Newb To long range shooting

Almost any standard cartridge will work out to 1000yds.

Amongst the more popular are .223.5.56Nato. 6.5x55mm Swede, 6.5mmx284, .260Rem, 7mmx57 Mauser, 7mm Mag, .308/7.62Nato, .30-06, and .300Win Mag

There are other cartridges that are popular in other parts of the world. Military rounds tend to be popular. In part that is because there is still a lot of surplus ammo.

As I said any of those cartridges and more will do fine at 1000yds. The main difference is cost. The 5.56 and 7.62 are relatively the least expensive, but quality target rounds will be pricey no matter what you shoot.
Learning to load your own ammo is a very good idea for serious target shooters.

More important than the cartridge is the rifle you shoot it out of. You can spend a truck load of money on a custom rifle or a relatively little amount on a milsurp.
If you pick a well made rifle that fits you well your well on your way.
 
I am with my fellow Appleseeder; smoakingun.

You can't beat the marksmanship of Appleseed, especially the price! You'll pay $500 a pop for a 500-1000 yard marksmanship clinic at a tactical gun range; compared to $5 for an Appleseed clinic which has been proven to get shooters out to 1,000 yards accurately.

If you have a rifle, great! Start practicing with it now and sign up for an Appleseed. If you don't, many of the Appleseed instructors have 10/22's and Marlin 795's they can lend you.
It's a non-profit organization, so we're not there to make money off of our shooters, rather, we just want to train Americans to shoot really well with modern firearms.

Got any questions? Just PM me.
 
and becoming a sniper.
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All 17 year olds want to be a sniper. Every teen male I see in the gun shop is enamored by the job and wants to see the "sniper rifle" in the rack.

Skip it, the fascination will pass.
 
Also, although the non firearm part, you need to be extremely smart with regards to math, on the fly, no calculators exc. Also can you run over 10miles in full gear then jump in a swim a mile, then be prepared to make a 500yard shot completely out of breath? Point being, the job is more than most of us think, yes, I too fantasized of becoming a sniper, but when it came time to sign I had hard enough time keeping up during local recruit PT. If you want it, then by all means get involved but just be sure to look at every angle, not just shooting ability.
 
First unless you are lucky where you live finding those kinds of ranges to shoot at are difficult but if you have a good range then most anything from a 6.5 to 30-06 will be fairly economical unless you hand load, the .308 is good for the simple reason it is easily available in a large variety of weights and power ranges if you don't reload and it won';t beat you to death in a long day of shooting which is why I specifically didn't mention any magnum calibers.

Get a good book or better yet several good books on the subject. You need to learn wind doping, mirage doping, light, (cloudy or sunny at the time you take your shot compared to what it was when you zeroed),breath and trigger control are always important but critically important at ranges beyond 300 yards.

You need a good spotting scope and some big targets, range flags if the range you are shooting at doesn't have them up, a good mat and for goodness sakes if you don't know how to sling up you need to learn that too. Ballistics beyond the basics, it helps to know why your bullet is doing what it does when it goes down range.

Last but first on your list is a good 22 rifle preferably with good adjustable aperture sights and start shooting seriously at 100 and if you can 200 yards. It will be so much cheaper and nearly everything you need to know will be learned with the mouse gun.

When I was on the navy team we only had 200 and 300 yards on our range so we shot at reduced targets for long range practice. In a way it was actually harder than shooting at the actual targets at 600 and 1000 yards. Now 40 years later I no longer have access to a long range but I shoot at 50' rifle targets at 100 and 200 yards with my rifles and it makes me pay attention to the basics. I just don't have to worry as much about little things like wind.

Forget terms like sniper and tactical, they sell a lot of guns but have nothing to do with how good the gun is. Long range shooting is a specialized sport in itself and mastering it takes a lot of time, 6 trips to the range and shooting at 600 yard gongs does not begin to cover it. Get ready for a long road that takes dedication, concentration and a willingness to sacrifice a lot of your spare time. You need to train for this just like you would a boxing match or a marathon. No drinking, no drugs, no caffeine, no alcohol, plenty of sleep, a modicum of strength training and a lot of cardio. Stretch, you need to be flexible because you are going to spend long periods of time on your belly in the brush, rocks and sand burrs in uncomfortable positions if you are doing it right.

You need a decent shooting jacket, shooting glove for your support hand, sweat band to keep the sweat out of your eyes, and a couple of shades of shooting glasses depending on light conditions. Take your choice, blue, green, gray, smoke, amber, yellow, if you wear prescription glasses you want prescription shooting glasses.

I probably missed a lot but those are the high points.

My personal choice is .308 because it is what I learned with but if I had it to do over again I would be on the 6.5 Swede so fast. ;)
 
On our first day of the range in USMC boot camp our Senior Drill Instructor asked, "How many here have fired a weapon before?" Many of us raised our hands. He then said, "You people will NOT qualify expert." And you know what? None of us did. We all had bad habits we had to unlearn. My advice to you is to get proper instruction FIRST. In fact don't even pick up a weapon until you do. It will just be all the more dificult later if you don't. Practice is useless without proper technique.
 
6.5 x 284 in a Savage. Reach out and touch someone from over 1000 yards:D

308 is good also,but like you said arc and it will peeter out at 800 yards any how.

Just ordered mine 2 days ago.( 6.5 x 284) Cost is not that bad for reloading,BUllets are all over the place,Lot's of match grade bullets made for them.

Sarge 1967-- I agree to a point.It all bears on what kind of shooting you have been doing already.
 
