Long Range Shooting

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Finally got to visit this part of this great site and we all sure do have quite a bit of assorted interests not related to our cars. Nine months out of the year my son and myself compete in some LR steel plate matches here in Ohio at Rayners Range. Distances range from 234 yards to 1000 yards and waiting nearly 4 seconds for that distant "ring" to come back is quite addicting.

We do it a bit different than most but are still quite competitive and have managed quite a few top 10 and even a couple top 5 finishes which is pretty decent based on what we are using to compete with. Quite a few Military, LE and even some Snipers compete with us so to be able to run with those fellas and still be competitive is pretty darn cool. Both of the "short" guns are in 260 rem and have 15" barrels. There are three of us using guns like this to compete but we've been using these since the late Seventies and keep extending the distances we shoot and still can't believe the accuracy we're getting at these distances.

I've included a couple links to You Tube videos which gives an idea of what we're using. This year we did build a couple new long rifles also in 260 rem which does make it a LOT easier but does take some of the challenge out of it for us. With the new rifles we're just able to go for smaller higher value targets which gives us a higher score to go for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYrrYSivvGg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRpZUsog_Jo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwE70ihOYIk

If anyone is in the area and would like to join us we go down quite often every month for some practice days. They charge $10.00 per person for the entire day and use of his facilities. If I'm not out in the old Hot Rod this is my next favorite past time. Can't wait to get the 62 done and enjoy all the hard work ahead of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW7iXZdW2V4

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[jim_ss409]

Wow! That's pretty amazing when you think about it. I look at it this way,,, 440 yards is a quarter mile, a distance I can relate to. You guys are hitting a 15" target at 1,000 yards! :eek That's amazing!

 

[Iowa 409 Guy]

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That's pretty cool for using a pistol with a 15" bbl and shooting off a bi-pod. You must really like that 260 caliber. Are you shooting tight neck chambers? If i remember right most of the 600 yd guys shoot the 6BR or the 6 Dasher. I think most of the 1000 yard guys use the 6-284 or 300 win mag if i remember right. I'd guess you went that way with your long guns so as to not have different calibers of brass, bullets and powders to contend with. I see the NBRSA records for group shooting 5 shot groups are 1.473 at 1000 yd and .582 for 600 yard. I can relate to the 600 yard shooting somewhat because i shoot competition short range at 100, 200, and have shot at 300 yds a couple of times. The best 5 shot groups i have shot in competition at 300 is .456 ---200 is .171 and at 100 is .067 I was at the match in St Louis in 2008 when the rail gun record at 300 yd a .355 was set, and my gunsmith from Arizona has the bag gun record at 300 yd with a .149---------just think, 5 shots at 300 yards measuring .149 larger than the bullet hole........
.wow

Good shooting.

 

[Topstrap]

Hi Dave, the two rifles both are using prefit chambered Shilen Select match barrels and the pistols are using Lilja 3 groove chambered by SSK Industries. Really surprised us that the chambers are nearly identical, we can dump all our rounds for each gun in a pile and just pick from it and they will work in all the guns. We are barely touching the shoulder when we size and brass life has been great since we switched over to WW 7-08 and 243 brass and got away from the Remington stuff. Too soft and primer pockets get loose pretty quick and we're not running heavy loads.

Never tried BR but do find it interesting with what they do to attain the utmost accuracy available from their guns. We shoot multiple stages, varying directions at varying sizes and distances of targets so it has to be built to handle those situations. We don't shoot the pistols prone but each of our stations has a couple of old wooden benches we use but they do have movement. A few guys do use 6.5-284 and other versions of the 6.5, lots of various 30's and 7mm's. Some 338 and even a few 6mm which do quite well on a calm day.

Been a lot of fun and has really surprised us as to how far and how accurate these guns can be. A couple weekends ago after our awards banquet we took some guns and a few of us went up on the range to play. I managed to stretch my distance for my Freedom Arms 44 mag revolver out to 650 yards with some hits on a 15" tall rectangle. It uses a VGM mount and the last setting is set for 500 yards which it can shoot quite accurately with a best of 4 out of 5 hits on a 16" square plate. Had to find a tree above the 650 yard target and after tweaking got 3 out of 5 hits and the other misses were by inches. That really surprised us all. Glad there were witnesses, the bullets looked like little rocks falling out of the sky and at such an angle when they hit they just dropped straight to the ground.

Well, I better stop since I get excited about sharing this other hobby. Have always loved long range accuracy whether it be with a rifle or handgun or even a muzzle loader.

Dennis