Last fall my wife surprised me with an auction she won at a charity tennis tournament. It was for a 4 day long range shooting school put on by Darrell Holland in Powers, OR. His website is http://www.hollandguns.com. Darrell is a gunsmith and also has a shooter supply store with gear for long range hunters and shooters. This is my AAR with some personal comments at the end.
I attended the class from May 3rd through May 6th. We originally had 8 students in the class, but 4 were a group and one of the members got sick so they rescheduled. This left 4 students: A hunter going to Africa that had never fired a firearm past 50 yards, a hunter wanting to learn how to shoot longer ranges than he had in the past, a hunter that had just picked up the LR hobby - tried a F/TR competition and liked it, and myself – a tactical competition shooter. All but myself were shooting factory .308s. Two Remingtons and a FN. I was shooting a rebarreled .260 Remington 700. As far as optics: One Nightforce 5.5-22, One Leupold MK4 4.5-14, One Leupold MK4 2.5x10. All of these were using Darrell Holland’s Advanced Reticle Technology. I was using a Leupold MK4 M5 6.5-20 with a TMR reticle. Two shooters were using factory .308 ammo, one shooter was using .308 handloads w/ 168 SMKs loaded longer than mag length. He had to unload a round on day two and it was jammed too far into the lands and pulled the bullet out. I was shooting 142 SMKs over 43.5gr of H4350. The weather was perfect: Sunny and 65 degrees with no rain until the last day.
Day 1 started off with a classroom session. We started off with safety, touched on some points on external ballistics, reviewed equipment requirements/options, then on to cleaning and maintenance of your rifle, zeroing your rifle, beginning ranging using your reticle, marksmanship and proper shooting positions. After lunch we all got behind our rifles to work on proper position and dry fired trying to keep a penny on the end of the barrel. Then it was time to shoot.
Below is an overall picture of the shooting area we used taken from the farthest firing position. It is on a ranch just outside of town up in the hills. There are 4 firing positions and 13 steel plates. Every target except for the humanoids were 10”wide X 16” tall steel plates with a 6” red heart to simulate the vital area of an animal (hunting focused school remember). The humanoid targets are upper torso plates 30” tall by 24” wide. Depending on what firing point you were using, targets ranged from 95 yards to 1,032 yards.
The first thing we did was confirm zero at 100 yards. Winds were from 8:00 at 15mph. Eventually everyone got a good zero. After that we ranged the targets using only our reticles. Targets ranged from 95 yards to 430 yards. Then we each fired over an Ohler 35 Chronograph to find our muzzle velocity and to help develop our data cards. Then we headed back down to the classroom for a cleaning tutorial. Finally, we broke for the day. Back at the hotel, three of us cleaned our rifles on the picnic benches right off the parking lot overlooking a pond and meadow.
Day 2 started in the classroom with more time spent on ranging with deeper explanations of Mils and MOA, and using the Mil-Dot Master or manually calculating range, and shooting in the wind. Darrell also used our muzzle velocities to create a data card using his software. After a few ranging exercises on paper, we had lunch then went up to the mountain for our afternoon shooting session.
We started off with reconfirming zero then heading to the second firing position for more ranging. Only when we got to the second firing position did we notice a target up on the hill we couldn’t see from the front firing position. Targets ranged from 246 yards to 748 yards. Winds were from 8:00 gusting from 5-18mph. We took turns working our way through the targets with help from a spotter making wind calls.
On day 3 we took advantage of the calm winds and went up to the mountain first thing in the morning. We had another instructor join us, a National Guard sniper that spent time in Iraq. We hiked up a small hill to get to the rear firing position then ranged the targets, again using our reticle. The picture above is from this firing position. Targets ranged from 510 yards to 1032 yards. Winds started off calm, but as the morning progressed picked up a bit. We started off with target #1 and worked our way out to the Near Humanoid/Suitcase Man at 836 yards.
That afternoon we shot from the middle firing position. We partnered up and acted as a team, swapping data cards with each other. The shooter’s job was to be a trigger monkey and provide a good trigger press on command. The spotters job was to give the shooter the elevation based on range, observe the prevailing wind conditions, calculate windage and give that information to the shooter. Finally the spotter would wait for the appropriate wind condition and then command the shooter to fire. With winds gusting from 5-20 miles per hour. It was tricky to get a shot off at the right wind speed. Some shooters had some lag time at first, but with practice, most everyone was getting consistent hits. One thing I noticed was by only focusing on the wind, you were paying attention to things you may have otherwise overlooked if you were shooting. My partner was shooting a .308 so calculating the right condition for him was key. Once we had our communication issued down he was hitting the humanoid at 748 yards consistently. On a side note, we were all using Darrell’s “Ultimate Data Card” he made for us and the data his program calculated and I have to say I was impressed. It was easy to use and the data provided was right on the money.
