because THEY can't do it. (kinda like shooting a deer with a bow over 30 yards )

Exactly bro. I get slammed on AT for taking 60 yard shots with a bow, and Dave Petzal slams me for taking 600 yard shots with my .300 Weatherby, that when i hand load will only drop 31" at that distance.

Just hypothetically could David interpreted the letter to mean that Stephen was going to use his 270 and that with that gun 600 yard shots would be well difficult and even 400 would be pushing the limits of the gun?

Not trying to defend him but imagine how many letters he gets and answers and could have not understood that a new rifle is in the offing?

As far as the sheep being a tough critter. I will go with Q!! opinion without even stopping to re-read the letter.

I didn't post this to start anything or piss you off, Q... just thought it was cool he responded and thought the guys who have never hunted long range would be informed somewhat by it.

Fact is, he probably gets a lot of letters by tree jockeys like me who want to suddenly hunt out west and think they can, with a trip or two to the range, suddenl;y kill a *whatever* at extreme distances.

I think his advice was aimed more at me, as a Michigander, that I shouldn't try to shoot beyond 400 yards and that there are things aside from bullet choice that I need to consider first. Basically, if I can see a deer, and have an open lane, I can kill it. Bullet drop? I don't have to think about it because ranges are so short. Wind? Again, a non-issue on an 80 yard shot with my rifle.

Anyway, I'm sorry if this pissed you off Q. Not my intent.

I thought it was cool..

I'm interested in hunting long ranges myself.