How Many Are True "LR" Shooters?

I'll be honest, I'm not. I want to be a better LR shooter, and would love to have a job that's condusive to the sport. I've shot a few big game animals and varmints in the 5-600 yd range.

I'm pretty close to the NRA Whittington Center, 130 miles across the border. I should go down there and check it out. I work six days on for three off, but I often have to work into my first day off. So it makes it hard to plan things for my days off since they rotate, and I can't really plan for things on the first day.

ducky said:

I'll be honest, I'm not. I want to be a better LR shooter, and would love to have a job that's condusive to the sport.

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Same here.

I'm getting closer to retirement and, God willing, I'll get to put some of the knowledge from LRH to use.

Until then, I'll shoot when I can and glean whatever tidbits of knowledge are presented to allow me to expand my definition of LR.

TonyRumore said:

I don't typically shoot/hunt long range. I only came over here after the specialty handgun forum shut down, since there is a sub-forum here for that. I do shoot out to 300 yards with a handgun, but I guess you guys don't consider that long range....whatever.


Tony

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300 is a pretty far piece for a pistola. I like to plink out to 200 with a browning buckmark and a 4x scoped ruger mkiii. Usually shoot 12x20 steel just to make it easy. Once you find the hold, it's surprising how well those pistols shoot.

I've shot my 460s&w out to 200 also. I have a 2.5-8x weaver on top of that one. Shooting the factory 200gr stuff I was surprised how little the hold over was. Best I could do was about a 4" group. Farthest pistol kill for me as of yet is 96 yards.

I have a 8 3/4" barreled 38/357 Smith and Wesson 626 (???) I bought it from a friend in 2002 or 2003 from a friend who used it for silhouette shooting. I still haven't fired it yet lol but he shot silhouette out to 300 yards for sure. I don't know if he was good enough to shoot 500 yards with it. It's open sights and as my eyes get older I am starting to question if I will be capable of hitting the barn vs the barn door once I ever take it out.

del2les said:

Over time, it seems I am reading more and more posts from members who have never shot true LR, and for the purposes of this discussion, I will refer to "rough" NRA standards of SR (0-300yd) MR (400-600yd) and LR (800-1,000), but some of us use the 1/4 mile rule of SR: 0-440, MR: 441-880 and LR: 881-1320 yards. Yes, there are gaps between those NRA, so lets say 601-1,000yds is LR.

With that said, I read a fair amount of posts were the shooter claims to never shoot beyond 300yd, 400yds or 500yds, and from time to time, I read posts of shooters/hunters that are critical of others for shooting beyond "their" self determined limits.

So, since this is a LR/ELR hunting and shooting forum, I am just curious how many actually shoot LR (601-1,000yds) and then how many actually shoot game or even varmints at same?

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I primarily bow hunt big game but predator hunting is my winter passion. I hunt wolves, yotes, and lion in the mountains. Generally most shots start at 300 with the median range being 400-700. A large portion of the 800 plus range shots are across ravines etc. For as much as I shoot and practice in the field I still am not that comfortable with 1k plus shots on yotes who tend have a small kill zone depending on the gender and age. Some are pretty dang small, 4-6" zones. Being able to make first round impact on a 4" target at 1000 in the middle of the winter is a challenge for me and addicting. Having said that I have a handful of kills from 1000-1475 and far more misses.

I shoot no competition, but shoot regularly, and in that is shooting steel at 500-1000. Before hunting season I spend several sessions making sure all my dope is correct, and with my equipment I am not afraid to shoot at deer sized game out to 1000. Killed elk at 980, deer at 750 laser range finder yards. The elk required two shots to kill him, the deer one shot right through the boiler room. Conditions were perfect both days, little to no wind which I prefer on game. We shoot steel wind or no, and do well except for those days that wind is swirling and blowing in every direction it seems. We know it's the wind doing the funny stuff because we are hitting the same at distance. I wouldn't trust it if it was just me, but the guys I shoot with can absolutely shoot. One of them was shooting his 17 Remington at a gun club near here, and asked to use a members chrono to see what kind of velo he was getting with his loads. He shot ten shots through the chrony, and by the time he had finished a crowd had gathered around because of the group he was shooting. Ended up being much smaller than a dime, and all the members were impressed. He laughs at my shooting, and I laugh at his fishing lol.

Isn't being a TRUE long range shooter like being a TRUE libertarian; no one else is if you ask one!

I have loads dialed in and worked out to just over 1K with a couple of rifles, and used them for hogs when I had the place to do so. Since my close friend sold that place however, I am back to about 400 right now as the furtherest I can safely reach out to.

As for hunting I have killed deer, and coyotes out to just over 400yds, and a few hogs a bit further but in most cases my hunting shots are now in the 75 - 250yd range.

