1KPerDay
Member
Part of this post will be repeated for those who participated in this thread https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ulty-left-hand-hunting-use-irrelevant.869224/ Skip down to below the bolded sentence for more details if interested.
Just got home from the 2 day shooting course. 98 degrees today. I’m pretty bushed. It was awesome and I learned a lot. VERY GLAD I decided to rent a proper LR setup. I took the SCAR along also and was able to hit steel to 600 easily even with PPU ball. I primarily shot a RH Ruger PR in 6mm Creedmoor with a Vortex Viper PST 5-25x50 in MOA.
Prior to this class I’d considered calculating ballistics and drop to be voodoo black magic but using a ballistic app and inputting proper G7 bullet data and local weather station conditions resulted in a dope chart that enabled me to go one for one first shot hits at 3/4/5/6/7/8/900 yards and second shot hits at 1000 after correcting for crosswind. I was simply astounded.
I was more astounded when I hit the LRSU “milk jug challenge” jug with my second shot at 1000 yards. Held dead on for elevation based on my dope chart, and 4 minutes of windage. Got it!
My brother shot a Remington 700 police tactical something or other in a Manners stock and he shot tiny groups during the zero confirmation at 100 and he hit the jug at 1000 also but he had to hold 12 minutes of wind. And as I spotted for him throughout the day I was amazed how much more the .308 gets blown around past 600 yards than my 6 creed did. The recoil beat him up as well, especially since the instructor had us set up directly behind the rifle with the buttstock high on our collarbones and as close to our centerline as possible.
My shoulder and cheek are sore from ergonomic weirdness (I had the comb as far back as possible to get a good eye box but was still basically resting my cheekbone on the rear edge of the comb) but was able to see my hits and call my shots at 1000 yards but with the SCAR I couldn’t at any distance due to the recoil. And that was a big part of success in the class so if I’d have tried to struggle through with my SCAR setup it would have been frustrating instead of enlightening and very enjoyable.
I’m still proud of hitting 3 for 3 at 600 with PPU ball and a 1-8 AccuPower. I just asked the spotter if he knew about what .308 ball required at 600 and he said he thought about 14 minutes so I held 14 minutes up and BOOM CLANG! Super cool.
I may write a longer summary/review of the class when I get some time. Well worth it IMO. LRSU intro to long range shooting course. Tons of fun.
It was so easy to hit out to 600 with the RPR that I stopped burning the ammo because it got a little boring. I did shoot a 10 shot group at 100 with it that was less than an inch. For someone who has literally never shot from prone/bags or bench before I found that very impressive.
The below is new/more info as some have requested.
An accurate setup and good glass is essential, as is a bubble level. Several times the instructor said he'd rather have a $1K rifle and a $4K scope than a $4K rifle and a $1K scope.
For me, when I buy a good LR optic I'm going to look for very positive zero stops. The one I rented tracked accurately but didn't stop at zero/bottom. It went a bit past. Perhaps that was just that it was a rental and hadn't been re-zeroed or whatever. It was also a full revolution high on elevation but the instructor helped me get it sorted. I know almost nothing about optics but it was cool to be able to see a milk jug at 1000 yards at 25X well enough to hit it. I definitely want MORE magnification rather than less for this type of shooting.
For this class they taught mostly shooting from prone with a good bipod on a mat with straps you could push into to load the bipod.
Rear bag setup needs to be stable and allow for you to squeeze a bag to adjust elevation.
Good ballistic data and a ballistic app: some bullet makers just provide G1 BC data but ideally you want to input multiple G7 BC data points at multiple velocities. It was available for my Hornady Match 108 grain 6mm Creedmoor and when I input that data and the weather data including density altitude (we were at 6000ish feet but density altitude was around 9800 feet because it was so hot) it lined up perfectly and I simply dialed the prescribed dope for elevation and then it was just a question of wind calls.
As far as actually shooting, they came up with an acronym: don't forget your PANTS!
P=Position: get yourself directly behind the rifle with the bore inline with your spine, insides of feet flat on the ground, buttstock high as possible on collarbone and stock as close to medial (center of your body) as possible. It feels weird at first and you might have to move your scope back to get proper eye box. You want pressure on the stock and into the bipod so you sort of make a bridge and settle down into position with enough pressure that you can hold the buttstock on your shoulder and the crosshairs on your target without touching the rifle with your hands (or even a rear bag).
This is an excellent demonstration and the instructors used a similar video from Phillip Velayo during the class to discuss cheek weld and position.
A=Acquire natural respiratory pause. (I would have used "Air" but it's not my class
). They discussed multiple breathing methods and demonstrated that you get the most stable and repeatable and accurate results when shooting during the natural respiratory pause at the bottom of your breathing cycle, after you let a full breath out.