Finally we had a man vs. man competition. First shooter with one hit on the near humanoid twice (552yds) wins. Then we did the same setup with the first with two hits on the near humanoid twice wins. Everyone had fun and the final matchup was extremely close.
Day 4 started off with a written test. It covered an assortment of knowledge learned from the week, and had some practical problems you needed to figure out. After everyone finished, we covered any missed answers then headed up to the mountain for our final shooting session/test.
This was done from a firing position we hadn’t used before called “The Grassy Knoll”. It was a small mound with trees covering the left side (the side prevalent winds came from the previous days). Farther than the middle firing position, but not as far as the rear firing position. Targets ranged from 277yds to 810yds. We each had 10 minutes to range all 13 targets. Then we gave our data to Darrell and without any feedback on our numbers, we each took turns firing one round at each target. No spotter help with wind calls. You were on your own. Scoring was 2pts for an impact in the heart, 1pt for an impact anywhere else on the plate. Winds were dead calm for the first two shooters. Then it began to pick up with the final shooter getting 4-6mph winds from the 9:00 position. After the field test, we had about an hour of free time to work on whatever we want from that firing position.
After that, we broke for lunch and had some final wrap up and an awards ceremony with some critique on things we need to work on.
Personal Observations –
I have to be honest, when my wife told me she got this for me I was very excited. I have only been shooting for 3 years and have never had any formal training. When I checked out Holland’s website I started to get a bit skeptical since it seemed to be a hunting focused school. I decided to go into it with an open mind and if I didn’t learn anything, chalk it up to experience. I am happy to say my skepticism was unfounded. Even with three other hunters, Darrell made sure to make me feel welcome as a competition shooter. The information and feedback he provided was definitely useful and helped me see some things I would have struggled with for a long time otherwise. He also took the time to answer any questions the students had on positions, gear, reloading….really anything shooting/hunting related. I only had 90 rounds through my .260 when I showed up at class. I also upgraded my scope when I was getting my rifle rebarreled so I was getting comfortable with that as well.
I fired 180 rounds over the 4 days even though I took 300 per Darrell’s recommendation. Why not more? I didn’t need to. Marc Soulie at Spartan Precision Rifles built a hammer and it got to a point I was just firing for effect. I guess my only criticism would be I would have liked to see some work on positional shooting. The other three shooters were fairly new to LR shooting so as a class we were working on proper prone position and a good trigger press. I definitely feel I am a better shooter coming away from the class than I was going into it.
Feel free to ask any questions.
I attended the class from May 3rd through May 6th. We originally had 8 students in the class, but 4 were a group and one of the members got sick so they rescheduled. This left 4 students: A hunter going to Africa that had never fired a firearm past 50 yards, a hunter wanting to learn how to shoot longer ranges than he had in the past, a hunter that had just picked up the LR hobby - tried a F/TR competition and liked it, and myself – a tactical competition shooter. All but myself were shooting factory .308s. Two Remingtons and a FN. I was shooting a rebarreled .260 Remington 700. As far as optics: One Nightforce 5.5-22, One Leupold MK4 4.5-14, One Leupold MK4 2.5x10. All of these were using Darrell Holland’s Advanced Reticle Technology. I was using a Leupold MK4 M5 6.5-20 with a TMR reticle. Two shooters were using factory .308 ammo, one shooter was using .308 handloads w/ 168 SMKs loaded longer than mag length. He had to unload a round on day two and it was jammed too far into the lands and pulled the bullet out. I was shooting 142 SMKs over 43.5gr of H4350. The weather was perfect: Sunny and 65 degrees with no rain until the last day.
Day 1 started off with a classroom session. We started off with safety, touched on some points on external ballistics, reviewed equipment requirements/options, then on to cleaning and maintenance of your rifle, zeroing your rifle, beginning ranging using your reticle, marksmanship and proper shooting positions. After lunch we all got behind our rifles to work on proper position and dry fired trying to keep a penny on the end of the barrel. Then it was time to shoot.
Below is an overall picture of the shooting area we used taken from the farthest firing position. It is on a ranch just outside of town up in the hills. There are 4 firing positions and 13 steel plates. Every target except for the humanoids were 10”wide X 16” tall steel plates with a 6” red heart to simulate the vital area of an animal (hunting focused school remember). The humanoid targets are upper torso plates 30” tall by 24” wide. Depending on what firing point you were using, targets ranged from 95 yards to 1,032 yards.
The first thing we did was confirm zero at 100 yards. Winds were from 8:00 at 15mph. Eventually everyone got a good zero. After that we ranged the targets using only our reticles. Targets ranged from 95 yards to 430 yards. Then we each fired over an Ohler 35 Chronograph to find our muzzle velocity and to help develop our data cards. Then we headed back down to the classroom for a cleaning tutorial. Finally, we broke for the day. Back at the hotel, three of us cleaned our rifles on the picnic benches right off the parking lot overlooking a pond and meadow.
