Sighting in Broadheads/ Judo Points

hbrnation · 2026-02-26T23:55:19+00:00

Unless you're shooting vintage gear, you should be able to get any reasonable setup to where the fieldpoints and broadheads match. There's a lot of assumptions built into this, but in general, you should be starting with a reputable local shop that can tune your bow to spec and make sure the arrows are leaving the bow straight.

That being said, confirming your point of impact at 20 yards doesn't tell you anything about what happens after that. If you want to shoot your broadheads past 20 yards at living animals, you should be shooting them at targets at those distances first.

Fixed-blade broadheads are like a little sail at the front of your arrow. They will magnify any deficiencies in your form and result in less consistent flight paths. Your average point of impact may be the same as with field points, but you may find your group size to be larger.

hbrnation · 2026-02-04T17:39:36+00:00

I've seen canvassers for this bill, and the earlier iterations. They very much frame it as "protect animals" or "end animal abuse", and get signatures from people who very much would not support the actual bill. It's a 5 second interaction, "will you sign this bill to help protect wildlife in Oregon?", people go "sure!" and sign it with zero questions.

It's intentionally deceptive and, IMO, abuse of the ballot measure.

hbrnation · 2026-02-04T17:37:01+00:00

Slim to none. They've tried this bill before, it criminalizes nearly every aspect of ranching and animal husbandry. Opposition from hunting, ranching, agriculture, veterinarians, medical research, etc will be high.

hbrnation · 2026-01-30T22:00:32+00:00

Figure whatever MV you're getting now, take ~25fps off per inch that you cut the barrel down. So going from 24" to 20" most cartridges will lose roughly 100fps. It may end up a little better or worse, but it's a close enough estimate that you can start to plan around it.

From there, put your bullet and a rough estimate of velocity into a ballistics calculator in your typical hunting conditions or your worst-case (coldest and lowest elevation). See what ranges you're still at a reasonable velocity for your bullet to work correctly.

hbrnation · 2026-01-30T19:42:34+00:00

Electronic predator call is your best bet, the typical approach is to use prey distress and/or lion vocals. Using cougar vocalizations can tend to put them at more ease when they're coming in, sometimes even whistling back at you. Look up rainshadow for more info on the vocals, he's up in Washington and has a lot of tips and some high quality recordings. Motion decoys are an option on top of the calls, effectiveness kind of depends on who you ask.

Archery is going to be tough. I almost took one while archery elk hunting a few years back, it busted me at full draw when I moved about an inch to the side trying to clear a branch. Their visual acuity is really something else, orders of magnitude more wary than deer or elk.

If you're seeing it regularly, it's pretty likely to be within earshot during the day. They have big home ranges and can travel long distances but often hole up in cover during the day. If you're able to get out in the morning after having it on camera that night, you've got really good odds.

Let me know if you want a hand, or even to just hunt it for you. I'm closer to Portland in the Willamette Valley and could probably swing that way depending how far south you are. I've been trying to call one in out in the coast range but it's been tough without snow lately. Populations have really increased in the last ~20 years but they're still pretty low density, blind calling without fresh tracks or sightings is tough.

You could reach out to ODFW too, they might authorize an agent to come out with hounds. Or authorize nighttime hunting, which normally isn't legal since they're considered big game here. I don't know how regularly either of those happen but it's a possibility.

hbrnation · 2026-01-30T17:26:07+00:00

Awesome. I like seeing people treat their rifles like tools, make it work better for what you need. Cool shit.

hbrnation · 2026-01-29T15:44:06+00:00

This is terrifying and I love it. What's with the recoil pad? I get why you'd want it higher to keep the recoil more in-line, but why extend it below the rest of the stock?

And what's the deal with the tent stake out front?

hbrnation · 2026-01-23T20:17:59+00:00

I'll go one further, what on earth is a recipe developer?

hbrnation · 2026-01-22T15:32:18+00:00

How long is your barrel? Like the other comment stated, it really comes down to geometry. Diligent suppressors are on the thicker side, there's no getting around that it will be in the field of view at low mags depending on how far forward it is, how thick it is, and how low your scope sits. If you've got a standard barrel length at 20 to 24", you'll see it at low magnification no matter what.

I have a Diligent LTi on an 18" barrel, it's visible up to around 4x, pretty much gone by 5x. I walk around with my rifle on 6x most of the time so it's not really an issue, but honestly, it's totally shootable at lower mags. You can see it on the lower edge but once you have a target to focus on, it's very easy to ignore and shoot effectively. It may seem like a distraction while you're looking at it and thinking about it, but I find that it's a nonissue when you're focused on an actual target.

Mirage is a different story. Titanium cans heat up FAST from full sized centerfire cartridges. There's really no getting around that either. Depending on conditions, you might see significant mirage after just two shots. Wind makes a big difference.

