Long Range Shooting


elkhntnfool

Recommended Posts

I am interested in getting into long range shooting. At first just for fun but may want to do it competetlive someday. I currently have a 7mm Rem. Mag. that I can shoot accuratly to about 500yds. and feel comfortable doing it. What I was wondering is what caliber and rifle combo would be best for shooting say out to 1000yds. accuratly. I was think a .308 would be good but would like some imput to weather or not this would be a good caliber.

I like the savage model 10 flp in the .308 what does everyone think about the savage rifles. This is there heavy barreled law enforcement model.

If anyone has any suggestion on other calibers or other manufac. I am open to any suggestions.

Thanks for any help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Long Range Shooting

Shooting at the 1000 yard line requires a very well built gun, precise ammo, and a highly skilled shooter. I have only had one occasion to shoot that far and I managed to get 21" group for 5 shots. That was with the aid of a seasoned instructor. It is hard to judge what the wind will do to your bullet path. I made my educated guess at windage and made my adjustment and wound up almost 8 feet off target.

The best group that I know of at 1000 yards was shot with a 6.5-06 wildcat and was 1.996". There are many popular chamberings for that distance. The 300 Win Mag, 308 Norma Mag, .308 Win, 6.5/284 Wildcat, and the 6mm BR are some very popular ones. The USMC rifle team uses highly modified M-16 rifles chambered in .223 Rem but have a 1:8" twist to shoot the long heavy bullets that buck the wind so well.

One mandetory item is good optics. You need to adjust the scope to the conditions when shooting for record and the adjustments have to be repeatable. To be competitive in 1000 yard BR you will spend a lot of cash. A Savage, Remington, Winchester, Browning will not cut it. Get a custom actioned gun with a few barrels to test and see what works best. Check out some used BR guns. They can be had much cheaper than new and while they may not shoot competitive groups they will still shoot better than most production guns. Check out Benchrest Central. There is a lot of good info there. You can reduce your groups just by reading info there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Long Range Shooting

Speaking of long range grin.gif

I tried the longest shot of my life last Saturday morning on a coyote. I was sitting in a tripod at the deer lease and had 3 yotes out in a big flat chasing mice. They were too far away for the Leica LRF1200 to range. My best guesstimate is 1500 yards. I braced up with the 7 mag and lobbed one in with about 10 - 12 foot of holdover. Saw the dust cloud fly up about 3 feet short. That dog took off, but the other two just went on about their mouse catching. I decided to save the rest of my bullets... grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Long Range Shooting

When I was in the Army I was a sniper for an MP SRT team (SWAT). I had the opportunity to shoot at 1000 yards with a .338 Lapua from Accuracy International. A rep was trying to sell us one. I loved that rifle. I scored 5 out of ten hits on a B-27 humanoid target. Since a 1000 yard shot was not something a SWAT sniper would have to do in a real situation, we only did it for fun because the rifle could do it. I only got to do it one time. We stuck to the M-24 at 100, 300, and 500 yards. To my dismay, we never bought the AI. I like the fact that you could shoot through the cockpit window of a 747 and still hit point of aim, point of impact 7 yards behind the glass. Shooting through glass is not something a sniper wants to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Long Range Shooting

[ QUOTE ]

Shooting at the 1000 yard line requires a very well built gun, precise ammo, and a highly skilled shooter. I have only had one occasion to shoot that far and I managed to get 21" group for 5 shots. That was with the aid of a seasoned instructor. It is hard to judge what the wind will do to your bullet path. I made my educated guess at windage and made my adjustment and wound up almost 8 feet off target.

One mandetory item is good optics. You need to adjust the scope to the conditions when shooting for record and the adjustments have to be repeatable. To be competitive in 1000 yard BR you will spend a lot of cash. A Savage, Remington, Winchester, Browning will not cut it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry AJ gotta disagree with the need for a fully custom gun! I read an article in "Rifle Shooter" magazine last year on 1000yd shooting. They used a Remington 700 and had a few adjustments and fine tuning done by a gunsmith. the final gun was less than $1000 fully modified. They toped it with an $800 tactical long range scope (a springfield if I remember correctly) and got to the shooting line. once they sighted it in at ever increasing distances they shot it at 1000yds. the first group fired was 5 inches, by the author (his first time attempting a 1000 yard shot) not a professional, though he did have a profesional spotting and helping him with technique. The chambering was I blelive .308...but I can check the article again to be sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Long Range Shooting

The 300 Win Mag is a good choice. We have a long range shooter that we film for our hunting videos. His farthest deer kill is about 927 yards. He uses a military rangefinder and has a bullet wind drift and bullet drop chart....finds the numbers, dials them into his scope and whammo. You ought to see the vapor trail created from the bullet on video...cool.

JP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Long Range Shooting

[ QUOTE ]

We have a long range shooter that we film for our hunting videos. His farthest deer kill is about 927 yards.

[/ QUOTE ] How far did that deer run after being hit?

[ QUOTE ]

He uses a military rangefinder and has a bullet wind drift and bullet drop chart....finds the numbers, dials them into his scope and whammo. You ought to see the vapor trail created from the bullet on video...cool.

JP

[/ QUOTE ]

how long do those calculations take him and how much did that equipement set him back?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Long Range Shooting

Found the article I was referencing in my last post. It was in Petersen's Rifle Shooter magazine January/February 2004 edition, "Hit at 1,000: Zen and the Art of Long-Range Tactical Competition", writen by Bruce Gray. The rifle used was a Remington 700 VLS chambered in .308. He ordered it directly off the line, this was not a hand selected gun to make Remington look good. The modifications made were as follows:

1 Triger adjusted to 2.5 pounds by a gunsmith.

2 Barel free floated.

3 Harris S series Bipod 6-9 inch

4 Spirit level

5 Score High single shot follower

6 Uncle Mike's QD sling swivels

7 Warne Scope mount "MG73M 20 MOA" tactical bases

8 Maxima quick detachable rings

He checked the action bedding but determined it was reasonable enough to leave. This may not be the case for all Remington 700 VLS but it worked for his.

He states in the article that the total cost for the gun was just under $1000.

His scope was a Springfield Armory test sample in 6-20X56 with their MOA "Target Tracker" tactical reticle. (retails for $799 per the article)

He used Black Hills 175gr Sierra BTHP factory match grade amunition.

His test target (3 shot strings which is standard for Long-Range Tactical Competitions) shows 2 groups one fired at 100 yards measuring .450 inches and one fired at 1000 yards measuring 5.75 inches. Roughly equivelent to 1/2 MOA for both groups.

Hope this helps you make a decision. I sugest finding the article and reading the whole thing as it had a lot of good information and advice to those that would like to get into the Long Range Competition world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Long Range Shooting

[ QUOTE ]

His test target (3 shot strings which is standard for Long-Range Tactical Competitions) shows 2 groups one fired at 100 yards measuring .450 inches and one fired at 1000 yards measuring 5.75 inches. Roughly equivelent to 1/2 MOA for both groups.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry James, I seriously doubt he did that with an out of the box 700 with no bedding job. I gotta raise the flag on that one. I am not doubting you just the idiot that wrote the article. Those groups are good enough to win most competitions against pros using custom guns. Off of a bipod to boot. LOL!

bs.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.