Day 2 started in the classroom with more time spent on ranging with deeper explanations of Mils and MOA, and using the Mil-Dot Master or manually calculating range, and shooting in the wind. Darrell also used our muzzle velocities to create a data card using his software. After a few ranging exercises on paper, we had lunch then went up to the mountain for our afternoon shooting session.
We started off with reconfirming zero then heading to the second firing position for more ranging. Only when we got to the second firing position did we notice a target up on the hill we couldn’t see from the front firing position. Targets ranged from 246 yards to 748 yards. Winds were from 8:00 gusting from 5-18mph. We took turns working our way through the targets with help from a spotter making wind calls.
On day 3 we took advantage of the calm winds and went up to the mountain first thing in the morning. We had another instructor join us, a National Guard sniper that spent time in Iraq. We hiked up a small hill to get to the rear firing position then ranged the targets, again using our reticle. The picture above is from this firing position. Targets ranged from 510 yards to 1032 yards. Winds started off calm, but as the morning progressed picked up a bit. We started off with target #1 and worked our way out to the Near Humanoid/Suitcase Man at 836 yards.
That afternoon we shot from the middle firing position. We partnered up and acted as a team, swapping data cards with each other. The shooter’s job was to be a trigger monkey and provide a good trigger press on command. The spotters job was to give the shooter the elevation based on range, observe the prevailing wind conditions, calculate windage and give that information to the shooter. Finally the spotter would wait for the appropriate wind condition and then command the shooter to fire. With winds gusting from 5-20 miles per hour. It was tricky to get a shot off at the right wind speed. Some shooters had some lag time at first, but with practice, most everyone was getting consistent hits. One thing I noticed was by only focusing on the wind, you were paying attention to things you may have otherwise overlooked if you were shooting. My partner was shooting a .308 so calculating the right condition for him was key. Once we had our communication issued down he was hitting the humanoid at 748 yards consistently. On a side note, we were all using Darrell’s “Ultimate Data Card” he made for us and the data his program calculated and I have to say I was impressed. It was easy to use and the data provided was right on the money.
Finally we had a man vs. man competition. First shooter with one hit on the near humanoid twice (552yds) wins. Then we did the same setup with the first with two hits on the near humanoid twice wins. Everyone had fun and the final matchup was extremely close.
Day 4 started off with a written test. It covered an assortment of knowledge learned from the week, and had some practical problems you needed to figure out. After everyone finished, we covered any missed answers then headed up to the mountain for our final shooting session/test.
This was done from a firing position we hadn’t used before called “The Grassy Knoll”. It was a small mound with trees covering the left side (the side prevalent winds came from the previous days). Farther than the middle firing position, but not as far as the rear firing position. Targets ranged from 277yds to 810yds. We each had 10 minutes to range all 13 targets. Then we gave our data to Darrell and without any feedback on our numbers, we each took turns firing one round at each target. No spotter help with wind calls. You were on your own. Scoring was 2pts for an impact in the heart, 1pt for an impact anywhere else on the plate. Winds were dead calm for the first two shooters. Then it began to pick up with the final shooter getting 4-6mph winds from the 9:00 position. After the field test, we had about an hour of free time to work on whatever we want from that firing position.
After that, we broke for lunch and had some final wrap up and an awards ceremony with some critique on things we need to work on.
Personal Observations –
I have to be honest, when my wife told me she got this for me I was very excited. I have only been shooting for 3 years and have never had any formal training. When I checked out Holland’s website I started to get a bit skeptical since it seemed to be a hunting focused school. I decided to go into it with an open mind and if I didn’t learn anything, chalk it up to experience. I am happy to say my skepticism was unfounded. Even with three other hunters, Darrell made sure to make me feel welcome as a competition shooter. The information and feedback he provided was definitely useful and helped me see some things I would have struggled with for a long time otherwise. He also took the time to answer any questions the students had on positions, gear, reloading….really anything shooting/hunting related. I only had 90 rounds through my .260 when I showed up at class. I also upgraded my scope when I was getting my rifle rebarreled so I was getting comfortable with that as well.
I fired 180 rounds over the 4 days even though I took 300 per Darrell’s recommendation. Why not more? I didn’t need to. Marc Soulie at Spartan Precision Rifles built a hammer and it got to a point I was just firing for effect. I guess my only criticism would be I would have liked to see some work on positional shooting. The other three shooters were fairly new to LR shooting so as a class we were working on proper prone position and a good trigger press. I definitely feel I am a better shooter coming away from the class than I was going into it.
Feel free to ask any questions.
