My first precision rifle

[rugbydave]

Got some long range practice in yesterday. Did some landscaping, installed a practice barricade and build a secondary firing position that lets me stretch out my current target to 870 yards and even found a spot for a new target that will get me 970 yards, stoked! Here's some pics:

First firing position (830 yards to target):

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5 round group (0.887 moa) at 830 yards:

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2nd firing position (870 yards to target) that has since been improved significantly with extensive landscaping, ha

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Barricade practice:

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Looking forward to stretching things out a lil further!

 

[Zeroed-In]

Nice shooting RugbyDave, I like the less is more approach effort with the barricade too.

Nice location, great target but don't discount all those wonderful rocks you have lying on the ground.

Way less money, no one want to steal them and they give a nice puff on dust on impact.... sound good too. Never have to clean them up either

Great tip and thanks, I'll have to give rocks a try (or in my case boulders) as it really makes a lot of sense.

Cheers D

 

[Mystic Precision]

Nice shooting RugbyDave, I like the less is more approach effort with the barricade too.



Great tip and thanks, I'll have to give rocks a try (or in my case boulders) as it really makes a lot of sense.

Cheers D

If you have a nice flat face, there will always be surface cracks or features you can "mark"... I have a nice big one around 900yds which I use for F class practise. There are some pretty decent velocity winds that go past it so you will get moved around. I can use the impacts vs feature to act as a target face. forces you to learn good follow through so you can see your own impacts.

Don't spray paint them... especially if you dont want to loose your shooting spots.

Then practise using the reticle to adjust for the shot or amount to adjust your scope turrets. You will quickly learn if the reticle subtension and scope clicks match... kind of good to know.

It is a lot of fun to plink this way AND you are getting a ton of real world practise. If shooting rocks, try and put them on an open dusty area so you can see where the misses go, adjust and hopefully, HIT.

Learn to scale the rock using the reticle THEN reticle or scope to adjust for hold off. I find gongs make you lasy cause you know what the sizing is going to be... rocks are weird and wonderful shapes so you have to take the size/shape of the rock into account when holding off.

A really fun game is stack 3 rocks and call the rock you are going to hit... if you hit too often, make them smaller.

Then learn to incorporate mirage and vegetation moving around to help with your wind calls... I sense PRS matches are lacking in wind flags

If you are going to practise, may as well have a lot of fun and develop good skills????

Jerry

 

[rugbydave]

Was kind of like Xmas yesterday, new scope arrived from Hirsch Precision (Nightforce SHV 4-14x50 F1 Mil-R) and a great new scope cover and large bag from the guys at JSA Tactical (who did me a real solid by getting them out to me in 2 days, thanks again!). Didn't have a ton of time but was able to mount and zero the scope as well as do a tall target test and a rough confirmation of dope out to 465 yards. I'll confirm my dope out to 870 today but nothing should have changed form my Mark IV to the NIghtforce other than the adjustments are now in Mils (both scopes have 30mm bodies, height over bore hasn't changed). I'll do a review on the scope once I've got some time behind it but so far I'm a fan of the reticle, the clicks are very positive (definitely nicer than the Mark 4), the illuminated reticle was nice as daylight waned and I'm thinking the FFP will be real helpful (not to mention Mil/Mil turrets, no more needing one elevation for dialling and one for holdovers!) at this weekend's match! Time to send the Mark IV back to Leupold for a TMR reticle and M5 turrets (lemme know if anyone needs a contact for this, I dealt directly with Leopold in Oregon and they were super helpful with all the paperwork, export permits, etc). Here's some pics:

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Sorry for the quality of the pics, was getting dark by the time I was done. Anyone have good suggestions for flip covers for this scope? Currently the bikini caps are zip-tied to the scope. Butler Creek, Vortex, Tenebraex? Thoughts?

 

[bsand]

Tenebraex are the way to go, quick an easy to remove so you don't bust them off in a barricade. I hate Butler creeks.

 

[rugbydave]

Tenebraex are the way to go, quick an easy to remove so you don't bust them off in a barricade. I hate Butler creeks.

Yeah, I've only ever had Butler Creek (rebranded Leupold ones that came with my Mark IV). Never had any issues with them but figured there was better out there...

 

[Oldsmobiler]

Hey Dave, send your scope to Korth in Alberta for the conversion. I'll be sending mine from the LRB soon to do the exact same thing

 

[stevebc]

Good call Jerry. It's probably a lil easier to hike up there with a can of spray paint and to spray a few rocks than hiking up a few hundred yards with the target on my back every time

No, don't- I did that once and I'm still trying to live it down. Ah well, by now all that dayglo should've weathered off... I hope.

 

[rugbydave]

Hey Dave, send your scope to Korth in Alberta for the conversion. I'll be sending mine from the LRB soon to do the exact same thing

Hey Ante, I never heard back from Korth so I organized it through Leopold down in Oregon. I just had to get an export permit from our gov which was easy and they organized the rest. I think it works out to about $400ish USD to change to a TMR and M5s.

