Extending the Rifleman’s Effective Range Part 1, Equipment Selection
First I’ll list the components/ equipment that are needed to achieve medium to long range. I will elaborate on these later. Numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are not absolutely necessary but will tremendously help you.

1. A rifle cartridge capable of achieving your goals

2. A rifle capable of 1 MOA accuracy

3. A quality optic allowing the rifleman to see his target in, less than perfect, environmental conditions.

4. Quality optic base and rings

5. A laser range finder

6. A quality bi-pod

7. A reliable sling

8. A useful stock pack

9. Hand loading equipment

Chambering Selection Before searching for your new rifle you must decide what chambering you want for your rifle. There is much research you must do prior to your decision about caliber. You should learn as much as you can about the cartridge’s external and terminal ballistics. What will be the ballistic coefficients for the bullets available be? (A simple explanation of ballistic coefficient is how aerodynamic the bullet is. The higher the BC the more aerodynamic the bullet is, and therefore the better the bullet will retain velocity and be less affected by wind.) What grain weigh bullets will be available for your chambering? Energy delivery is simple physics, mass times velocity. Bullet weight and speed are the two main factors. The heavier the bullet-the more energy delivered, the faster the bullet-the more energy delivered, the higher the BC- the more velocity the bullet retains down range and therefore keeping the speed in the equation.

Your cartridge selection will also depend on what you intend to do with the rifle. Will the rifle be for hunting predators, deer, large game, target shooting, or the various types of rifle match disciplines. Of course a rifle can perform more than one of these tasks. A rifle for predator hunting will not need to have as much energy delivery, down range, as a Whitetail deer rifle. You can successfully use a small caliber, very fast bullet that has a very flat trajectory. A Whitetail deer rifle will not need to have as much energy delivery, down range, as an Elk or dangerous game cartridge, for example. You will need to decide how far you plan to send the rifle round down range. There is a multitude of chamberings that will effectively shoot 1 MOA groups out to 200 or even 300 yards. However; once you start exceeding 300 yards (in my opinion) the difficulty level is more significant and there are fewer available cartridges that will afford success. If your desire is to shoot 500 yards and farther your selection of available cartridges is fewer still. Another factor in chambering selection is the cost to shoot your rifle. Whether you intend to buy loaded ammunition or hand load your own ammo (which I recommend) there is a cost per round you need to consider. There are plenty of chambering available that will be successful and that have been on the market so long that they are commonplace. The .308 Winchester, .30-06, .243, .270 and .300 Win Mag are several examples. Of course there are many other chambering that will be successful that could be considered some what more exotic than these.

Rifle Selection Your selection of rifle will be somewhat determined by your chambering selection. There will be some chamberings that are widely available by many rifle manufacturers. There will be some chamberings that will limit your rifle selection to much fewer models. Read reviews about rifles, ask questions from other people with more experience, investigate the cost for the rifle, research what features each manufacturer offers as standard equipment or custom shop options, and decide what your budget will be. The intended duty for the rifle will affect the rifle’s features. If you intend to hunt and stalk with the rifle, and plan to make only one or two shots each time it is fired, then you may not want a heavy contoured barrel. The opposite is true if the rifle has the potential to make rapid successive shots such as shooting rifle matches or prarie dogs. A slim, light weight barrel will heat more rapidly and begin to “string” shots, usually vertical. This stringing will be magnified at longer ranges. 1 MOA accuracy means consistently shooting within one Minute Of Angle out to your desired target range. Minute of Angle is explained here:

Most of us simplify minute of angle as inch per hundred. For example 3” group @ 300 yards, 4” group @ 400 yards, 5” group @ 500 yards and so on. By doing the necessary research you will learn what rifles will, most likely, be capable of 1 MOA accuracy. There are numerous mass produced rifles available today and, of course, many custom rifle makers that offer 1 MOA, or better rifles. We all have our opinions, one person will like a specific rifle manufacturer and another person will tell you that that same manufacturer is terrible. I personally believe in Savage rifles, but I also know that Remington, Tikka, and Weatherby make good rifles as well. (Those are just a few examples)

The type of action you will want to purchase needs to be considered. Historically bolt actions are the most consistently accurate actions a rifleman can employ. But what they achieve in accuracy they fall somewhat short in rate of fire. Semiautomatic rifles offer a faster rate of fire but, typically, aren't quite as consistently accurate as a bolt action rifle. So you must decide what would benefit you more, surgical precision or less precision with a faster rate of fire.

