New to long range shooting

[huntintales]

Hello, I am newbie to the site and hope I can get a little direction here. I am trying to get information on how to be sucessful at long range shots. I whitetail hunt on open land , mostly clear cut and powelines. I have had opportunities to shoot game at ranges from 400 to 700 yard , but never would take the shot because I just figured the game was out of range. I realize that these shots are not impossible, because I have seen it done on tv. I just dont have any experience at these shot, and am wanting to learn how to chose the right equipment to make these shot. I probably already have the equipment, but Im thiniking I just need to practice these shot. If anyone is willing to reply with some info I would greatly appreciate it. I badly want to become a long range shooter. Ok so here is my gear, which one to use I dont know which is better for the situation. I have a few rifles to choose from; a tikka t3 300wsm, a styer 260rem, and ruger m77-30.06. All with high power scopes Nikon2.5-10x50 and Weaver 4-20x50. I have good binoculars and range finders. My hunting situation could either be from a elevated stand or from the ground which makes me think that I should invest in a mounted tripod for the rifle. Any input would be appreciated, and Thanks in advance

 

[liltank]

Any of the 3 will work. Which rifle is the most accurate? Which one are you most comfortable using? Do you hand load or do you use factory ammunition? The scope you mentioned, do they have ballistic reticules, duplex, or target style turrets for adjusting elevations and windage? Answer these and we can start making more suggestions.

Tank

 

[huntintales]

My prefrence is the tikka 300wsm and the styer Rem260 , which both are accurate, but I like the knock down power of the 300wsm. I have always used factory core lokt ammo; 300wsm-150gr, and 260-140gr. My scopes do have turrent adjustment on them and the rectile is a standard duplex crosshair. Hope this will help , and thank you for replying with help on my endevor.

Blane

 

[backwoods83]

Id use the T3 300wsm with DOUBLE TAP brand ammo in 180 nosler ballistic tip and pratice, if you start reloading the 190 berger vld will do you right, the 260 is a good option as well but its not going to happen with corelokts.

 

[WildRose]

Hello, I am newbie to the site and hope I can get a little direction here. I am trying to get information on how to be sucessful at long range shots. I whitetail hunt on open land , mostly clear cut and powelines. I have had opportunities to shoot game at ranges from 400 to 700 yard , but never would take the shot because I just figured the game was out of range. I realize that these shots are not impossible, because I have seen it done on tv. I just dont have any experience at these shot, and am wanting to learn how to chose the right equipment to make these shot. I probably already have the equipment, but Im thiniking I just need to practice these shot. If anyone is willing to reply with some info I would greatly appreciate it. I badly want to become a long range shooter. Ok so here is my gear, which one to use I dont know which is better for the situation. I have a few rifles to choose from; a tikka t3 300wsm, a styer 260rem, and ruger m77-30.06. All with high power scopes Nikon2.5-10x50 and Weaver 3-10x50. I have good binoculars and range finders. My hunting situation could either be from a elevated stand or from the ground which makes me think that I should invest in a mounted tripod for the rifle. Any input would be appreciated, and Thanks in advance

All three of those calibers are more than capable of taking White Tails out to 800yds.

Your two best choices are the .260 and .300wsm with the latter being the best choice.

What you need to do now is have one of the accurized to a sub MOA level and then practice, practice, practice at ranges out to just beyond what you plan as your max range.

Scope wise I'd say you need to upgrade to at least a 14x44m or better in quality glass such as IOR, Leupold, Night Force etc. Get the very best you can afford as the quality of the glass and repeatability of adjustments is critical at long range.

Welcome to the addiction.

 

[RDM416]

+1 on the advice of the previous posters. Let me add some simple practical steps that will help you get started with some early successes.

Do you have a place to shoot out to 600 or 700 yards? If so:

Build yourself a target stand out of 2X4s about 6' tall and 30" wide with a base so the uprights will stand up where ever you sit them. Use builders paper (available on a roll from Lowes) Roll out about 5' of paper and staple to the target stand. Now you have a target area that is 30" wide and 5' tall. This will keep you from missing the entire target at longer ranges (mostly anyway) and wondering where did that one go?? Stick one of those 3 or 4 inch stick on target dots about 1' from the top.

Set up or build a good solid table or shooting bench. Use sandbags or better yet invest in a pedestal front rest and rear bag. Get your rifle solidly in the rest. dry fire it 20 times paying close attention to any movement of the crosshairs to check for any twisting or flinching when breaking the trigger.

