How far do you shoot your MBRs?

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At what ranges do you use your semiauto battle rifles? How far out do you practice to? Scope or irons?

Currently, I can from the prone easily hit a torso-sized target (made from four sheets of 8x11" paper) at 200 yards, but that's the longest range I have access to.

Eventually, I want to be able to do the same at 600 yards, with open sights, with my FAL, off of the bipod. I'd like to be able to reliably hit one sheet of paper from the standing at 200 yards also, but I have a ways to go before I achieve either of these goals.

So give me some confidence boosters. Tell me about your long ranged shooting with your M1A, M1 Garand, FAL, HK91, clones, or whatever. I'm only interested in rack-grade rifles. No match-grade, supermatch, free-floated barrels, or what have you. Please specify what kind of scope you use (magnification) if you use optics.

Also, if you've used a VEPR, Saiga, Dragunov, or Romak-3 at these ranges, chime in too. I'm always interested in hearing about these rifles. :)

People have told me that it's a silly waste of time, that if I want to shoot at that range (500+ yards) I need to be using a scoped bolt gun with a bipod and $2.00 a round match ammunition.

I don't buy it, though. I think my rack-grade DSA STG-58A is quite capable of reliably hitting a man-sized target at 600 meters, I just need to get there myself.

Inspire me with your shooting abilities, so I keep on practicing! :D
 
You just lessen the size of the target (like draw the bullseye smaller on a smaller target base (not four sheets together)).

The do have targets that have the target at the proper size as it would be if you were firing that far and you don't have to use up the entire 200 yds to do so.

(hard to explain, to all you military and ex-military, you know the targets I'm talking about, the ones we had to qualify with that were only about 50yds or so out).

M
 
Scoped, from off-hand, with my Remington 7400, at 400yds, I can put 5 rounds into a 18" wide steel plate in less than 10 seconds using plain hunting ammo ($0.50/shot .30-06.) Maybe closer to 5 seconds.

Shepherd's V2 scope with range-finding reticule (just drop whatever circle fits over 18" of either deer or human, and pull the trigger. No guesswork.) makes it possible at a frightfully high rate of fire.

I haven't tried it at 600yet.
 
At what ranges do you use your semiauto battle rifles? How far out do you practice to? Scope or irons?

Currently, I can from the prone easily hit a torso-sized target (made from four sheets of 8x11" paper) at 200 yards, but that's the longest range I have access to.
Click to expand...
Don't feel bad, 100yds is the longest range I have access to.

I do most of my shooting prone, supported kneeling or sitting. All with open sights. I've tried scopes but can't get any feeling of accomplishment with them even though I do like to have a few scoped guns available. I try to shoot standing but can't shoot that well with the heavy FAL, M39s or Garand. I do better with my SKS or Mosin Carbines, but feel that I could do better with a more accurate rifle (or more specifically, one with better sights). Now that I have an AR I'm commiting myself to really work on shooting well @100 yds standing.


You just lessen the size of the target (like draw the bullseye smaller on a smaller target base (not four sheets together)).

The do have targets that have the target at the proper size as it would be if you were firing that far and you don't have to use up the entire 200 yds to do so.
Click to expand...
Here's a couple here, 200yds reduced to 100 yds, 300yds reduced to 200 yds, 600yds reduced to 100 yds, and a whole bunch of cool smallbore targets such as 900 reduced to 100, etc:

http://www.uspalma.com/Targets/targets.htm
 
Shoot Highpower with your FAL. It will be at least as accurate as a rack grade M1 (which is what I learned to shoot highpower with). The sights will be worse, so either have a screwdriver handy or use 'kentucky windage'. Also don't cinch the sling as tightly as you would on an a freefloated boltgun, as you'll torque the barrel and throw of your POI. But other than those caveats, as they say, "perfect practice makes perfect".

atek3


PS Thats pretty impressive Arthurd, I live in the bay area, maybe we can go shoot some time.
 
I have access to a 500 yard range... when the snow finally melts.
I am gonna get out next weekend if I can and put some lead downrange with my FAL.
In the past I have been able to hit steel pigs that are about 12" tall and about 18" wide (guessing here) at 300 yards with my M-39 using the open sights. It really isn't that difficult once you get the right setting on the sights. I am pretty confident that I could eventually get good enough to do that at 500 yards, at least most of the time.
I can do pretty well on steel chickens 12" X 12" at 200 yards pretty well with an SKS but not as well with an AK.
Still have some work to do...
 
I shoot my CETME at 200 yards all the time. No scope, just the aperture.

Generally shoot at an 8" bull. At 200 yards it "dots the i" nicely. No problem keepin all in the bill. Most groups around 4-6"

Plinking, my favorite target is old (empty) propane tanks at 200 yards or so. They make a nice sound when you hit them. If no tanks available, I've been known to buy old skillets or frying pans at the thrift store for long-range plinking.
 
There is a shooting range in my area that has steel targets out to 600 yards and I go out there about once a month the past few months. When I shoot, I have my buddy spot the "hits and misses" so I know where the shot went. With my M39 and 148 gr. Wolf ammo, 200 yards is kinda easy and 300 yards is very do-able. I'm going tomorrow, so I'll try 400 yards ;) . With my No. 4 MkII and 174 gr. PMP ammo, pretty much the same thing, 200 yards is easy and 300 yards is as well, until I get tired.

One note, the range is set up so that you are shooting uphill a bit, in order to have a separate row of targets at a distance of 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 yards respectively. I never thought too much of it until I read that thread about "uphill/downhill shooting." I just figured that my sights were set up for a specific load and that the commercial ammo I was shooting was loaded differently. (I'm not a reloader, nor do I know much about ballistics).

