600 yards for the first time

W

Willie Lowman

New member
About ten years ago I got a nice deal on a Remington 700. It's chambered in .308 with a heavy contour barrel. In a McMillan A3-5 stock with a Leopold 10x scope. It was already zeroed at 200 yards which is as far as I can shoot on my property. So I was pretty happy.

Recently a friend/neighbor got bit by the long range bug and bought a .300 win mag RPR. He has been shooting from the top of his field, over my property, at a target set up in the neighbor to the south's field. (Before the internet safety patrol gets riled up, he makes sure everyone knows when he is going to be shooting)

Today I joined him at the top of the hill. He hung a 12 inch gong toward the top of the hill to the south. We started shooting from my property, at a range of 400 yards. He has a ballistic calculator app on his phone. We plugged in the velocity from my .308, got the drop at 400 yards, clicked the scope up and I was hitting the plate with every shot. We then went back to the top of his hill. The laser range finder said we were at 624 yards. The gong was a tiny white dot through my scope. He spotted my shots through his rifle's scope. It took a few to get the windage dialed in. I was happy to see the gong swing through my scope a full second before the TING sound reached my ears.

I didn't hit the plate with every shot. I did hit it enough to be happy with my shooting.

My friend said it was possible to get just over 1000 yards by setting the target up in a different spot. We'll try that next month.

I think this will be the thing that gets me back into reloading.
 
I've gone as far as 600 a few times. I have a farmer friend with enough land to safely shoot well over 1000 if I ever get good enough. I prop up an old 4' pallet and cover it with white paper for a target backer when I shoot at his place.

I've also shot here once. Need to go back again. It isn't expensive, $30 for the day, but is a 2 hour drive each way.

https://thecmp.org/ranges/

Pretty high tech. You don't change targets. Each target board has a microphone in the corners that records bullets passing through the target then calculates where they impact from the sound. There is a monitor for each shooting station with a computer simulation showing where each bullet impacts the target.
 
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Good times! You've been bitten by the long range bug it sounds like. If you're like me, just say good by to any and all extra spending money you can come up with, lol.

Jmr40, I'm about an hour and a half from the cmp range. Not sure which way you live, but there's a 1k yard range in Pelham, TN I'm a member at. Its $150 for all year if I remember correctly. I'd rather have the farmer friend though. Sounds like a really good set up for you.
 
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My first time at 600 was interesting for sure. Had a guy helping me, doing it the right way. We chronograph my reloads, then he entered the numbers in his lap top. Wind direction, wind speed, temp, he had everything ready to go. I was zeroed at 100, and he told me how many clicks up, then a few right to adjust for the wind. I shot 5 rounds at 600, jumped into his four wheeler and headed to the target. My jaw dropped when we got there. Just a fraction under 7 inch five shot group. Marked the holes and went back and shot 5 more. Almost exactly the same. I'd like to try it again, because I now have a reload that shoots around 0.6 inch groups at 100 yards. Might give me about 5 inches at 600. This is from a Remington Custom Shop M700 chambered in 7mmSTW. Leupold 4.5-14 x 40 scope. And yes, those targets sure are tiny that far away.
 
Congratulations ! You may have acquired a new addiction. As you shoot longer distances you will have the occasional misses even though your calculations are correct. The only variable you can not control are atmospheric conditions. I like to practice reading the wind by shooting my 22lr at 200 and 300 yards. Wind is a great equalizer.
 
He has been shooting from the top of his field, over my property, at a target set up in the neighbor to the south's field.
Click to expand...

Gasp! You mean people in your neck of the woods are...REASONABLE???

Seem like being reasonable like common sense is so rare it should be classified as a super power.

Good to hear stories like yours.
 
Congrats on your first medium range shooting, Willie!

And yeah, 600 yards is considered medium range for target shooting. Long range for hunting.
Beware though, it can get addictive!
Especially if you start shooting & hitting at 1,000 yards!
Then begins the desire to shrink your groups at that distance.
And thus you find yourself standing, looking down the rabbit hole.

On the plus side.
Little mistakes in form are shown big at long range.
I've found it makes my short range shooting better.
 
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