Hey everyone, I am just getting back into firearm after 15 yrs. As I am new to the sport of long range shooting can you help me with getting started.. I have a Windham AR 10 .308 with a stock barrel. I have Burris AR 7.62 optic and have sent off for luther mb3 ,a harris bipod. any help would be appreciated .
just getting started
- Thread starter Glynn T.
- Start date
Just get a Barrett MRAD.
It'll be cheaper when you consider all the dumb shit you'll buy in the first 2 years at which point you'll end up with an MRAD anyways.
It'll be cheaper when you consider all the dumb shit you'll buy in the first 2 years at which point you'll end up with an MRAD anyways.
If there is a question in there somewhere, it will help you most if you can decide what it is you would like to do/accomplish within the realm of long range shooting. Your current equipment will limit you for sure at least eventually. The Harris and Luther are good items though and are usable for future improvements.
Is your goal to shoot well at 300 yards? 500? 1000?
Paper and steel targets?
Casual home and range fun or competition and/or hunting?
Do you have a budget in mind? Scratch that. Take your expected budget and double it...then double it again. You might be getting close...for a little while.
Most importantly, look into providing good quality ammunition for your rifle and get out and shoot. That means match/precision type ammo. Find out what your rifle likes and then buy lotts of it, all at once or as you can afford it and shoot it. For .308, good brands to look at include (not an exclusive list): Federal Gold Medal Match, Black Hills, Hornady Match, Prime Ammo, , a number of others. For long range, you will do best to focus on ammunition using boat tail type projectiles
Spend plenty of time reading and maybe sign up for the SH online training, so that you can watch the many great training tips and lessons that Frank has done. At some point, you will know enough about things that you will be asking more specific questions.
Good luck and have fun on your journey.
Is your goal to shoot well at 300 yards? 500? 1000?
Paper and steel targets?
Casual home and range fun or competition and/or hunting?
Do you have a budget in mind? Scratch that. Take your expected budget and double it...then double it again. You might be getting close...for a little while.
Most importantly, look into providing good quality ammunition for your rifle and get out and shoot. That means match/precision type ammo. Find out what your rifle likes and then buy lotts of it, all at once or as you can afford it and shoot it. For .308, good brands to look at include (not an exclusive list): Federal Gold Medal Match, Black Hills, Hornady Match, Prime Ammo, , a number of others. For long range, you will do best to focus on ammunition using boat tail type projectiles
Spend plenty of time reading and maybe sign up for the SH online training, so that you can watch the many great training tips and lessons that Frank has done. At some point, you will know enough about things that you will be asking more specific questions.
Good luck and have fun on your journey.
To start assuming the rifle is ok maybe swfa 10x, decent chronograph, kestrel, thermometer, and note books to record data
Lol! Well, besides the fact the the MRAD IS a nice rifle, there's an inside joke involved. Once you get to MRAD level prices, there are a number of very good choices.
The first thing that people do is google it and their first reaction is, 'holy shit, that's a $6k rifle!'. What usually happens afterwards looks something like this:
- Posts on forums wanting best caliber/rifle/build/scope/reloading setup/everything
- Gets an 'off the shelf' rifle like a Remington 700 5R or RPR in either 308 (85% of the time), 6.5 Creedmoor (10% of the time) or some random caliber because, reasons! (5% of the time)
- Shoots this rifle a little
- Posts on forums wanting a better/different scope for said rifle and ends up buying/selling/trading around for scopes because of various likes/dislikes/needs
- Buys various accessories, reloading equipment, different stocks, different rings, different rail, different trigger, different bipod
- Now wants to put a 'match' barrel on the gun even though it has 314 rounds through it at this point
- Eventually decides that he wants a bigger/better/different caliber because he has either gotten good at <500 ranges or because X caliber is better/faster/cooler/whatever
- Process starts all over again.