BTW, with a buddy's Savage 10FP in .223 and a Weaver GrandSlam set to it's lowest power (IINM, 4x) I was consistantly hitting a steel target at 600 yards once I figured out how much to hold over. I was surprised at how easy it was. The wind was blowing straight at me so I didn't have to do anything other than hold over (and keep from shivering - it was cold :uhoh: ). If the wind was blowing side-to-side, I probably would have just been wasting ammo, since I don't have a clue about how to deal with a cross-wind. I read that the two biggest problems with long-range shooting is range estimation (because of bullet drop) and windage, and if that's the case, only actual shooting at long range can really give you an idea of what it's like. This isn't meant as a negative comment on shooting small targets at closer ranges (heck, you do what you can and I shoot like that most of the time) but my understanding is that it only helps so much. HTH. ;)
 
For the military C&Rs...

Everything is done at 100 yards without scopes or bipods, using a bench or off-hand. I'm not much of a long distance shooter.
 
People have told me that it's a silly waste of time, that if I want to shoot at that range (500+ yards) I need to be using a scoped bolt gun with a bipod and $2.00 a round match ammunition.
Click to expand...
I personally believe most of those people have either a) never shot long range at all, or b) just really like those super-accurate rifles and have sniper-itis :D (read sig line before being offended)

I know I say this all the time, but it is NO big deal whatsoever to shoot a 300 yard sillouette using iron sights from my LOWLY 5.56 with a 14.5" barrel! Even a couple of those who have never laid hands on an AR15 before have pinged the 500 a time or two.

As long as it's not too windy, both of my AR shooting buddies and I can do 300 all day long, and 500 at least half the time... more often with optics.

If my poodle shooter can do it, your MBR can most certainly. Especially if it's an AR10 :neener:
 
Oh, sorry. I forgot you were asking about semi-autos :eek: .Well, my buddy rebarreled his M1 Garand in .308 and using Aussie Surplus .308, hit a life-size steel chicken at 400 yards! I spotted for him so I know he did it. When I look at the steel chicken with the naked eye, it's just a little white dot that's smaller than the width of the front sight of the Garand. I was spotting his misses for him and then he starting nailing it (three of his last four shots out of the 8-shot clip).

Now, I know that in real life, you don't hunt chickens at 400 yards with a .308 M1 Garand, and that even if you do, it's unlikely the chicken will just stand still while you sight-in on him :rolleyes: , but my buddy can kinda say "I can hit a chicken at 400 yards with my Garand!" Is that motivation enough? ;)
 
Just a note, shooting at reduced targets is a usefull tool but, it is no replacement for actually shooting at longer ranges. Learning how to judge wind etc. is an important lesson to learn.
 
Today I was shooting 10" square steel (AR500 armor plate steel) plates at 300 and 400 yards. The face of each plate was painted red for visibility, but because of the scrub and uneven surface of the Pawnee Grasslands, the 400 yard plate was pretty hard to see.

I was shooting them with a .243 varmint gun with a 8x scope, my AR10 with a TA11 ACOG (3.5x), and my JP AR-15 (CTR02) with a TA11. Hits on the 300 yard plate were easy with any gun. At 400 yards, the most difficult thing was sight picture and holdover.

With the .243 and a plain duplex scope, it was hard to get consistent holdover.

With the JP AR15, I could hold the 400 yard ACOG stadia at the top of the plate and hit it almost every time. The reticle's apparent size at this distance is quite big, and the vertical line in the BDC covered most of the plate.

I think the winning strategy using iron sights at this distance with small targets is to "lollipop" the target, after turning your elevation knob appropriately. This way your front sight won't cover up the target.

-z
 
Check out my range report in this forum on the NDM-86 .308 Dragunov. Incredible accuracy (I was using Georgia Arm's "Canned Heat" budget match ammo, only $195/500rds), easy cleanging/maintenance, can double as an MBR if needbe. With aimed shots, a coarse zero, gusting wind & an 8x scope the 18" gong at 500m was toast every single time (haven't tried it w/iron sights or at longer ranges yet).
Tomac
 
Tomac, if you don't mind me asking, where did you get your NDM-86 and how much did you pay? I've always been fascinated by the SVD pattern guns. I'd really like a true SVD but they're exactly impossible to find and I imagine WAY out of my price range if one actually came up for legal sale. :)
 
Black Snowman, only 1,000 of the NDM-86s were made in .308 and CDNN has the last of them for $1,700 (current remaining supply is estimated to be between 6 months & a year, I'm planning on picking up a 2nd if I can to put back for my son). The NDM-86 *is* a true SVD, only made in China and in .308 (best of both worlds, IMHO, as with match ammo the .308 NDM-86 will easily outshoot the 7.62x54 NDM-86). My only regret is not buying one years ago! More info: http://www.dragunov.net/ndm86.html
HTH...
Tomac
 
Damn . . . didn't need to hear that . . . hmmm . . . anyone want to buy any musical instruments to help fund my purchase? ;) I've got a synth, a guitar, a couple basses, an amp, some cabinets and a set of drums :D
 
My CETME hit fine at 200 when I had it (for two weeks) my AK was fine at the same distance.


My Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk1, while not a semi, reliably hit at 950 yards a truck sized target, sitting position, no sling, iron sights with ball ammo. Took about a second and a half to get there, but they hit where i wanted them to. :) 40 rounds in a row of nothing but solid hits. Couldn't hit a man sized target at that distance, but I could annoy a squad or seriously screw up a platoon.
 
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