Long Range Shooting

[BlackStreak 498]

Anyone on do any long range shooting on this forum, either competition or for fun? I'm a long range guy. Never got to compete in any long range competions but do it just for personal fun. I'll shoot out to 1 mile on targets about approximately 1 MOA in size.

[sussex 5,776]

Anyone on do any long range shooting on this forum, either competition or for fun? I'm a long range guy. Never got to compete in any long range competions but do it just for personal fun. I'll shoot out to 1 mile on targets about approximately 1 MOA in size.

I'd like to see that far ! ...What calibre you shooting ?

[BlackStreak 498]

At a mile I'm shooting a 338 Lapua improved with 300 grain bullets

i shoot a 300 ultra mag mostly and will run it out to just shy of a mile. I shoot 210 grainers out of it

Most my other rifles such as 25-06 Ackley and 6x47 Lapua I will run out to 800. All those distances are about my max practice distances. I will hunt these guns out to about 2/3rds of the distance i practice with them in most cases.

None of the guns mentioned are factory rifles. At least not anymore for the ones that started out that way. My favorite caliber is the 28 cal in 7mag or 7x300win. Next time i replace the barrel on my 300 ultra, I'm taking it back to a 7x300win.

[outandabout 27]

Sounds great, what optics are you using for your long range work?

[perthshire keeper 1,237]

i used to do a lot...even shot in maqueens comps a few times...only to about 700m on targets i did try the 300 wim mag a bit further but it was just nasty!

i shot critters out to 500m quite often and spent many many summer evenings doing it. running a remmy 700 vssf II with jewel trigger. wildcat t8 and Bushnell black diamond scope

running 55 grain v max bullets from the 22-250 varget powder and fed benchrest primers.....i could shoot less than 1/2 MOA to 300 and not much more at 5

[BlackStreak 498]

Sounds great, what optics are you using for your long range work?

 

Most all my rifles have Leopold scopes on them.

[BlackStreak 498]

i used to do a lot...even shot in maqueens comps a few times...only to about 700m on targets i did try the 300 wim mag a bit further but it was just nasty!

i shot critters out to 500m quite often and spent many many summer evenings doing it. running a remmy 700 vssf II with jewel trigger. wildcat t8 and Bushnell black diamond scope

running 55 grain v max bullets from the 22-250 varget powder and fed benchrest primers.....i could shoot less than 1/2 MOA to 300 and not much more at 5

 

 

That's not to shabby. Any gun that will put 5 shots in 1/2 MOA groups is good enough for me. That's pretty much my standard for long range hunting accuracy. It won't compete on the benchrest circuits but will lay game down way out there given you do your part right. When you consider your playground beyond 600 yards you pretty well enter into a different more advanced side of the long range game. Better range finders are required, extreme spread and standard deviation in bullet velocities must be tested and tweeked in conjuction with accuracy, match grade bullets are a must, putting a level on the scope to prevent canting should be done, validating a scoped vertical adjustments is a must or what good is a level, technique and putting no torque on the rifle becomes a very big deal your ability to judge wind down range is a big deal and any little flaw in the technical data you have entered into your ballistics calculator for that particular rifle and round you are shooting gets worse the further out you go and same for the atmospheric conditions you enter in to it as well. You need to start calculating spin drift at these longer distances too. At ranges close to a mile, just as well start entering in information to calculate for the corilus effect. I normally run my rifles out to their transonic phase of bullet flight and call it quites. Different calibers will help or hurt your long range game because of their inherent ballistic coefficients. A 308 being a 30 cal and slow to boot would not fair as well in the hands of someone shooting a 7mm mag out to the same 1000 yard mark do to the 28 calibers inherently better bullet ballastic coefficients and the faster velocity. There is a little more to it still that is helpful when playing the extreme long range game but as you can probably tell by now, just because a rifle and the round your shooting does well out to 3 or 4 hundred yards, doesn't mean it will perform well at long distance. It's ability to shoot 1/2 moa 5 shot groups at 100 yards might be drastically different at 1000 yards. Your rifle and load recipe might only be able to do 2 moa at 1000 yards for example without any human error.

I feel if a person can shoot a very accurate rifle 5 times at 100 yards and get a 1/2 MOA group, he or she can shoot long range fairly easily should they have the proper equipment and guidance , in no time at all.