It isn't that I don't have the abilities or firearms capable of, I just don't have the wide open area to do so anymore.

17 years ago I got serious about LR shooting or you might say ELR. Got a 338EDGE AI and a 338Allen Mag shooting out to 3000yards. Although now days the biggest stuff I run is 30cal and mainly shoot 1500 and under.

The place I've been on the last 10 years now I have a range off the front porch from 100-1300yards with steel targets usually spread every 250-300 yards that get moved often due to farming. And if I drive about 600 yards away from the house I can shoot steel at 1400-2000 yards. Then I have my pistol and carbine steel targets at 25-50yards in the yard. I shoot anywhere from 2-5 evenings a week and usually out to 1000 at least once/week.

Since that time I have learned alot and tested several cartridges shooting LR. Harvested deer at 1085 & 1107yards. With a lot of harvest between 400-865 yards a many more closer. By the time I was 15 I was shooting deer over 400yards with hold overs. Been shooting birds with my BB gun at 100 since I was 5 yrs old and then started strechting that out farther when I got a pellet gun. So I've always had the passion for LR shooting & hunting.

I am able to practice where I do most of my hunting so when I do harvest game a longer ranges it's in excellent conditions in areas I'm familiar shooting.

Now days I like to keep hunting distances under ~700 yards with the lighter and shorter suppressed rifles I use and carry.
But hiking in my old 17lb 338edge Imp running 300gr bergers at 2980fps to a vantage point on a calm day, 1000yard + shots become much more realistic with ideal weather conditions.

Been doing it awhile but now days with these forums I'm still learning new stuff and working to get better. As a hunter I like to work on improvised positions and free hand shooting at LR weekly. There is a lot to LR shooting and reading natural wind conditions w/o flags.

Its like being a power lifter who takes 2 months off. You don't practice often in any shooting discipline and it will show in the field.

I can shoot to 800 yards at my father-in-laws ranch. I normally start my load development 300 and move to 600 for fine tuning and then to 800 for some play time. Even when I go to just shoot a little I will typically start at 300 and move back. That being said the ranch is an hour and forty minutes from the house. In Victoria TX, we do not have a rifle/pistol range, only a shotgun range.
The longest shot I have taken on game was a 425 yd. coyote, DRT. My bull last year was 303 yds. I feel confident out to 800 with up to about a 10 to 12 mph wind. What it boils down to for me is if the shot don't feel right on any given day I'll try to get closer or just won't take the shot. I've been fortunate enough to have harvested a lot of animals over the years, I don't feel like I have to kill something to call a hunt successful.
Even though conditions for a shot may be favorable, other conditions determine whether I am going to shoot. Probably 5 years ago I was about 3 miles into a wilderness area. The temperature was in the low 70's. I had a young 5pt bull at 450 yds. and the only thing I could think was that I'll never get him out before he spoiled. So I sat back and just admired him for about 20 minutes until he faded into the timber. That was a successful hunt. And yes I did go home with a tag sammich.

Capt. D said:

I can shoot to 800 yards at my father-in-laws ranch. I normally start my load development 300 and move to 600 for fine tuning and then to 800 for some play time. Even when I go to just shoot a little I will typically start at 300 and move back. That being said the ranch is an hour and forty minutes from the house. In Victoria TX, we do not have a rifle/pistol range, only a shotgun range.
The longest shot I have taken on game was a 425 yd. coyote, DRT. My bull last year was 303 yds. I feel confident out to 800 with up to about a 10 to 12 mph wind. What it boils down to for me is if the shot don't feel right on any given day I'll try to get closer or just won't take the shot. I've been fortunate enough to have harvested a lot of animals over the years, I don't feel like I have to kill something to call a hunt successful.
Even though conditions for a shot may be favorable, other conditions determine whether I am going to shoot. Probably 5 years ago I was about 3 miles into a wilderness area. The temperature was in the low 70's. I had a young 5pt bull at 450 yds. and the only thing I could think was that I'll never get him out before he spoiled. So I sat back and just admired him for about 20 minutes until he faded into the timber. That was a successful hunt. And yes I did go home with a tag sammich.

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I had two really big bulls at around 1500 yards the last trip I made elk hunting, and I dialed up to them, looked at them through my scope and said no way. I feel comfortable at 1000, we shoot quite a bit at that range, but almost a mile seemed like an eternity when I looked at it. Conditions were perfect, the only way I shoot past 500, absolutely no wind, cold, crisp, but way too far for me. My buddy killed his at 980, and that's the only one we took home, but it was his first, and that's a good thing.

I have shot out to 1000 yards, but prefer hunting shots 400 or less, longest kill on Big game is 488 yards.

I do believe the "Milk Jug Challenge" roped a whole lot of folks back into reality.

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