Tag Archives: long-range

Optimizing AR-15 Accuracy for Long-Range Varmint Hunting

March 20, 2026blogaccuracy, ar-15, ar15, long-range, varmint huntingcoldboremiracle

Written by Guest

Intro

Stretching an AR-15 past 300 yards on prairie dogs this spring sounds ambitious. True — but not crazy. The platform has come so far that varmint hunting at real long range is practical now, not just some YouTube fantasy.
Still, you can’t bolt a Vortex onto a stock Ruger AR-556 and expect half-MOA groups at 400 yards. Doesn’t work like that. Every component matters — barrel, trigger, optic, ammo. Let’s see what actually moves the needle when you’re building an AR for precision small game work at distance.

US Optics, SXR, 1-6, lpvo, USO, low power variable optic, ar15, ar

What You Need to Know About the AR-15 Rifle

The AR-15 is not a single rifle. It’s a system — and that distinction matters way more for precision shooting than people realize. So, you need to know how the AR-15 rifle works to make the most of it for varmint shooting.
Here’s where most guys go wrong first. Factory AR-15s ship with mil-spec triggers breaking at 6-8 pounds. Heavy. Gritty. Completely wrong for careful shot placement at range. Drop in a Geissele SSA-E or a LaRue MBT-2S, and you’ll wonder why you waited. Cheapest meaningful upgrade you can make.

Next up — the handguard. Free-floated rail, non-negotiable. When your barrel touches the handguard anywhere, harmonics go sideways, and groups open up. Aero Precision and Midwest Industries both sell solid free-float setups. Now, something people overlook: the AR-15’s direct impingement gas system actually helps accuracy. Sure, gas pistons — like on an HK MR556 — cut fouling. Yet DI vents gas straight through the bolt carrier, meaning less mechanical movement while the round fires. For varmint hunting specifically, where you shoot from stable positions at tiny targets, that consistency edge compounds over an afternoon. Finally, modularity. No other platform lets you swap uppers in thirty seconds — .223 coyote rig to a 6.5 Grendel setup. That flexibility is why the AR owns this space.

Caliber Selection for Long-Range Varmint Work

Caliber choice will make or break you out past 300. Period. Under 300 yards, .223 Remington handles prairie dogs and groundhogs just fine. Cheap, low-recoil, available at every Walmart in America. Beyond that, though… The round bleeds velocity fast, and wind drift gets ugly with lightweight 55-grain pills.

223, 223 remington, hornady, bullets, handloading, reloading,

So what do you actually run? The .224 Valkyrie deserves a serious look. Federal built it for long-range AR work, and the 90-grain Sierra MatchKing load stays supersonic past 1,000 yards.
Overkill for ground squirrels at 500? Maybe. But that flat trajectory makes first-round connections on small targets way easier. Meanwhile, 6.5 Grendel gives you heavier bullets with strong ballistic coefficients — plus enough thump to drop coyotes cleanly.
Also worth knowing — barrel life varies across these calibers. The .224 Valkyrie eats barrels faster than Grendel, noticeably quicker than .223. Naturally, if you’re doing high-volume prairie dog shoots — 200 rounds in one sitting — factor that in before committing to a caliber.

Barrel Upgrades That Actually Matter

Not every barrel upgrade is worth your money. Some are. Knowing the difference saves you hundreds of dollars and a lot of frustration. Start with barrel length. For most varmint calibers, 18 to 20 inches hits the sweet spot between velocity and portability. Go shorter, and you leave real fps on the table. Conversely, past 20 inches with .223, diminishing returns kick in, and you’re hauling dead weight.

Twist rate matters too — more than most shooters realize. A 1:8 twist covers the widest range of bullet weights in .223. However, heavy-for-caliber stuff in .224 Valkyrie needs 1:6.5 or 1:7 to keep those long 90-grain bullets stable. Criterion and Bartlein both make outstanding aftermarket options.
On material — stainless steel beats chrome-moly for pure accuracy. The tradeoff is durability; chrome-moly holds up longer under sustained fire. For varmint hunting, where precision matters more than barrel life in tens of thousands of rounds, go stainless.

