Getting Started Shooting at 1000 Yards

[ST911]

I don't know what I'm doing yet, but I'm gonna get a coupla boxes of ammo and start finding out!

I use a 5.56 AR with a 3-9 variable, bipod and squeeze bag. If I can get to 1000 with that, you're GTG with what you have.

Angled eyepiece on the spotting scope. Much less strain.

Far more important than any of my gear was time with mentors good at LD shooting. Winds and distance are as much art as science.

[markm]

Far more important than any of my gear was time with mentors good at LD shooting. Winds and distance are as much art as science.

THIS! and within this category.... a good spotter. A good spotter is worth more than anything you can purchase for the project.

You can literally dump 20 rounds and only be a few inches off the edge of your target without a spotter to get on on target in 1 round.

[Send it...]

Optical clarity, magnification, weight, tracking, reticle, price, availability. After looking at a bunch of scopes, it's the one I liked best.

Nice first strike Mistwolf. I shoot a bunch of practical precision rifle matches. We often shoot to 1000 or farther. Welcome to the obsession.

Your lupy will serve you fine for prone or bench shooting to 1k. Hopefully you factored your chosen bullet and loads drop in elevation and selected the scope and base needed. Great 34mm rings can be found at Seekins, Badger and Nightforce.

[redpillregret]

Optical clarity, magnification, weight, tracking, reticle, price, availability. After looking at a bunch of scopes, it's the one I liked best.

Not trying to be a jerk, but you admitted you don’t know what you don’t know. The old Mark 4 will get it done until YOU learn what you’re doing. Cancel that order, run the Mark 4 and get a training course, a kestrel, and a case of ammo. You’ll be far ahead. Try to make some local matches and see what gear those that are successful are using.

Not knocking the VX6, but reticles, knobs, and all that are almost the opposite of what you want in a field rifle unless you intend to get into short range bench rest or belly bench rest. Magnification is also not your friend. You’ll pick up a ton of mirage and that high-power won’t help all that much. Then, being SFP, the reticle won’t do you much good. The most successful shooters dial elevation and hold wind using a FFP reticle. In PRS, I rarely found myself above 12x except for the longest shots at small targets. Shooting F-Class, I would use a little more magnification but typically don’t end up much above 16x because of mirage.

On bases and rings, lots of good makers out there. I’m a big fan of NF ultra light rings.

I also like Badger bases/rings if you want heavy duty steel that it bomb proof, though that doesn’t seem the direction you’re going.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[markm]

Magnification is also not your friend. You’ll pick up a ton of mirage and that high-power won’t help all that much. Then, being SFP, the reticle won’t do you much good. The most successful shooters dial elevation and hold wind using a FFP reticle. In PRS, I rarely found myself above 12x except for the longest shots at small targets.

These are beautiful words.

[Send it...]

I don’t see him saying he’s doing PRS shooting. I interpret his post as he wants to shoot stationary at 1000. So, his 2nd focal plane choice of scope would be fine, depending on reticle. If he has enough elevation getting the 308 bullet there.

[soulezoo]

Agree on the comments on magnification. Many folks rarely go above the 15-18x range for 1000 yards and 25x is a rough practical limit, hence the popularity of 5-25x range and the 3-18x range in PRS. Mirage is a real thing... I will also second and third comments on the wind. That's a biggie there.

[markm]

So, his 2nd focal plane choice of scope would be fine, depending on reticle.

2nd really is probably fine for many guys. I don't like 2nd with a mil dot reticle... especially with a high magnification scope because I run at 10-12X, and that forces you to spin up the magnification to get accurate mil measurements.

I'd love to revisit target milling and UKD.

[redpillregret]

SFP is fine for guys that are shooting static and want to spin their windage knob to match conditions. I have seen that in F-Class and bench rest with some success. The problem is wind isn’t static. Most do better holding wind.

How do you hold wind with SFP? You’re stuck on, typically, max magnification or an approximation dialed down. Therein lies the problem. The mirage won’t let you use full and you want as much magnification as you can without seeing too much wobble and still seeing a precise POA. That usually isn’t a nice round number.

Holding wind also forces the shooter to make dynamic adjustments each shot rather than relying on a previously dialed call.

I found my scores going up when I made be switch from SFP to FFP. I’ve also found that students do better holding wind than dialing it...often getting lost in the knob and often getting confused which direction to turn the knob even after the “push/pull” explanations.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MistWolf]

...the VX6...being SFP...

Well Hell's Bells! That fact somehow managed to completely escape my notice.