Long Distance Rifle Shooting for Beginners

[BillSmith]

Correct me if I am wrong but there are any number of 'training rifles' that gov'ts have ordered in .22LR caliber to reduce cost of training AND work a progression of skill set.

Not that the military knows anything about training...

 

[H. Bowman]

There's nothing that relaces sport specific training so if your goal is to shoot long range with a center-fire rifle you should practice using you ur center-fire rifle. if anything 22lr will create more bad habits because of the lack of recoil and distance your position and form matter less. But anyway it's not really like one is overall the best, but training on the specific platform for what you want to do is what's going to be best.

OK.

 

[Deleted member 16735]

OK.

If you think that sport specific training is laughable you clearly don't have the experience. You are over here talking about 308 lol. people aren't even running 6.5 creedmoor in matches let alone 308.

 

[Punkur67]

OK.

I agree the 22 can teach some great skills that translate but you can get away with a ton of fundamental flaws shooting a rifle without recoil. You try to shoot a centerfire with those flaws and you will most likely fall apart. I have been shooting PRS for 5 years and EVERYTHING is about recoil management. Its hard to learn recoil management with a rifle that has no recoil!

 

[tworock]

Attend a local nrl22 event. They are very welcoming of newcomers.

https://nrl22.com/

 

[erick_c]

My partner expressed wanting to learn shooting rifles long distance. We have a semi-auto .22lr and a somewhat decent scope and bi-pod to use. Can anyone recommend any ranges in the San Bernardino/Riverside/LA/OC that provide training for this?

Angeles Shooting Range in 12651 Little Tujunga Canyon Road has targets up-to 600 yards.

​

 

[exnds]

That's just not going to work out for you but........good luck at 400yards make sure you bring reactive targets of some kind and a great pair of bino's.

At 400 yards you're talkin' spotting scope.

 

[couragewolf]

Take two brand new shooters and give each one $1000 worth of equipment and ammo. One with a 308 and one with a 22lr. Teach them good fundamentals and marksmanship skills, teach them about reading wind, teach them about ballistics, and have them shoot until they're out of ammo.

Which one do you think will have learned more and increased their skill more, with less bad habits?

People saying 22lr isn't any good for training or "long range" are silly.

If at the end of this the point is to hand the 22 shooter the 308 and the 308 shooter the 22 and see which handles the other better I think they’re both gonna do about the same. One will be great with their 22 and one will be great with their 308

 

[couragewolf]

There's nothing that relaces sport specific training so if your goal is to shoot long range with a center-fire rifle you should practice using you ur center-fire rifle. if anything 22lr will create more bad habits because of the lack of recoil and distance your position and form matter less. But anyway it's not really like one is overall the best, but training on the specific platform for what you want to do is what's going to be best.

This goes the same vs shooting with a bolt or gas gun and additionally spending to much time behind a can.

When I started shooting competitively I eventually caved and got a brake, then after a while a can, and boy did both of those steps make me shoot better when I had them
And worse when I didn’t

 

[peahi2]

Appleseed is where you learn marksmanship. They have 200 yard clinics as well if you wanna take out that far. Quite amazing actually to shoot 22 at that distance

 

[raellic]

I for one don't like gatekeeping, since it's something I've always resisted myself. My two cents: get a Ruger Scout or an equivalent reasonably priced bolt action rifle that comes with iron sights in .223 (or .308 if you're ambitious), and start dinging steel as far out as you can with the iron sights until you can do it reliably at more than 100 yards. Then you're ready for a scope and a training course. I didn't follow my own advice; I started with a Springfield M1A in 2001 because I could only afford one rifle, and soon I was ringing a 400-yard gong with iron sights because I couldn't afford a scope back then. I now have a Ruger Scout in .308 with a Leupold scout scope, and that's what I introduce people to shooting beyond 100 yards on. Next on my list is something ridiculously expensive from Accuracy International, but that's another story and I'll post it in a separate thread.

 

[couragewolf]

I found personally that as I deeply focused on the fundamentals which are greatly exaggerated by both .22 and 308 at larger range all my other shooting improved. However in my experience the fragility of .22 due to wind causes a great deal more unpredictability and therefore lessons are much more difficult to learn. Wind is by far the most volatile variable in shooting and learning it on a .22 is the evidence of an absolute master of marksmanship. Learning wind at 600 yards with a .308 let alone 400 yards is approachable for a complete novice.

Multiple cross winds, headwinds forget about it.

You can easily have crosswinds on a .22 at 200 yards that throw the pill all over the place in completely unpredictable or counterintuitive ways. Since with a .308 the wind has to be far stronger to affect the path the lessons come much more intuitively imo.

I’m not saying a .22 has no value, I’m saying that shooting one well is far more difficult and has a far steeper learning curve than the more forgiving high bc bullets even at significant range.

Fundamentals are the same on both regardless.

 

[couragewolf]

Remember friends your kestrel only measures the wind at your exact location

 

[couragewolf]

I agree the 22 can teach some great skills that translate but you can get away with a ton of fundamental flaws shooting a rifle without recoil. You try to shoot a centerfire with those flaws and you will most likely fall apart. I have been shooting PRS for 5 years and EVERYTHING is about recoil management. Its hard to learn recoil management with a rifle that has no recoil!

There’s a lot to be said about this finally moving to 6.5 from .308 or transitioning to shooting with a can were both big eye openers for me about how much these little changes greatly improved my shooting without any skill change

 

[youknowwho]

Soooo still no answer to original question??? Asking for a friend.

 

[ef9boy88]

My partner expressed wanting to learn shooting rifles long distance. We have a semi-auto .22lr and a somewhat decent scope and bi-pod to use. Can anyone recommend any ranges in the San Bernardino/Riverside/LA/OC that provide training for this?

Look into California Tactical Academy. You may just have to search precision rifle classes.