Building 1000 yard rifles with no place to shoot them. Why?

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Am I the only one amused by the irony of a thread started with a complaint about reading people's complaints?

No one can make you read someone's whining. This begs the question: Why do you seek out threads where people whine? :confused:

Don't get me wrong. I am not complaining. :p
I am enjoying this spectacle. :D
Plus, I usually learn something interesting from kraigwy's posts.

Expecting others not to complain is futile.
No longer reading complaint threads is well within anyone's ability to control.

Regards,
Tom
 
Am I the only one here shooting 1000 yards without a scope?
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No Sir, 2/3s of my 1000 yard shooting is done without a scope. I normally shoot the Any Rifle Any Sight, Any Rifle Iron Sighs and Service Rifle (don't shoot many team matches any more).

The first two catagorys I shoot with the below rifle. A Model 70 in 300 WM. Olympic sights are shown, for a scope I use a Weaver T-10

Actually the best 1000 yard scores I ever fired was with my Super Match M1A, now I'm pretty much using the AR in Service Rifle 1000 yard match.

1000%20yd%20Rifle.jpg
 
View attachment 81603280AI,27 inch long barrel. This is one of my LR hunting rifles with 160gr AB I can run that up to 3100fps and that is all in the barrel.

Rifle1_(640x480).jpg

The above rifle is another LR project in 300WSM with a 26.5" long Kreiger 5r, 11.25twist barrel in a McMillan stock used Win WSM action.

http://mail.aol.com/36081-111/aol-6...ent.aspx?uid=29047424&folder=OldMail&partId=6

The above rifle is sort of a LR project build on Win 70 action,McMillan stock, 26.5" long fluted Bartlein 5r, 11.25 twist barrel in 30-06. Pulled the scope and mounts going to install Leupold 24X for some LR PD shooting.

http://mail.aol.com/36081-111/aol-6...ent.aspx?uid=29047424&folder=OldMail&partId=4

The above is light LR varmint rifle no volume shooting has a H&S stock, 27" long barrel, 1/10 twist Hart barrel in 243AI.

Below is one of the rifles I build and like I said in my earlier post sometimes I wished I would of done something different. I'm pretty lucky that I get to handle my rifles before their finished and one of the last things gunsmith is going to do is cut the barrel to length. I wanted something handy,light varmint something I could take above timber line rifle and I got that

Here is picture
http://mail.aol.com/36081-111/aol-6...ent.aspx?uid=29047424&folder=OldMail&partId=5

It's a 223 on rem action,McMillan stock,Kreiger SS 1/14 twist barrel 24" had it matte finished. If I build another one I'd use 25" long barrel and that is just being picky.
 
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To answer the OP's question. Why build a 1000yd rifle if you cant find a place to shoot it........................why by a Porsche, or Ferrari when you cant go past 65mph (70 in some places). Because they are fun!!!!!! A lot of people buy boats and only use them a couple times a year. I'm sure that everyone can think of other examples.
 
why by a Porsche, or Ferrari when you cant go past 65mph (70 in some places). Because they are fun!!!!!!
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Well, yeah, but prob more so because they are collectible, and can appreciate in value rather than depreciate like most firearms.

With that said, I know that a quality custom build from a well-known and respected smith can hold it's value well with a low round count. A lot of guys may not want to wait 6 months or more for a custom build, so if they can find a lightly-used one that meets their specs they'll pay close to original price for it.
 
Oh I don't know OP maybe there's a little thing in our Constitution called THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.......lol

