Long Range Shooting

[glockman]

I've been involved in lots of different shooting sports throughout my life. My dad is a full on addict and has enabled me to shoot pretty much any sport I want. He's been heavily involved in long range for at least 10 years. I have held out this long but, he is getting older and I would like to at least try and learn some of the wisdom he has to offer. So I am about to be even more poor than normal.

Picked up this Bergara B-14 Wilderness Chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.




I'll probably pick up a Vortex Venom 5-25x56 this week and some Burris Signature rings to mount it to a 20 MOA Burris Tactical base. I'm kind of excited, not only to spend some quality time with the old man, but to start ringing steel at 1,000 yards. My goal for this rifle is to complete the 1000 yard milk jug challenge and hopefully stretch it out to 1500 yards on 24x24 steel.

 

[jeeper]

I can hit a lot of stuff at 25 yards. Sometimes I push it to 50 yards, but my grouping gets a little big.

 

[mbryson]

The $ part of long range is the optics.... I LOVE to shoot longer range stuff. Lots of applied math coupled with experience and "feel" to be successful the further out you get. I've almost got a .223 Wylde rig ready to go but have stalled on an appropriate optic. Glad you jumped in! Fun stuff


6.5 Creed will get you places (my .223 Wylde experiment might get me to 1100-1200 if I'm EXCELLENT at it with a 75 grain pill---hoping to get to 900-1000.... anything else will be a bonus)





There's enough weight with the 6.5 to get you to 1500. I'd be shocked if you're not at 1500+ (that's WAY the hell out there btw)

 

[glockman]

That Wylde will be a cool cartridge. I have a .204 that is my shorter, long range varmint rifle. I did some long range 600-900 yard competitive shooting with M1A's back when I was a teenager and have shot prairie dogs at 500-700 yards with some of my dad's rifles. I want to stretch it a little further with my own setup and I know this will do it. I plan to shoot 140gr ELD's but we'll see what this gun likes. It's been a while since I did load development, so running through that again will be cool too.

I hope the Vortex Venom is a decent optic. It's kind of on the low end, but it's a First focal plane, has the EBR-7C reticle and gets pretty decent reviews. My goal is to be into the functional rig around $2k.

 

[Hickey]

I shot 300 yards one time. This is all of the knowledge I have to share on this topic. 😂

 

[mbryson]

That Wylde will be a cool cartridge. I have a .204 that is my shorter, long range varmint rifle. I did some long range 600-900 yard competitive shooting with M1A's back when I was a teenager and have shot prairie dogs at 500-700 yards with some of my dad's rifles. I want to stretch it a little further with my own setup and I know this will do it. I plan to shoot 140gr ELD's but we'll see what this gun likes. It's been a while since I did load development, so running through that again will be cool too.

I hope the Vortex Venom is a decent optic. It's kind of on the low end, but it's a First focal plane, has the EBR-7C reticle and gets pretty decent reviews. My goal is to be into the functional rig around $2k.

I'm curious what you think about the optic. Maybe I'll need to test drive it and follow your lead if that's the price point? (I do have a Z28 to buy.....optics aren't the highest priority at the moment----maybe I should sell off some of my surplus evil black rifle parts to help fund the Z28?) One of the reasons I stuck with the .223 Wylde was to keep the $3k optics away from being "necessary". I can also shoot a .223 all day long vs a .30 caliber boom stick getting a bit unpleasant after 30-40 rounds



What's your 6.5 rifling? (I'm not even sure what's "ideal" for long range in a 6.5)

 

[glockman]

I shot 300 yards one time. This is all of the knowledge I have to share on this topic. 😂

Does the evil overlord allow you to bring a rifle in your vanlife rig? I'd imagine you end up in some prime long range locations from time to time.

I'm curious what you think about the optic. Maybe I'll need to test drive it and follow your lead if that's the price point? (I do have a Z28 to buy.....optics aren't the highest priority at the moment----maybe I should sell off some of my surplus evil black rifle parts to help fund the Z28?) One of the reasons I stuck with the .223 Wylde was to keep the $3k optics away from being "necessary". I can also shoot a .223 all day long vs a .30 caliber boom stick

Sportsman's has the Venom right now for $499 with a $50 gift card to go towards rings . I've shot a 4-16 Vortex HST a bit and it was pretty good to my unspoiled eye, this reticle and FFP should be better than that. You are welcome to come shoot it once it's all together.

