User Panel
Posted: 8/22/2006 7:57:15 AM EDT
I'm looking for a member in the KC area who will take me under his wing and mentor me in the fine art of precision shooting at extended ranges. I've owned and shot precision rifles before and even worked up handloads but I need to take it to the next level, beyond what I can figure out for myself.
I'm going to be starting basically from a clean sheet of paper. I haven't decided on a rifle, optic, base, or rings yet, although I have my leanings. Its going to be pretty standard, caliber will be .308 and I want to use a mildot reticle for ranging. Nothing too fancy, I just want to learn good fundamentals. I'm looking pretty strongly at a Savage 10FP as the rifle but I'm not 100% decided yet. I might invest in a laser ranger but I want to learn how to range using the reticle primarily. I want to build an integrated system where each part contributes to the whole and makes sense within the system, as opposed to just buying flavor-of-the-month items based on internet reviews and cobbling together a rifle that might turn out to be far less than the sum of its parts because I don't know WTF I'm doing. My goal is to be able to engage targets at unknown distances between 50 and 600 yards effectively and be able to get a good grasp on precision shooting fundamentals like the cold bore shot and windage holdovers. If someone will step up and work with me on this project I'm sure I could make it worth your time. An individual has to know his own limits, and I know that farting around with a mil-dot master and a video game simulation all alone isn't going to get me where I want to go on this. |
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Duke,
If you find someone, I would love to join in if it works out. I've had my FN A3G out 3-4 times and have only been able to sight it in at Lake City at 100 meters. I would love to get some tips to take it to the next level. |
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Too bad I don't know anything about shooting precision rifles at extended ranges or anything......
But I will say look for the Savage 10fp with the Mcmillain stock, Duke... not that plastic flexible POS they usually come with... Get a set of good competition Irons and learn to use those and stretch out to 700 or 800 yards... good luck with that, finding a range around here to shoot out to 1000 yards is about impossible. learn to read the wind.. Learn to read mirage. the ranging scale in your sight is not there for exclusive use... It is there for another tool to use. In competition shooting you will be engaging at a known range. Instead of using a laser ranger invest in a good spotting scope instead. Breathing and trigger technique is more important than all the toys... when you consistantly hit out to 700-800 with Irons you have made it to rifleman and then you may use the Optics to shoot further. You have seen me shoot a man sized target off hand at 600 yards with my M4... No trick photography or fancy loads... I have not shot my 300 Winchester in a while... I need to load up some specials for it and find a LONG range......... |
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Duke I can only offer this . . .
On your death bed, you will achieve total consciousness . . . |
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Way ahead of you bro. www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=6&f=5&t=204240 |
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I bought my first precision rifle back in Jan, and its a 10FP 308 and i luv it. Its better then shooting the Full Autos. I had couple guys come out and show me a little about the trade and in no time im hitting shilloute targets at 1/2 mile (3 out of 5 on a slightly windy day), the guys who were with me had same guns and hittin bowlin pins at that range. I couldnt do that.
get someone who knows just what they are talkin about and it can be made easy to understand, but you still have to be a walkin calculator to figure this stuff out correctly. I just got done shootin 500 yrds just 2 hrs ago, and headin back out now to do some more. |
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I admire your skill and somewhat envy the fact that you have a place to shoot from 500 yards away. I feel really lucky if I can shoot my AR-15 at 100 yards with iron sites and get something that even looks like a group. |
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Start shooting with the NRA Highpower crowd at Marshall (Bucksnort).
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+1 I will have my High Power rig at CMMG with some 80gr SMKs. That 600 yrd plate better run. |
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My SKILL, is what i like to call luck, or good advise and knowledgable people being there to show me how. I have a 1/2 mile range but dont always shoot that distance, mostly 500-700 yrds. Dont be fooled, you can do it too if ya try it, and the savage 10FP can be gotten for $460 new and its a hell of a rifle. Im hittin my targets with millitary surplus South African 308 and its got to be the rifle. Its fun stuff. |
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If you learn anything between now and the shoot on the 16th, be sure and share the knowhow. I myself just recently got into the precision game. I broke it in and the last CMMG shoot. Shooting the bowling pin by the car was frickin awsome. I guessed the windage and hold over from the 100 yard sight in. Flipped the thing over. I have now clue how I guessed it but I'm hooked. I hope the 600 yard steel is visible on the 16th. I plan on shooting long range stuff with both my bolt gun, and my AR all day long.