[perthshire keeper 1,237]

 

i used to do a lot...even shot in maqueens comps a few times...only to about 700m on targets i did try the 300 wim mag a bit further but it was just nasty!

i shot critters out to 500m quite often and spent many many summer evenings doing it. running a remmy 700 vssf II with jewel trigger. wildcat t8 and Bushnell black diamond scope

running 55 grain v max bullets from the 22-250 varget powder and fed benchrest primers.....i could shoot less than 1/2 MOA to 300 and not much more at 5

 

That's not to shabby. Any gun that will put 5 shots in 1/2 MOA groups is good enough for me. That's pretty much my standard for long range hunting accuracy. It won't compete on the benchrest circuits but will lay game down way out there given you do your part right. When you consider your playground beyond 600 yards you pretty well enter into a different more advanced side of the long range game. Better range finders are required, extreme spread and standard deviation in bullet velocities must be tested and tweeked in conjuction with accuracy, match grade bullets are a must, putting a level on the scope to prevent canting should be done, validating a scoped vertical adjustments is a must or what good is a level, technique and putting no torque on the rifle becomes a very big deal your ability to judge wind down range is a big deal and any little flaw in the technical data you have entered into your ballistics calculator for that particular rifle and round you are shooting gets worse the further out you go and same for the atmospheric conditions you enter in to it as well. You need to start calculating spin drift at these longer distances too. At ranges close to a mile, just as well start entering in information to calculate for the corilus effect. I normally run my rifles out to their transonic phase of bullet flight and call it quites. Different calibers will help or hurt your long range game because of their inherent ballistic coefficients. A 308 being a 30 cal and slow to boot would not fair as well in the hands of someone shooting a 7mm mag out to the same 1000 yard mark do to the 28 calibers inherently better bullet ballastic coefficients and the faster velocity. There is a little more to it still that is helpful when playing the extreme long range game but as you can probably tell by now, just because a rifle and the round your shooting does well out to 3 or 4 hundred yards, doesn't mean it will perform well at long distance. It's ability to shoot 1/2 moa 5 shot groups at 100 yards might be drastically different at 1000 yards. Your rifle and load recipe might only be able to do 2 moa at 1000 yards for example without any human error.

I feel if a person can shoot a very accurate rifle 5 times at 100 yards and get a 1/2 MOA group, he or she can shoot long range fairly easily should they have the proper equipment and guidance , in no time at all.

 

ive shot right out to 1200m with other peoples rifles, but ive never had the funds to have some thing of that quality myself..i did once price up a pretty basic semi custom gun but it would have been thousands as 2 grand for the sope i wanted too...juts too muck for a poor keeper to afford at the time....ive also helped a few new guys do a lot of load developement with 7mm-08 6.5x47 and a 338 lap (that thing was stunning!) a freind of mine had a 6mmbr built for a foxing rifle and it was simply out of this world, honesly single hole groups at 100m and about 10mm at 200m that had some serious capabilities but he never took it more than 500.

[BlackStreak 498]

Yes sir, playing the extreme long range game has a lot of cost involve between the gun, scope, range finders and if you do any long range hunting then a spotting scope as well. The rest of the equipment isn't to bad. I was single for many years and had a good paying job is how I was able to get what I have. Once you get the expensive stuff, you pretty well have it for life though. Just replace the barrel once in a while. That's not to bad.

I do have to admit that the big boomers will burn through a lot of powder pretty fast if you shoot them much. I dont shoot much anymore but still fire off a round or two now and then to stay on my game.

My best and easiest targets i have found to shoot is plow discs. They are harden steal and if you don't abuse them by shootingthem inside 400 yards with a gun such as a 243 then they will hold up for a very long time. Bigger guns need to be shot from farther away. My 338 Lapua improved was destroying them out to 1200 yards though. I paint them white and then put a painted horizontal and vertical line on them and aim for the very very center. Just drive down and paint back over the bullet impact spots. I love to ring that steal. Lime stone rocks are fun to shoot too. I'll place them at various yardages and drive way far back and practice on them. They explode giving off a white powder like you just ahot a can of baby powder and give they give you a very loud pop when they explode. Pretty fun ways to practice. Shooting paper for me is very boaring. I always practice from the same sticks i use to hunt with. Even when I'm shooting out to a mile.

[perthshire keeper 1,237]

i had game targets made from 1/4 steel in crow fox and rabbit...and 2x 12" half inch armour plate sheets on a swinging frame for the bigger stuff or longer range...

whats the price like out their for ammo? i was paying close to £3 a shot for factory .300win for decent stuff! thats about what $7 a go?!