Optics and Scope Setup

Glass matters more than the rifle itself. Yeah — hot take. Still true. For work past 300 yards, grab a variable-power scope in the 4-16x or 6-24x range. The Vortex Viper PST Gen II and Athlon Ares BTR both deliver without requiring a second mortgage. At those distances, though, magnification alone does not cut it — you need turrets that track and repeat.

ar15, ar 15, 6.5 Grendel, us optics, FDN17X, — this 6.5 Grendel rifle was unstoppable with the **US Optics FDN17X** on it

First focal plane holds the edge because your reticle scales with magnification, keeping holdover marks accurate at every power setting. The second focal plane works too — but only if you dial a set magnification before using subtensions. Otherwise? Your holds are off. MOA or MRAD — pick one, learn it properly. In practice, MRAD pairs better with metric-based ballistic calculators, and most competitive long-range guys have gone that direction already. Yet
plenty of accurate shooters run MOA without a single issue.

Besides parallax adjustment — don’t sleep on it. Past 400 yards, even a slight parallax error shifts your impact enough to miss a prairie dog entirely. Accordingly, check that your scope’s parallax knob dials low enough. Some budget glass bottoms out at 50 yards, which is useless for this kind of work.

Fine-Tuning Ammunition and Loads

Everything upstream — barrel, trigger, optic — only hits its potential when the right ammo feeds through it. Before you touch a reloading press, try factory match loads. Hornady V-MAX and Federal Premium’s Nosler Ballistic Tip offerings are proven. Test at least three loads in your specific rifle. Seriously — two guns off the same line can prefer completely different ammo. That’s barrels being barrels. Essentially, no two are identical. Handloading takes things further, though. Consistent charges weighed on a digital scale (not thrown volumetrically), proper brass prep, and careful seating depth work can shrink a 1-MOA rifle to half-MOA. Specifically, the Redding Type-S bushing die set earns every penny if you’re chasing sub-MOA consistency.
Brass lot consistency gets overlooked constantly. Mixing cases from different production runs introduces volume variations that change pressure and velocity shot to shot. Consequently, even a 15 fps spread shows on paper at 400 yards. Therefore, keep your brass sorted by lot number — no exceptions, no shortcuts.

ar15, quattro 15, desert tech, eotech, vudu, LPVO, desert shooting,

The Bottom Line

Building a precision AR isn’t about buying the most expensive parts. Your job here is to make the right parts work together. Get the right trigger, barrel, optic, and ammo, and 400-yard prairie dogs become routine. And you won’t need a $4,000 custom build, either. Smart upgrades for varmint hunting in the right order are what you should focus on — not throwing money at cool stuff from r/longrange.

Rifles and Cartridges for Long-Range Hunting

February 23, 2026blogcaliber, cartridge, cartridges, hunting, long-range, long-range hunting, Rifle, riflescoldboremiracle

Preface

Long-range hunting like it or not has become big business, and growing in popularity. Everybody seems to have a coarse opinion on the subject, but we aren’t going to debate that subject here. Today we are going to discuss some good rifle and cartridge combinations for getting effective results in long-range hunting.

long-range, hunting, long-range hunting, rifles, cartridges, caliber, choosing, selection, — Cartridges like the **7 SAUM** loaded with heavy bullets are devastating on game animals

Purpose

When most people think of long-range hunting, they think of shooting a big bull elk from across a canyon. While that is certainly a likely scenario, people often overlook other long-range hunting activities. I for example spend the spring months in the melting Rocky Mountains chasing groundhogs from great distances. So whether you are after coyotes or whitetail deer, we’ll go over a few options that will help you be successful at long-range hunting.

my Father took this bull from around 500-yards shooting his .264 Winchester Magnum

What Makes a Long-range Cartridge?