Barrel twist rate is something to consider. The faster the twist rate the heavier bullet it will successfully stabilize for a given caliber. It is measured as a ratio. 1 twist per X inches. For example a barrel chambered for .308 Winchester will be offered in 1:10, 1:11, 1:11.25, 1:12, and 1:13. They each will have a specific bullet weight they will perform the best with. I shoot a 1:10 twist barrel and send 175 gr. bullets through it. I’ve never experimented with a lighter bullet but, most likely, it will not be a consistent shooter with very light weight .308 caliber bullets. The same would be true for a .308 caliber barrel with a 1:13 twist. It would not perform well with the 175 gr. bullets, they would be too heavy for the barrel to properly stabilize. Therefore, figure out what bullet you want to shoot, then make sure the rifle’s barrel will stabilize said bullet. For example; believe it or not the old 168 gr. Sierra Match King (SMK) is possibly the worst bullet to use if you are going to learn and attempt a long range shot. By long range I mean 600 yards or more. The 168 SMK is a fine bullet but it will run out of velocity and go subsonic well before the 175 gr. SMK. If you want to shoot that far, then pick the right bullet and make sure the barrel will stabilize said bullet. I know a 1:10 twist will, I’m pretty sure a 1:11 and 1:11.25 will, but I’m not so sure a twist lesser of the ones mentioned will. The same holds true for a .22 cal, a .243, a .25 cal a .260 cal and so on.

The type of stock you want needs to be considered. There are always Sporter style stocks available, but you may desire a stock that has a different profile. Some manufacturers offer stocks that have a profile other than a sporter style stock. There is also the option of buying a rifle and removing the stock the manufacturer provided and replacing it with one that better suites your needs. (I did this with both of my bolt action center fire rifles.) There are many sources for custom stocks, here are a few.

http://www.stockysstocks.com/servlet/StoreFront
http://www.stockadegunstocks.com/
http://www.mcmfamily.com/
http://www.mannersstocks.com/

Optic Selection The choices for optics are as wide as your choices for rifles. You need to decide what is going to work the best for you. There are bullet drop compensating reticles, and optic manufacturers that will build custom turrets for you. I don’t believe either one of those options are the best bang for your buck. A BDC reticle is too generic for a person trying to accurately place shots at extended ranges. You can save some money by not spending it on custom turrets. The method the turret maker employs to build your turret, you can do yourself with some time spent using a ballistic calculator and time at the range. (More on that later) I believe in two types of reticles; the MOA reticle and the MIL reticle. The MIL reticle has become significantly more popular but there are advantages to the MOA reticle. Here is a view of each. (I don’t own a Night Force rifle scope, I was simply using their excellent drawings.)

http://www.nightforceoptics.com/Mil-Dot-15x_copy.pdf
http://www.nightforceoptics.com/NP-R1_15x_copy.pdf

The MIL reticle and MOA reticle has been explained, at length, by folks more eloquent than I. I advise you to reference them.

http://www.usoptics.com/index.php?page=faq

Now you need to decide which one fits you better. I once though I would be more comfortable with an MOA reticle, but I changed my mind once I realized how many rifle scopes, and some spotting scopes, are offered with a MIL reticle. And I have more friends I shoot with that are looking through a MIL reticle. That is very helpful when they are spotting for me or I am spotting for them. If you know what I mean by “spotting” skip the explanation.

A proper spotter will be viewing the target the shooter is viewing. The spotter will be holding his reticle in the center of the target the shooter is aiming. For instance, we often shoot rectangular Armor steel plates that are 8” x 10” and 10” x 12” the spotter will hold in the center of the target while the shooter is correcting for wind. (I’ve noticed most shooters, myself included, dial elevation and hold for wind because the wind can change so quickly.) Once the shot is sent the spotter will advise the shooter as to where he saw bullet impact the target or splash in the earth. Hit or miss he can, hopefully, give the shooter an idea of a well placed shot or by how much he missed. A good spotter will tell the shooter in MILs if they are both using the same reticle. For example: Spotter “miss, level and four tenths of a MIL right.” If the shooter is quick enough, he can cycle his rifle, maintain his elevation hold but hold four tenths of a MIL more to the left than he did on the last shot.

