First attempt at “long range” shooting.

[npaden]

Shooting at a target 390 yards away, standing and using an improvised rest (a ladder) is pretty humbling. I had visions of posting up a picture of some nice grouping but instead I have a picture of 2 shots that didn’t even hit the target!

I first just tried to hold over but wasn’t holding far enough and didn’t really have anything to aim at, just holding above the target a bit. I ended up hitting low so I thought I would try using my fancy scope and clicking it up 15” which is when I thought it was 357 yards away. Well I clicked for 4 clicks per 1” like I would at 100 yards and clicked it 60 clicks and shot WAY over the target. Took about 9 more shots to get it back to zero and and I was just happy to be back to zero. The very positive thing was that when it was all said and done my scope had actually tracked correctly and zero was “0” on my dial. I was just too dumb to figure it out without having to go to my 100 yard bench and re-sighting it in.

Last night I setup my fancy rangefinding binoculars and discovered they were set to meters so the target I had thought was 357 yards was actually 390 yards which helps explain why I was shooting low on my attempts at hold over.

So today I thought I had it all figured out and proceeded to click my 15 clicks down instead of up and barely hit the very bottom of the cardboard part of the target with 2 of my 3 shots. The 2 were pretty close together but I held left for windage on 1 of the 3 shots so no idea which ended up not hitting the cardboard. I thankfully saw the low hits and figured out I must have clicked down instead of up and then clicked back to zero and then up 15 clicks and fired these 2 shots circled in red. I could see that neither hit the target using my spotting scope so I just stopped at 2 shots. Per the weather the wind was 10 mph SSE and I was shooting due West and according to my ballistic chart a 10 mph wind would be 9.2 inches of drift at 400 yards so with that factored in I guess I should be pretty happy with where I hit. I was holding right on the bullseye.

One shot was 6” right and the other was about 9” so since the wind wasn’t a direct crosswind that seems about right. The drop was a little bit more than I clicked, I would think that the factory ammo might not be quite as fast through my 22” barrel as the numbers on the box would indicate.

One thing I learned from the last 2 days is that when you go from shooting at 390 yards shooting from an improvised rest, back to 100 yards off a bench it’s like you can’t miss.

Not planning on taking any 400 yard shots at animals any time soon, but this is for sure making me a better shooter.

It also gave me even more respect for the distance. 390 yards is a long way out there!

P.S. - I can use the target again because it doesn’t have any holes in it! LOL.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

At least you're learning your limits! I appreciated your honesty. Keep working on it!

 

[SandyCreek]

clicks aren't inches... plenty of good info out there on various forums and youtube on how to dial and what MOA or Mils are/do

 

[fishing4sanity]

I really enjoy shooting long range targets at the range, as you said it makes the closer range shots much more doable. As you found out, any of those mental mistakes or miscalculations really get amplified at longer distances. When the steel rings it's very therapeutic. Keep at it!

 

[npaden]

clicks aren't inches... plenty of good info out there on various forums and youtube on how to dial and what MOA or Mils are/do

Yeah, I knew that but forgot it evidently! I've never adjusted my scope before for yardage in the field. I used to have a BDC reticle that I felt pretty good out to about 300 yards and other than that have just kept my shots to 300 yards or less and aimed a bit high based on the distance. Calculating clicks at odd ranges like 357 or 390 yards is hard though. I for sure appreciate my new fancy binoculars more than ever now.

I guess I could calculate the clicks and tape it to my gun stock or send in my dial to Leupold and have them put the yardage on there, but with the binoculars I just hit the range button and it tells me the clicks. I think I need to go to the next ballistic chart over from the one that I used originally based on real world shooting. The ballistic chart I'm using shows 23" drop at 400 yards and it looks like I'm about 2 or 3 inches lower than that based on those 2 shots anyway. The next chart over shows 26" drop at 400 yards so I think I'm going to switch to that one for now.

I may try a few shots tomorrow and see if I can actually hit the target this time!

 

[justdada]

Nice to hear some real bench experience.. I have never been a super good bench shooter, i know how to get on target, but "in the field" accuracy i am a much more consistent. No idea why but maybe more field practice when I was a youngun?

 

[npaden]

I really enjoy shooting long range targets at the range, as you said it makes the closer range shots much more doable. As you found out, any of those mental mistakes or miscalculations really get amplified at longer distances. When the steel rings it's very therapeutic. Keep at it!

For sure. I messed up more than once clicking the wrong direction. I figured out I was clicking the wrong direction yesterday when I ran out of up clicks! I had clicked up 60 clicks and then thought I was going back the other direction but must have been clicking up again. I got flustered then and ended up burning through 5 or 6 shots just to get back to hitting the cardboard at 100 yards.

This evening I have no idea how I clicked down instead of up. I even remember that the number went to 12 instead of 3 and it didn't ring a bell to think I might be doing something wrong.

