Long Range: Starting out

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bigkahuna

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Saskatoon, SK
I am looking to try and get involved in long range shooting, it has always been something i have wanted to try out but have never given it a shot. I am basically at a loss as to where to start and what gun i should look at picking up. I figure that some good books would be the best place to start and get a better understanding.

what are your guys thoughts? I would be looking at something hopefully under $2000 with glass if possible.

This is not intended to be a hunting rifle really, just something to practice on and see if i can improve my long range shooting. (it is virtually non existant at the moment)

i appreciate any of your thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks.
 
BK, $2000 is plenty to start with. Your first move is to search the precision forum, you'll find many questions like yours.

If I was starting with $2000, I'd get a Remington 700, or an equal Savage. Look at the Stevens rifle too. You can find a gun for ~$700, new, or $800 used ;). I'd probably get a Sightron scope for ~$1000, or buy a starter and upgrade later. Eventually you'll find the limits of factory ammo so you'll want to start reloading, but this can wait a bit.

When I started, I had $1200. I got the 700 and a $400 Bushnell and was shooting 600 yards with it successfully.

Bottom line is, you've got lots of options.

As far as books go, they're great for when it's too wet to shoot but doing is learning. Some good reading can be found on Mystic Precision web site. Jerry has lots of info just waiting for you to soak up.

Good luck, I hope this helps at least a little bit.

Paul
 
thanks for the input, i have been looking through the forum quite a bit for the past while and the 700 continuously keeps coming up. Seems like a smart choice as i fully realize i wont be outshooting the gun for quite some time, just need a good base to start at and work my way from there. It is like my golf game, i can get a new driver but all i end up doing is hitting it 10 yards further into the bush.


Thanks,

Kyle
 
If you want to read some books pick up "Applied Ballistics For Long-Range Shooting" by Bryan Litz. Read it until you understand what he’s talking about.:D Also it wouldn't hurt to pick up a reloading manual because you will more then likely step into reloading soon after you start shooting.

There are lots of rifles out there to pick from. They all shoot far. Just look at something that you can upgrade later. Or something you don't mind selling or letting sit in the closet.

Sightrons SIII scopes are a very good choice. Don't cheap out on mounting your scope either.

If you have 2g to play with you'll have lots of fun.

Good luck.
 
2k is a good start. Don't think you need a magnum boomer for LR either. My first couple guns cost me well under 2k and I got lots of shooting in and experience is more valuble than an expensive rifle that you can't afford to feed.

Are you set up for reloading? You'd be better off putting more money into a reloading setup and descent glass and then see what you can put into a rifle. A Stevens 200 or Remington 700 with good glass a descent reloading setup is more then enough to get a feel for LR.
Look into easy calibers to load and shoot like 223 REM, 6mmBR, 260 REM, 308 WIN to start off.
Lots of good options for Glass too. Any questions you have you can search through the forum or ask em here.
You'll find you'll get more help since you didn't ask for a sniper rifle, lol.
 
K0na_stinky said:
If you want to read some books pick up "Applied Ballistics For Long-Range Shooting" by Bryan Litz. Read it until you understand what he’s talking about.:D Also it wouldn't hurt to pick up a reloading manual because you will more then likely step into reloading soon after you start shooting.

There are lots of rifles out there to pick from. They all shoot far. Just look at something that you can upgrade later. Or something you don't mind selling or letting sit in the closet.

Sightrons SIII scopes are a very good choice. Don't cheap out on mounting your scope either.

If you have 2g to play with you'll have lots of fun.

Good luck.
Click to expand...
X2 on the book "Applied Ballistics". I wish this book was out when I first started LR shooting. I learned alot of things the long way!
 
First thing to do is contact your Provincial Rifle Association. In your case www.saskrifle.ca

I see there is a long range match this weekend in Nokomis. It might be worth the drive to have a look and talk to some of the shooters.
 
thanks Maynard, i will check it out. unfortunately i am up north working for the next couple weeks so i cant make the shoot but when i fly back i will try and make a shoot.
 
Ya for 2k your gonna have to buy used optics. optics are everything for long range shooting. I would take my time and shop hard. i dont like them but savage is making some very accurate rifles right now. i would look for a sedero personally. i wouldnt look at anything else. I dont like these either but my dad has one and it gets the job done ... $800 i believe the new bushnell tactical that has recently come out. if you can ... Ideal is a sendero with a used night force nxs 250. you should be able to out that together for 2500, and you may never have to upgrade with that set up
 
Look at the higher end savage target models (12 LRP, 12 F/TR). The ones with the nice target accu trigger (not the hunting accu trigger)
They go for around 11 or 1200 new I think.
No messing around or customizing with these, just buy the gun, mount scope, get ammo, and shoot tiny groups.
 
I agree with flyinlead. I started with fresh heavy barrel on a old Mauser chambered in 270 win cause that what I had. upgraded the stock and mounted a x10 hi-lux i found at a gun show for a good price. it shot .50-.75 MOA Then learned to hand load and brought it down to .25 MOA. Later I up graded to a new Savage 110 BA in 300 win mag. and loved it sub MOA right out of the box. now I shoot a .338 Timberwolf from PGW. just remember you don't have to have a magnum to get out 8-1000yrs. start small eg: .223-.308. cheap to shoot and that how you learn! you need the basics and the trigger time. jumping in to a magnum to fast can hurt your learning curve. best advice I ever got was "buy the best tools you can AFFORD"lol. Some of my funniest days at the range are with a .22lr grouping out at 3-400 yr. Its all relevant. Just get out there and shoot. keep pushing it farther out, keep the groups tight as you go.
 
