Shooting longer ranges?

[smitty56]

For the last year or so, I have been gearing up for shooting at ranges longer than 100 yards. I am at the point of making decent groups at 100 yards on 8.5x11 inch targets and was just going to continue there but a friend told me about a longer range 40 miles from me. I joined it back when there was deep snow and no way to walk on the range. One of the reasons I joined was that their handbook mentioned:
"the first person to go on the high power range should drive his vehicle back beyond the 500 yard berm to make sure no one is back there before opening the range for shooting."
Wow. Two things:
A: They had a 500 yard range and B: You could drive to it to change targets. Win. Win.

So this past weekend I drive out there for the first time to shoot there. I was with a newby friend shooter to shoot pistols and revolvers and maybe some rifle. After shooting at the pistol range, I drove around to the rifle range. It turns out they were having a match and we could not shoot then but I walked over to see what it looked like. I parked under the firing line and walked up the steps that then revealed the ranges of targets from 20 - 500 yards.
Wow. Amazing. I had not seen targets that went out that far since I started with rifle as a serious thought towards learning about LR marksmanship.
I thought about the 8.5x11 printed targets I used at 100 yards and then looked out to the 500 yard backer board. Huh? 500 yards was waaaay out there.

I don't want to blow my cool cover and expose that I am NOT an ex Green Beret, Navy Seal, or police sniper but my first thoughts were that when I come back and start to shoot at 500 yards, I would hope I could hit a car sized target at that distance. It is especially funny after reading people's questions here saying that they were beginners and wanted .308s and .223 choices because they wanted equipment that worked out to 1000 yards. It also showed me that I had better rezero for 200 yards, know the velocity of my ammo, and have a print out of the ballistics table based on my cartridge's bullet and BC so I either know how high to hold over or how many clicks I have to do to change from 200 to 300 to 400 to 500 yards.

If I take a 300 Win Mag, I cannot shoot the steel plates but if I take a .308, then can shoot any target 100 yards and out.

308 it is! I have a nice bolt gun with a good scope (thanks Tomcat) and finally a nice spotting scope. I look forward to going back.
I am not a marksman yet but am much further along thanks to a lot of the members on this board.
http://forum.pafoa.org/rifles-42/842...-marksman.html
Thanks for all your help so far.
Smitty56

[Vermillionx]

I would say with the limited range of just 500m I would keep the 100yrd zero. I have my 308 zeroed at 100 and have shot 750 yards with out a problem. The other thing is I would go when you know no one will be on the range. This way you can start shooting at the targets getting progressivly get farther out and see where the rounds hit. What I mean by that is shoot at the 200 target with the 100 yard dope and see what corrections need to be made. Then repeat for 300 with 200 yard dope ect. ect. The other thing I would look into is a log book. You can record all of your shots and make up your own dope book. The one that I use I got off of the Millett LRS-1 manual. Here is a link. If you have any other questions shoot me a pm. If I can't answer them I can point you in the right direction.

Dan

[arrrrgh15]

why can't you shoot steel with a 300 wm? I see people do it all the time.

I think with a little instruction you'll be surprised that you could not only hit a car at 500 yards or that 8.5x11 peice of paper at 500 yards, but actually hit a 5 inch plate at 500 yards.

308 can have some limitations out to 1000 yards depending on ammo. I know a swat team from NY that has 18" barrelled AI rifles that can only get to about 800 yards if they're lucky with their rifle/ammo combo. Fortunately this is WELL beyond their typical range of engagement. I've taken mine to 1200 yards but that was with some hot 178gr ammo at a much higher altitude.

I'd also agree that you should keep your 100 yard zero.

Consider taking a training course. There are a few offerred that I've been helping out with that are good courses and will get you up and running in a hurry.

[GeorgeF]

With the right scope and ammo, you should be able to hit silhouettes at 500 yards no problem.

At the zombie shoot I was able to hit 500 yards with a spotter to tell me where my shots were going - and all I had was a holosight and a 5x magnifier on a AR15 shooting 5.45x39 ammo. Not ideal by any measure for long range shooting, but once you get used to where the shots will land, you are set.

Start close and work your way out to longer ranges - baby steps.

The tricky part is when you start trying to get those groupings way down - have some friends who are obsessed with that and it can get addictive.

Good luck!

[aubie515]

To the OP...you were rambling quite a bit in your thread.

I concur with the others...you don't need to zero your optics at 200 yards if you are only shooting to 500 yards.

The 308 will reach 1,000 plus, if you have the right bullet/powder, barrel length combo. You will notice a huge drop using a 308 past 600 yards...anything under 600 yards you will be fine. If you want to shoot longer than 600 yards...start taking a look at what optic you have because you may need to get an optic that has more windage/elevation adjustments.

[smitty56]

Thanks guys!
I have to say my post was written major "tongue in cheek" right after seeing such a nice range out to 500 yards. Living in SE Pennsylvania, I feel lucky to be a member of a range that I can shoot 100 yards just to start with. In the 80's I lived in LA and would drive out in the Mojave desert on the weekends where your backstop might be mountains 5 miles away. (with no people/cars/houses between you and them) Unlimited LONG visibility was the norm. We never did measured ranges, we just blasted away with all that we brought.
Now I'm older, living in a much denser area, have gotten used to shooting only 100 yards but want to be more precise. I have learned a lot over the last year.
To actually see the new range, with a vast array of all kinds of targets out to 500 yards just left me a bit giddy at the time and I wanted to inject a little humor into the posts.

From my calculations below, it is my guess, that with a 100 yard zero, absent any wind calculations, that I would have to hold over or correct about 67 inches with a .308 around 2600 fps. Between a bad knee and winter, it has taken me longer to get back out to actually doing some shooting this year. I have yet to do some ladder tests with 308 and 300WM to see what works best for me but I'm looking forward to it. At the moment, I am mainly working with a stash of 30 caliber 147 grain FMJ bullets that I had on hand. Later, I figure it might be 168 gr/175 gr bullets for the .308 and 190 or 210 grain bullets for the 300WM. I would like to find some compromise on the speed to help save the brass on reloads.

Ballistics Table in Yards

150 gr., .398 B.C.

www.hornady.com

Range (yards)

Muzzle


50


100


200


300


400


500

Velocity (fps)

2631


2520


2412


2204


2006


1820


1645

Energy (ft.-lb.)

2305


2116


1938


1618


1341


1103


902

Trajectory (100 yd. zero)

-1.5


-0.1


0.0


-4.5


-16.1


-36.4


-67.3

Come Up in MOA

-1.5


0.1


0.0


2.1


5.1


8.7


12.9

And of course, the nifty table above did not come out as a table.
Again, thanks for all your replies.
Smitty56