For the shooters that have a duplex reticle there is a way you can use your reticle to some extent. A procedure that will greatly help you is to set up a yard stick at 100 yards, stabilize the rifle on a bipod, sandbags or a combination of both and read what measurements you see (through the scope) from the bottom heavy post to the cross hair in inches. This can aid you in performing holdovers at various ranges. But remember that the measurement at 100 yards will be multiplied at longer ranges. For instance if you measure 6” at 100 yards the measurement will be 9” at 150 yards, 12” at 200 yards and so on.

Quality Base and Rings For the scope base, I recommend a one piece, picatinny rail base. It is more likely that the one piece base will be better inline with the bore than a two piece. You will have more options on ring placement for most types of scopes. You will be more able to set the eye relief to your cheek placement on the stock. Also, in the event you do plan to dial elevation on the scope’s turret, you may need a base that provides 20 MOA of elevation to the rear of the scope. 20 MOA of elevation will allow the scope, when zeroed at 100 yards, to be close to the bottom of the elevation travel. This will allow you to have almost all of the elevation travel available to you for a long range shot. For example my scope has a total of 12 MILs of elevation. If it was placed on a zero MOA base my 100 yard zero would be near the center of the turret’s travel. I would have 6 MILs down travel (which would NEVER be needed) and 6 MILs up travel. Only 6 MILs upward travel would not allow me to dial elevation to the needed 9.6 MILs to reach 1000 yards. I would run out of elevation travel.

There are plenty of manufacturers making quality bases and rings. You can save some money on some brands and still get quality parts. You can also talk to some shooters that swear by a particular brand and that brand may cost significantly more money. It is up to you to research what brands offer good parts, have a good warranty, and hopefully have good customer service when needed. Here are some examples of bases.

http://www.midwayusa.com/Search/#EGW____-_1-2-4_8-16-32
http://www.midwayusa.com/Search/#badger%20base____-_1-2-4_8-16-32

As for rings; the same is true as rifles, scopes, and bases. There a many choices. Buy the best you can afford! Rings should not be viewed as merely a necessary piece of equipment that does not need much thought into purchasing. Your rings are machines that are holding a round tube to another round tube. (Scope to rifle action) Recoil, moving the rifle, and accidents could cause your scope to move and thereby ruining your zero. You also want your ring to grip the scope, evenly, over as much surface area as possible. Here are some examples of good rings.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=485115
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=393863
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=834881

Laser Range Finder All shooters, be it archery, rifle, or pistol should practice range estimation. However; a laser range finder will take the guess work out of the equation. And, over time, you will develop better range estimation skills by guessing how far an object is from you then lasering it. Do the necessary research, read reviews, talk to folks that have some experience with them, and buy what you can afford. Once you begin to extend your effective range, a 50 yard discrepancy can make a very significant difference to what you do with the optic. The difference in hold over or turret adjustment at 100, 150, and 200 yard shot can be minimal depending on what cartridge you are shooting. But the difference in a 600, 650 and 700 yard shot will be very significant in your hold over or scope dialing. Laser range finders, like most other electronic devices are become less and less costly to buy. A fairly reliable LRF can be purchased for $300 or less. No matter what kind you buy, I would recommend checking it for accuracy. Set up a flat (preferably semi reflective) object at a known distance and shoot the laser to it. If there is a discrepancy, return the LRF or make note of the discrepancy. It is also a quick practice to compare you LRF measurements to a friend’s, if you are shooting together at a range or in down time at the deer lease.

