This past weekend I took Jason's long range class he gives one on one at his personal range. First off be careful not to get lost on the county roads over there they're all black mud except the one white rock road which his range is located on. There are also some very iffy bridges over that way.

I had been out to his range once before when I shot the Hunters Challenge rifle competition. It is a very nice range with steel setup every 100 yards all the way out to 800 yards. When you first see it, it looks very daunting or at least it did to me. Didn't think there was any way I'd be hitting the 800 yard steel. Hell before the class I had trouble hitting 300 yard steel.

Before you ever get behind your rifle there is about 1 hour depending on your skill level and how familiar you are with shooting. I'd say firearm wise I know my firearm in and out very well, however when it comes to shooting it past 300 yards I'm still a novice. Jason took this into account and sat me down and went over everything with me. He discussed the very basics of shooting position, how to load the bipod, how to get a proper sight picture, and how to check that you're getting the same position everytime making sure the rifle isn't canted. I had some old habits that I needed to break, learning how to shoot from uncle buck might be ok for minute of animal most the time, however it doesn't help you any when trying to shoot tiny little steel targets.

So after the "book lesson" I finally got to get behind my rifle. Since I'm shooting a AR in 308 with a short 16" barrel we needed to chrono my ammo which was 168gr Amax bulk from Custom Reloads of Dallas. We got an average from 9 shots while confirming zero at 100 yards. I had a few flyers but we figured it was ammo so we continued on. After getting the FPS of the ammo Jason put it in his computer and we got a firing solution for the different ranges. On the first string Jason had me dial elevation, but hold wind. He was calling wind for me the whole time which was great. First shot at 200 yards ding steel baby!!! LOL Jason says I heard it ring, but I didn't see the impact. I said what are you talking about its a center punch.. I thought we were shooting the big IPSC targets. He said no move to your left a little you see that tiny piece of steel that's what we're shooting for. I felt like an idiot and damn that piece of steel was tiny compared to that silhouette target. We moved on and after the 200 yard target I began having problems getting on target. My hits were flying all around the target and I didn't know why. I asked Jason to get behind the rifle just to make sure it wasn't the rifle or ammo. He jumped over and I spotted for him, he shot a couple of rounds at 100 to confirm zero again and at first it was shooting a little weird, but he finally started to get it to group and then went all the way out on the steel pinging one after another. I think that really helped me because now I know if I missed it was because of me and me alone. It wasn't the gun and it wasn't the ammo. I really think it was because I cleaned my gun the day before and it needed to be fouled up again. At least that is what I'm blaming it on.

I got settled back behind the rifle and kept everything he taught me before hand in mind. I would catch myself not doing some things he told me and I could tell as soon as I pulled the trigger what I had done. Whether it was not following through with the trigger or checking my cant with my bubble level or not shooting on my exhale and holding my breath instead. Had you told me any of these things would have thrown off my shot that much before the class I wouldn't have believed you.

I started pinging steel like it was nothing all the way out to 600. I had some issues with this target the most because of the marriage. I shoot a SWFA SS 12X fixed so I couldn't back off the magnification any to get it to clear up so I just had to try and shoot it. I think that target is the one that gave me the most problems all day. I moved on and hit the 700 target no problem and then on to the 800. I missed my first try due to wind, but after a quick correction with Jason calling it out to me I busted the 800 yard steel 3 times in a row pretty quickly since I'm shooting a semi-auto.

I think at this point we broke for lunch and I was thinking well this is awesome, but I guess the class was over... Not even close!!!

Came back from lunch and Jason asked if I was ready for the fun part. I said sure what are we doing now. He said we're going to do the same thing except we're going to dial wind and hold elevation this time. I thought to myself ahh this can't be that hard I just did it in reverse how hard could it be? Well let me tell you dialing elevation is a ton easier or at least it is for me. Jason would call out the wind for me and I'd dial it on my scope. Get a sight picture and he'd call out the mil hold for elevation. Just when I thought I was ready to let it fly Jason could call out a wind correction and throw me completely off. I find it much easier that the one you're dialing on the scope is better when it doesn't change LOL. So I stumbled through this string all the way down to 800 and lets just say I probably shot double the ammo on that string as I did on the first string.