Set your target stand up at 100 yards, shoot a 3 shot group. Move it to 200 shoot a 3 shot group.......etc to whatever your max range is. Use the same aiming point. this will give you a fairly accurate drop chart for all the ranges.

To get rough dial up values you can do the math or you can try the following trick. With the target at 300 yards, place a second target dot at the center of your 300 yard group which will be several inches below your original dot. Now, put your crosshairs back on the original dot, then while holding the rifle steady dial your scope up (the crosshairs will move down) until the crosshairs are now on the dot that is the center of your 300 yard group. That is how much you will need to dial for 300 yards. This can be repeated for each range. (this is rough approximate drops and will need to be fine tuned with a few more groups at each range)

Moving a large target area like this out to ever longer ranges you will probably be able to keep all your shots on paper and work out quickly what your drops are and what the capabilities of you and your rifle are. You may be surprised at how well you can shoot at the longer ranges. As you get on past 500 yards you may want to start moving your target in 50 yard increments. Also remember to shoot 3 shot groups ALWAYS. At this stage in your LR development you do not need to draw conclusions or make scope adjustments from just one shot. You may eventually get there, but for now use the center of a group for your data point, not a single shot.

This is all pretty basic stuff, if you really get into this LR stuff you will eventually want to invest in lots more toys like a chronograph, ballistics program, high end rangefinder, etc, etc, etc....... But for now these simple steps should get you some success at 500 to 700 yards without any major investment above what you already have.

Have fun, keep reading the wealth of great info in the archives on this site, and welcome to the forum.

 

[WildRose]

BTW if you are stuck on shooting factory ammo at least for now the Remington Accutip, Grizzly with the 130gr ScirroccoII, and Federal fusion 130gr have all shot very well for me out to 800yds in the .260 Rem.

 

[huntintales]

Thank you for all this information, I had planned on building me a shooters stand. I will take your recommendations and follow your suggestions.
My concern is, if the ammo I have used in the past is sufficient. I have always used core lokt ammo?

Thanks

+1 on the advice of the previous posters. Let me add some simple practical steps that will help you get started with some early successes.

Do you have a place to shoot out to 600 or 700 yards? If so:

Build yourself a target stand out of 2X4s about 6' tall and 30" wide with a base so the uprights will stand up where ever you sit them. Use builders paper (available on a roll from Lowes) Roll out about 5' of paper and staple to the target stand. Now you have a target area that is 30" wide and 5' tall. This will keep you from missing the entire target at longer ranges (mostly anyway) and wondering where did that one go?? Stick one of those 3 or 4 inch stick on target dots about 1' from the top.

Set up or build a good solid table or shooting bench. Use sandbags or better yet invest in a pedestal front rest and rear bag. Get your rifle solidly in the rest. dry fire it 20 times paying close attention to any movement of the crosshairs to check for any twisting or flinching when breaking the trigger.

Set your target stand up at 100 yards, shoot a 3 shot group. Move it to 200 shoot a 3 shot group.......etc to whatever your max range is. Use the same aiming point. this will give you a fairly accurate drop chart for all the ranges.

To get rough dial up values you can do the math or you can try the following trick. With the target at 300 yards, place a second target dot at the center of your 300 yard group which will be several inches below your original dot. Now, put your crosshairs back on the original dot, then while holding the rifle steady dial your scope up (the crosshairs will move down) until the crosshairs are now on the dot that is the center of your 300 yard group. That is how much you will need to dial for 300 yards. This can be repeated for each range. (this is rough approximate drops and will need to be fine tuned with a few more groups at each range)

Moving a large target area like this out to ever longer ranges you will probably be able to keep all your shots on paper and work out quickly what your drops are and what the capabilities of you and your rifle are. You may be surprised at how well you can shoot at the longer ranges. As you get on past 500 yards you may want to start moving your target in 50 yard increments. Also remember to shoot 3 shot groups ALWAYS. At this stage in your LR development you do not need to draw conclusions or make scope adjustments from just one shot. You may eventually get there, but for now use the center of a group for your data point, not a single shot.

This is all pretty basic stuff, if you really get into this LR stuff you will eventually want to invest in lots more toys like a chronograph, ballistics program, high end rangefinder, etc, etc, etc....... But for now these simple steps should get you some success at 500 to 700 yards without any major investment above what you already have.

Have fun, keep reading the wealth of great info in the archives on this site, and welcome to the forum.

 

[backwoods83]

If your looking for a good scope for a reasonable price, Natchez has the Weaver 4-20x50 SF duplex, has 50moa of elevation and windage, also has pull up resetable locking turret, they are on sale for 339, I think regular price is 639. Chuck Hawkes says they are neck and neck quality and usability wise to a leupold vx7. To add to what Wildrose said, I do not know if he has tried them but the 123grn lapua scenars from Corbon are awesome, the best factory match ammo I have ever shot.