A Quality Bipod My favorite place to shoot is prone from the ground. Short of an earthquake there is no more stable shooting platform than the earth. Of course a rifleman cannot always achieve a prone shot due to elevation changes between rifleman and target. But if time and terrain allow, prone is the most stable and preferred position from which to shoot. I can only recommend one bipod; the Harris Swivel, Leg Notch, 6-9”.

http://www.triadtactical.com/Harris-Bi-pod-6-9-Swivel-Notched-leg.html

With this added: http://www.triadtactical.com/Pod-Loc.html

The earth is not level, you want your scope level (on the horizontal plane), thus the swivel model is the best tool for the job. The way it works is that it attaches to your front swivel stud (allowing it to quickly be moved from rifle to rifle) but there is a hinge between the base that attaches to the rifle and the base the legs attach, and hinge from. There is a knob that adjusts the amount of force needed to swivel the rifle. The knob is virtually useless, pliers can be needed to tighten and loosen the knob. That’s where the Pod-Loc comes in. It replaces the knob with an approximately 1 ½” lever that ratchets. Push the lever forward and it engages the threaded bolt to adjust the tension. Pull the lever to the rear rotate it out of the way and push it forward again to lock it in place. It is one of those “greatest thing since sliced bread” items. I can’t speak on the Caldwell copy of the Harris, but the Harris is US made. That’s enough for me. Atlas makes one that has other features that the Harris does not, but I (and many other shooters) can’t justify the extra cost. Here’s a link to find it if you’re interested.

http://www.triadtactical.com/Accu-Shot-Atlas-Bipod.html

The proper use of a bipod will be elaborated on later.

A Reliable Sling The rifle sling, obviously allows you to carry your rifle and have your hands free. I ALWAYS have a sling attached to all of my rifles. I hunt with a rifle that would be, by some hunters standards, too heavy to walk with. But I’m the most comfortable with that rifle because it is the one I shoot the most throughout a year. The sling will aid you in making a shot from the most difficult position in rifle shooting, off hand. It will also help with kneeling and sitting. A sling that can have its length adjusted easily is usually the best to employ. A sling that can be slung over the shoulder that places the rifle across the back is as handy as a pocket on a shirt if you’re not wearing a back pack. There are many on the market but the one that has served me the best is this one.

https://www.riflesonly.com/pro-shop/tactical-gear/tab-gear-sling.html

A friend of mine uses the quick adjust sling and loves it. I don’t, personally have any experience with it though.

https://www.riflesonly.com/pro-shop/tactical-gear/tab-qa-quick-adjust-sling.html

Proper use of the sling has already been explained. I’ll add that later.

A Useful Stock Pack I shot bolt rifles for years without a stock pack. One evening, at the last minute, I decided to go coyote hunting. I said to myself “self, wouldn’t it be handy to have a small pouch on the rifle to keep a few rounds of ammo, and a dope chart in?” After some research I found this:

http://www.triadtactical.com/Shooter-s-Stock-Pack-Rifle.html

You can adjust your cheek weld on the rifle, and keep some necessary items with the rifle at all times. I now have one on both my .308 and .22-250. I can keep a 5 round A.I. magazine, dope charts, and (in my .308) a small spiral notebook. With deer or coyote hunting, often times you only get one shot and its all over but the crying. Hit or miss there is seldom a follow up shot. The stock pack will allow you to have the minimum equipment with you to make 1 to 5 shots.

Hand Loading Equipment I started hand loading to gain more consistent, accurate ammunition for my bolt action rifles. Many will agree that because the hand loader can produce ammunition cheaper than he can buy it, he then starts to shoot more throughout a year. Last year I calculated my hunting load for my .308 Winchester at $0.42 per round. My load shoots a 165 gr. Sierra Game King. Federal produces ammo that shoots the same Sierra bullet. The cheapest I’ve found it sold for is $30 per box, or $1.50 per shot. The side effect is that I shoot around 1000 rounds per year from both of my bolt actions combined. However; I personally never had any factory ammunition that would perform as consistently from my rifles as hand loads perform. There is pages and pages of information available for hand loading. A basic kit can be obtained, these days, for a very reasonable cost. Here are a few examples. I only have experience with RCBS, and their equipment has been excellent. I did not buy a kit, rather I pieced it all together. But here is a low impact way of getting started.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=121744
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=646599
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=749997

I can e-mail a long document titled “Hand Loading for Long Range” to anyone who is interested.