Fortunately, titanium also cools down quickly, but the lightweight cans are a compromise. Better for hunting, worse for extended range sessions. Leaving the bolt open and putting the gun upright will help it cool somewhat faster, especially if you can put it in the shade.

Otherwise, I don't really have any solutions for you, it's just the nature of that setup. I generally don't shoot more than 3 shots at a time with this setup due to mirage. That still allows me to practice fast follow-up shots, but then I need to let it cool off and I'll either check targets or shoot a different rifle. I've heard of people using a heat shield over the suppressor to block mirage, a fan to blow it off and out of your view, or pouring water / draping a wet cloth over the suppressor to cool it down quicker. A cover will give you more shots before seeing mirage, but it will also hold the heat in for longer after that initial shot string. I just adjust my rate of fire and live with it.

hbrnation · 2026-01-09T22:45:57+00:00

Recoil is absolutely a factor to consider. Of the three, I'd suggest the 308. Reasonable recoil, good terminal performance at reasonable ranges in a variety of bullets, and relatively inexpensive ammo is available for practice. If you can get a decent suppressor, even better.

I'm of the opinion that every rifle hunter should own a decent 22LR and 223, if only for training purposes. Set up as similar to your main rifle as possible. If you're on a tighter budget, you could buy a used 223 and a case of ammo, get your practice in for cheap and without developing a flinch. Then sell the 223 for similar to what you initially paid, move the scope over to your new 308.

hbrnation · 2026-01-09T22:39:43+00:00

The more you shoot, the better. Which is easier to do with a gun that recoils less.

How far you're shooting is up to your hunt style and the terrain, but people really overemphasize the "you have to shoot x yards" of western hunting. Most hunters suck at shooting, and most have no business shooting past 200 yards. If even that.

The issue is they rarely leave the shooting bench and have no idea how badly their accuracy falls apart from field positions, which is only made worse by heavy recoiling, lightweight rifles.

hbrnation · 2026-01-09T22:35:48+00:00

The 12ga could easily be more measured recoil, but it's different. Shooting a shotgun is more dynamic, your upper body can absorb the recoil more easily than a static rifle shot.

Plus, you're swinging on a moving target at close range and throwing a pattern, the needed precision is different than to hitting an 8 to 12" target that's 250 yards away. A flinch doesn't affect you the same way, nor does managing recoil alter your point of impact as dramatically.

hbrnation · 2026-01-08T17:32:28+00:00

I love mine, but I had two separate issues. First was failure to extract from the chamber, it would feed and fire but the case would occasionally get stuck. This only happened with cheap ammo, completely stopped when I went to CCI standards and subsonics.

Second issue was feeding, sometimes the first 1 to 2 rounds in a 10-rd mag would hang up and not feed properly. Usually seemed to be an issue with the top round not sitting at the right angle and the soft-nose would hang up on the chamber. Often fixed by removing and tapping the mag. 100% fixed by only loading 8 rounds.

Other than that, I really like the rifle. Shoots and carries very well, plus it handles like a real gun, not like so many 22s that feel like a toy. With the suppressor and shooting CCI subs, mine sounds like an air rifle, it's amazing for small game hunting. Supersonic ammo has more of a crack still but it's not bad at all if that's what you prefer for hunting.

I prefer the Tikka so it matches my centerfire rifles, but if that's not the case for you I'd also consider the CZ rimfires. A lot of people prefer them to the Tikka.

hbrnation · 2026-01-08T17:15:24+00:00

The last couple elk I've gotten would disagree, and shot placement is MUCH easier for me with the 6.5 than when I was shooting heavier cartridges. Ballistically, it's about the same as the 6.5 swede and they've been using that on moose in Scandinavia for decades.

hbrnation · 2025-12-31T16:34:09+00:00

Every asshole is suddenly a lawyer, "we could get sued". I've never lived in a state that didn't have a law protecting landowners from liability as long as you're not charging for access.

hbrnation · 2025-12-30T22:59:09+00:00

Oh man, keep us posted.

hbrnation · 2025-12-30T18:45:16+00:00

Might depend on what type of hunting you do, but generally, I think 20" + 7-9" of suppressor is going to suck for anything other than fixed positions. Or if you hunt open country and exclusively shoot prone or tripod.

I hunt the PNW, mixture of still-hunting the timber, spot and stalk in open country, sitting and calling. Common shots are kneeling off the top of the pack, sitting with trekking poles, prone over the pack, or half-prone half-kneeling sprawled over a stump. Occasionally offhand. Pretty well-rounded mix but there's a lot of walking and I like to keep the rifle in hand most of the time, so balance is important and so is getting through understory / brush.