 

[huntintales]

I need to make a correction. My styer 260rem rifle has a weaver 4-20x50 scope. Where as my 300wsm has a 2.5-10x50. I take it that both are still capable for the situation, or is one more better for the shot. I could swap the scopes out if needed.

Thank you for all this information, I had planned on building me a shooters stand. I will take your recommendations and follow your suggestions.
My concern is, if the ammo I have used in the past is sufficient. I have always used core lokt ammo?

Thanks

 

[huntintales]

I need to make a correction. My styer 260rem rifle has a weaver 4-20x50 scope. Where as my 300wsm has a 2.5-10x50. I take it that both are still capable for the situation, or is one more better for the shot. I could swap the scopes out if needed

All three of those calibers are more than capable of taking White Tails out to 800yds.

Your two best choices are the .260 and .300wsm with the latter being the best choice.

What you need to do now is have one of the accurized to a sub MOA level and then practice, practice, practice at ranges out to just beyond what you plan as your max range.

Scope wise I'd say you need to upgrade to at least a 14x44m or better in quality glass such as IOR, Leupold, Night Force etc. Get the very best you can afford as the quality of the glass and repeatability of adjustments is critical at long range.

Welcome to the addiction.

 

[huntintales]

I need to make a correction. My styer 260rem rifle has a weaver 4-20x50 scope. Where as my 300wsm has a 2.5-10x50. I take it that both are still capable for the situation, or is one more better for the shot. I could swap the scopes out if needed

Any of the 3 will work. Which rifle is the most accurate? Which one are you most comfortable using? Do you hand load or do you use factory ammunition? The scope you mentioned, do they have ballistic reticules, duplex, or target style turrets for adjusting elevations and windage? Answer these and we can start making more suggestions.

Tank

 

[liltank]

Well here are my suggestions. The .260 and 300 are definitely 800+ yard whitetail rifles. The core lokts will be good to about 500yds. After that, they will loose their ability to be very effective. If you want to stick with Core-lokt's then I suggest moving up to the 180 grain. However going to a better bullet in Federal, Black Hills, HSM (may or may not shoot in your rifle. they are finicky), Nosler, and Remington's accutip ammo. They are specifically designed to shoot farther, more accurately and hit harder.

Take the Weaver off the 260 if you prefer the 300 and put it on the 300. This will get you where you need to be with optics. Have your trigger adjusted as light as it will safely go. You will need to verify your drops. This will require you to go out and start writing down how many MOA it will take to get to each distance. I suggest going in 50yd increments to your farthest distance you want to shoot. If you own an iPod, iPhone, or smart phone you can download apps, look for some of the ballistics apps. Once you know your drops, you can load your info into the ballistic app that will give you drops for all distances. If you do one of these apps, then just verifying drops at 4 or 5 different yardages will hook you up. I suggest a 1 or 2 hundred yard zero. Then get your drops at 300, 500, 700, and 850.

Tank

 

[WildRose]

I need to make a correction. My styer 260rem rifle has a weaver 4-20x50 scope. Where as my 300wsm has a 2.5-10x50. I take it that both are still capable for the situation, or is one more better for the shot. I could swap the scopes out if needed

My advice would be to set some targets up at 50yds intervals from 400yds-800 or 1000yds and dope and dial with each scope/rifle and shoot two or three shots at each target all the way out.

Then return to your 400yds data and see if it's still on. if it is, dial back to 100yds and see if it's still on.

Barring that, do this. Use a target with four bulls, one in each corner. Starting at the bottom right bull Shoot the first one, dial up appropriately for the top right corner. Shoot it. Dial windage appropriately for the top left bull, shoot it.

Dial down for the bottom left, shoot it. Then return to your origninal starting point and put two back into the bottom right target.

With each of these your original aiming point remains the bottom right target. If your scope is tracking true, you will put two shots into each bull however.

If it works out that way reverse the process.

Shoot the bottom right first. Dial windange equivalent to the bottom left. Shot it.

Dial up appropriate for top left, shoot it. Dial right for top right, shoot it, and then return to your originial setting and shoot the bottom right again.

If the scopes track true for each of those, through all eight adjustments, you should be good to go to at least 1,000yds.

This is my own version of a "box test" I use specifically to test a scopes tracking.

If you are happy with the results and comfortable with the available magnification from each at the ranges you are shootin you are good to go.