Castanet

Not sure there if there's a forum for this or not so I'll start one here.
This is a forum for the firearms enthusiast and all forms of sport shooting.
Ammo, reloading, long range, target shooting, hunting, scopes, pistols and mods to firearms.

Politics only if they are constructive towards the further deregulation of Law abiding gun owners.
No anti gun nuts please!

I'll start off, anyone out there into long range target shooting? I just picked up a 338 LM and scoped it with 6 x 25 x 56 and would like advise on reaching out past a 1000 yards.

I have no problem with people lawfully owning certain types of guns, for hunting, etc. I do have a problem with enthusiasts who go overboard and think it's their right to own any kind of weapon out there.

Nebula wrote:I have no problem with people lawfully owning certain types of guns, for hunting, etc. I do have a problem with enthusiasts who go overboard and think it's their right to own any kind of weapon out there.

Good for you!

steelrules wrote:I'll start off, anyone out there into long range target shooting?

From what I know, the ammo you use becomes critical (and hence very expensive). Maintaining supersonic speeds over 1000 yards can't be achieved with substandard ammo.

Thanks, I've been reloading for years so I have some insight a 300 gr hpbt with 98gr H1000 should stay supersonic out to 1500-2000. In theory that is.

I'm not a firearm enthusiast per se but I've always been a little interested in the technical aspects of shooting.

For the uninitiated, what sort of variables come into play when shooting targets at extremely long range? Wind is an obvious one. My grandfather was in the artillery during his army days, and mentioned curvature of the earth as being a factor. Does that come into play at rifle-reachable distances?

I realize this may not be where you wanted this discussion to go, so I apologize in advance if I'm derailing the thread...

JayByrd wrote:I'm not a firearm enthusiast per se but I've always been a little interested in the technical aspects of shooting.

For the uninitiated, what sort of variables come into play when shooting targets at extremely long range? Wind is an obvious one. My grandfather was in the artillery during his army days, and mentioned curvature of the earth as being a factor. Does that come into play at rifle-reachable distances?

I realize this may not be where you wanted this discussion to go, so I apologize in advance if I'm derailing the thread...

Hi JayByrd,
I'm no expert either but that's why I wanted to start this thread, share knowledge and experence.
Curvature of the earth? I think more so the coriolis efect, that's the earths rotation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect
My rifles are much more capable than I am, but that's the challange, I have however shot a 10" group at a 1000 yards with my .300 win mag. I know that's not that great but I'm still working on it.

I think then that curvature of the earth would be an issue for artillery exclusively, as they may have targets that are several km away. At those distances, Point A to Point B is no longer a straight line, but a slightly curved one, and must be calculated. Though if Coriolis Effect (thanks for the link btw) comes into play with target shooting, I expect it applies to the artillery guys as well.

I think then that curvature of the earth would be an issue for artillery exclusively, as they may have targets that are several km away. At those distances, Point A to Point B is no longer a straight line, but a slightly curved one, and must be calculated. Though if Coriolis Effect (thanks for the link btw) comes into play with target shooting, I expect it applies to the artillery guys as well.

The modern methodology of long-distance sniping (1.25-kilometre (0.8 mi) shots) requires intense training and practice. A sniper must have the ability to accurately estimate the various factors that influence a bullet's trajectory and point of impact, such as range to the target, wind direction, wind velocity, air density, elevation, and even the rotation of the earth under the bullet of the sniper and target. Mistakes in estimation compound over distance and can cause a shot to only injure, or to miss completely. Furthermore, as any given combination of firearm and ammunition will have an associated value, known as the circular error probable, denoting a circle whose boundary is expected to include the landing points of half of the rounds fired, beyond a given distance, whether even a perfectly-aimed shot lands will be dictated partially by chance.

The science of long-range sniping came to fruition in the Vietnam War. Carlos Hathcock held the record from 1967 to 2002 at 2,286 m (2,500 yd). He recorded 93 official kills before an injury halted his service on the front lines. After returning to the U.S., Hathcock helped to establish a school for training Marine snipers, the Marine Corps Scout Sniper School, at the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia. It took over thirty years for Canadian Master Corporal Arron Perry of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry to beat Hathcock's record. Perry held the title for only a few days as another man in his unit (Corporal Rob Furlong) bested Perry's distance with a 2,430 m (2,657 yd) shot in March 2002. Furlong took the shot while supporting American soldiers during Operation Anaconda in the beginning years of the latest War in Afghanistan.

The current record is held by Briton Corporal of Horse (CoH) Craig Harrison, recorded a 2,475 m (2,707 yd) shot in November 2009 also during in the War in Afghanistan; in which he shot two machine gunners consecutively.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_re ... or_greater

Hope to get this for Christmas:

Captain Awesome wrote:Hope to get this for Christmas:

It would be a nice gift, there was a short recall on early models of these but they have been fixed.
So what's your preference the 9mm or .40?

I like my 1967 Mark V 300 Weatherby magnum rifle(German made) with scope that my father bought and left to me in his will, when he bought it he payed 500.00 bucks, alot of money back then. Very powerful rifle.

jimsenchuk wrote:I like my 1967 Mark V 300 Weatherby magnum rifle(German made) with scope that my father bought and left to me in his will, when he bought it he payed 500.00 bucks, alot of money back then. Very powerful rifle.

Nice rife, good for larger game like moose & elk. $500 was big money back then wages were like $1.50-$5 / hr.
It's nice that you have a keepsake like that, did you go on any hunts with your dad?