@bigkahuna your profile says you are in Borden, SK which according to googlemaps is 217km from Nokomis, where there is a fantastic 1200 yard range that belongs to the Sask Provincial Rifle Association.

At your first opportunity, contact SPRA and arrange to visit while they are shooting. Spending a day on the range seeing what people are actually using and shooting, talking to real live shooters who are on a range actually shooting at 300y, 500y, 600y, 900y and 1000y, you will learn more than in months and months of online research. It'll really help gel your ideas on what kind of rifle and what sort of setup you might be interested in getting (for example, there is "TR" shooting which is done with iron sights, sling and shooting jacket; there is "F" Class, which is done with a front rest, rear sandbag and optical sights).

For what it's worth, it's not unheard of for a serious visitor to be offered an opportunity to fire a few shots; careful though, if you fire a few bullseyes at a thousand yards you might end up hooked for like....!

You can definitely get a pretty good setup for under $2000; having good knowledgeable advice will really help. It is also possible to spend $2000 on seemingly good gear, only to find out that it doesn't really fit your needs for a whole variety of reasons. If you can pick up a mentor during your visit to SPRA that would really help.

As for calibre, there are several good reasons to choose a plain old typical .308W target rifle, whether you plan on shooting it with iron sights or with a scope. But this is best explained to you by a trusted mentor.

If you want to set up for under $2000, there are a few key decisions you'll have to make in order to meet your budget and to ensure you have a decently good setup when you are done. Night Force scopes are gorgeous and in a certain sense are well worth the money; but a $1500 scope plus several hundred dollars more for a premium mounting system simply will not fit into a $2000 rifle+scope budget. There are intelligent choices that can be made, to get you an "appropriately-good-enough" scope and mounting system. Make sure you find the right advisor.
 
Reloading is what you will want to do. Rolling custom rounds for a rifle can transform a OK rifle into a tac driver.
I have guns in my safe that I wouldn't use for anything if it's wasn't of custom loads.

As for the rifle, buy what ever you get the best deal on EE is a good place to start. I like remington, more stocks and aftermarket parts available. Savage normally shoot better out the box.
I like .223 for caliber Cheap to reload a lot of different bullets available, but if you want to ever use the rifle for big game, .308 could be a option. Just a little bit more expensive to shoot.

SPS with bull barrel normally give good performance with reloads. Ive seem more than one Sub Moa SPS at my range... WIth the right reloads. Because they can shoot like crap also. but for $600 (cheapest SPS I found are at "le Baron") what do you want ?
Look at the remington R5 twice the price of a sps but normally they can shoot

Welcome into the one hole addiction and be rdy for the side effect ;-)
 
It can be done for around 2K. This is what I just built.
$300-used savage 111 long action with DBM
$440- Shilen SS Select Match barrel varmit contour(Mystic Precision)
$300- Choate tactical stock (Mystic Precision)
$165- Rifle Basix trigger (rifle basics)
$110- EGW rail (egw)
$800- Sightron SIII LRMOA 8-32X56 scope (used off the EE mint shape)
$35- Weaver tactical rings (e-bay)
$30- gun smith to install barrel
______
$2160 Total cost
 
some great suggestions, thanks. I am definitely planning on getting into reloading as well, that will be a different budget, i dont want to go overboard and get everything all at once and make a rash decision just because i wanted to get into it so fast. I will definitely have to make it out to the range at Nokomis and talk to a few shooters, it is always amazing the tips that people are willing to share when you get out to the range and ask. (basically how i learnt to shoot Skeet)

appreciate all the suggestions and i guess it is time to see if i can get a good deal on some glass and a rifle and go from there.
 
rnbra-shooter said:
@bigkahuna your profile says you are in Borden, SK which according to googlemaps is 217km from Nokomis, where there is a fantastic 1200 yard range that belongs to the Sask Provincial Rifle Association.

At your first opportunity, contact SPRA and arrange to visit while they are shooting. Spending a day on the range seeing what people are actually using and shooting, talking to real live shooters who are on a range actually shooting at 300y, 500y, 600y, 900y and 1000y, you will learn more than in months and months of online research. It'll really help gel your ideas on what kind of rifle and what sort of setup you might be interested in getting (for example, there is "TR" shooting which is done with iron sights, sling and shooting jacket; there is "F" Class, which is done with a front rest, rear sandbag and optical sights).

For what it's worth, it's not unheard of for a serious visitor to be offered an opportunity to fire a few shots; careful though, if you fire a few bullseyes at a thousand yards you might end up hooked for like....!

You can definitely get a pretty good setup for under $2000; having good knowledgeable advice will really help. It is also possible to spend $2000 on seemingly good gear, only to find out that it doesn't really fit your needs for a whole variety of reasons. If you can pick up a mentor during your visit to SPRA that would really help.

As for calibre, there are several good reasons to choose a plain old typical .308W target rifle, whether you plan on shooting it with iron sights or with a scope. But this is best explained to you by a trusted mentor.

If you want to set up for under $2000, there are a few key decisions you'll have to make in order to meet your budget and to ensure you have a decently good setup when you are done. Night Force scopes are gorgeous and in a certain sense are well worth the money; but a $1500 scope plus several hundred dollars more for a premium mounting system simply will not fit into a $2000 rifle+scope budget. There are intelligent choices that can be made, to get you an "appropriately-good-enough" scope and mounting system. Make sure you find the right advisor.
Click to expand...

Advice worth its weight on gold. You said what I would try to say. Us newfies learning english is a lifelong endeavour.:)
 
I recently put together a Savage 12 LRP in 260 with a Vortex Viper HS 4-16 x 50. Total cost was right around $2k. Works well for me...
 
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