N=Natural point of aim. You want to move your whole body so that the crosshairs settle on the target (or very close to it) with your eyes closed as you naturally breathe out. You practice getting your crosshairs on target, closing your eyes, breathing in and out, and reopening your eyes and checking your crosshairs. If they rest on the target, that's your natural point of aim. We even did a drill at 100 yards shooting with eyes closed, after acquiring the target, closing your eyes, breathing in and out, and shooting during the respiratory pause. Many people's groups eyes closed were better than eyes open. Mine was about half the size of my eyes open groups, but the POI was high and right of the bullseye. So I was obviously muscling the reticle into position more than I should.
T=Trigger control (the most important thing). Aim for a 90-degree bend in the trigger finger, and place the finger so the center of the first pad is on the trigger, and try to press straight to the rear. Don't try to ambush the target or snap the trigger when the crosshairs are where you want them. Press slowly and smoothly to the rear as you maintain the crosshairs on the target.
S=Stay on the rifle and spot your shot. Follow-through after the shot is important. Hold the trigger to the rear until you see your impact at least.
In addition to your PANTS, you also need to check your bubble level and your parallax. For every distance, you adjust your parallax first, then you always check your bubble level before each shot. I was very surprised how much difference having a bubble level made. You'd feel like you were repeating your position and scope alignment perfectly but you check your level and you're canted to the right or to the left. And if the bubble isn't centered, you won't be able to hit the target and/or call your wind holds correctly because if you're off center for level, you're pushing shots slightly left or right just by canting the rifle.
Before every session and pretty much before every shot, we repeated "bubble level, parallax, PANTS."
They went over some basics of ammo/reloading (match quality ammo is vital), equipment, optics, some stuff about wind calls (but I could have used more on that, since that's really the hardest thing to learn), and how wind at the shooter is more influential than wind midway to the target or at the target. They went over MOA and mils and what they mean, and how to make the proper adjustments. The spotters/instructors shot both, were very familiar with both, and had no issues calling correct wind holds in either language.
The ballistic app (we used "Shooter" which costs $10) took all the guesswork out of creating a dope chart, so they didn't get into any of the external ballistics or math as far as that goes. I also would have appreciated some instruction on ranging using the reticle but that's another kettle of fish.
That's pretty much the guts as far as I can recall.
Just got home from the 2 day shooting course. 98 degrees today. I’m pretty bushed. It was awesome and I learned a lot. VERY GLAD I decided to rent a proper LR setup. I took the SCAR along also and was able to hit steel to 600 easily even with PPU ball. I primarily shot a RH Ruger PR in 6mm Creedmoor with a Vortex Viper PST 5-25x50 in MOA.
Prior to this class I’d considered calculating ballistics and drop to be voodoo black magic but using a ballistic app and inputting proper G7 bullet data and local weather station conditions resulted in a dope chart that enabled me to go one for one first shot hits at 3/4/5/6/7/8/900 yards and second shot hits at 1000 after correcting for crosswind. I was simply astounded.
I was more astounded when I hit the LRSU “milk jug challenge” jug with my second shot at 1000 yards. Held dead on for elevation based on my dope chart, and 4 minutes of windage. Got it!
My brother shot a Remington 700 police tactical something or other in a Manners stock and he shot tiny groups during the zero confirmation at 100 and he hit the jug at 1000 also but he had to hold 12 minutes of wind. And as I spotted for him throughout the day I was amazed how much more the .308 gets blown around past 600 yards than my 6 creed did. The recoil beat him up as well, especially since the instructor had us set up directly behind the rifle with the buttstock high on our collarbones and as close to our centerline as possible.
My shoulder and cheek are sore from ergonomic weirdness (I had the comb as far back as possible to get a good eye box but was still basically resting my cheekbone on the rear edge of the comb) but was able to see my hits and call my shots at 1000 yards but with the SCAR I couldn’t at any distance due to the recoil. And that was a big part of success in the class so if I’d have tried to struggle through with my SCAR setup it would have been frustrating instead of enlightening and very enjoyable.
I’m still proud of hitting 3 for 3 at 600 with PPU ball and a 1-8 AccuPower. I just asked the spotter if he knew about what .308 ball required at 600 and he said he thought about 14 minutes so I held 14 minutes up and BOOM CLANG! Super cool.
I may write a longer summary/review of the class when I get some time. Well worth it IMO. LRSU intro to long range shooting course. Tons of fun.
