Long range rifle shooting

[45nut]

Does anyone practice long range shooting, I mean 500 yards or more? I took my bolt action .270 and .243 out and shot them at 500 and 400 yards respectively.

I used a improvised rest, a unipod I bought from bass pro, outside my truck window and pulled my rifle back toward me, kind of binding the unipod against the truck door and fired some rounds downrange. I hit 3 out of my first 6 on a standard silhouette target with my .270. I was really thrilled. I now know the drop for the rounds I"m shooting and next time I see a deer at 400 or 500 yards, I know the holdover and can snipe them from the next county!!!!!

[gun runner]

Originally Posted by 45nut

Does anyone practice long range shooting, I mean 500 yards or more? I took my bolt action .270 and .243 out and shot them at 500 and 400 yards respectively.

I used a improvised rest, a unipod I bought from bass pro, outside my truck window and pulled my rifle back toward me, kind of binding the unipod against the truck door and fired some rounds downrange. I hit 3 out of my first 6 on a standard silhouette target with my .270. I was really thrilled. I now know the drop for the rounds I"m shooting and next time I see a deer at 400 or 500 yards, I know the holdover and can snipe them from the next county!!!!!

I havent begun LONGGGGG RANGE shooting yet even though I been around weapons for over a decade. Im glad to hear things are going right. I find it funny with the word "sniping" especially sniping deer . I do plenty of sniping though

[aa1911]

Other than wind and bullet drop, the fundamentals still work, regardless of distance. Most folks would be easily capable of 500 yard shots from a good rest with a little practice. Practice prone unsupported with and without a sling too. Not many places to get that kind of distance for the average person so its just not practiced as much I think. A good scope is a plus but iron sights are capable too.

[Maine04657]

Long range can mean different things to different people. I have shot 1 mile that is the farthest I have even tried. I watched Tubbs one mile shot and figured hey HE has a 6mm I got a 50 I can do that. We where shooting at a full size van ( junker ) one mile down a road on blueberry barons ( a friends private property ) Even with my big spotting scope I could not see holes or the van clearly. I fired 10 rounds and when we got tot the van it had ONE hit. I did it not sure what shot made the hit don't really care I did it.

Now I have been shooting out to 100 yards for quite a while with .308 6.5 and several other calibers. At 300 yards I can cloverleaf with these rifles but out at 1000 your groups grow big time. 1000 yard targets are 6 foot and off the bench many new shooters can get all shots on paper though not always in the black.

Just getting into the game myself. It gets expensive fast let me tell you.

[45nut]

I was just curious how my standard deer rifle would do at longer ranges. Now I know with my .270 zeroed @ 200 yards, my drop at 500 yards is 38 inches. Just nice to know.

I'm going to do it some more just for grins. Now if I find one of the Remington 770's or a Savage in .308 for under $300 I might buy it for long distance shooting.

I really love my .270 but how is it for long range shooting? I know it's a spin off the old 30-06, but does the smaller caliber greatly affect long range accuracy?

[Maine04657]

Originally Posted by 45nut

I was just curious how my standard deer rifle would do at longer ranges.

First the rifle does play a part but so does ammo. Get a ballistics calculator and punch in the numbers for the ammo and your rifle and it will give you pretty good drop calculations to get you started. Then you need to factor wind. I strongly recommend any person wanting to shoot out past 200 yards get a quality mil dot scope and learn to use it. It will make shooting much more repeatable. You should have a good scope/ rifle set up then you need a QUALITY scope do not skimp you will pay for it later. Then a good quality wind meter and if you get really into it then a PDA and ballistic software.

One you get your rifle, scope, Ammo ( find what shoots good and buy in CASE lots unless you handload ) , and set up targets at 100, 150 200, 250 and so on out to at least 600 yards or farther in you desire and make yourself a dope chart make copies I keep a copy for each of my rifles on my computer to make it easy if I where to loose one. Get it laminated and I tape mine to the butt or the rifle so I can get dope at a glance. Once you get it set up you good though if you use factory ammo when you change lots you may need a adjustment. It is far better to hand load one at a time using quality brass powder and bullets and keep true to the recipe if it works.

[jack404]

my 800 meter range

and the long range clubs range here (1200 meters )



and were i'll be thursday next week , up for the nationals survival shoot and run

800 kilometers of running , living off the land and shooting , its a unique event and i'll be the second oldest entrant

a koori mate is coming with me and he's 61 and along the way we'll detour and sort some stuff for him

looking forward to the shoot part though , 1000 meter range with a mil rifle

i'm shooting my 1916 lee enfield

[45nut]

Looks Great Jack, have fun shooting & scooting!!

I'll have to look into a mil-dot scope. Going to the gun show tomorrow in Dallas so I'll be looking around for one.

Good luck! And nice pictures they must have been taken in the spring.