To summarize, every person I have encountered that is serious into shooting hand loads their own ammunition.

In part 2 I will help put the use of all this equipment together.

Note: I'm not claiming to be an expert at this topic. I have simply seen the same quesions asked several times. Many times by new members and I am attempting to help those that are curious. This is not the gospel, but I think it will help some THF members.

I read that over at the Snipers hide 1 year ago and it got me started down a very expensive path.

You may have read something similar. I built this from scratch.

Nice write up, thank you. Can't wait for part two.

You Did, Just went and skimmed over the Thread I was talking about some guy did something very similar good information in both threads

I thought it was a pretty good read.

Topic suggestion for the future: shooting technics, especially from the prone on the ground position.

I plan to cover that. Just give me some time. This one took several hours, I don't claim to be a writer.

Sounds Very Good, Expensive but Good!

Good info.

This could turn into a good info sticky

Thanks

That's for ya'll and the Mods to decide.

I hope this helps some folks. What I've learned came from a wide spectrum of sources. I'm just trying to condense the information a bit for some people desiring to walk down the same path.

See ya'll later, shuttin down for the night.

What is a MOA reticle?

Is it the same as a Mil Dot Reticle, but instead of mildots it uses hash marks or dots 1 MOA appart?

Pic of one in this add for the Horus Version in this add in the classifieds, they look busy but when the shooter knows how to use them they are very effective

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/u...Rifle_Sc#UNREAD

Excellent job JG. Pinning for 30 days discussions. Look Forward to Part 2.

Look up the Nightforce NP-R1 and the R2. I love mine
Click to see it in full size, it shows the reticle better

http://i.imgur.com/Kbg8U.jpg

Nice writeup FJG.

Looking forward to the continuation of the series.

fwiw 175 SMK's run fine in a 1:12 twist.

Thanks for sharing that. Being that I have a 1:10 twist I didn't know. If you say a 1:12 will stabilize 175 SMKs I believe you. Again thanks for the contribution.

Part 2 will be better served with pics, so I hope everyone can be patient with me.

You're welcome. Looking forward to the next chapter!

I'd consider some high quality shooting gloves. You'll isolate your pulse from the rifle by using them.

I'm sure they have their place. I've never used them. I guess I just adapted to the task. My firing hand does not grip the stock tight enough to cause a pulse problem.

The pulse problem (for me and many other shooters) becomes more of a factor with the chest laying on the ground thereby losing a buffer between the heart and the earth. That is more of a challenge to over come, especially during hot weather. The heart rate speeds up in an effort to aid in cooling by getting the blood to the surface so that it can cool via sweat evaporation.

So a hard contracting, tachycardic heart makes shooting at distance even more difficult that it already is. I compound the problem by adding nicotine to the equation.
I intend to cover this, more in depth, in Part 2.

Google "fm 23-10 pdf" and read chapter 3 every night before bed. just kidding. I'm just downloaded "fmfm 1 3b pdf" too, and I'll give it a read and check it out.

I don't know why you refered me to that document. I, in no way, am attempting to compete with the training offered by the United States Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard. They have Snipers that train, for years, to perfom specific missions and earn their title and rank.

My intent was to condense the things I have learned, into one resource. I had to reference many sources, try things in the field, and lose money buying equipment only to find out I should've purchased something else and sold what I purchased in the first place.

There are probably many THF members that want to go beyond punching paper at 100 yards or shooting a deer at a feeder at 100 +/- yards. My quest for medium to long range rifle accuracy began with predator hunting. Predators and hogs are a problem throughout Texas and what I am trying to do here is help someone be more effective in what ever their endeavors are with medium to long range shooting. I am NOT trying to make internet Snipers. I am not a sniper, again that title is earned. However I am a rifleman, a handloader, an interpretor of field data, and forever a student.

I am simply a volunteer trying to help.

well done I would like to know what scope you are useing.Thanks for the post.

Hopefully I'll have all that up next week. Another scope is arriving at my house today. It will go on my .22-250, and the scope from my .22-250 will go on my wife's .223. So you will see one of the correct ways of mounting the optic. I'll cover the two types of scopes I use.

Just be patient with me.

great read