7 Long Range Shooting Tips
BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 6 months ago
- You’re Probably Putting Too Much Pressure On Your Rifle
- Shooting Bags Aren’t Just For the Range
- Blading Your Shoulders Leads to Bad Shooting
- Learn to Build Good Shooting Positions
- Light Rifles Can Be Accurate, Too
- You Don’t Need A Lot of Ammo to Practice
- Respect the Wind and Your Limitations
See the discussion at F&S. I’ve tried to put some of these principles to practice recently in my own rifle shooting. I’m a long ways from mastering them all.
On June 7, 2023 at 10:35 pm, X said:
Some of that information is sound, some of it is BS. One area where I am critical is the reliance on bipods and bags. In the FIELD? While hunting? Na, bro, I ain’t humping all that gear out there. He should be counseling how to use an M1907 rifle sling in both the hasty and loop techniques. A sling will improve your accuracy in all positions. Added bonus: you get to use it to carry the rifle, too! Shoot NRA or CMP Highpower to learn to use the sling.
Reading the wind does not necessarily take “years,” that is just idiotic. Yes, people often guess on the wind wrong, but there are easy ways around that. One is to carry a pocket anemometer, as he said. The other is to simply take the NWS forecast and go with the average — if the forecast is for wind from the West at 5-10 mph, dope it for 7-8 mph. You’ll be close enough. You have to remember to pay attention to the direction of the wind relative to your target, though: if the wind is blowing perpendicular to your bullet’s path, you will have to dope it at full value. If it is quartering at a 45 degree angle, you will only need half as much dope.
For the hunter, distance is a bigger problem than wind. Beyond 300 yards with just about any cartridge you need to dial in a lot of elevation, and guessing whether your elk is 400 yards away or 500 is very difficult. You will need an accurate rangefinder for that, and good dope charts with elevation and windage for your load based on good chrono readings.
On June 8, 2023 at 5:41 am, jrg said:
I’ve never seen that ‘blading your shoulders’ advice before. It is a foreign concept that would require some time for me to use regularly. Thinking on it, I would guess in my guess I would only move more do to unfamiliar muscle memory kicking in.
Hunting from closed blinds, having to quickly is usually required. South Texas has senderos approximately 12′ wide. Animals crossing this, especially bucks, are usually in a hurry to cross clear spaces. I have missed some opportunities at firing, but am still satisfied – no injuries, only clean kills are my goal.
On June 11, 2023 at 8:08 am, Heywood said:
@X The information provided is not “BS”. You choose to forego the weight of a bipod and bags (note…I don’t carry bage either, but I do carry a bipod) and that is your choice. It is a personal decision we all make. But if your contention is that you are more accurate without these devices, then a big hat tip to you because you are the only shooter I have ever heard make such a claim.
On June 11, 2023 at 9:52 pm, X said:
I am absolutely more accurate with a M1907 sling than with any other supposed shooting “aids.” In fact I never shoot off the bench, not even to sight in handloads. I am more accurate slinged prone on a mat.
The is no bench in combat or hunting. A handful of actual trained snipers now carry bipods in combat. But Carlos Hathcock sure as hell didn’t. Nobody on Omaha Beach on D-Day got off the landing craft carrying shooting bags or bipods.
But every one of them had a sling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTsUaujfiB8
On June 12, 2023 at 6:14 pm, PJ said:
“If it is quartering at a 45 degree angle, you will only need half as much dope.”
If the wind is at 90 degrees from the point of aim, it is full value (the factor is 1). If at 45 degrees, the factor is 0.7
If at 30 degrees, the factor is 0.5
This is the sine function.