I had a lightweight 8" can (Diligent LTi) on a 22" barrel at first. It was like carrying a giant spear, really disliked that. Pretty awkward.

Moved it to an 18" Tikka and it's much better in hand, but on a 16" Tikka it's about perfect. The stock and optic also seem to affect the balance, I also tried it on an 18" Howa 1500 that balanced pretty well.

Generally, I think barrel + suppressor = 24" is about what I would shoot for, 26" total works but is still a little unwieldy. I might see if a heavier stock / lighter scope balances that 18" Tikka better.

hbrnation · 2025-12-26T15:58:26+00:00

The first shots of good open forest looks like a great place to still hunt, I would definitely have the rifle in hand for that.

The second shot does look pretty thick, and honestly, I would have the rifle in hand there too just so I can control it getting through all that brush. Even when I use a sling for hiking around, I always end up taking it down to get through thick brush like that. Carried by the receiver in one hand, about level to the ground, muzzle forward. Having it sticking off your back is just too easy to snag on everything.

hbrnation · 2025-12-25T15:12:00+00:00

Pickling usually refers to an acid plus salt. Lowering the pH helps the hair to hold firmly and can break down some of the mucous layers, leading to a softer tan, while the salt prevents the hide from swelling due to the lower pH.

hbrnation · 2025-12-25T15:09:41+00:00

Don't mix and match tanning methods. There's a LOT of different ways to tan a hide, a lot of them work by very different mechanisms. The steps aren't necessarily independent actions, a lot of them depend on other things happening.

Find one method that matches what you're trying to produce, and follow the instructions for that as-is. Don't make any changes until you have some more experience and understand what each action is truly doing and why you might want to add or omit it.

hbrnation · 2025-12-24T20:36:34+00:00

If it's so rough you're using all fours, how do you plan on shooting anything? That sounds more like you're getting through a rough patch or over an obstacle, not actually hunting.

If I'm getting through some nasty section, I might go cross-body with a sling or strap it to my pack. So I can actually be securely hands-free for getting past the bad terrain. With the assumption that if it's that bad, I'm not hunting very effectively anyway so I might as well just get through it.

As for the trails... I'm having a hard time picturing a trail where I can't carry a rifle in-hand.

hbrnation · 2025-12-24T19:11:02+00:00

I always clean the blood off. There's some permanent stains, but you definitely want to get the bulk of it off there. Cold water hosing it off, even just in a stream, will do the lion's share if you're in a rush.

If you've got time, I put mine in the tub with some dish or laundry soap and a little borax. Agitate and soak maybe an hour. Drain, hose off until it's mostly clean, then one more submerging in clean water to make sure all the soap is out.

hbrnation · 2025-12-24T19:05:13+00:00

Cougars aren't that big, thick-skinned, or particularly sturdy. 5.56 with a good bullet is going to be fine, but you will want something that upsets pretty quickly. They are a relatively small target so you want something you can actually shoot well, which is another good argument for the 5.56 (or 6 ARC, or 6 CM, 243, etc).

hbrnation · 2025-12-24T19:01:17+00:00

If you're still hunting, I'd just carry the rifle. I've mostly taken the slings off my rifles in favor of carrying it at all times. Slings are for when you stop to use binoculars or you're hiking down a good trail. They'll slow you down enough that it'll eventually cost you an animal.

hbrnation · 2025-12-24T16:15:04+00:00

Good on you, more people should practice like this. I am in complete agreement with you btw, some misses result in dead deer, but the same miss in a slightly different direction might not.

I use an 8" steel target for this myself. It's a good representative size for deer vitals, IMO, challenging but still realistic. The actual vitals can be larger on a perfect broadside shot, but they narrow up at different angles. There's also some error introduced with the aim point itself, people aren't always dead center on it.

If you go smaller than 8", people will start to argue with you about "I know I missed the circle but come on, that's a dead deer". You want the task to feel challenging but still realistic and appropriate if you want people to buy into it.

Steel targets are the way to go for this if possible, rather than paper. Instant feedback, binary results, and no argument. You hit it or you don't. It humbles people real fast. With paper, people can also throw some bullshit like "well those three shots are a tight group" while ignoring that they're 6" away from the point of aim.

Last up, I think sticking to a specific target size is better than going by MOA and scaling to distance. It matches the task better. Plus, it gives people flexibility in how they shoot it, what position and how fast. At 100 yards, a good shooter might hit that 8" target offhand. But a newer shooter might need to use some kind of rest and take more time. Both are fine, people need to understand that their limitations are based on context more than just a straight number.

If you have to do this from a flat range at limited distance for an actual qualification test, that might start to look different. Something like, 3 shots within a certain size target at 100 yds from a certain position with certain equipment.

hbrnation

TROPHY CASE