Thinking I was done I gave my gun a rest drank some Gatorade waiting to see what was next. Jason says with a laugh now are you read to do hold both.. I'm sure I looked at him with a WTF look on my face, but agreed. I actually found this one easier than dialing the wind, of course I probably wouldn't have found it very easy had I not had Jason calling out wind everytime it changed.

Think you're done??? Not a chance..

Next up Jason has this contraption that looks like some stairs. Goes from 1 foot off the ground all the way to 4 foot off the ground. It also has the diamond shaped window cut out. You start out shooting from the 1ft step which is very hard to build a position it is just far enough off the ground you can't go prone, but just close enough to the ground you can't sit... Jason let me use some of his shooting bags and showed me different positions I could use them and then told me to do whatever was comfortable to me. I found that to be awesome normally when you're taking a class the instructor wants you to do exactly as they do, not Jason. He understands everyone is different. I actually got into this weird, what felt like to me, pretzel position and fired off ding steel. I finally got to shoot the IPSC target on purpose .. He said now move to the 300 yard IPSC target. He gave me my dope for the 300 and I dialed it in bang ding steel... He said ok now move up a step, build your position and shoot the 2 targets again. Built my position bang nothing.. Bang nothing.. WTH.. Forgot to put my dope back to 200. Dialed my dope back and bang ding steel.. Did the exact same thing on the next step. Finally I realized it was better to dial in the 200 yard dope and then just hold 300 yard dope. Much faster and got hits almost on every shot. Went through the entire string of fire putting one round on each target on each step, then one on each target through the diamond window. Jason asked me to run through it one more time as fast I could and he timed me, I think my time was 2 minutes and 30 seconds with the most time being used to take a bag off my rifle to get it through the diamond window.. He said this one will be one of the stages in the next competition so watch out guys. I really enjoyed this drill I feel like I did better on it than I did on the long range stuff. Maybe it was because I felt like I under pressure I always seem to do better under pressure than I do when I have all the time in the world.

Next was shooting off hand which is my nemesis. He first had me shoot from the sitting position then knelling position. Once I got all pretzelted up in the sitting position I hit the targets pretty easy after I used the principles that Jason taught me about where to make contact with my elbows and knees building a solid position to the ground. Knelling the same thing with the contact points. Now my real nemesis, standing off hand.. The 200 yard steel wasn't much of a problem, but the 300 yard gave me real problems. After shooting all day I was already kind of fatigued, but this zapped the very last energy out of me. Having a heavy suppressor hanging off the end of my rifle didn't really help matters either. I don't think I actually hit the 300 yard target standing off hand. I was just too gassed.

After we finished that I wanted to let my rifle and myself rest a bit. We got out my 10.5" SBR with Aimpoint T1 on it. Wanted to see if we could bang some steel out to 300. Very surprised by that, I think even Jason was surprised. We both shot the gun out to 300 just holding a little high and wind and we banged the steel almost every single round. Hell I'm thinking about using it for the next hunter challenge HAHA.


Over all I feel I learned a ton of stuff to help be a better shooter. Learning how to read the mirage, wind, making sure my cant is trued up every single time, making sure my spine is strait behind the gun just everything that Jason teaches you I can't even think of it all to list right now. Going in I figured it was going to be a class where Jason gives you hints to how to shoot and gets you out to banging steel at 800 yards and that's the end of it. I can tell you it is so much more. I left knowing that I feel comfortable taking a 800 yard shot on a pig, I wouldn't do it on a deer, but a hog or yote I'd like to try it out. Jason said pretty much every shot I fired would have been a kill shot on an animal, but that isn't what he is looking for. He is looking to ring those tiny little steel targets. It is for sure worth the money and I'm very glad I finally got around to taking the class. Just one day with Jason and I've probably corrected 90% of my bad habits YMMV.

