Long Range Competition Shooting

**Gunner21** · April 20th, 2011, 12:39 AM

I have always wanted to do long range competition shooting since I was a little kid and now that I'm older (21) am able to do so but I'm clueless how to get started or how much it would cost... I would like to get away with just using an existing rifle of my own instead of buying one. Any tips on how to get into competitions? I live about 45 minutes from camp perry in nw ohio. I have tried to contact somebody there but no luck. Plus, I'm not sure what caliber to use but all my life if just tried the furthest shot I could with whatever rifle I had just for fun. If I use one of my own existing rifles, I've got a choice of .308, 7mm rem mag, .222 rem, and 7.62x54R (long gun and carbine). These are the rifles I own with the longest capability. I would like to get my hands on a .300 win ultra mag and a .416 rugby and I almost had a .50 bmg but it got away... All help greatly appreciated.

**saleen322** · April 20th, 2011, 01:03 AM

Of the calibers you have listed, the 308 is used the most. A lot of calibers have their followings for 1000 yard matches with 338 Lapua showing very good performance. Some common calibers like 7mm WSM also do very well. I mention the 7 WSM because I think it is still holds the British 1000 yard accuracy record. The 416 Rigby is more for power at shorter ranges against big game. The 50 BMG is a fine round but many ranges will not let you shoot it as it challenges a lot of backstops and will do serious damage if it hits the wrong thing. I just scratched the surface of the calibers that perform well at distance, there are a lot of options: 6.5 Norma, 30-338, 308 Norma Mag, 7mm-300 Weatherby, etc, etc. Look at calibers being used in some of the match results. You will have to reload for almost all of them to get optimal performance. The NRA is a good contact for Camp Perry info and below is link to a range that has long range matches. Good luck in your reseach.
http://www.readerange.org/

**Gunner21** · April 20th, 2011, 06:03 AM

I know the .308 is the most common of what I have and I can't believe I forgot about the .338 lapua... I didn't know about the 7mm WSM, interesting... Thank you for the info.