The Outdoors

By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist

Some people just love to shoot at cans with a .22 rifle. It has been a recreational pastime for generations. When I was very young, I lived in Redfield, S.D. I was probably about 6 years old at the time. .22 rounds were less then 99 cents for a box of 100. My dad would take me out in the countryside and we would sit in the truck and do our best to shoot the blooms off of thistle plants. Needless to say, we were not very good and very few blossoms actually hit the ground but when they did, boy, was I one proud 6-year-old.

Fast forward to 62 years old and I still like shooting inanimate objects. Today they consist of clay pigeons or a hardened steel plate. I am far better with a shotgun then a bigger caliber rifle but shooting is shooting and it is a pastime you don’t need a football quarterback physique to enjoy.

A few years back I joined my son to try my luck at long range shooting. This was, and still is, a new sport for me but one I think is about as challenging as anything you can do outside. As with every thing it took a little initial investment for the targets and plates and the holders that position them on the top of a standard T-post.

My wildlife property is an east west 80 acres parcel and if you have the right topography, you can shoot corner to corner and reach out to about 1000 yards. Most hunters of big game have never really attempted shoots out past 200 yards and this is a good thing. The hunters first and foremost obligation is to make a clean kill shot and without the right equipment and enough practice shooting an animal past those distances is out of reach for the average deer hunter.

Many people think you need some really fancy guns to shoot at a long-range target.  This is just not true. Almost any gun in the cabinet can make a long shot with the right information and an average shooter.  I own a .270, 308, 204, .17 and several 6.5 Creedmoor rifles. I have seen novice shooters with a $350 gun/scope combo and some instruction shoot a target at 800 yards.

What it takes is a little patience and the right data. There is a phone app called Strelok Pro. It costs about $12 and there are no renewal fees. This program allows you to enter all of the relevant data about the gun you are using and the cartridge specifications. Things like the weight and velocity of the bullet. Gun specs are entered along with some scope data as well. All of this information is available on the gun and scope company’s website and are not hard to find. Cartridge and bullet info is on the outside of most ammo boxes.

You zero the scope and gun at a distance of 100 yards. Once this is complete all you do is make adjustments for longer ranges as indicated in the app. It might say at 300 yards you need to move the scope up two inches to compensate for the bullet drop out to that range. There are some spots on the app to enter wind speed and direction and this you can use a wind meter for or just estimate.

I had a friend who had never shot at targets beyond 250 yards. He zeroed his gun at 100 yards. He then made the recommended adjustments and shot at an individual 12×16 inch target at distances of 199, 410, 500, 600, 670 and 808 yards making the indicated adjustment for each longer range. With this app he as able to hit each and every one of these targets consecutively without a single miss.

He took his gun and returned it to the gun case as he wanted to finish his day on a very high note. In another instance, my son fine-tuned his Bergara rifle in to the 808-yard target and then had one of my friends shoot his gun. He hit the same long-distance target three times in a row. My turn was next and I was certain that I would break this success string.

I laid on the ground behind a gun I had never shot before and hit the 808-yard target three times in a row before I missed. Long range shooting success is getting the gun tuned in for the distance and then just making a reasonably good shot. Long range shooting is really like a math computation. Figure out the variables and everyone can make an 808-yard shot. Many good shooters can shoot at much longer ranges but my property is limited to 808 yard maximum.

One of the coolest parts of long-range shooting is the chime you hear when a bullets hits steel. When I am watching other shooters, I can see the steel plate move upon bullet impact and call “impact” long before the sound of that impact is heard by the person who pulled the trigger.

It is different then watching a thistle bloom fall to the ground and 6.5 Creedmoor rounds cost far more than a penny each but the satisfaction is just like I was 6 years old again. Next week I will share with you a way for you to dip your toe into the world of long range shooting and do so in a manner with a much shorter learning curve. Stay tuned.

  

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If you have any questions, reach out to me at scottarall@gmail.com.