 

[lhracing]

I have been wanting to try lobbing some 243 105 grain bullets through my Ruger Precision but have not done it yet.

I need to just take the time and get started.

 

[Herzog]

I'd love to get out and do some long range shooting with an RME crew. This is something I've always wanted to practice and become better at.

 

[TRD270]

Just like rock crawling with optics buy once cry once. Do yourself a favor and don't buy a long range optic sub 1k.

 

[xjtony]

I routinely set up steel at distance out here by Delle ( at least when it's not a bazillion degrees out). We will have to set up a day when it's better and get some folks out there. I've got lots of steel to shoot at.

I just finished this one this winter. 6.5 Grendel with a 24 inch barrel and Bushnell ERS scope. I've only had it out to 300 yards so far but I've got a few loads that should stretch it out. I used to regularly shoot to 1000 with my 308 Ruger RPR and know a few canyons fairly close where it can be done safely

 

[DAA]

Be wary of that Vortex. Very wary. Fixture test it before you mount it. Could save you a lot of wasted components, time and barrel life.

If you ever start to suspect anything at all might be getting out of tune, first test the scope. That goes for any scope at any price but especially anything Vortex even their most expensive models.

A friend went through three Razor HDs without even mounting any of them. They all failed in fixture testing brand new out of the box. He doesn't own any Vortex anymore... Neither do I...

- DAA

 

[Coco]

One thing I have always wanted to try and get into is long range shooting. Looks like a LOT of fun! They also say it is like golf, but for men.

 

[Hickey]

Does the evil overlord allow you to bring a rifle in your vanlife rig? I'd imagine you end up in some prime long range locations from time to time.


Sportsman's has the Venom right now for $499 with a $50 gift card to go towards rings . I've shot a 4-16 Vortex HST a bit and it was pretty good to my unspoiled eye, this reticle and FFP should be better than that. You are welcome to come shoot it once it's all together.

I wish. Guns are the anti-christ where I work, just like any other large corporations. I do carry "tools" to work on "problems", though.

 

[Unimog]

Some day, I'd like to get into long range. It would likely have to be on more of a budget than some of you have!

 

[glockman]

I wish I had another grand to drop on a leupold, but it's not in the cards right now. I know there have been some QA issues with vortex but I know quite a few people shooting them. I can sell this one for a small loss later and upgrade.

@mbryson the barrel is a 1 in 8 twist.

 

[jeeper]

I've got a .243 that I would be interested in learning to shoot better.

 

[xjtony]

Another budget optic to look at is Athlon. I ran an Argos on my 308 and it performed very well out to 1000 yards. It tracked well and returned to zero with no issues. I could get first round hits at 1000 with that scope and dope generated by the Ballistic Arc app.

@jeeper .243 is a round capable of good accuracy and distance. With decent ammo it can be quite effective.

 

[DAA]

Same friend that couldn't get a Vortex to track or repeat, has had great luck with Athlon. He mostly runs NF, S&B and USO, but has good things to say about the Athlons too.

I've got a couple of Leupolds that track and repeat, but I went through quite a few that wouldn't. I got out of the long range stuff almost 20 years ago, so have no real need for a serious knob twirler anymore. But do still have the two Leupolds I got that could do it well and use them on 'chuck rifles at moderate range. When I was really getting into the long range for a few years there, I ran Nightforce. Still have a couple of those, too, but haven't used them in forever.

I don't have any legit long range barrels anymore, wore them out and didn't replace them. Everything I have now is slow twist.

This one was a 6AI, Krieger on an L579. Still have the scope (I think it's on my .20 Dasher), but not the rifle.

This one is a .243AI, first barrel was an 8T but it sports a 13 these days. Still have the whole rig but haven't shot it in years.

Bill Shehane wasn't making stocks to fit square tang Nesika's yet back then so my Dad did this tang detail with rosewood.

The Dragon rifle, started out as a 14T .22BR. But when I got the long range itch I had two 8T Lilja's chambered in .22-250AI. After I wore both of them out shooting 80's, I put the .22BR barrel back on it. I do still have one of the 8T .22-250AI barrels and at 29" with a long shank, it could easily be set back. Just never felt the urge.

- DAA

 

[mbryson]

Thanks for the Athlon input (love that .243)