[jack404]

tis spring here

dunno when the pics are taken , i swiped em off web pages ( way faster than finding mine and uploading ) i think the top one was just after the shed was finished so this time last year or before Christmas ( i'd put the fence up in jan and its not in the pic ) and the lower one probably at the internationals ( long range rifle event )
a couple weeks ago

[jack404]

this is the 600 meter sitting shoot section from a few years back

the range when i first cut it out and had it plowed and seeded ( 3 years ago now )

shed is now a new steel one , 2x 5000 gal water tanks 8 lanes , its coming along

[Zane71464]

After I'd gotten my Savage in .204 Ruger and dialed in I had to try it out to 400yds. I have the scope set, hitting 2.5" high at 100yds. So, I set up a 3 quart water bottle up @ 400yds. and in the pic below, where the Blue is on the jug, I had a 1 square inch piece of silver duct tape as a p.o.a ref. mark.

The crosswinds and the heat made it a bit tougher, but waited till the crosswinds let off. I only took 2 shots as I was at the time, short on ammo.

[Zane71464]

..and at 600yds., I didnt fare as well. I had a 2 foot diameter drum top and took 3 shoots. Again, short on ammo, all I needed was to use one more mil-dot in the scope reticle. (3 mils.)
On all the rifles I have to shoot longer ranges, I'll take and usually start out at 200yds. and go out to AT LEAST 500yds and see how each rifle shoots.
(50yrd. increments) I make a note off all shots fired, ammo used, weather contitions and keep them all, each and every time with all rifles.

[45nut]

Nice shooting. Today I shoot my M-1 Carbine and my buddy was shooting his .357 mag carbine and we both hit the small target twice and got close (by the dust flying behind the target) more times than that from around 300 yards.

Nice to know where your rifles hit at longer ranges.

I can feel this getting a hold of me. I want to get an H&R Handi-rifle in a short action cartridge, .223, .243, .308 or 7MM-08 and put a mil-dot scope on it.

[Zane71464]

I have alot of dfferent scopes and reticles, but after understanding (still havent got it down to a science "yet") the Mil-Dot scopes.....aint to turning back!

A good Mil-Dot and target turrents, the skies the limit as far as range! (wouldnt go that far, gott'a have a good backstop)

[Zane71464]

...the most important thing I've yet to master, is moveing targets, ie., coyotes on the run out past 300yds. (I'll be working on that though, this fall and winter)

[Zane71464]

Originally Posted by 45nut

Nice shooting. Today I shoot my M-1 Carbine and my buddy was shooting his .357 mag carbine and we both hit the small target twice and got close (by the dust flying behind the target) more times than that from around 300 yards.

Nice to know where your rifles hit at longer ranges.

I can feel this getting a hold of me. I want to get an H&R Handi-rifle in a short action cartridge, .223, .243, .308 or 7MM-08 and put a mil-dot scope on it.

Myself and two other where shooting .22 rifles at 4" balloons out at 300yds one weekend. Me and one other had the mil-dot scopes and one didnt.
We was wackin' them and as he was guessing where to hold as we told him what mils we were useing to make the hits and he was compensating as to what we were telling him. As in feet over hold and also windage with the mils.

It wasnt long after that, he switched to a mil-dot scope....world of difference.

[Zane71464]

All this time and just noticed I meant to put the measurements on the targets.
Will do...

[BETH]

Zane what kinda scope

[WHSmithIV]

Someone posted a couple weeks ago that he hit the one mile mark. Gotta love it. My problem here is that there aren't any ranges with any distance. I'm going to measure a mile and try it though over in the canyon close by. I wonder if my .303 can hit at a mile or half a mile? It arrived at my FFL yesterday but he was out of town yesterday and today so i can't go do the paperwork until tomorrow .

As soon as I get it home I'm definitely going to post some nice pics of it!

[Zane71464]

It's a BSA Platinum, 8-32x 44 ill. mil-dot ret., with 1/8" moa clicks.
I've got several BSA scope, but they made a good one when they made this one.
Really good and clear even in low light. And the the AO is pretty well spot on.

[todd51]

That long range shooting just fascinates me. If I have the range I could get into that and enjoy everything associated with it.

[Zane71464]

Originally Posted by WHSmithIV;1109380[COLOR="Blue"

]Someone posted a couple weeks ago that he hit the one mile mark. Gotta love it.[/COLOR] My problem here is that there aren't any ranges with any distance. I'm going to measure a mile and try it though over in the canyon close by. I wonder if my .303 can hit at a mile or half a mile?

I saw that and that is awesome!

I'm not sure about your .303 reaching out there that far, as I dont own one and havent had much experiance with shooting that caliber.

I'm "still" wanting to reach the 1,000 yard mark...HAVE to!
It's killin' me not knowing, 'cause I know I can with the couple of rifles that I have that are capable.

[gvw3]

How about 500 yards with a 22....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXjMXMGvrA

[Zane71464]

That is some awesome shooting with a .22lr.! The wind is the biggest obstacle.