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

OP - really there isn't much you can say to the person you speak of. We were all young once and probably not well-eared when it came to advice reception. Encourage him to shoot and when he does less well than he hopes don't be overly mocking :)
 
LOL, let them buy their expensive rifles! When they get disappointed on why their precision machines can't shoot MOA at 1500yrds, tell them it must be a bad batch of rifles and offer to take it off their hands for a substantial discount. :)
 
There is nothing wrong with owning a race car - unless you don't know how to drive it, then you are just a poser.

I would simply tell the kid that if he cant hit the target with a $4,000 rifle he wont hit it with a $10,000 rifle either. Sure the high end equipment is cool but in reality the rifle is only part of the delivery system. Ammo selection, load development and a good solid understanding of ballistics and the affect of weather is critical to making long shots - not simply taking long shots. An important point to make note of is these super cool sniper rifles don't shoot any better than a good varmint rifle for less than half the price.

I would advise the kid to spend a little less on the rifle and the difference on training, reloading equipment and practice. Ammo is not cheap - either is replacement barrels.
 
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Pavmentsurfer, let him save up and buy a sako trg 22, used, if he fails he can sell it and not lose a dime. Regardless of what people say here, more uberly accurate shooters, are gifted from birth, they are steady, and their eyes and anticipation work much better than the masses. You will only know by trying. I have seen a 6 year old kid hold 1/2 moa out to 200 yards with only a bipod, no rear rest, and only get better with time. I don't think any discouragement is warranted. Guide the enthusiasm, dont tamper it. a TRG with good factory ammo, will fill the need, and not cost a thing but ammo. good luck and enjoy your time together. Whatever you do make sure you put a shooter in his hands so as to eliminate the equipment being at fault.
 
You say nothing. You take them out to shoot. When they can't hit a target at 1500 yards, you look at them like they're stupid and ask them what's wrong.....them proceed to laugh maniacally. Maybe they'll give up on shooting when they figure out its not that easy and you'll have a chance to buy a really sweet gun for cheap!
 
twong1980 said:
You say nothing. You take them out to shoot. When they can't hit a target at 1500 yards, you look at them like they're stupid and ask them what's wrong.....them proceed to laugh maniacally. Maybe they'll give up on shooting when they figure out its not that easy and you'll have a chance to buy a really sweet gun for cheap!
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Brilliant, just brilliant, make fun of a teenager, discourage a teenager, belittle a teenager, and this is how you make future generations better!! Just Brilliant
 
Pavementsurfer,
Your profile says you are located in Minden. Thats just a few minutes away from the Milcun range and the Operational Shooting Association. Have you checked them out? It's a great place to go to learn about shooting (without needing a $35k gun). Keith C. knows quite a bit about long range precision shooting and is a big fan of the Remington 700.
 
The kids are probably all gung-ho on modern military rifles from playing a lot of Call of Duty online. Show them this pic and tell them they can get one just like this for well under a grand and it's a good rifle to start with for kids their age (and more affordable):

 
Unfortunately, I have been that kid before... When you're that age, most people want to be a big shot with something or other, and these kids want to actually pull off big shots. I bought my .30-06 with the intention of shooting fantastically at 200+ yards. After a day at the range, and a very sore shoulder, I started to realize how much work it was. Plus, ammunition isn't cheap... Sure, it's nice to pull the trigger, but it cost me a buck every time I did so. Now, I'm looking into getting in a .22LR... If that goes well, I may consider upgrading to a .223 in the future, and then maybe back to a .30 caliber.

I wouldn't tell him what to do (since I still have a hard time listening to suggestions if I haven't tried it myself), but I would do what you can to educate him on what most people use to accurately shoot at long distances. He might be surprised that it can be done for under $30,000. Like Jerry said, you could probably do it for under $3000. If he wants, help him build a custom rifle with reputable parts that's capable of those distances (even if it's 500 yards)... Putting it together himself may cause him to have more of an appreciation for it, and if the components are good then he'll have a great gun in the future. There's a thread in the Modern Military Rifles subforum where someone built a 1000 yard range for use with iron sights... Maybe having them see that it's not just about the rifle, but about the shooter, and that years of experience can allow you to shoot relatively accurately with very basic equipment. I did a fair bit of work on my car recently, and when people tried to tell me what I was doing wrong, it went in one ear and out the other. When people tried to understand what I was doing, and attempted to actually make suggestions (rather than judgments), I found myself listening to what they had to see, if only because they'd respected my opinions and ideas.

However, I don't think I'd start them off with a caliber that's too large... I think I (unfortunately) developed a bit of a flinch reflex while shooting my .30 caliber without a recoil pad, and now I have to get myself out of the habit. But, I'm not a precision shooter by any means... I'm sure there's guys on here that could easily outshoot me with one eye closed, and they may have some better suggestions, but that's just the way I see it.
 
I'd encourage them to try, with perhaps a suggestion to get started on something they can afford while they are saving. There'd be more long range shooters if more people just jumped right in and tried. Its pretty addictive stuff. I can have a comparably new shooter smacking half mile plates around in a few minutes if they use my gear and do what they are told. Once that ball starts rolling who knows where it'll go?
 
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dizzy said:
Pavmentsurfer, let him save up and buy a sako trg 22, used, if he fails he can sell it and not lose a dime. Regardless of what people say here, more uberly accurate shooters, are gifted from birth, they are steady, and their eyes and anticipation work much better than the masses. You will only know by trying. I have seen a 6 year old kid hold 1/2 moa out to 200 yards with only a bipod, no rear rest, and only get better with time. I don't think any discouragement is warranted. Guide the enthusiasm, dont tamper it. a TRG with good factory ammo, will fill the need, and not cost a thing but ammo. good luck and enjoy your time together. Whatever you do make sure you put a shooter in his hands so as to eliminate the equipment being at fault.
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best suggestion so far.

let them save and buy the rifle they want rather than what you think they only need to get the job done. I had all kinds of people tell me to buy a cheaper rifle, different caliber, start shooting shorter ranges etc when I was looking to buy my first "precision" rifle in 338 Lapua. The fact of the matter was (I found out after I bought my rifle) was the majority of guys making suggestions had no experience with the caliber or the ranges I wanted to shoot at so they would be of little to no help to me anyways.

Get someone who shoots at these ranges and pay them to show the kids what it takes in real life at the range, that is the best thing you could possibly do for them rather than suggest what only you are comfortable with yourself.
 
I dunno hitting a hand sized group at 200 yards with a .22 ruger 10/22 is pretty damn frigging hard. Just a little bit of humidity or wind and that bullet needs some very precise compensation/calculations. If those young ones can master that, they can move on to the heavier stuff.

People say they can hit blah blah whatever at 500 with iron sights using an sks, yah right... like stop the bull####

I don't believe #### what people say they can hit till I see them hitting it at the range.
I personally saw some old russian guy hitting the paper at 100 yards with his 9mm cz shadow pistol, now that's frigging awesome, at the Burke mountain range 3 weeks ago. I told him he should tell the range officials and that I'll witness, but he was an old timer and didn't think it was a big deal. Now that's some frigging talent and class!

100 yards with a 9mm pistol guys! Fack I'm still amazed! I can't even do that with 50% of my shots at 25 yards!
 
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