Damn even on a firearms forum we got people like Nancy Pelosi........lol
 
I have one of those rifles. I am probably not the average guy in some respects, but I am in others. I used to be a cop. I was trained 20 years ago as a police sniper. I am long since retired, but have a healthy interest in tactical rifles, and consider the .300 Win Mag, set up for longer range shooting, to be the best general rifle for the purpose. I started with a Remington Sendero with 24" barrel (standard length at the time), and had it tweaked for tactical & target use, with a sweet, adjusted factory trigger, barrel set back and recut chamber, muzzle threaded and the gun parkerized. It wears a 6.5-20x Leupold with mildots, and my ballistic runs and field shooting have the optimum zero at 700 yards, with 100 yard increments plotted for use with the mil dots. I can employ the mil-dot adjustments without using the turrets out to 1100 yards. I live in NE Ohio; not a great many 1000 yard places to shoot here, but occasional sighting and shooting at ranges from 200-800 on nearby ranges and farms confirms my calculations, and I do get to shoot maybe every other year in the 1000 yard Wimbledon match at Camp Perry. One year I only needed two sighter shots to put me right on at 1000 after doing my preliminary "come-ups" before attending. I may not get to shoot often, or often enough, at long range, but actively using what range and opportunities one DOES have MAY be enough to keep you competent for long range shooting. I like being competent, and a threat to any adversary I might face (even if they be just another competitor in a long range shoot). My training and experience may exceed some other "1000 yard rifle owners", but those shooters are by no means few, and many guys just enjoy the occasional opportunity to test their long distance marksmanship. I wouldn't come down too heavy on the guy the OP was speaking of, although my rifle does it all for WAY under that $$$ he spent. He might have done just as well with the newer Remington or Savage .338 rifles and such for a base, instead of going too custom.
 
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Oh I don't know OP maybe there's a little thing in our Constitution called THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.......lol

Damn even on a firearms forum we got people like Nancy Pelosi........lol
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Is it really the pursuit of happiness, if all you end up doing is complaining that you can't shoot your new rifle the way you had intended?
Seems more like something to induce depression, to me.


And, name calling? Really? :rolleyes:
 
I suppose where my perspective on those who dump big bucks into a "1000 yard rifle" without really understanding the truth of the matter comes from is just simple reason. My point is that just about any rifle 'can' be used effectively at that range. It's 90% shooter, 10% rifle, so long as the rifle is tight. Case and point--a few years ago a buddy of mine bought a pretty little Mosin M44 and brought it out to play. For kicks I ran it on my 1000M range for a few rounds. This wasn't a Finn Recapture, just an old Russian straight out of the cosmoline M44 completely stock. The sight adjustments ran out to 800. Now, the measurements on mil-surp Russian isn't in meters--I don't even remember the breakdown offhand. Point being, it was open irons, topped out and short. The rest was "kentucky windage". Two spotters had me putting rounds on the plates at 1000 meters. It was a 70 year-old mil-surp rifle that cost a grand-total of $175 including the spam can of steel-cased ammo. SO---what is the need to spend 3K on a rifle? It's a toy, pure and simple. I'm not condemning spending money on a rifle, I have and will again--no doubt. That's not the point here. The rifle isn't the key factor in distance shooting, it's the monkey behind the trigger. Many of the guys I see shoot who "need" all the bells and whistles couldn't hold a 2-MOA group to save their lives, much less the sub-MOA squeeze necessary for real distance consistency. No rifle on earth will compensate for a poor rifleman. They'd be much better off spending $1000 on a solid rifle and $2000 on ammo to learn how to use it effectively--THEN they'd have something accomplished.

For the record, I don't shoot from a bench. I throw my pad or just lay in the dirt. If I can't perform in the field with what I can carry, I don't belong in the field. No offense to the bench shooters, it's just a personal philosophy left over from combat training.
 
Oh I don't know OP maybe there's a little thing in our Constitution called THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.......lol
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lol on you, PP, that is NOT in the Constitution. It is one of the pious platitudes of the Declaration of Independence. Sounds great but hardly enforceable.
 
lol on you, PP, that is NOT in the Constitution. It is one of the pious platitudes of the Declaration of Independence. Sounds great but hardly enforceable.
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I stand corrected you are right and I was wrong....:cool:

I am ready for my lashings now sir....:eek:

Individuals having the freedom to make there own choices right or wrong good or bad was the spirit of my post....:)
 
And, name calling? Really?
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I didn't call you Nancy Pelosi "like Nancy Pelosi" I was comparing the tone of your post with her views on peoples rights.

"I don't have a use for it so you shouldn't either" attitude.
 
BECAUSE .............

I had a reply posting about 3/4 written when I accidentally deleted it while using my laptop. It would have been about the 6th posting here. Then I got ****** off at my one finger typing ability and just sat back and read other's responses.