Long-range cartridges typically employ heavy for caliber bullets. An easy example of heavy for caliber would be a .223 Remington with a 75 grain or heavier bullet. Most .223 ammunition uses bullets in the 55-grain class. Another easy example would be a 308 Winchester, which typically uses 150 to 180 grain bullets. Both of these cartridges do much better at further distances when they are loaded on the heavier side. Heavier bullets typically have better ballistic coefficients (BC) which makes them more efficient. More efficient bullets retain their velocity and energy, for less drop and wind deflection.

even small cartridges like the **.223 Remington** can be used for long-range service when loaded right

Good long-range cartridges are also often magnum cartridges. A 308 might do well at 500-yards, but a 300 Winchester Magnum will do much better using the same bullet. Especially when loaded heavy. The large capacity of magnum cartridges gives them the horsepower to push bullets faster.

big magnums like the **300NM** and **338LM** have excellent long-range performance

Retaining speed and energy are key to long-range hunting. Because even a good hit on an animal might not be sufficient if the bullet has slowed down enough to be ineffective.

Big Game Cartridges

There is no lack of options for big game cartridges suitable for long-range hunting. Though it might be just as important to ensure the barrel twist is adequate for the bullet you’d like to shoot. A 300 Winchester Magnum with a 1:10 twist is pretty common, and will likely do what you need for taking down deer and elk sized animals at longer ranges.

Some of the more recent cartridges already account for this trend in long-range. The PRC family from Hornady specify fast twist-rates for high BC bullets. And whether you choose the 6.5mm, the 7mm or 300 PRC, they can be used very successfully for long-range big game hunting.

The further out you want to push your limits, the bigger the cartridge you’ll want to use. We have used the 338 Lapua Magnum and the 300 Norma Magnum very effectively on the largest of the deer family out to ranges like seven and eight-hundred yards.

this cow elk fell to a single impact at 700 yards from a 300 Norma Magnum, you can tell Iain is happy with it

Small Game Cartridges

Selecting an effective long-range cartridge for hunting smaller animals can be much easier. Because often it can be the same rifle and cartridge as your big game rifle. But also because there are so many good options, especially if they are set up to shoot high BC bullets.

my Dad’s 220 Swift, you can see more about that one here

One of the first ones that comes to mind is a fast twist 220 Swift like the one I built for my Dad. It pushes 75 grain ELDM bullets over 3300 FPS and will split a groundhog in twain from half a mile away. Another option would be the 6mm Creedmoor, Hornady’s 108grain ELDM match ammunition carries over a thousand pounds of energy beyond 500 yards. More than enough to take down a coyote or other pests.

long-range varmint rifles might still be your deer rifle, this coyote fell to my 6.5PRC PVA Modus

There are other fantastic choices typically in the .224 and .243 bore size. The 22 ARC is another good option, it has the horsepower to keep high BC bullets like the 88-grain ELDM above 2000FPS even at 500 yards.

Picking a Long-Range Rifle

Since most manufacturers today offer both short and long-action rifles in the same series, its pretty easy to recommend one. For example, I like the Ruger American Gen 2 as an entry level rifle that most folks can justify. The rifle offers good accuracy and customization which long-range shooters thrive on. And it can be had in most any popular caliber from 22 ARC up to 7 PRC.

the **Ruger American Gen 2** is a great place to start long-range practice

A step up in both quality and price would be the Tikka CTR. Also available in a variety of good long-range calibers like the .243 Winchester, and with an upgraded 1:8 barrel twist. Or you could go with the 6.5 PRC option for more range and power. Tikka’s have excellent aftermarket support for those looking to customize their long-range hunting rifle.

I love **Tikkas**, and they are a step up in quality. And they make an excellent choice for precision shooting. You can read more about my custom Tikka here

Another step toward the pinnacle would be the Seekins Havak PH3 series of rifles. With exceptional quality and guaranteed accuracy, as well as long-range heritage these rifles offer a great value. Built by folks who know what long-range hunters are after, you can buy the rifles in any number of great long-range calibers. And select different barrel lengths to optimize your experience.

