Lets see if I can make several posts about this before someone posts a reply (and no that isn't a challenge) Just give me a few minutes to copy and past.
Reading the post about the MMPRL recently posted over in rifle competition, and some of the questions being asked, motivated me to do this post. This is the story of what it took for me to reach out to near 1000 yards for the first time, which I will present in a series of 4 or 5 posts.
Background
I’ve done a lot of shooting in the past 60 years. I’ve been reloading for almost 40 years. I can shoot pretty well. I have decent fundamentals (attributed to a misspent youth where I did a lot of small bore shooting). This year I shot my second Appleseed and again earned my patch. I consider myself a competent shot, but nothing anyone can’t achieve with a little practice. I went to a 200 yard benchrest shoot at Harvard Sportsmen’s Club last summer, and finished exactly in the middle of the pack.
I’ve done most of my rifle shooting at 100 yards, with two of three attempts shooting at 200 yards but nothing further. Which was fine as most of my hunting was thick woods and shots over 50 yards were rare. But I started hunting the northern part of NY with fields and big woods and ledges and suddenly shots over 100 yards became common. I joined a rifle club 9 years ago that had ranges out to 300 yards. I have learned a lot working at 300 yards including my first appreciation for wind drift. After shooting a lot at 300 yards, a shot on deer at 150 or 200 yards was pretty strait forward. Which is great as 9 of my last 10 deer were shot between 150 and 200 yards. I was very happy camper.
But I kept reading and hearing about people shooting 500, 600 or even 1,000 yards. So I decided in January 2017 that I wanted to give it a try and this is what I did to prepare to shoot the qualifier to be allowed to use a 1000 yard range. It took a bit longer than I expected to get to point where I was confident of passing. I thought I would be ready in a month or two, turns out it took four. But I probably did it the hard way.
The guiding principal of my preparation was to not spend a boat load of money on equipment that would later need upgrading, but to only spend just enough to qualify, and then afterward watch the guys who regularly shoot to 1000 yards to see what really worked and what I really wanted for equipment before sinking a lot of $$$ into gear that I would need to replace.
Here is the story of what I did. It’s certainly not the only way or best way, maybe not even the right way, but it worked for me. The last paragraph of my post (Story of Joe) will give you another alternative.
Reading the post about the MMPRL recently posted over in rifle competition, and some of the questions being asked, motivated me to do this post. This is the story of what it took for me to reach out to near 1000 yards for the first time, which I will present in a series of 4 or 5 posts.
Background
I’ve done a lot of shooting in the past 60 years. I’ve been reloading for almost 40 years. I can shoot pretty well. I have decent fundamentals (attributed to a misspent youth where I did a lot of small bore shooting). This year I shot my second Appleseed and again earned my patch. I consider myself a competent shot, but nothing anyone can’t achieve with a little practice. I went to a 200 yard benchrest shoot at Harvard Sportsmen’s Club last summer, and finished exactly in the middle of the pack.
I’ve done most of my rifle shooting at 100 yards, with two of three attempts shooting at 200 yards but nothing further. Which was fine as most of my hunting was thick woods and shots over 50 yards were rare. But I started hunting the northern part of NY with fields and big woods and ledges and suddenly shots over 100 yards became common. I joined a rifle club 9 years ago that had ranges out to 300 yards. I have learned a lot working at 300 yards including my first appreciation for wind drift. After shooting a lot at 300 yards, a shot on deer at 150 or 200 yards was pretty strait forward. Which is great as 9 of my last 10 deer were shot between 150 and 200 yards. I was very happy camper.
But I kept reading and hearing about people shooting 500, 600 or even 1,000 yards. So I decided in January 2017 that I wanted to give it a try and this is what I did to prepare to shoot the qualifier to be allowed to use a 1000 yard range. It took a bit longer than I expected to get to point where I was confident of passing. I thought I would be ready in a month or two, turns out it took four. But I probably did it the hard way.
The guiding principal of my preparation was to not spend a boat load of money on equipment that would later need upgrading, but to only spend just enough to qualify, and then afterward watch the guys who regularly shoot to 1000 yards to see what really worked and what I really wanted for equipment before sinking a lot of $$$ into gear that I would need to replace.
Here is the story of what I did. It’s certainly not the only way or best way, maybe not even the right way, but it worked for me. The last paragraph of my post (Story of Joe) will give you another alternative.