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Hay leave me some room on the deck also. Dang 50 BMG boys are going to have to elbow their own room on the deck. Hope Jeff has had some time to work on the upper level.
I too knocked around a couple of the bowling pins in the front of the car. Hey by the way, I think I can pick up some more bowling pins. Is anyone interested in a few for their own use? If so, IM me and I will see if I can fill your request. |
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Duke,
Stop by this weekend or when you have time and you can take a look through my documents on using mil-dot reticles which can also be used on reticles like my Nightforce NP-R2. See the attached for reference. http://nightforceoptics.com/doc_center/NF8%20Charts.pdf http://nightforceoptics.com/doc_center/ReticleBooklet.pdf I'm sure you already know most or all of this but if you plan on using a mil-dot based reticle you will be able to estimate the distance to the target if you know or can estimate the size of your target. I typically use a laser range finder to determine the distance to the target if is not known. With a known distance and using a mil-dot retical and your ballistics table (that you have built for your gun over the range you will be shooting to determine the drop) you can calculate how many mils your bullet will drop. If you are using the hold over method you are ready to go or if you are buying a scope with target knobs you can quickly dial in the drop you need. What kind of scope are you looking at? Mil-dot type of reticle, illuninated reticle, target knobs? As I'm sure you can tell I like the Nightforce scopes for their quality, reticle choices, target knobs and illuminated reticle. Leupold Vari-X III and MK IV are also nice depending on what options you are looking for. They offer mil-dot for a few $ more. What rings are you looking at? The Barger Ordnance and MK 4 rings are nice also. The new leupold laser range finders are very nice. They will help you calculate the actual distance the gravity will be working on the bullet by determining the distance from you to the target and the angle you will be shooting in cse there is an elevation change (you are shooting up hill/down hill). I'm sure I have missed many things and lunch time is over so now it is time to get back to work. |
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Mil-Dot is not terribly difficult...
If I recall correctly the height of the target in meters/yards multiplied by 1000 divided by # of mils read =meters/yards to target. 1 Mil subtends 1 yard at 1000 yards and 1 meter at 1000 meters.... 3.6" at 100 yards. So knowing this it is pretty quick mathematics... Or use a mildot master... |
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ugh.... why did math have to get involved. i mean i dont want to have to be at the range and feel like i am at work doing calculations. now i know why im not a high power shooter. i think the super sniper would be a great choice for the scope bud.
Ronald |
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Duke I'd like to see you get this thing together.
I'm wanting a rugged precession gun as well |
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Duke,
dont know if these guys can help you or not but it may be worth a shot. G.A. Precision is located in North Kansas City and may know of some customers that can help you out? http://gaprecision.net/ Sorry I dont know how to make a link hoth.gif |
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here is your link made hot |
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ohh...i like that... to bad no left hand. Ronald |
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We (I say we because almost all shooting stuff involves my Father in some way) picked up an Elite 4200 Scope from Bushnell. Duke I suggest you check out the factory outlet store for them. There is one in Lee's Summit off of 50 Hwy I think and another at 87th off of 35 in Lenexa. They're prices are quite good, I've gotten a Holosight there for 150 and the Elite is $480 I think. It was with a duplex reticle and is 4-14 50mm objective. I'm really happy with it other option was a VariX III Leupold and I can't tell the different between the quaility in the two.
I know the Lee's Summit store had a nice tacticle 10X model that was mildot about a month ago but I think they turn over inventory quickly. I don't know about the quality of all Bushnell stuff but so far I've been pretty happy with them. Especially at the prices. Justin W. |
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The SuperSniper scopes are nice. I used a 20x mil-dot on my first 50 BMG bolt gun.