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The Guns of King of 2 Miles

October 13, 2025blogELR, king of 2 miles, KO2M, long-range, long-range shootingcoldboremiracle

Introduction

Long-range shooting has become a very popular sport across the world, and the folks on the extreme cutting edge of this sport are the extreme long-range (ELR) shooters. Today I am writing you from the world championship King of 2 Mile competition, where ELR enthusiasts are pushing the limits of non-guided munitions. Since it is a bit challenging to explain the entire ELR scene, I decided to share with you something a little more familiar and exciting for gun folk. Today we are going to be looking at the guns of King of 2 Miles.

Cadex, nightforce — this custom-built **Cadex Defense rifle** is supported by a long carbon fiber Accu Tac bipod extender

Shooting 2 Miles?

Can that even be done? What could you possibly hit from two miles away? Is this even a practical sport? These are all questions you might be asking yourself, and you aren’t alone. So before we get too deep, lets get some context on what’s happening in this event.

target, king of 2 miles — Here you can see one of the many distant targets, if you look closely (about 3.4L and 2.5D) you can see the target cameras setup to watch the targets

Targets

Yes the targets are big. To a typical shooter they might even seem ridiculously big. But when you push these targets out across a wide desert canyon three to four-thousand yards away, they become quite small. Small enough in fact that when seen through the scope they measure around one to two minutes-of angle (MOA). Imagine for comparison; a typical paper target you shoot at the range is likely twenty or more MOA in size. So essentially, ELR shooters are shooting for just a tiny portion of a typical target. Like one of the squares on the target you might zero your rifle with.

chronographs like this one use doppler radar to get exact muzzle velocity for every shot. That way, if a shot lands lower than expected but is correlated with a low muzzle velocity the shooter knows immediately. This prevents making unnecessary corrections

PRS shooters are aiming at targets of very comparable size, but shooting 1 MOA targets is much easier when its done at distances like a thousand yards or less. Wind is the name of the game in ELR, and there can be many different layers of wind to deal with at distances like these.

Rifles

Big rifles are used to engage these big targets. Most of these rifles are shooting large cartridges like .375 Cheytac, and .416 Hellfire. Many of them are both custom cartridges and chambers, and they are all built to be heavy. Not just because of the cartridge size, but because a heavy rifle makes a more stable launch platform.

Heavy barrels with incredibly thick profiles add both weight and stability. Most of the barrels I saw came from companies like K&P Precision, and they used aggressively fast twist rates. This is due to the long length and highly efficient bullets that are typically used. These are CNC lathe turned solid copper bullets that are exceptionally uniform. Shooting bullets from Cutting Edge and using mostly Peterson Brass.

Most guns don’t use an ejector, spent cases are pulled from the action by hand. Expensive and carefully prepared brass are too valuable to be tossed into the dirt or gravel. Every rifle I’ve seen here uses large muzzle brakes, to help keep the rifle as stable as possible.

Optics and Mounting

You can imagine that only the best optics are used to see such distant targets. High end optics from big names like Nightforce and Zero Compromise adorned every rifle. And just as important as the scope itself, was the mounting and offset solutions used.

Heavily canted scope mounts allow shooters to aim dead on targets even at these extended ranges. Using optical offset wedge prisms of various types allow you to shoot and test your rifle as close as 100 yards, while still being able to make hits two miles away. For example, I looked through one of the rifles with dual prisms to inspect a deer crossing the range perhaps half a mile away. But when I pointed the rifle at where the deer was, I could only see the dirt halfway between the deer and I. To see him I had to look at the ridge behind him.

Various prisms were used on nearly every rifle, the prism sits in-front of your riflescope. it works by essentially bending the line of sight as seen through the scope, and it bends it an exact amount. This allows you to add or remove large amounts of optical offset, they can even be stacked to multiply the effect

Precise optics paired with very robust mounting systems are required. And the repeatable adjustment of both mechanical and optical offset’s are paramount to being able to make these hits.