I shoot 50BMG TARGET rifles at 1000 yards for FUN, really supposed to be a competition as I am the Match Director at Alliance FCSA Match shoot in Alliance Nebraska and I live in Wisconsin abot 740 miles away by driving.
I shhot for FUN and compete for Last Place. When I do better than Last Place, I have exceeded my Goals. I have shot a 5-shot group at 1000 yards under 5 inches center-to-center with a resultant Chevron from the FCSA for shooting 0.4MOA, and a "Screamer" Patch which is awarded to anyone shooting a 5-shot group under 7".

Competition shooting at this extended range is a competition with yourself, how you read the WIND and your ability to compensate correctly while doing everything else exactly the same for consistency. Other competitors will help you with any problems you may have as they to understand you are not competing with them, only yourself, until the results are posted.

The biggest problem we have are other shooters who don't understand our hobby and have an attitude that if they don't like it or understand the WHY, then they won't support it and that results in ranges closed to some rifles, mainly the 338's and up to 50BMG's. Some claim its the noise, some claim its the danger of such big guns. Those arguments fail when compared to actuality of other hi-power shoots and the noise generated there with possible loss of containment of projectile at shorter ranges. At the ranges we shoot the projectile is coming down rapidly, its our job to do it consistently. Sure there are idiots out there that shoot off rounds into the air with no regard for safety, but that happens with any gun including black powder guns like the Amish girl killed a mile away by the guy shooting the black powder charge out of his deer rifle, up into the air with no regard for safety.

Do I have expensive rifles? yes and no. More expensive than most production centerfire deer rifles but far less than a Barrett M82 or Accuracy International rifle or any custom built rifle.
Is my ammo expensive? yes and no. More expensive than standard deer rifle cartridges, but my target reloads are less expensive than many premium cartridges for the modern long range rifles (my target reloads are $3.23 each, using a $2.00 projectile, H50BMG or Reloder50 powder, CCI#35 primers, and surplus brass, heavily reworked). $64.60 vs $70+ for some UltraMags at the Gun store.
And I can shoot surplus for $2 a round or cheap reloads using surplus componentrs for $1.25~ per round.

WHY ????? BECAUSE ...... I ENJOY IT !!!!
Not "because I can". BUT BECAUSE I ENJOY IT.
I've shot many lesser caliber guns, many thousands of rounds over 40+ years of reloading rifle and revolver with recently getting into pistol cartridges.
I NEED a CHALLENGE !! I've played the games, I've competed with target 22's in LR or Magnum.
I've shot with the IHMSA, NRA, SCSA, NCSA, and FCSA. I enjoy the FCSA, the rules that we abide by(except for one that conflicts with Cali. shooters), and the commradirie with other shooters.

Sure, I do have to drive quite aways to shoot, especially with a high caliber facility less than 60 miles away that restricts us because of percieved noise and close neighbors - neighbors that shoot and spectate at most shoots.
But then again, two of the main officers in the club "don't understand why anyone would shoot more than a 6mm" and effectively close down access for others, noise or whatever reasons they come up with.

I don't drive a car capable of over 80 MPH, my 1-ton truck would do 90 when new but now with 311,000+ miles on it it is slowing down like me.

My children were well fed, both a Seniors in college, son at Texas A&M in AeroSpace Engineering with a carreer in the Air Force, my daughter at University of Minnesota in BioMedical Engineering and recently signed up for a 5-year PHD program with heavy tendency for medical research and long-term storage of human blood.

My wife is well fed and well taken care of.

And I just purchsed a new home on 5.5 acreas with house that will be handicap accessable knowing that is in my future due to serious leg issues caused 45 years ago when I tipped a John Deere Model 70 tractor over on top of me, rear tire across my legs which continued to turn, and then burning with me under it.

I use a KTM 530 EXC street legal dirt bike to setup and check targets as most ranges are not conductive to wheelchairs or crutches, whatever the day feels like. My KTM gets me there, my cane or crutches accross the handlebars, my targets in my backpack.

Or I could sit at home on the couch.
 
Thanks! You don't know how long it took and how many times to retrace checking spelling errors.

My daughter laughed at me once, said it was an "Oxymoron" for my typing in a "FAST REPLY" section.
 
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