[BlackStreak 498]

i had game targets made from 1/4 steel in crow fox and rabbit...and 2x 12" half inch armour plate sheets on a swinging frame for the bigger stuff or longer range...

whats the price like out their for ammo? i was paying close to £3 a shot for factory .300win for decent stuff! thats about what $7 a go?!

 

I don't know what factory ammo is selling for in different calibers. I haven't shot a factory shell in probably over a decade. I reload for all my rifles. I spend a lot of time prepping my brass when I first get it and then after so many shots I'll trim the necks if needed. Normally needed for the brass that doesn't have a shoulders over 35 degrees as a decent shoulder will arrest a lot of the neck growth. I anneal the necks and shoulders after every 3 firings usually, I'll deburr the flash hole on every piece of brass I have. Normally I don't loose much brass to splits in the necks after so many firings. I try to be conservative with my brass and not abuse it by loading it hot because of the amount of work I put into each peice of brass. I dont like stretching out the primer pockets after only a few firings. So as long as your not replacing the brass all the time, the cost of shooting isn't to bad. I know last time I paid for 338 Lapua brass, i give $3 per piece of brass. I think about 50 rounds will be 1 pound of powder, coupled with the almost $1 per bullet depending on what bullets you shoot, shooting a gun like a 338 Lapua, especially ifyour shooting it hot, can get fairly expensive. I've never seen the price of a factory 338 Lapua round but I'msure you would at least be ssending a $5 bill down the tube every time you pulled the trigger if you was buying factory shells. In reloading, I'm probably sending $2 down the tube each time I pull the trigger on the rifle but I'll get a dozen firings out of 1 piece of brass before the primer pocket gets sloppy, usually.

I figure for a cheap 223 factory round, your probably looking at 70 cents per trigger pull if you don't reload. Of course each time you pull the trigger, you are 1 more shell closer to having to replace the barrel too. I didn't factor in that cost. On something like my 338 Lapua improved, i would expect to get 1200 rounds of 1/2 moa accuracy before the accuracy starts to fall off. That would add approximately another 75 cents to each time I pulled the trigger on such a rifle, if you were to factor in wear and tear of the rifle when shooting it. Last time i replaces a barrel, it cost me about $750 for the custom barrel and installation by the gunsmith. A 308 win would probably get 4000 rounds run down the tube before it's accuracy deminished beyond what is acceptable for me. 308 rounds are not near as costly either as say a 338 Lapua to reload or to purchase off the shelf. That and I don't know the conversion between our dollar and yours. Hope what little info I did tell you helps though

[Born Hunter 17,629]

What sort of long range hunting do you do mate? Are we talking mountain hunts shooting sheep and elk etc across valleys? Or flat plains type stuff, coyote and antelope etc?

 

Interesting thread......

[BlackStreak 498]

Pigs, whitetail deer, coyotes, and the every other year or two elk hunt.

I normally get on a high point over looking big bottoms. Occasionally i will set on big crop fields. I live where its fairly wooded and i wouldnt really refer to it as flat nor hilly but somewhere in between.

[perthshire keeper 1,237]

i think from memory a 338 lap round of any quality over hear would be about £7-9 ($14 ish) if you could source them but any one with the head to get a rifle built would be rooling their own
ive always reloaded my ammo for the.223 ...243..22-250 and the 300wim mag but i only had the win for a little while i bought 100 ppu ammo FMJ realy cheap just to get used to the gun and ended up reloading it (as a side note varget is not soo good for the .300!) and used it on the hinds and forestry stage for a season. running about 180grn ..then just before i sold it i had a play about with some lighter bullets and higher fps and used it for foxing a couple of times...the splat factor was shocking with 150 grain nostlers and 150 grain powerpoints at 3200 ish fps from memory

it seems the cost of shooting in the us is a lot less than the uk :/ the cost of a good supply and re-barrel in the uk would run to about £1000 ($1700 ISH)
one day i may get back into it hopfuly,

as a side note its great that no one has jumped on to the whole anti-longrange hunting craic!

[Deker 3,453]

Done 1000 yards a few times, last time I used a GB Squad members rifle and he was spotting.

 

It was strangely easy, and just shows what is possible with the right equipment and help.

 

 

It still looks a long way.....

 

 

But with kit like this it helps......

 

 

That's my lot, done 600 yards at Bisley with the HMR, that was quite challenging, but a Mile or more as mentioned earlier gets tougher!

Edited November 21, 2015 by Deker