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Will do.
Be interesting to see how it goes.
Everybody has to start someplace (assuming they are willing to try/learn).

You can only start, where you are at.
Good for you!
You will learn so much, by just actually shooting at distance.
Having a mentor with you is priceless.

You guys are making a lot of sense. I've seen some scary stuff too. Don't know if I'd call those guys average hunters or less than average hunters though. ha ha.. I'm thinking a lot of us here on the long range forum probably shoot much more than the average hunter does. Not to insult those types, but those are just facts. We would not be here, if we did not have a passion for it.

I offer this little bit of advice to anyone I happen across that's expressing interest in long range shooting. Find a club near you that hosts PRS matches. That's the Precision Rifle Series. It's a nationwide disapline of rifle competition that has figured out how to encompass all levels of skill set and equipment with the goal of elevating everyone who seeks to move up their own personal ladder.
I would first start by just going and observing the goings on at a few matches, mentioning to a few folks that you're interested in learning to shoot long range, and just let it snowball from there. I have no doubt you will meet people more than willing to advise, help, and even share equipment when it comes time to actually shoot a match. I've seen with my own eyes several times seasoned shooters offering to lend a rifle and ammo to a new shooter. There's a VERY good chance those people you find to talk to were once in your exact shoes wanting to learn from someone.
You will find that you do not need to jump right in with a huge investment in equipment. Yeah, there's a lot of shooters that do go nuts with gear, but I've seen a lot of good shooters make it through a match with just a bipod and something that functions as a rear bag. The Armageddon Gear Game Changer bag is a superb multi use piece of kit that works as a rear bag and a dozen other things. Anything you read on PRS will tell you that your rifle need only be 1 MOA capable, and common sense tells you to use an optic that will get you out to distance.
PRS puts you in all kinds of situations and positions that are very "hunting" applicable. Quite frankly some of it is good urban training as well if you can imagine what I'm saying. I've shot stages that included pickup truck beds, shooting from inside an SUV vehicle out the back window and out the side, and shooting from the vehicle's roof and hood. All kinds of concrete props, piles of tires, 55 gal drums, boulder rocks, logs, barricades, tank traps, and even a stage that mimicked shooting off a rocking boat at Woody's in NC. There's a 4 story tower at Virginia International Raceway shooting range that we shot from and got a good taste of high angle shooting from up there. Just about anything a MD can dream up for stages goes, he's in total control of what his match consists of.
One single season of shooting PRS matches and talking to those people will teach you more about real world long range shooting than just about anything else. You will burn at least 100 rounds a match at ranges from 250 or 300 yards out to 1200 yards depending on the venue. It will humble you 8 ways to Sunday, and if you possess the drive to learn and take solid advice, and can self critique, you will be a competent long range shooter in short order.

OH NO!!!

Don’t recommend shooting friendly competitions to improve your long range shooting and hunting!

Xphunter will have a meltdown!

I like your post. I'd shoot or hunt with you anytime. Hell, I was just out practicing holdovers out to 800 yards a bit ago, while chatting with Gunner500 here. There's some good guys here, and some you know shoot a lot. Some compete, some don't. You don't have to, to be a great shooter, but there's something about the competition that is great. Sometimes it can be humbling, and it may knock your self esteem down a notch. But if you are anything like me, that only makes you work harder to get to your goal.

In this practice today, I am shooting with no rear support. My club requires that, in the longrange shoots we do. So, I grabbed my rifle that I know shoots well, and went to the range. This is one I threw into a Mcmillan A3 edge about 6 months ago. It handles great in the prone position.



Set the Accu Tac bi-pod high, because some of the targets are high on the hill. The first one is the usual 400 yards:



Aiming for the hole in the plate, I almost blew a chunk out of it.

500 yard plate. The hole on the bottom of the plate is there for hanging it. Just incase you were wondering:

3 shots into what looks like less than 2".

Good enough to move on. No misses yet, so move on to the 600 yard plates:

First 3 shots were on the target on the right. Sloppy, but wanted to make sure my holdover was right. Settled down a bit and made the 3 shots on the plate, to the left.

700 yards:
Center punched the big plate on the right. Holding 17 moa on the reticle, and it's pretty close. Plate on the left suffers. It did get hit 3 times consecutively, but the picture sucks and it's hard to see the bullet splash.:

The smaller plates are 10" in diameter. Still, no misses yet. On to the 800 yard plates.

800 yards. This is where I missed a few, but I was taking ammo from a different box. Using Starline brass, instead of the load I was using previously that had Hornady brass. Had to slightly adjust hold, but not by much. Shot 5 into about 5", but slightly to the right. On to the small 10" plate:

Sorry, the pics suck. Using my very old spotter from 1958. Didn't bring my better spotter. The small plate at 800 was a challenge. I hit it 3 times out of 6 shots. No one is perfect.. At 800, I'm holding right on the sharp point of the bottom reticle, or 21 moa:

At 800, I had to hold the left edge of the small plate to make the hits. Wind was minimal.

Now, that gives the OP something to chew on..

There it is.

The OP feels he is the superior "true" hunter, with anyone who shoots further than he can, a "wannabe. He also is the "real hunter" and if anyone does not do things like he does, they are not legitimate hunters.

Sure sounds a LOT like that Garanimals character. The one who was the all knowing "Xspurt" on sniping, and lectured the board here on what yardage true sniping began. At least until I showed him pictures I took during an actual operation in Iraq from a rooftop, where many of the engagement ranges had the possibility to be less than 1/3 the distance his imagination and old Carlos Hathcock style fantasy books conjured up.