I set up a customer with the following setup about a month ago which seems to match up well with your post Savage 10FP with HS stock 24" .308 (17915) Leupold MK4 base for Savage 10 (61025) Leupold MK4 30mm rings medium steel (61049) Leupold MK4 4.5-14x40 LR mil-dot (56130) The total was $1400+. All he needed was the Harris swivel bipod for another $80+. If you went with the Supersniper you could save $300. Those Savages are nice shooters. I shot one of my customers guns with him using his handloads at 200 yds and shot sub MOA all day. Competed very well with my FN SPR at a fraction of the cost. |
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Hmmm... that would be pretty cool. Only Davidson's is carrying them and the price is $1470. Man, my biggest mistake in life was being born into a family without money. What would be neato is if Winchester (now apparently defunct) would have come out with a Carlos Hathcock model 70 with matching 8x Unertl setup. That would friggin rock. As it is, those old Unertls are nearly impossible to find in good shape these days. I know a man who lives in Illinois who could help me if he was closer. He was a USMC Sniper in Vietnam and now only shoots occasionally. I've only been shooting with him once. At 300 yards he put three shots within a quarter-sized group, right in the X ring, then handed me the rifle and said "Ok I'm done, you can have it." I've never seen anything like that before or since. His gun is a stainless Rem 700 with a medium profile fluted barrel, standard Leupold rings and a Nikon Monarch scope. It looks just like a hundred standard guns I've passed by in gun stores for years, there's nothing "tactical" about it at all. But the shooter knows his shit, knows his handload and his firearm and he's an integrated part of it. I asked him what being a sniper was like and he said "sometimes you have to crawl on your belly for about a week, set up in your post, and then have the balls NOT to take a shot, because there's no target worth the compromise. Then you crawl on your belly for another week during egress to get back to your own lines and the bullet in the chamber's the same one you put in there when you left. Ever think about that?" I roomed with his son in college, who later foolishly went to law school and has now become a sucessful attorney in Illinois. His dad has never talked at length about the war with anyone in his family, nor admitted having a single confirmed kill. However, the son has talked with other men from his father's old unit who have assured him "back in indian country your dad killed more men than cancer." |
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If you can look for a Winchester Stealth I in .308. Excellent rifle and can be found new and used for $500 or less. Mine has a leupold mark IV M3A and will hit an iron maiden (20x40) all day at 700 yards (the furthest I can shoot on my land). The reason the fixed Leupolds are more expensive is because of the BDC that they come with. I bought a chrono from Midway that has a ballistic program built in. It will print you a bullet drop chart as far out as you want. This will alleviate the confusion between mils in ranging and MOA in scope adjsutment. Just my .02 worth.
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Oh great swami, where in MO do you reside?
The FN SPR uses a Winchester 70 type bolt and trigger, so its alot like the Winchester Stealth series except for its chrome-lined barrel and better stock. Problem is, a quick search on gunbroker and gunsamerica doesn't show any Stealth I models for sale, and Stealth IIs are going for $750, which is as much as the Savage in a McMillan stock. |
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If you like Gunny Hathcock, how about a M25 White Feather Tactical/Carlos Hathcock model M1A from Springfield Armory?
Linky |
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One Shot One Kill was the book that really got me interested in distance shooting.
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Bro Kane, how about I win the lottery first? I've owned cars that cost less than that rifle. RSR lists the White Feather at $3,793 dealer price. I could have the shop order one for YOU, but at ten percent markup you'd be looking at $4,172. After seven percent sales tax you'd be at $4473 out the door.
Now that's an easy number to remember, LOL! Anyway, Gunny Hathcock never used an M14 type anyway, he was a bolt action type. Its just a marketing thing by Springfield, although some of the proceeds supposedly go to his family. |
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He also used a scoped Ma Deuce that was modified to fire single shots. |
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Was it modified or did they just have good trigger control? I know it did (of course) have a scope mounted on it.
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There is a picture in the biography of Carlos Hathcock that supposedly shows the rifle in question, overlooking a valley. Its in a sandbagged position with an old school Unertl 10x on a mount that has been soldered on to the top of the gun. The gun has spade grips and a butterfly trigger, so I can guess the trigger pull wouldn't have been anything to brag about.
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The M2 has lever on it to fire a single shot but the Cyclic is slow enough that the shooter is capable of squeezing off a single.... Seems the Seabees made the mount if memory serves.... Can't seem to find a copy of that pic with the M2 and scope....
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My google-fu was weak as well when it came to that pic. Its in the book.
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If I remember the book correctly Carlos mounted his Unertl scope on the ma duce and toggled the butterfly to get singles. He picked off a guns/ammo runner on a bicycle with a hell of a long shot, 2500 yds from the top of their hill The youngster on the bike was down at the other end of the valley. I just dug into my book and found a picture on page 255 of my paperback book.
That was a hell of a shot but my favorite shot was not a long shot, it was when he finally got the kill shot on the Apache bitch that would torture the marines all night outside the wire on hill 55. The other shot that stands out in my memory was when he shot at the reflection in the scope of the VC sniper and the shot went through his scope and killed the guy before he got off his shot at Carlos. |
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Duke,
I have a new FN PBR-XP 20" gun that I can make you a deal on. I've got a deal for you.....Build me a couple Krink SBR's and it would be almost free. Did I say free guns???? |
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