Most start with a 308, then go to a .260 or 7mm or 6.5CM or whatever. Then change calibers around a bunch of times and then go to a larger caliber. All while changing around stocks, barrels, triggers, scopes and every fucking thing under the sun for mutiple rifles now.
In the longrun, had you bought an MRAD that is capable of firing 308, .260, 7mm, 300WM, 300NM, and 338LM out of the EXACT same chassis while you are using the EXACT same optic with the EXACT same setup each time, regardless of what caliber you are shooting - you'd be light-years ahead money and quality wise. You wouldn't be stuck buying/selling/trading shit all day, you wouldn't have to 'relearn' a rifle each time you took a different caliber out because the optic/stock/LOP/whatever was different, none of that shit. Hell, want a suppressor? You only have to buy 1, and its for all of the calibers on your MRAD.
And if you worry that 'it isn't a custom gun', well, I've had them all, and the MRAD is a <.5MOA gun out of the box for me. Go look in the MRAD thread in bolt actions and I have a few target boards up of 5, 5 shot (one after the other, no cherry pickers) groups during load development that averaged under .6 inches @ 200 yards.
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Give me a call 303-443-0718, I can get talk with you about what your focus is and what reasonably priced options are available. I will tell you about stuff I have and stuff I dont' carry, and you can decide what makes the most sense for what you want to spend.
Buy used first. Save money for a good scope that might last you a couple rifles.
Get a DTA SRS with a .223, 6.5, .308, and 300WM conversion kit. That'll cover most everything you could want to do. Then you could splurge on almost any caliber you could want.
223 & 308 for range fun and training
6.5 for comps
300WM for elr and hunting.
That way you can tell the wife it'll be the last rifle you ever buy hahaha
But on a serious note, read, read, read, and when you're done reading, well then read more. Nothing wrong with questions either. Be open to ideas and trying things.
If I may suggest, for long range shooting look into a bolt gun maybe in a 6.5? Good factory ammo selection and it'll be a great long range caliber for learning and training.
Covert is as Covert does.
Plenty of good feedback on the scout site.
Get a DTA SRS with a .223, 6.5, .308, and 300WM conversion kit. That'll cover most everything you could want to do. Then you could splurge on almost any caliber you could want.
223 & 308 for range fun and training
6.5 for comps
300WM for elr and hunting.
That way you can tell the wife it'll be the last rifle you ever buy hahaha
But on a serious note, read, read, read, and when you're done reading, well then read more. Nothing wrong with questions either. Be open to ideas and trying things.
If I may suggest, for long range shooting look into a bolt gun maybe in a 6.5? Good factory ammo selection and it'll be a great long range caliber for learning and training.
Covert is as Covert does.
Plenty of good feedback on the scout site.
This.
But especially this.
My first time out with the MRAD I was able to put together a .5 MOA (1.5") 5-shot group at 300 yards and went on to shoot a 198-8X at 500. Details + pics in the MRAD MasterRace thread.
Not to mention that prices have come down a bit and you can find certain configurations around $5k and not $6.
If you're looking to get into the next level of serious gear, it's great advice. Get an MRAD, or a used DTA, buy once cry once. I have the 6.5CM, .338LM and .308 barrel assemblies, and effectively have three sub-MOA custom-quality guns for around $7500 invested. Buying three custom quality bolt guns would have run more like $9k.
If you're looking to get started, you've already got fine gear for a starter set -- just add ammo and trigger time.
If you wanted something about halfway to the price of the Barrett, and staying with the AR10 platform, I'm a big fan of Seekins Precision. You can find one of the Seekins SP10 for around $2250. I think it's arguably the best price/performance in the precision semi-auto space.
The gun I've seen the most in the long range classes I've taken lately has to be the Ruger Precision Rifle. It's hard to argue with it as the absolute most cost effective option out there if you were starting from zero... but you should be just fine starting with your Windham, it should be a 1MOA gun or better with the right ammo. The only reason I'd see to switch to the RPR is if you wanted to jump ship to 6.5CM.
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