Ancillary Equipment

Aside from the gun itself, there is a necessary collection of support items as well. Very large bipods are used to hold up these heavy guns. Accu-Tac Bipod extenders allow the rifle’s balance point to be moved to the rear. This makes the gun more stable, and recoils straight into the shooter for maximum control.

this rifle incorporates a bipod extender, they have a set of collapsible carbon shafts that allow you to push your bipod out even beyond the muzzle. You can see the feet of this Accu Tac bipod are also made to slide back under recoil. Also you can see the thin carbon fiber mirage guard that covers the barrel, this works to keep heat waves out of your line of sight to prevent obscuring the target

Rear bags and inflatable cushions are used to make micro-adjustments in the way the gun is held on target. Stability is another important part of this type of shooting.

This rifle chassis made by Accuracy Solutions incorporates the bipod extension into the chassis itself. At the rear you can see a bag-rider rail under the buttstock, this is made to slide on the bag under recoil. The bag itself is a heavy sandbag that incorporates an inflatable air bladder controlled by a squeeze-bulb in the shooters support-hand

Chronographs like the doppler radar Garmin Xero were used on nearly every rifle. Electronic leveling indicators as well. Knowing each shot’s velocity can mean the difference between corrections from one shot to the next.

long custom barrels give maximum velocity with these high performing **solid bullets**

Taking the Shot

Shooting a target two miles away takes a few seconds. In fact, depending on the target there was often enough time to reload, and have a brief discussion with the spotter before the bullet would hit the target. After each shot, the collection of people sitting behind spotting scopes would finish their conversation and about the same time all would turn to their scopes to watch for impact.

shooter and spotter work as a team to watch for impacts, and evaluate the wind for the next shot

Spotters

Spotters would use very large spotting scopes and binoculars to watch conditions. Keeping an eye on the boiling mirage downrange, and watching it shift and where. A true skill in its own right; being able to evaluate the shift shot to shot and suggest the corrective action for the shooter. All this is done under a time limit, while everyone else watches with excitement. This is also why both the shooter and their spotter are awarded at the end of the match. The impacts can also be watched by target cameras setup downrange, giving a clear view of each hit or miss.

king of 2 mile — monitors setup for spectators to watch, each target can be seen by remote cameras

Loading

Every rifle I witnessed was manually loaded, even though some of them had magazines. There are several reasons for this, first off; even the guns with magazines replaced the mag with a single shot dummy mag.

cartridges are loaded carefully, and extracted by hand as well. With as much time and money as shooters invest in their ammunition, it makes sense to take care of them

large muzzle brakes help drastically reduce recoil helping the shooter stay on target, allowing the shooter an opportunity to spot his impact

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All You Need to Know About Parallax

May 20, 2025blogadjustable objective, focus, long-range, long-range scope, long-range shooting, parallax, parallax adjustment, parallax correction, riflescope, scope, side focuscoldboremiracle

Introduction to Parallax

If you deal with optical devices used for measuring or observing purposes, you are likely to run into the topic of parallax. Parallax is the optical phenomenon of two objects on differing planes appearing to move at different rates to the observer. Today we are going to dive into how this can effect your shooting experience; with all you need to know about parallax.

this Primary Arms GLx 3-18 shows off some of the features we discuss today

What is parallax?

If you look at two objects one close and the other far, it is difficult to focus on both at the same time. The parallax adjustment in your riflescope is designed to bring the target image and reticle image together in the scope. We take it for granted that we should be able to see both the target and the reticle clearly through our scopes. When in fact, it is through the hard work of optical engineers who’ve designed them to correct for this characteristic.

**Here you** **can see an illustration of how parallax setting can cause problems**. not having the reticle and target projection aligned can allow your reticle-to-target positioning to vary

Adjustable parallax riflescopes use internal optical correction to adjust the presentation of the reticle to match that of the target. Parallax is the difference in position when the viewing point is moved. Much like distant mountains appear motionless while clouds, trees and other parts of the landscape move when viewed from a moving vehicle.