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Skip it, the fascination will pass.
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+1

Well thats just not true.
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Wait until you've laid nearly perfectly still on the side of a mountain in 100+ degree weather for 3 days, with no shade. Fascination tends to pass pretty quick. Plain jane infantry is not as inglorious as it sounds... much more fun IMHO.

As for the OP. If you insist, and you are a fairly accomplished shooter already, I would stick with .308. That same arc that "freaks you out" is the one you will have to deal with if you do become a "sniper" in the military. If you're comfortable at 100 or 200 yards, go on up to 400 and 500 and try your luck there. Perspective comes real quick 500 yards away, but it's still within the realm of what you may can accomplish to start out with. Gain confidence there. Last of all, don't focus too hard on practicing at 800 yards in order to prepare yourself to be a sniper in the military. Pulling the trigger is actually about 1/100th of the job in most battalion sniper platoons, and probably one of the easiest of the skills to teach. There's much more to it than making the shot. Most of the guys that don't make it through sniper school aren't culled out because they can't shoot.
 
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I really love shooting at 800 to 100 yrds with my 308...but make no mistake those are hard shots..and I know im probably about to get roasted alive on this thread for saying this blasphemy thing..but the 308 is not the idea caliber to use at such long range..it works yea..but a 300 win mag does alot better..fights the wind better and u dnt.have to compensate for 474 inches that's from a 20" barrel with 168 grn bthp federal match grade factory...( I know I have a baby barrel as well...I am always asked where did the rrest of it go ) by my friends...and im shooting fn spr and I love it..however..if u want to see what its like..without spending some serious cash...get u a ...22 rifle decent scope and shoot at some 1 qt water jugs at 200 to 250 yards...that's pretty much what its like to shoot 5 gallon buckets at 1000 yards with a 308...in my opinion that is
 
.22lr or .22wmr is, hands down, the best caliber to hone your skills with as a riflemen. Heck, I just bought a .22wmr specifically for this reason (and it's a hell of alot cheaper to shoot in bulk)

With a .22wmr you can easily shoot out to 250 yards. And if you can hold 10" groups with it at that range, then I would say move onto a larger caliber rifle and then go to the 600+ yards.
 
My advice to you is save your money. You said you grew up around guns. What is already available in the gun cabinet at home? Any caliber close to what has been mentioned? Do they "shoot straight"? Spend the money on ammo. Practice with what is available that will shoot close to 1 inch at 100 yards. If it shoots a 2 inch group at 100 yards, that's fine too. Just remember that you will never shoot a better group at 200 yards than twice the size it will shoot at 100 yards. Likewise it will be 6 times larger at 600 yards. If you can center a group at 600 yards that is 6 times larger than the best group at 100 you will be doing your part with the gun at hand. Then spend your money on the target barrel and high dollar scope that is capable of tight groups at long range. Also take a class on long range shooting and read every book on the subject you can find. It will teach you more than 100 trips to the range and 10,000 dollars in ammo and gun can.
 
Reloading is an important point that I haven't seen discussed?
If commercial ammo cost is a factor, or you might want a caliber that doesn't have much available commercially, this could be a big +.

Assuming you don't reload, and that ammo cost is a factory, you should consider the .223.
Ammo from plinking grade to match grade is far less expensive than .308.
It is capable of 500 yards easy, with some practice beyond the trigger. Many shooters with alot of experience can take the VLD's out to 800 and even beyond, but that's very difficult.

It would be a viable option with less expensive ammo (meaning more trigger time- that's most important) up to 500 yards or so- then sell it or upgrade to .308 or a 6.5 caliber.
 
If you really want to get into Long Range Shooting go to a club that has F-Class, Tactical or Practical competitions, usually the guys in a club alraedy have alot of knowledge and are willing to share it with you, this can save you alot of time, money and frustration. For real world type sniper shooting practice you can't beat a Practical shooting comp but F-Class and Tactical shooting will be the next best thing. Also if you are going to do the long range thing you will probably have to start reloading to keep the cost down because if you want to be really good and competive you have to send alot of ammo down range.

Now for the gun I use a 260rem (the 260rem is a modern 6.5x55 but in a short action) for F-Class and that is what I would recommend to you. You can buy a rifle in 260 or any 308 can be changed to shoot 260 with just a barrel change because a 260 is a 308 necked down to a 6.5mm bullet and you can buy 260 cases (Lapua now makes them) or just resize 243, 7mm08 or 308 cases to 260. The 6.5mm bullets have really great Ballistic Coefficient and Sectional Density. Theres no need to get a 300wm because a 260 loaded with good B/C bullets like the 139 grain Lupua Scenar, 140 grain Berger VLD or 142 grain SMK will have better trajectory and less wind drift then a 300wm loaded with 190 grain SMK (these are the most common bullet for the 300wm used in long range comps). Also the 260rem hits the 1000 yard mark with around 85% of the 300wm energy. Here is a great website for you to have a look at that will tell you about the 260rem and Practical long range shooting
http://demigodllc.com/articles/the-case-for-260-remington
Good Luck
 
I would go with the 7 WSM over the 308. The 7 short can reach out with the right bullets. I have shot both 180 Bergers and 189 Cauteruccios in mine out passed 1000 yards. It's always fun.
 
6.5's and 7's are great long-range performers, but the most basic way to start shooting is to find a .308 that shoots 1MOA at 100 yards and put a decent scope on it.

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article | Practical Long-Range Rifle Shooting, Part I - Rifle & Equipment
 
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