I've never even tried to shoot this distance before, and am really just getting into shooting as a hobby/ sport. I have always just been a hunter and really never bothered trying to take anything over 150 yards. Well now I am starting to have fun with this and been  hitting pretty consistant  3 or 4 inch patterns. I know I need to get better but mind you I am using an old Romanian PSL with the factory 4X scope that I just finally figured out how to operate a couple weeks ago. I always wondered how these long range shooters are bragging about being so good at 1000 yards until I was reading some stuff and noticed these people are jumping for joy that they can hit an 18" gong at 1000 yards.  Now I'm sure this isnt as easy as it looks either but I always though the same tagets were used and they were still trying to hit the same bullseye that I was at 150 yards. I think I could hit that in 5 or 6 rounds with my offset  Dino scope  on my funny looking PSL.

Are these people just cheating to make themselves feel better or am I being too hard on myself?

Hitting at 20 inches or less is 2moa or better.

Proportionally speaking, 3-4 inches at 100 yards is 30-40 inches at 1,000 yards. To be MOA at 1,000 yards that would be 10 inches. Considering the factors of external ballistics are so magnified at that distance, even a 10 inch target would be a large challenge.

I think before I get too carried away I am going to invest in a good scope and mounting system that is centered over the barrel. This offset thing is kicking my ass. I'm having a lot of fun with it when time permits. (when the wife is gone to work so she isnt bitching at me for shooting in the back yard) and now that I have figured out how to zero the scope I will just keep picking away at it and moving back using the same targets until I get comfortable at each distance. If I stand in my back yard I can get a max of 400 yards but it has to be done very carefully because it requires shooting across the road. This gives me something to work at.

I actually did just that when I went out to 950yds without ever shooting that rifle beyond 200yds prior.

I had a card but never verified it nor did I know my exact velocity as the trip was short notice.

I was fine except that I was off .1MIL for my zero and at 500yds on a small target it was a pain to figure out what was going on.

When we moved out to 950yds though I was on the 10" round gong in 3 shots with the 168gr HPBT's which made me happy.

I think it's harder than you think it is to shoot a 18" gong at 1000 yards. I'd be surprised if I gave you my rifle and you hit it in 50 shots. Assuming I gave you no help and you just had to go on what you know. There's a lot that goes into making a 1000 yard shot You need to know how fast the bullets traveling. The bullets BC. You need quality match grade bullets. You need the barometric pressure, temperature, and humidity . You need the angle from your position to the target. If you're shooting east or west you'll have to account for coriolos effect.  You need to actually verify the target is 1000 yards away. Small errors in distance is the difference between a hit and a miss.  Then there's the wind it doesn't take a lot of change to blow the bullet off target. Especially here in the desert the wind is always changing. Ideally you should also be shooting a load that has a standard deviation of 10fps or less. Otherwise the large difference in muzzle velocity will result in shots that go high over the target and hit lower under the target. That being said it is definitely doable and it's a lot of fun shooting out to 1000 yards and beyond.  You're going to need a gun that is consistently shooting 1 inch or smaller groups at 100 yards to have success at longer ranges.  Just as important is a quality scope that's the right type for long range shooting.

If you are shooting 4" groups at 150yds, expect 45-50" groups at 1000. You will be lucky to get 15-20% hits on a 18" gong at 1000 depending on what bullet you are shooting.

I shoot 12in plates to a 1000. When I go beyond a 1000 I use 16in plates.

I went 4 out of 5 shots on a 17in plate at 1500 yards

A PSL at 1000 yards is gonna be tough going, especially if you are shooting typical spam-can combloc x54 light ball.

Wow 80% hits on a 1moa plate at 1500 yards..........pretty good. What cartridge?

4 power scope.........

Get good equipment then take a class. You will save $$$ in the long run by getting good information to start with.  Best of luck!!!!

1 MOA target at 1,000 yards shouldn't be a problem. If someone brags they can hit an 18" gong at 1,000 yards, they don't have enough experience.

Wind here can make you want a larger target especially if there’s no down range wind indication. I’ve had shifting winds get pretty flustered on an moa size target yet switch over to a 24” and get straightened back out to where the moa target was back to hits. My advice is get as many different sizes as you can afford. The local salvage yard sells reclaimed plate by the pound. So that’s always a good place to start.

1 MOA shouldn't be a problem. During practice you can put up whatever size target you want. But if you shoot matches, you can't choose your target sizes...

This is the target from my very first time shooting past 100 yards. You can see at the lower right edge, that is the only miss I had. Orange sticker at top left is cold-bore shot. Headshots were at 200 yards. Body shots at 425, 700, 800, 900, and 1,000.

Not posting this to brag or anything. But this is like average shooting here.

Shoot a big target. (try to shoot small, on that big target)
Example; International High Power Rifle official 700-1000 metre target is 73" by 73"

I think you’re missing the point that this guy is a really new shooter that’s tried distance with a 4x optic and is wanting to go further but needs better equipment. I don’t think he’s quite ready for a match yet.

Oh, yeah if he's using a 4x optic then def needs something with more mag.

Does he?  We shoot our .308's a lot at 1000 with slings and iron sights.

Op think about this  36" plate at 1000: