new to long range shooting. range report.

[Tonmarchelli]

so, just got back from my first real serious range visit with my new gun im building up.

Gun Specs:
Remington 700 sendero II 300 WM.
Vortex viper pst 6-24x
APA fat bastard
otherwise stock

Shooting reloads. 208 amax's with 75.0 gr H1000 and CCI magnum primers.

shooting off of bench with bipod and rear bag.

I bore-sighted at 50 yards since the scope is new. then took target to 100. best i could manage was about 1.5 inch groups. most fliers would be low left if i had one.

Im fairly new to this type of shooting and more than likely it is my technique that is failing.

im not worried about a flinch, with the apa brake, i can shoot all day and not feel the gun, the thing is amazing. is it the trigger? maybe need to work on the action/bedding? i know there is a ton of things I can do to the rifle to make it shoot better but want to be sure I can shoot it properly first. I suppose a good place to start is to review the basics and fundamentals. wheres a good place to learn these or review them online?

thanks for the help.

 

[Topstrap]

Re: new to long range shooting. range report.

Hard to make any helpful hints, especially with a newer shooter to the LR stuff. Might do a few more sessions and get some more practice in. Sometimes helpful to have a buddy that is known to be a good shooter give the gun a try and see if he has same results.

Good luck,

Topstrap

 

[Graham]

Re: new to long range shooting. range report.

You're not far from Gunsite. Their PR7 is good. There's also Rifles Only: Best fundamentals tune-up you'll find. But if you are going to take a course, leave the magnum at home.

Before you attend a course have a look at the Rifles Only fundmentals video as a primer. Frank also does classes in Colorado, near Denver. I have taken classes from him, too: He is very good instructor and you could use his video as a primer for his class.

The short list, in no particular order:

Jacob at Rifles Only;
Cory at Gunsite;
Caylen in Washington; or
Frank if and when he does a class.

 

[arborpro]

Re: new to long range shooting. range report.

Looks like you are close to Ben Avery . you should look up (NRA)Palma, long range any any matches or f class and see if they have any matches in the area. 300 win(s) are pretty expensive to shoot. and if you shoot allot you'll change that out pretty quick. the key is get involved in some matches, you'll learn allot and make some great friends.

arborpro

 

[Mod Adahy]

Re: new to long range shooting. range report.

My recommendations would be to take a class before you develop the bad habits that are hard to fix. You are so close to Gunsite, I would call and get in a class. You can not go wrong with classes early in you development.

 

[Tonmarchelli]

Re: new to long range shooting. range report.

thanks all for the recommendations. I regularly shoot at Ben Avery when not plinking in the desert. I chose the 300WM so I would have my end caliber and not have to buy a few "learner" guns. But may end up shopping around for a 22-250 to get some good fundamentals on. much cheaper to shoot.

But shooting hand loads. its not terrible to shoot the 300. just wanted to get the recoil sorted out. the APA fat bastard does an incredible job of taming that beast.

 

[Sterling Shooter]

Re: new to long range shooting. range report.

Your off to a bad start with the 300 magnum for a multitude of reasons, yet, you have, it appears, the desire to learn. This will help you reorient your perspective, when proper training exposes you to what's really important to good shooting at any distance.

 

[sled_mack]

Re: new to long range shooting. range report.

If you are going to shop for another rifle, look for something that is NOT a barrel burner. You do not need to shoot 1000 yards to work on fundamentals. A good .223 or .308 will do great for learning. Save the barrel life on the 300 WM for when you need it.

For reference, I spend a decent amount of time shooting a 22LR for practicing the fundamentals.

 

[RFtinkerer]

Re: new to long range shooting. range report.

I hate to say it, but I agree a 300 WM was an unfortunate choice. I made that choice for the exact same reasons--I wanted to reach out and touch without going through intermediate rounds. That was 2 years ago. I whined here about my bipod hop and horizontal stringing, got the online training and mostly solved it but was still getting 1.5 groups, sold the rifle last year and bought a heavy barrel 308. IMMEDIATELY I was shooting half inch groups at 100. With a factory Savage 10FCP. And soon I was reaching out and touching 1000 yards. I'll shoot this a while, and maybe sometime I'll get a mile shooter. But I'm happy with the 308.

Anyway, everybody needs a 308. I heard it here a lot, and didn't pay attention. Though the 6.5 Creedmoor or something might be even better.

Edit: Also a 22 is nice, but I had spent a year shooting the 22 before I went centerfire and did not develop recoil/muzzle blast handling skills. That was very important when I jumped to the 300 WM. I did not react well and got bipod hop, stringing due to my mishandling of the rifle.