List of Common Objects To Use For Ranging Distance?

Does anyone know of a good list of common objects, accompanied w/their height & width, that I can use to range distance using a mil reticle? I've googled but came up short (pun intended!).

Is this a weird question? I may not have worded it correctly or maybe nobody does this?

Anything related to a barrel or feed pen?

It is a weird question. You are doing stadiometric ranging and so for it to work, you first must know the size of the object at which you are looking in order to get a proper distance assessment. Are you wanting the military listing that shows a person is X tall, doorway is Y tall, a Soviet GAZ-34036(32) tracked vehicle is Z tall? Or are you wanting something you can take into the woods?

You can compile your own list. Go out and measure these "common objects" for yourself and you are good to go. We don't know what the common objects are that you are talking about. Note, there is often a lot of variation between similar "common objects."

I don't think there is too much standard stuff in hunting fields.


Just buy a laser range finder

Or measure the distance to different spots and write it down.

Just go buy a few boxes from uhaul and put them at different distances make sure you know the box sizes before you set them out. Thats all i got haha

Inside an "Impact Data Book" is a list. But it's a man, a stop sign, a common house window, ect. Snipery stuff, not animal hunting stuff.

One particular object I've used is a t-post. Most people build four foot fence, instead of five foot. So a t-post is 1.33 yards tall.

There are a few common items I had written down at one time when we had mil ranging stages. But I made my own list of items. I made it with using the inside of a wheel (15"), and mail boxes, and such. Once you have your items, practice with it. It takes a lot of practice to mil targets correctly. If you are running mils, you will want to break down your mil ranging down into sub .1's. After about 500-600 yards, ranging items in .1 increments will result in a large variance in distance. Inside of 500-600 yards, it's more precise, and your bullet drop isn't that much yet, so getting a round on target inside of 500-600 yards isn't that difficult if mil'd correctly. I bought a mil dot master, and that helps convert it much faster into distance.

True story^^

Lots easier to push the button on a laser range finder.

I originally misunderstood your question. I thought you were wanting to find objects with known sizes you could put out at different ranges so you could estimate distances.

Some of y'all understood and some didn't! That's okay. I was asking about common items for any given situation. A short list would be the height of average:
Man
Deer
Hog
Elk
Horse
Cow
Telephone pole
Fence post
and the list goes on. Not so much as to shoot that object, obviously, but as an assist. I was curious as to which items have a common average and what are most common items to have in any given situation, wether it be hunting or war. I know a range finder is easiest but I'd like to hone in this skill while I save for a better range finder. Plus, I find it an intriguing skill set. Thanks for the input.

Well, for animals, especially deer, it will only be good to about 400-500 yards. The size difference in height (if you can even see their feet) or from belly to back varies. There are at least a few inches difference in a good size deer to an average size deer in the height from belly to back (I actually measured several does and bucks after we shot them!). A few years ago there was a long topic about this, and some goober and I went at it. He was going to mil the deer out far, and I explained to him how a few inches off in size equaled enough difference in bullet drop to easily cause a miss further out, especially if only doing it in .1 mils. The problem is it induces some error, which makes it more uncertain of the exact distance or actual come-up. It's generally used as a back up to a range finder. But it's still fun to practice it and know the skill. I forgot the mil math formula but I remember it was pretty easy to remember once I knew it!

Also, I had the measurements on a common feeder barrel (55 gallon drum), height and width, since that's a common item in the hunting field. It worked well when I tried it last.

As long as you don't mistake a 30 gal drum for a 55

^^ LOL. Shoot the neighbor's house 2 pastures away!

Good info. Thanks!

55 gallon drum is 1 yard tall.

Man? 5'9" unless he is more or less. How do you know you are seeing the average?
Deer? Buck, Doe, what part of the country? North Texas deer much larger than central Texas deer.
Hog? LOL. How do you know the difference between a 100 lb hog at 200 yards or a 200 lb hog at 400? Hogs vary considerably in size and weight.

Etc.

There is a lot of guessing going one with a lot of the "averages," particularly with wildlife, that could have considerable influence on your ranged results.

A laser rangefinder (as noted) will save you a lot of time and hassle if you are planning on making accurate hunting shots.

I dumbed down my old lease spot. I put out stakes with different colored ribbons at know trails, clearings and down 2 senderos. Each colored ribbon represented a distance. Red 100yds, blue 200 yards, orange 250, pink 300 and white was 400. Made ranging so much easier and i could call wind.