He got taken to the woodshed and did his best to ignore any direct conversation or questions. EXACTLY like the OP is doing now...

What a surprise.

My God, what has happened to the Campfire? All this trolling and nobody, nobody, posts a


DFTFT!!!!

Both shooters that hunt or hunters that shoot should all consider themselves members of the same brotherhood who enjoy their common passion for the outdoors.
The degree of preference towards different aspects of hunting, be it gear, shooting skills, stalking skill, physical condition, etc. seems to make ones enemies of the others, and watching this kind of fighting in the internet always leaves me with a bad taste.
Those that enjoy the stalk are a not a bunch of illiterate bumpkins who cannot even read the numbers on a ballistic turrets, nor those that enjoy the shooting are a bunch of self worshipping geeks who can`t put a stalk on a milk cow.

In my mind, hunting is a challenge to beat an animal instincts while integrating in its surroundings, and if I shoot further than his security area I won't be beating anything except my ego. But this is just my choice and I always understood that anyone should make his own and do whatever he enjoys more or makes him happier.

Merry Xmas to all, shooters that hunt and hunters that shoot as they are all my fellow hunters.

I would not get too worked up over it. He's proven he can't shoot for schiddt, so he makes excuses and proposes his self proclaimed limits on others. There are people here that have proven they can take critters at a very long ways off. It's not hard to do. Those of us that have done it, know that.

Merry Christmas buddy.

Well said.

Only having to hold the edge of the plate at 800, is some nice conditions!!!
I would enjoy getting together to shoot with you. Hunting would be harder, but that too.
I know I am an odd-duck in terms of shooting or hunting at distance, since I like to use various specialty pistols, instead of a rifle.
We all have our unique weirdness, and this is one of my outside the box enjoyments.

A time most anyone could get together and shoot with me, is at WY-SHOT.
It always starts the Monday after Father's Day (June 17-19 2024).
Shots on steel will go from around 200 yards to over 1300 yards-No rifles allowed.
It also has a prairie dog shoot component-Handguns only. You can read the brief description from the link.
I know that most of you do not have a LR specialty pistol, so I have several loaners ready to go for the match.
https://sebrests-usa.com/wy-shot/

Im not gonna do PRS, but will try longer range w a hunting rifle.
Got two places I can shoot, 700 max at one, 1K at the other.

Have no ego to worry about crashing. Like I said, gotta start somewhere.

Uh, I think there is a misunderstanding here.
I am not opposed to friendly or serious comps.
I could have posted it incorrectly as well-I am very capable of that.
If so, my apologies.

In another thread, I did say that being a comp shooter wasn't a requirement to be skilled at LR hunting.
I put on a yearly shoot LR steel shoot, for the very purpose of fun, learning, and improving yourself.

I try to go to a LR steel field shoot or PRS match once or twice a year.
I also try to go to a LR bench shoot (500, 750, and 1K) once a year
Been limited the past couple of years due to three surgeries.
Even when I wasn't hurt, I have not competed on a regular basis like some do here.

A quote from my WY-SHOT page:

"There are a number of purposes of the steel shoot: Having fun, competing, developing your hunting skill set, since we shoot from a variety of field shooting positions or field rests under time and keep score.

We cannot give the complete adrenaline rush of hunting, but by shooting at multiple targets under time, many of which will be farther than what you would shoot at big game, each shooter can learn their limitations from a variety of field shooting positions (Prone, sitting, kneeling), and shooting off a variety of field rests (Bi-pods, back packs, tree trunks, and the like). Sometimes your shooting position may be awkward, like facing downhill when prone, while being required to shoot uphill.

But when you think about it, if you hunt, you do not always have the perfect field rest set-up, and at times you have to make a shot in specific time frame or lose that opportunity.

We hope to hone those field hunting skills, so you can be better equipped when head out to hunt."

No, being a comp shooter isn't a requirement for being skilled at LR hunting, but it sure helps exponentially more than it could ever hurt.

Missing or poorly hitting a target at a match would equate to possibly wounding an animal, but instead of dealing with a wounded animal, you figure out why you made that bad shot on that target and work to not make the same mistake again....which lends greatly to being a successful LR hunter.

I firmly believe that participating in such things as PRS shortens the learning curve, in two ways.

1) you are surrounded by people who are levels above you and if you watch them and learn from them you progress yourself much faster. The structure of a match keeps you from cheating yourself. Everyone is watching and just the peer pressure alone keeps you humbled.

2) the vast majority of shooters I've competed with do not have access to a range that provides the distances we would consider long range. Their only exposure to long range is at a match. You simply cannot learn what you need to learn without actually sending shots at distance.

It's interesting watching all the wriggling and squirming going on by the "long rangers" trying to avoid the very simple real issue: if you are launching mortars at 1000 yd across a canyon at an elk thats all about shooting....and has nothing to do with hunting....no matter how desperately you try to twist it. It's actually on the "sick" side of things.

Finding where the elk are might take a bit of hunting

I know I am I'm spoiled where I live, and I like it!
I and others in this area have access to a permanent steel range that starts at 200 yards (Set-up for paper targets at 100 yards), to beyond a mile.
5" and 10" steel in 100 yard increments.
The 1K targets is a 12" or maybe a 14", and then there is a 5".
I think the targets at 1100 and 1200 yards are 12"
then it jumps to 1350 on a man sized target
This is about a 20 minute drive for me.

If you aren't out there stabbing them with a spear tipped by a piece of flint you knapped yourself then you aren't hunting.

Yep.
Sometimes it is relatively easy, and other times it seems impossible, with a lot of everything in between