 

[Oldsmobiler]

I'm gonna call tomorrow to see what they'll charge at Korth. My M4 has the TMR already...totally stoked to see this as an option. Btw im constantly in your neck of the woods...we need to do a "sports friday" one of these days!

 

[rugbydave]

Was a beautiful fall day today so I figured why not head on for some long range practice. Shot past 1000 for the first time on Saturday at a match and was quite stoked with how that went. Crazy winds down in Eastern Wa though! Wind was a lil more active than usual today peaking at about 9km/h. Sometimes in opposite directions at the target and the firing position! Good thing too as I can use all the practice with the wind I can get! One of the stages this weekend had 4 targets between 680 and 1045 and you couldn't see the first 2 from prone. Figured some tripod practice was in order:

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It still amazes me how stable you can be off a tripod! Seated you aren't far off prone. I can very consistently make hits at 830 seated off the tripod (on a 2/3 IPSC) now and hit about 1/3 or 50% standing. Finally getting the hang of using the tripod as a rear support for shooting off barricades as well. Man does that make a huge difference in stability. I only took 2 shots standing off the barricade but made both hits at 830!

 

[J996]

Tripod looks familiar. 190 Xprob with 054 magnesium ball head? Great bit of kit.

 

[rugbydave]

Tripod looks familiar. 190 Xprob with 054 magnesium ball head? Great bit of kit.

190 Xprob with Sirui K40X bullhead and Pig Saddle. I'm half tempted to get an 055 to replace the 190 Xprob (which was a freebie from a buddy). The bigger tripods are supposed to be even more stable, which at this point seems kinda mind-blowing, haha

 

[J996]

190 Xprob with Sirui K40X bullhead and Pig Saddle. I'm half tempted to get an 055 to replace the 190 Xprob (which was a freebie from a buddy). The bigger tripods are supposed to be even more stable, which at this point seems kinda mind-blowing, haha

The 190 does a good job, I'd keep it unless you go to a really heavy rifle. Here is my 055 tripod, not much difference between the two.

 

[rugbydave]

The 190 does a good job, I'd keep it unless you go to a really heavy rifle. Here is my 055 tripod, not much difference between the two.

Yeah, I probably will although I found an older 055 on Craigslist for $100. My thought process was the increased height of the 055 would mean that I wouldn't have to raise the centre column when firing standing and when using it as a rear support for standing off a barricade, I would be grabbing the leg instead of the centre column which is kinda awkward. Kinda low on my priority list though, compared to a caliber change, haha.

 

[TacticalTeacher]

What.... don't shoot the Taco!

 

[Ryan.M.Anderson]

Have you considered not changing the tripod but moving from a ball head to a leveling plate? They look much more stable, it might be a move I make in the next bit.

Do you find that you can get set up fast enough during a match to use the tripod during a match? At the last match I was at several tried it (including myself) and it did not go so well for those of us that did.

 

[rugbydave]

That ball head is plenty stable. I've been able to make 50% + hits on a 2/3 IPSC while standing at 830 yards which is fine for me considering that I've never had to shoot a target that size at that distance standing in a match. Past 600 you're normally shooting at a full size IPSC unless you can go prone. In reality, I find my tripod gets used most in matches as a rear support when shooting off barricades, another reason I'm debating going to the taller tripod, so as to be able to still grab the tripod's leg when standing, instead of having to put my non-firing hand on top of the ballhead.

I have only really had the time to use my tripod as the actual support in one stage in a match (granted I've only shot 3). It was a stage where we had 3 minutes to engage 4 targets at different ranges with 2 rounds each. You couldn't see the first 2 targets if you went prone so I set up my tripod to shoot seated. I wanna say the ranges were 700ish, 800ish, 900ish and 1045 yards. I only made 1 hit, first round, on the 1st target. In my defence, the winds were pretty nasty and I believe most of the guys in my squad got a big goose egg on that stage. Take it for what it is. I find that seated with the tripod and your sling "candy caned" around one of the tripod's legs is not far off prone as far as stability goes!

 

[rugbydave]

Got out for some tripod practice today in between rain showers. Really need to get myself one of those rain/shade canopies! All shots were at 830 yards on a 2/3 IPSC with very mild winds (0-3km/h)

Seated I sit cross-legged with a big bag under my firing-side knee and the sling candy-caned around one of the tripod's legs. Usually I also put my pack on my lap and use it for rear support but didn't today. Went 5/5
This is how I set up my gear:

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Kneeling I do a reverse kneeling (with non-firing knee on the ground) so I can rest my firing elbow on my knee and clip my sling to my belt. Went 3/5
This is how I set up my gear:

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Standing I clip the sling onto my belt and push my non-firing hand against the ballhead. Went 3/5
Set up like this:

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I'm quite amazed at just how stable you can get with a tripod and I'm finally starting to standardize on a method, which I think is key.

 

[Kosmic]

Great thread.