Best way to learn to shoot distance?

[JelqMan2000]

Looking to learn to shoot distance... how would y'all recommend going about it?

[Garv]

Start by viewing some of the info here.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/forumdisplay.php?f=372

Then ask for more guidance in that forum.

Tell them where you are located.

Do you have a gun in hand or are you just starting?

Save your money for optics.

Good luck.

Pics of before and after shooting groups requested.

[sfvshooter]

Practice.

If you're a complete novice, take a class, join some groups (Sniper's Hide comes to mind), watch videos, etc.

How do you learn to do anything you haven't done before?

[ghilligan]

22lr

Looking to learn to shoot distance... how would y'all recommend going about it?

What worked for me was starting with something small.

Get a high-end "precision" 22lr bolt rifle (and a half-decent scope), several thousand rounds of decent ammo, and practice, practice, practice in all kinds of weather conditions and over all kinds of terrain.

22lr can hit targets reliably at 200 to 300 yards (and 400 yards half the time), and doing so on a windy day will teach you good fundamentals and good wind reading skills.

Any accessories you get, like good optics, range finder, bags, bipods, range finder, Kestrel, etc. will carry over to your centerfire rifle.

The cool thing is, you can hone your long range skills at your local 100-yard range, spending 10-cents per round, instead of paying hundreds of dollars for 1000-yard-range membership, fees, and $1.75/round match ammo.

If you like the discipline and mindset of the sport, you can save your money and buy a fancy long range centerfire rifle after you're already an expert at wind reading, body position, and other fundamentals.

[Unforgiven]

Start at 25 yards. When your perfect, go to 50 yards. Keep going in increments, when your a badass at 200 yards, you can start shooting long distance. I can bang an 8” plate all day at 200 yards with an EOTech no magnification.

[jarhead714]

Find a range that has pits with people pulling targets so you get instant feedback on your shots.

[edgerly779]

Start small aim small. Get a good 22 no optics. Just get very comfortable with your rifle. Work up from there do not go out and buy some super rifle and optic.
Use search and you tube. join a club. Next rifle could be .308 for mid range shooting out to 400 yards.

[Spoilerv2]

Start small aim small. Get a good 22 no optics. Just get very comfortable with your rifle. Work up from there do not go out and buy some super rifle and optic.
Use search and you tube. join a club. Next rifle could be .308 for mid range shooting out to 400 yards.

https://appleseedinfo.org/programs/

[edgerly779]

^^^ that is how I started. Single shot hunting. After a while 1 shot one kill. Now have a lot of long guns.

[Ki6vsm]

There is a lot to learn for sure. If you feel like watching a video, here's one I found to be a little bit helpful. Admittedly it's a highly produced video program with some over-the-top nice equipment. But the main takeaway is that you shouldn't obsess over getting your rifle to shoot 1/4 MOA all the time. There is so much more to shooting long distances than just being able to make perfect little cloverleafs at 100 yards all the time. A lot of people fixate on that. Be happy with an even 1 MOA; that will get you there. Then work on the other, more important skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psk65mhcxrs

[baih777]

How far do you consider distance ?

[The War Wagon]

Reactive targets. Beats walking hundreds of yards, to inspect paper.

[Psyches]

FWIW, this looks like a lot of good advice, I'll be using it as well. I am also starting down the distance path. I started to buy my first firearm in many years in early March. That failed, so I started again with an upgrade from my first choice and also a 2nd rifle for distance that I'd planned for next year. Got them both finally on May 31. My whole story is around the site if you search from March.

Anyway, my distance rifle is a Bergara B-14 HMR Wilderness. I joined Snipers Hide, read a ton here and there, watched quite a few videos, etc. I chose a 20 MOA base and a Leupold VX-3i LRP 6.5-20x50mm FFP scope with Impact-60 reticle.

Here's the end result:



The Bergara manual (& others) recommend barrel break-in by cleaning after each shot for the first 5. I'm pretty slow and methodical so I wanted my own private area rather than going to a range (well, and a lot of ranges may not even be open yet or open with restrictions). And I wanted to sight the scope in at 100 yards in tandem with the initial barrel break-in. So I planned to go to forest land in El Dorado county, mainly because I like the sheriff's stance on 2A and the county's attitude during COVID.

I called a forest ranger office a few times - they were very helpful - and I picked a likely spot with 100-yard clearance, but it turns out it's hard to really do this even with county maps and google earth surveillance ...and it turns out the spot I chose had a sudden logging operation that was not mentioned. So that was sort of a bust. Luckily for me, a friend of a friend had a 100-yard private range on his land, and let me use it for the day.

It took me about 5 hours just for the first 5 shots plus 3 more, including setup, cleaning, discussion, lunch, and all. I had bore sighted the Bergara at home and already dialed away 20 to compensate for the base cant, but when I got to the range, another bore sight seemed I was 6" over. It turns out my initial bore sight was right on. So the first was 6" low.

I used Remington R65CR2 ammo that I bought during Freedom 2.0 hours

Here is the result of the first 5 plus next 3 (1A-3A):



Shot #3 was by me aiming ~1" right. Shot #4 was after adjusting windage 2" right though...not sure what that was about. Shot #5 was the same windage, and then 1A-3A was with windage reset to the original zero. So, I have more to do here, as I haven't truly zeroed the scope yet. I ran out of time since I wanted to try out my original purchase (30-30 with iron sights). I won't show the target results for that , since it was getting dark and I could barely focus on the sights...bad result @ 100 yards.

So clearly I'm a real newbie. I'm looking forward to more of this...and some actual long-distance shooting.

[JohnnyMtn]