First long range shoot

Waffen · #1 01-26-2006, 09:37 PM

I am anticipating participating in my first long range shoot in late April. The distances will vary from 100 to 1000 yards. The plan is to have the shooters shoot prone off a bag or bipod. This appears to be an informal shoot compared to some matches, as it was spawned from a forum.

I plan on bringing my .300RUM Sendero and shooting a 220gr SMK. I am a bit worried about my scope though. I have a Leupold Vari-X III 6.50-20x40AO. I am assuming I will have to buy some Burris Signature rings, and that should give me 25MOA alone. I was wondering if this setup will be enough to compete. I have also replaced the trigger with a rifle basix and have it in the 1lb range. Hopefully this will be enough.

Any tips you can provide me to better train for this event would really be appreciated. I plan to start imediatly, shooting at 500 and moving out farther. The shoot is in Mid April so I hope I have enough time.

bailey1474 · #2 01-26-2006, 10:34 PM

You have a great setup for this competition. I would run some numbers in a ballistics program to see if you need the rings. I doubt you will. The 300 RUM w/that 220 SMK is fairly flat to 1000 yds. I bet you'll have plenty of adjustment. The only other advice I have is practice, practice, practice!!!!

Buffalobob · #3 01-26-2006, 11:12 PM

Run the numbers as suggested. You will need about 25-30 MOA to get from 100yds to 1000yds - add a little more for meters. With your scope set for 100 yds zero run your dial up and count how much elevation you have left. If you do not have the required amount plus about 5 MOA safety margin at the top then you will need to shim the scope. With a one piece base it is relatively easy. Just run a "search" on "shim" and "ABINOK". With a two piece base you may need to lap the rings or to go to the burris signatures as suggested.

Once you have the scope set you will need to shoot the gun in at every range you expect to shoot adn record the scope setting relative to your 100 yd zero. Ballistic tables are fine for getting you close but not good enough to win matches (or even be competitive).

remingtonman_25_06 · #4 01-27-2006, 06:07 AM

The first scope I had on my 300 RUM was the VX2 6-18x40 target. I was worried I would not get to 1000 yards w/out doing anything special. However, if you look at the ballistics with a 200yd zero, the 300 RUM shoots like a laser compared to some. You wont need to do anything special to get out to 1000 yards. However, I did upgrade to a 4.5-14x50 30mm tube MK4. I have shot out to 1150 yards and dont have special bases or rings. I just slap the dang scope on the rifle, bore sight it, and load test, then click up and shoot the thing.

Buffalobob · #5 01-27-2006, 07:59 AM

One other thing is if there is a time limit to fire a certain number of shots, then you should check your group for stability firiing at that rate.

After a 30 year layoff I went and shot a similar "fun" event last year and was nervous about it so I did like you and made sure I was practiced up and knew exactly what to expect from my guns. Even so I did not get all my shots fired and once I got to the bench with the right gun but the wrong bolt and had to run get the correct bolt.

Most important advice I can give is to leave your ego at home and bring a double helping of sense of humor. It is a lot of fun if you can accept your own mistakes and chalk them up to learning.

sniperVLS · #6 01-27-2006, 01:10 PM

[ QUOTE ]

Most important advice I can give is to leave your ego at home and bring a double helping of sense of humor. It is a lot of fun if you can accept your own mistakes and chalk them up to learning.

[/ QUOTE ]

Best advice I've seen given in a long time [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Waffen · #7 01-28-2006, 05:26 AM

Thanks for the advice guys. KEEP IT COMMING! I can't tell you how excited I am about this shoot. I am probably going to start doing long range practice next weekend some time, as my local range does not have anything over 200 yards.

I am going to work the trigger a little lighter, and get a gun smith to install a limbsaver for me (they anticipate shooting 200 rounds). I also went out and purchased some 220gr SMK's. I have 5lbs of RL-25 and some 7828, does anyone have a magic recepie for a 1000 yard load?