What to tell a young guy bent on believing he will be shooting 1500yards right away?

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pavmentsurfer

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Ive got this cousin and his friend who are starting to get interested in long range shooting. They are both 15 and both work and are both saving their money to buy rifles. However, they are also super gullible and believe that because they saw someone on youtube shoot a mile, they can do it too. The one kid told me he went to a military camp for a few weeks last summer and was shooting MOA at 1700 yards while he was there. That one just made me laugh. I did try to explain why that was unlikely (practice, equipment, load development etc) but he says he did it and wont budge. Says he was shooting a $35 000 hand built military sniper rifle with handloads from the armoury. God... whats up with kids these days?

They also think they should be starting out with these super high end rifles and stocks and havent really even considered glass. Ive been TRYING to talk them through things a bit, suggesting maybe starting with savage or remington 700 and a decent piece of glass, learning to shoot and upgrading later on. Its going in one ear and out the other. I keep getting texts with pictures of military rifles and other cool, high end stuff and im getting tired of explaining over and over why A: they are so expensive and B: Why they are not a good place to start.

Anyone got any advice or dealt with some over zealous young shooters like this? I feel like im talking to myself these days.
 
Thats happening today. I have a Savage 10PC with nice glass and we'll be shooting 100yards with quality factory ammo. (I dont hand load). Im hoping the experience will help them see whats on youtube isnt anywhere near as easy as it looks.
 
I would tell them....good for you for working and saving your money.

The more you try to 'tell|" them how it is, the less they will listen. They're 15.

Remember what that was like?

Give them your advice, which sounds correct to me, and leave it there. Chances are by the time they have enough cash, they'll have moved on to dreaming about an ultra-light, or a speedboat, lol...and then you can buy their firearms for half price off them!

;-)
 
pavmentsurfer said:
Thats happening today. I have a Savage 10PC with nice glass and we'll be shooting 100yards with quality factory ammo. (I dont hand load). Im hoping the experience will help them see whats on youtube isnt anywhere near as easy as it looks.
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They'll blame it on your rifle ive tried this with the same type of people allready the excuse I got was "im used to the barret 50" uh huh
 
Best method. They will probably blame your non $35 000 rifle. Follow up by shooting a nice tight group. If you want to really shatter them, punch a cloverleaf in a target with a pencil and hide it down range, LOL.
 
Maybe you could set there sights a little lower? Maybe try to push a sr-22? Military looking, realistically affordable to shoot and upgrade. They can get there hands on all kinds of cheap whizzy looking scopes, rails, lazer pointers etc.
Then they can do what kids do best; burn powder. At the range they may be able to have a peek or even test drive other people's iron. That may put it into perspective for them, and down the road make a more informed/first hand experience desision. Not to mention they would be able to off load the .22 to help build there 35k 2mile point and click gun.
 
Tell them to pick a round that's caable of doing that range then tell them it's not easy to hit a target that far and it's expesive to do so start with a 22 LR get the trigger control down work out to 200 yards with it and if you can do that you can do 1500 with a bigger rifle.

If you can long range shoot with a 22 LR you can long range shoot with something bigger.

Also if you make the target smaller it can simulate longer range that's what silolet shooters do they use targets that are big and small that can make a 20 yard shot harder then a 100 yard shot.
 
I find with anyone like that, out shooting them with any firearm handy usually works. Actually shooting is a real eye opener.

I'm not the best shot by any means but I've been doing it long enough to know my limits. People have to learn their's.

I've gotten quite a few friends into shooting in the last few years and it's kinda funny to see their expressions change when they don't perform quite like they thought they would.

My favorite to do this with is handguns. They all think they're going to hit the bull consistently @ 50 yards. By the end of the day if they can keep a few in the black @ 15 they're smiling.
 
Minute of Airport maybe. ;)

Stranget things have happened, someone might have had their ultrasexy devgru socom ninja rifle there, already sighted in, in a vice, and the kid just pulled the trigger without having to do any aiming.

My first rifle, I was happy to hit the paper at 40 yards.

If they come near Edmonton, we can take out my Rem 700 AAC-SD and tell them it's an M24 that I hand built after talking to Weapons Technicians in the Forces ;)
 
Sometimes you just gotta let em try to ice skate up a hill all on their own. Then you just have to decide whether or not you want to say "I told you so" when they come crashing down to the bottom and land in a pile at your feet.

Plus side for you is you might be able to pick up some lightly used gear after.
 
Just because you can do it in Call of Duty,doesn't mean you can do it in real life.....................tell them to put down the controllers and step into the real world........ ;)

YouTube has a few good videos on snipers/long range shooting that show how difficult it is to make long range shots without a lot of practice/patience.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhP1aZNqM3Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxyh-9rj3ys
 
Skullboy said:
Just because you can do it in Call of Duty,doesn't mean you can do it in real life.....................tell them to put down the controllers and step into the real world........ ;)

YouTube has a few good videos on snipers/long range shooting that show how difficult it is to make long range shots without a lot of practice/patience.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhP1aZNqM3Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxyh-9rj3ys
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I think a big part of the issue is that most vidoes don't show the boring preparation. All you see is the ten seconds of aiming, bang, hit. You don't see the potentially months long load development process, or the painstaking memorization of ballistics, or the hours or days of waiting for the right conditions.

It's a problem in all occupations. Watch a skilled artist do a speedpainting in an hour. It looks so easy, until you try it yourself. Watch a prime weightlifter throw around five hundred pounds.

I remember being fifteen, thinking I'd be a world famous artist by the time I hit 18. ;)
 
Gobc said:
Perhaps you should take them shooting to help give them a reality check?
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Do you have a 22lr with scope that shoots good groups
Go to the range shoot 1 good 5 or 10 shot group with it at 50 or 100yds
then let them try
then tell them they need to learn to shoot better first before they get better equipment
 
I see the same crap at the range almost every weekend, and it usually isn't teenagers. It's usually someone that watches too much Best of The West, or Long Range Pursuit, then figures that all that they need is the gear featured on the show, and they will instantly become long range shooters. I find that the best response , is to say nothing, and let them fail miserably. Once they are humbled, and willing to accept a little help, you can usually teach them something.
 
Let them have at it. Who knows, maybe they can do it. Either way they will be out trying hard and at age 15 - 18 you don't really have any responsibilities with your money so now would be the time to get that 35k set up.
 
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