VERY important to be making mistakes like these shooting at paper instead of animals!

 

[Pucky Freak]

I don't care to mention all the brass I've wasted on stupid human errors with the scope dials...

 

[npaden]

Nice to hear some real bench experience.. I have never been a super good bench shooter, i know how to get on target, but "in the field" accuracy i am a much more consistent. No idea why but maybe more field practice when I was a youngun?

Same with me. I always sight in for 2" high at 100 yards and then just aim a bit high for out to 300 yards which has always been my limit. I can't recall many misses over the years in the field, but I don't shots that I'm not confident in. Dialing a scope for any reason other than sighting in is new territory for me.

 

[LaSportsman]

1. Are you shooting MOA or mil?

2. What cartridge?

You need to think MOA or mil instead of inches. Depending on what cartridge you are shooting, I recommend zeroing at 200 instead of 100. I'm sure the box gives ballistics for 100 yard zero but you can find more data online on the manufacturer's website.

I keep my dope card in the web pocket at back of my bino case. I need 14+ font type to be able to read it! Those fancy dope cards in scope caps are useless once your eyes are late 40's or more.

Before a hunt, I memorized my drop out to 350 and drift per 10 mph wind but carried the card to keep as reference. I practiced off shooting sticks sitting and standing and had field limits accordingly. I was pretty consistent on an 8" target at 300 yards standing and could push out to 350 or 400 if sitting.

Remember that a 1 MOA group at 300 yards is 3", not 1" for a good group and if you can consistently hit a paper plate, you are good for game as long as you have enough energy at that range (cartridge based).

 

[npaden]

I'm shooting a Kimber Montana .300 WSM. I have some new to me Leica Geovid HD-B rangefinding binoculars. You pick the closest ballistic chart to your gun and you just click the range and it spits out how many clicks to make. I didn't set it up until the fiasco last night and after that I was pretty pumped at how cool they are at figuring the math out for you. There are 12 preset ballistic curves or you can create your own and use a micro SD card to put it in the binoculars. I had it dialed for the 3rd flatest curve based on the numbers on my box but it looks like I need to adjust it to the 4th flatest curve instead.

For windage, it seems like I can just take the number of clicks that it tells me and it is pretty close to half that many inches for a 10 mph wind.

i.e. it tells me 15 clicks at 390 yards, 7.5" for a 10 mph would be half of that, and my ballistic chart on my box says 9" for a 10 mph wind so fairly close. Not sure if that works out past 400 yards but I'm not planning on even shooting at paper any farther than that anytime soon.

 

[RockinU]

Yeah, I knew that but forgot it evidently! I've never adjusted my scope before for yardage in the field. I used to have a BDC reticle that I felt pretty good out to about 300 yards and other than that have just kept my shots to 300 yards or less and aimed a bit high based on the distance. Calculating clicks at odd ranges like 357 or 390 yards is hard though. I for sure appreciate my new fancy binoculars more than ever now.

I guess I could calculate the clicks and tape it to my gun stock or send in my dial to Leupold and have them put the yardage on there, but with the binoculars I just hit the range button and it tells me the clicks. I think I need to go to the next ballistic chart over from the one that I used originally based on real world shooting. The ballistic chart I'm using shows 23" drop at 400 yards and it looks like I'm about 2 or 3 inches lower than that based on those 2 shots anyway. The next chart over shows 26" drop at 400 yards so I think I'm going to switch to that one for now.

I may try a few shots tomorrow and see if I can actually hit the target this time!

As was said, you need to practice thinking in MOA. At 400 yards every 1 MOA is 4 inches, so every "click" if your scope adjusts in 1/4 MOA is an inch. So if your chart is showing you 26 inches you're looking at 6.5 MOA (26 inches / 4 inches = 6.5)...of course at 400 yards with a 1/4 MOA scope adjustment, it's an easy 26 "clicks".

It's easy to remember MOA because it's basically 1 inch for every 100 yards, so an MOA at 500 yards is 5 inches, 600 yards is 6 inches, etc.

 

[npaden]

Also, I feel more steady shooting off my pack or prone in the field than shooting while standing using the ladder as a rest that I am using now, but I am shooting off the balcony of my house and I have to be standing to clear my barn roof. It would be similar to shooting using a tree branch or notch as a rest in the field.

Way different than shooting off a bench.

 

[npaden]

As was said, you need to practice thinking in MOA. At 400 yards every 1 MOA is 4 inches, so every "click" if your scope adjusts in 1/4 MOA is an inch. So if your chart is showing you 26 inches you're looking at 6.5 MOA (26 inches / 4 inches = 6.5)...of course at 400 yards with a 1/4 MOA scope adjustment, it's and easy 26 "clicks".

It's easy to remember MOA because it's basically 1 inch for every 100 yards, so an MOA at 500 yards is 5 inches, 600 yards is 6 inches, etc.