It was so easy to hit out to 600 with the RPR that I stopped burning the ammo because it got a little boring. I did shoot a 10 shot group at 100 with it that was less than an inch. For someone who has literally never shot from prone/bags or bench before I found that very impressive.
The below is new/more info as some have requested.
An accurate setup and good glass is essential, as is a bubble level. Several times the instructor said he'd rather have a $1K rifle and a $4K scope than a $4K rifle and a $1K scope.
For me, when I buy a good LR optic I'm going to look for very positive zero stops. The one I rented tracked accurately but didn't stop at zero/bottom. It went a bit past. Perhaps that was just that it was a rental and hadn't been re-zeroed or whatever. It was also a full revolution high on elevation but the instructor helped me get it sorted. I know almost nothing about optics but it was cool to be able to see a milk jug at 1000 yards at 25X well enough to hit it. I definitely want MORE magnification rather than less for this type of shooting.
For this class they taught mostly shooting from prone with a good bipod on a mat with straps you could push into to load the bipod.
Rear bag setup needs to be stable and allow for you to squeeze a bag to adjust elevation.
Good ballistic data and a ballistic app: some bullet makers just provide G1 BC data but ideally you want to input multiple G7 BC data points at multiple velocities. It was available for my Hornady Match 108 grain 6mm Creedmoor and when I input that data and the weather data including density altitude (we were at 6000ish feet but density altitude was around 9800 feet because it was so hot) it lined up perfectly and I simply dialed the prescribed dope for elevation and then it was just a question of wind calls.
As far as actually shooting, they came up with an acronym: don't forget your PANTS!
P=Position: get yourself directly behind the rifle with the bore inline with your spine, insides of feet flat on the ground, buttstock high as possible on collarbone and stock as close to medial (center of your body) as possible. It feels weird at first and you might have to move your scope back to get proper eye box. You want pressure on the stock and into the bipod so you sort of make a bridge and settle down into position with enough pressure that you can hold the buttstock on your shoulder and the crosshairs on your target without touching the rifle with your hands (or even a rear bag).
This is an excellent demonstration and the instructors used a similar video from Phillip Velayo during the class to discuss cheek weld and position.
A=Acquire natural respiratory pause. (I would have used "Air" but it's not my class
). They discussed multiple breathing methods and demonstrated that you get the most stable and repeatable and accurate results when shooting during the natural respiratory pause at the bottom of your breathing cycle, after you let a full breath out.N=Natural point of aim. You want to move your whole body so that the crosshairs settle on the target (or very close to it) with your eyes closed as you naturally breathe out. You practice getting your crosshairs on target, closing your eyes, breathing in and out, and reopening your eyes and checking your crosshairs. If they rest on the target, that's your natural point of aim. We even did a drill at 100 yards shooting with eyes closed, after acquiring the target, closing your eyes, breathing in and out, and shooting during the respiratory pause. Many people's groups eyes closed were better than eyes open. Mine was about half the size of my eyes open groups, but the POI was high and right of the bullseye. So I was obviously muscling the reticle into position more than I should.
T=Trigger control (the most important thing). Aim for a 90-degree bend in the trigger finger, and place the finger so the center of the first pad is on the trigger, and try to press straight to the rear. Don't try to ambush the target or snap the trigger when the crosshairs are where you want them. Press slowly and smoothly to the rear as you maintain the crosshairs on the target.
S=Stay on the rifle and spot your shot. Follow-through after the shot is important. Hold the trigger to the rear until you see your impact at least.
In addition to your PANTS, you also need to check your bubble level and your parallax. For every distance, you adjust your parallax first, then you always check your bubble level before each shot. I was very surprised how much difference having a bubble level made. You'd feel like you were repeating your position and scope alignment perfectly but you check your level and you're canted to the right or to the left. And if the bubble isn't centered, you won't be able to hit the target and/or call your wind holds correctly because if you're off center for level, you're pushing shots slightly left or right just by canting the rifle.
Before every session and pretty much before every shot, we repeated "bubble level, parallax, PANTS."
They went over some basics of ammo/reloading (match quality ammo is vital), equipment, optics, some stuff about wind calls (but I could have used more on that, since that's really the hardest thing to learn), and how wind at the shooter is more influential than wind midway to the target or at the target. They went over MOA and mils and what they mean, and how to make the proper adjustments. The spotters/instructors shot both, were very familiar with both, and had no issues calling correct wind holds in either language.
The ballistic app (we used "Shooter" which costs $10) took all the guesswork out of creating a dope chart, so they didn't get into any of the external ballistics or math as far as that goes. I also would have appreciated some instruction on ranging using the reticle but that's another kettle of fish.
That's pretty much the guts as far as I can recall.
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