Precision and Accuracy for Long Range Shooting

Our goal with this course is to improve both precision and accuracy. Precision is the tightness of your shot group, whereas accuracy is about getting the shot on target.

The basic requirements to shoot a rifle, the fundamentals, are more important in long range shooting. Every small bad habit or poor technique is amplified when the bullet "time in flight" can be almost two-seconds.

Application of the fundamentals must be consistent every time to have any chance of success. In addition, you’ll need to build a firing solution that is more complex than the usual point and shoot at short range.

At less than 300 yards (or meters), you need to focus on the basics and be consistent, but there is a lot more room for error and you can still hit the target or take down big game. There is little bullet drop or wind: just aim and shoot, with a little bit of adjustment for bullet drop as the target becomes more distant.

From 300 to 1,000 yards, you now need to compensate for things like spin drift, the Coriolis effect, density altitude, temperature, wind, drop, ballistics, angles, BDC turrets and reticles, as well as consistent application of the fundamentals. It can be tempting to focus on all of these factors rather than fundamentals, but that would be a mistake.

Be aware that all of these other issues with long range can take your focus away from the fundamentals, but it's no good worrying about the Coriolis effect if you haven't factored in the correct bullet drop to the target, or the density altitude when you don't follow through after a shot. Don't let this happen to you.

Without the proper application of the fundamentals, nothing will work. It is better to get the basics right first and foremost as they tend to have the greatest influence on the shot.

Shooter consistency is really the name of the game when it comes to long range: having the best equipment you can afford, the best ammunition, and the experience to apply these in a replicable fashion every time you shoot at distance. The more variables you can tightly control, the better shooter you will become.

The ideal is to build a "total shooting solution" that has all the working parts tuned together from the range finder to the ammunition and the rifle/scope, all tested together to remove many of the variables other than the shooter.

Expert advice: If you are not getting the results you want: “Always blame the shooter first. Everyone wants to blame the gun, ammunition, or whatever they can think of when nine times out of ten it is more than likely the shooter. If everyone started with this mentality, they would save a ton of money and trouble trying to fix something that isn't broken.”

Daman Pinson, Advanced Long Range Reloading & Shooting Techniques

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Takeaway:

Shooter consistency is what this course helps you learn quickly and put to the test in the field.