I think I would need to make a chart if I needed to know the clicks. Or get my scope etched.

Not sure why my binoculars are calculating 15 clicks at 390 yards. They are supposed to adjust for temperature, barometric pressure, etc. Doing the math, the ballistic chart I selected showed 23" at 400 yards and 19" at 375 yards. Doing the math in MOA it would be 21 clicks at 390. The binos said 15 clicks. Temp was around 85 degrees, can't remember what the pressure was, angle was flat. Looking at the hits on the target I think 21 clicks would have been too high. That would have moved the POA up about 6". Of course since I wasn't shooting off a bench and we are only looking at a 2 shot group it could just be that I shot high or low.

 

[Millsworks]

Are you sure that isn't your group at the hundred?
Just kidding........
I know a few guys locally that would be happy to shoot that good at a hundred yards.

Turning the dials can confuse alot of people.
I prefer a ballistic reticle scope for hunting out to 500yrds. and find most people can use one out to 400yrds to hit consistently with very limited practice.
Turret adjustment is best for target shooting at more extreme distances , where more precise holding is needed.
To each other their own though. But I find the reticle hold over marks very accurate for same distance.

 

[grizzly_]

What scope do you have? A lot of them have "stops" to get you back to zero but it would also prevent you from accidentally clicking down rather than up.

Also, jump on some online ballistic calculators and play with different winds, temps, elevations, angles, etc... and it will give you a new appreciation for ballistic math. For instance, at really long ranges (a mile) I actually have to adjust my POI nearly 12" depending whether I am shooting towards the east or west due to the rotation of the earth while the bullet is in flight. This doesn't even take into account spindrift.

Also, at ranges past 300 yards I either put in, or take out, one click depending on if its summer or winter as air density/temperature affects flight. My point is... there are a ton of crazy variables.

Shooting long range is great practice for actual safe hunting distances and makes the 150 yard shots seem like tap-in par putts. Have fun and keep your barrel clean.

 

[npaden]

I think I would need to make a chart if I needed to know the clicks. Or get my scope etched.

Not sure why my binoculars are calculating 15 clicks at 390 yards. They are supposed to adjust for temperature, barometric pressure, etc. Doing the math, the ballistic chart I selected showed 23" at 400 yards and 19" at 375 yards. Doing the math in MOA it would be 21 clicks at 390. The binos said 15 clicks. Temp was around 85 degrees, can't remember what the pressure was, angle was flat. Looking at the hits on the target I think 21 clicks would have been too high. That would have moved the POA up about 6". Of course since I wasn't shooting off a bench and we are only looking at a 2 shot group it could just be that I shot high or low.

LOL. I'm still making mistakes! Turns out I had the binoculars set for 3 clicks per 1" at 100 yards! Once I switched them to 4 clicks per 1" at 100 yards it is giving me 20 clicks at 390 yards. Baby steps but I'm getting there! LOL.

 

[npaden]

What scope do you have? A lot of them have "stops" to get you back to zero but it would also prevent you from accidentally clicking down rather than up.

Also, jump on some online ballistic calculators and play with different winds, temps, elevations, angles, etc... and it will give you a new appreciation for ballistic math. For instance, at really long ranges (a mile) I actually have to adjust my POI nearly 12" depending whether I am shooting towards the east or west due to the rotation of the earth while the bullet is in flight. This doesn't even take into account spindrift.

Also, at ranges past 300 yards I either put in, or take out, one click depending on if its summer or winter as air density/temperature affects flight. My point is... there are a ton of crazy variables.

Shooting long range is great practice for actual safe hunting distances and makes the 150 yard shots seem like tap-in par putts. Have fun and keep your barrel clean.

Just a VX3i. I have my "zero" dead on at 100 yards. It doesn't have a stop. I think I need to go up to the VX5 to get that. I've been tempted with some of the prices I've seen lately on some of them.

I am pretty happy with my binoculars, they are supposed to adjust for temperature, pressure, etc. and now that I think I have them set correctly I think I may finally be able to hit the target! LOL.

Looking at the target at 100 yards it looks HUGE now.

 

[LaSportsman]

If you know your scope is MOA, read up and really understand how it works. Nothing wrong with the binos but the more you understand it, the better you will be. I don't think in clicks - I think dial 5 MOA and it's 4 clicks per MOA.

Also, I don't shoot on a bench after I've zeroed. All range time is on my shooting sticks, bipod, or pack. Do everything you can to replicate field shots at the range. Shoot in wind. Finding a non-windy day is the challenge where I live so it's easy. The more you shoot in wind, the better you will get at reading it.

Note: I don't claim to be a great shot but I do like to practice and practice has paid off. More into archery at the moment but last year I tried to shoot at least 2-3 weekends per month. It would have been more except for the cost of ammo. Archery wins in that category.

 

[RockinU]