Sounds like fun!!! Hopefully by next spring I'll be ready to pay Jason a visit.

Enjoyed having you out. You moved along faster than most guys do. I really don't remember you asking hardly any questions. All I remember was hearing "Ok" and then you doing it, LOL!

I warned you the day would get harder as we went along. You did great! Now if we can get you some better ammo than Chad's bulk stuff.

Great write up thanks for sharing! Jason knows his chit

Haha my supervisor at work says the same thing about me. He will teach me something and I absorb it like a sponge and remember almost everything he said the first time around and never ask questions. I do very good at audible and visual learning which is probably the reason I learned so fast from you. Not only did you show me on paper, you told me exactly what to do so I basically got it twice where most people would only be getting it once.

Yes Chad you need to get on the ball man... LOL I need to just quit being lazy and start reloading it, of course if I did that I'd get me a 6.5CM barrel for it

Great write up! Enjoyed reading it.

I would love to take one of JG's classes. Need to build long range gun first, and an excuse to get up to that area.

Thanks for putting the time in to write it!

Awesome, Kyle!!! Sounds like a blast.



Yeah, the bulk ammo is good ammo at a good price loaded on a progressive press. The custom match ammo is where you will see your ES and SD tighten up, and shoot much better with the powder weighed to .02 grains consistency.

Thank, yea it was a blast for sure. Can't wait to shoot the next comp.

Yea that's what I told Jason I bought the bulk ammo and should have gotten the match grade for only $8 more per 100 I don't really know why I didn't LOL.

I have a custom built rental rifle for guys in your situation. Nothing sucks more than putting together a rig you think will work then using something better and upgrading yours, costing you more money in the long run. Been down that bad road more than once.

That ain't no joke.. After the class I now know I will be changing out my stock and bipod. The Magpul ACS is a great little carbine stock, but sucks bad to try and get a shooting bag under it and when you do it doesn't stay put. I have the Harris 6-9 solid base bipod friction lock and Jason switched out his Harris with swivel base and notched legs made all the difference in the world when it came to cant of the rifle. I like his so much I walked off and forgot mine haha.

KR, Having been at the Challenge last Spring I could almost see ya'll in my minds eye the way you wrote all the moment to moment details...and a great encouraging read at that. Good Job in being to able to repeat the details so closely & clearly.
Ron

Thank ya sir!!!

No kidding! Looks like what we did took ahold if KR can remeber it all that well.

I was thinking the same thing. Nicely written. I would have had to edit a million times myself. Sounds like a great time out there. I may have to just make the drive one day. I'd definitely have to rent his gun tho. I just don't trust mine past 300.

Thanks guys was worried I would be rambling on and no one would be able to understand what I was trying to say lol. Good to know.

Good job kroyal, Nice shooting with that ar too.

Walter

FJG...KR's post would make a great recruiting tool...just get him to sign a Publicity Release so ya doan't havr to pay him any royalty's LOLOLOL
Ron

Wisdom

I hear women are easy to teach. Makes sense in this case.

I really should do this, myself. I love long distance shooting, but I'm pretty new to it.

Ah man, with a custom rifle all ready to go I am nearly out of excuses! I might be making a trip up that way soon enough, sooner than I thought at least. A custom built rifle ready to go is a really smart idea.

I could see myself showing up with something similar KR.

No more shooting trash bags for me!!! When/if you ever get that long range rifle I'd suggest you make the trip and stretch it's legs out with Jason.

Ah don't get me wrong, my gun is definitely match grade 800 yards out of a 16" 308 probably a bit harder with a regular milspec off the shelf 308. The Gessile trigger in my gun is probably the best I've shot trigger wise. There are just a few things I'd like to change about mine.

With some hand loaded ammo worked up for my rifle would be awesome.

Agreed I want 1% of all future business

Thanks, some people don't like gas guns but I love them, they just work for me.