Long range shooting popularity

[ourway77]

Delaware we have a 1000 yard range but I have never used it. It seems that only so many dedicated shooters do and the range is only open too practice and shoots on certain days I do use the 600 yard range quite a bit Just had a 6.5 Creedmore built and am itching to see what it will do

 

[MtnCreek]

... I have access to a hay farmer friends land where I could shoot 1000+ yards. But am limited to when I can shoot there. Forget it during hay growing season. ...

You might consider shooting some yotes on that field right after it's cut. I'm not an accomplished yote hunter, but do pretty well on fresh cut fields. Plus every dead yote makes GA a better place.

 

[quest4perfection]

1. I think there is a fairly finite supply of people who even can be meaningfully engaged in long-range shooting. Most people simply have no reasonable access to ranges in excess of 100-300 yards.
2. Of the people who have access to long distance ranges, only a small subset will be interested in expending the serious money required to get up and running. The glass costs alone are pretty serious.
3. Of those, only a portion of them will be interested in tackling the math and other inherent technical challenges in long range shooting. It's not easy.

In short, there are a lot of barriers to entry, and finite number of people who are going to be willing to overcome them. The introduction of high quality Vortex optics and the RPR moved the needle on #2, and there was an influx. But barriers haven't been further lowered in most places, and now there's a new equilibrium.

I think most new shooters now a days are all about AR15 type rifles and 9mm
handguns, at least that’s what I have noticed, 90% of the rifles I see at the range is some sort or AR with 15 accessories mounted on them shooting at targets under 50 yards out,
And in my area finding a public range that goes past 300 yards is a challenge, I think many new shooters don’t want to invest the money,time and leg work to find a range that has
The distance to shoot out to
At least that’s what I see locally to me

The range I shoot at goes to a mile. What we noticed at this range is: appx. 10% 6br and .22br shooters, 50% AR, and the rest running hunting/bench attempts, not including the fall influx of pre-season sight-ins. Huge increase in AR shooters in last two years.

Curious about others experiences regarding the number of 6BR shooters in their area?

 

[someguy2800]

It's really hard to find a public place to shoot long range in Minnesota. I know of 1 1000 yard range, 1 600, and 1 700. They are all a few hours away from me. Many ranges require a yearly membership and a sponsor to join. I lived in minneapolis for 4 years and to shoot rifle there I found a range an hour away with yearly membership but did not need to be sponsored. They had a 100/200/300 yard range but the kicker was the backstop was fixed and to shoot longer range you had to move back and shoot over the 100 yard benches. So obviously you could not do that unless nobody else was at the range. That only happened 2 times in my trips there so it was really a 100 yard range. To shoot longer I would go to my father in laws farm. The longest line of sight distance there is 500. At my place I own now I have a 300 yard range built. In the winter when the crops are out I can shoot across the neighbors field which extends that out to 600. I don't shoot past 300 much. I make it challenging by making the target smaller or using less capable rounds.

When I was a teenager we had a couple lakes around with no people living on them and used to go on the frozen lake in the winter to shoot across the ice. It was the only place we could find that was flat enough with no trees to shoot long distance. It is against the law but nobody ever bothered us.

 

[Driftertank]

There's a couple places around me where i shoot relatively long range.
The local club range has a 1000yd range, but it's only open to higher-level members or competitors when they run events.
A lot of the public land around here has gotten closed off because of illegal dumping and irresponsible shooters, but there's a parcel i know of a ways out of town that a friend and i like to shoot at. We generally keep it to ourselves so nobody goes and gets it shut down, but SOMEBODY else knows of it; they carved out a little goat-path and put up t-stakes every 100m from 400 to 1200. I'm not complaining, and we're always careful not to mess up their set-up...but we do hang targets off their posts.

 

[CoalTrain49]

I'm a fairly new rifle shooter. Not that I haven't owned rifles in the past, I did, but I never really took up the sport of punching paper until a few years ago, I just hunted with them. I didn't have enough time to shoot as much as I wanted. I worked my way up to 1 moa and recently started shooting at 200 yds. I have a rifle and optic that will do 1 moa. At 200 it isn't as easy as some sniper movie would lead you to believe. I doubt that I will ever shoot past 300 yds. so I won't ever be a long range shooter. I would like to see a 1 moa group at 300 someday however. I'm pretty sure I can do that with the rifle I have.

AR's are about 5 to 1 where I shoot. I live in a tri county area that has about a million people. They never shoot past 100 yds. and most can't shoot 1 moa. Some can but they have thousands invested in their gear. I doubt that very many of those shooters will ever venture past 100 yds. That leaves a pretty small market for LRP rifles.

There is however another market that I think will get a lot of the action in the future because it won't break the bank. There are bolt rifles out there now that shoot 1 moa for around $500. Not true LRP's but they leave the average AR in the dust when you want 1 moa. I know Howa and Savage both have rifles like that. I was watching a guy yesterday who had a Savage 10T (6.5 CM) shooting 1 moa at 200. He had a smile on his face because it was a new rifle and he liked his new load.

I think in a few years a lot of those LRP's will be for sale.

 

[gulogulo1970]

I think in a few years a lot of those LRP's will be for sale.

That's when I'll pounce.

 

[BLRguy]

I wonder if many found that although they could buy the gear, actually doing it was harder.

 

[Driftertank]

Yeah, the difficulty curve goes up exponentially as you go out. If you can print at 100, then a decent drop chart can get you on target at 400. By 500-600, you have to be able to read wind pretty well, and being above or below your target will change your hold noticably. When you get out to 800 or so, wind can really screw you up, and you need to know your range within 10-15 yards. Past 800, depending on your chosen round, spin drift, density altitude, and other factors start getting noticeable.

One thing I've found interesting, is if you get a spotting scope set up, focused right, and near to the bore axis of the shooter, you can watch the trace of the round on flight. It's kinda mind blowing the first time you see a .308 apex out 15-20 feet over the target and arc in to it...

 

[JO JO]

I really like spotting for my son for that reason of watching the projectile in flight , you can see it with just your eyes shooting a bigger bore handgun at lower FPS cool stuff for sure

 

[quest4perfection]

I can only shoot to about 475 on my property. All I care about is being competent at 400 and less because that is the farthest I will shoot deer. Most are inside 100. Waiting lists at any longer range near me.

A lot of fun can be had at 475 yards-perfecting shooting habits, ringing steel, compete with family and friends.

just saying