The same thing can happen within your riflescope, albeit to a lesser degree. But we know it doesn’t take much to induce change in our point of impact. Even your own heartbeat can often be seen as movement through the scope.

Looking Through Your Scope

The eye box is the area where your eye can see through the scope, if you move too far out of the eye box you lose sight picture. And if you move too much within the eye box with uncorrected parallax, you might miss

You can see the effect of parallax sometimes looking through a stationary rifle scope. Without moving the rifle or scope, if you move your eye ever so slightly within the eye-box of the scope. You might see the reticle shift similarly on the target. With nothing physically moving but the eye of the observer, the optical anomaly can be seen.

Apex Optics Rival Desert Tech SRS M2 — Side focus knobs like those found on this **Apex Rival** are used to both focus the image and set parallax

How Does Parallax Effect Your Shooting?

You can imagine now how even the slightest shift in reticle position can effect your bullet’s impact once the trigger is pulled. If your eye is misaligned slightly, any parallax present in the image could cause you to aim incorrectly. The optical misalignment might make you think you’re aiming center of the target when you might be holding a measurable amount off.

This image (right) shows an exaggerated amount of optical misalignment. when parallax is present in your optic this example shows how a good shot can suddenly become a bad one.

We’ve all seen when you move your eye too far left/right or up/down a shadow appears on that side of the image. If you move just a little, before the shadows appear, you might see the reticle wandering on the target. This is because you haven’t adjusted your parallax properly, and you could be in for a miss.

**A closer look at the image from above, you can see how the point of aim has been compromised**. **or at least appears to be**

If you’ve done any shooting at longer distances, you know how often the difference between holding center and even the thickness of the reticle off center can be the difference between a hit and a miss. Removing parallax is important to ensuring you have the correct image while aiming.

**Corrected parallax allows both target and reticle to be seen on the same plane. With both images aligned together there is far less room for error**

Fixed or Adjustable Parallax

Not always but typically any good riflescope designed for long-range shooting will have adjustable parallax. Whereas short range optics like red dots and low power variable optics (LPVO’s) generally have fixed parallax. Cheap scopes typically also come with non-adjustable parallax. It might be fixed at one-hundred yards, or infinity. You should understand this when buying your next scope. If your purpose is shooting up close on a range, 100-yard fixed parallax is fine. Whereas if you plan on shooting precision shots at long-range, fixed parallax at 100-yards would be less ideal.

primary arms PLx Compact 1-8, eotech VUDU 1-8, vector optics Continental 1-10, lpvo, low power variable optic, scope, — These LPVO’s have fixed parallax, which is fine for shorter range shooting. L to R: **Primary Arms PLxC 1-8**, **Eotech Vudu 1-8**, and the **Vector Optics Continental 1-10**. You can read about all of them in our optics reviews

Focus or Parallax?

Most riflescopes with adjustable parallax also use the same control for image focus. Let me clarify; I’m not speaking of the diopter at the rear of the scope used to focus the ocular image. I’m speaking of what is usually a side focus turret or an adjustable objective. Either of these two control options usually does the same thing, it focuses the target image and sets parallax.

winchester model 100 leupold rifle scope — this old Leupold VXII scope has an adjustable objective to compensate for parallax

Perhaps you’ve experienced a binocular where both barrels needed focus adjustment for each of your eyes. Bino’s typically have a diopter on one side, the idea being you use the center focus knob to focus the other barrel. And adjust the opposing barrel with it’s diopter, once you’ve done that, both barrels are adjusted equally by the center focus knob. I expect parallax and focus are yoked together in a similar way inside the scope. But are focus and parallax the same thing?

No, you can have a focused image and still have uncorrected parallax or vice-versa. I expect that adding another precisely controlled internal device would grossly increase the price of riflescopes.

Because they can be optically measured and corrected for at the factory, and adjusting the focus of the image and the parallax are similar movements. Coupling them into the same control makes sense. But they aren’t the same thing, they are set and then slaved together to work as one.

With focus and parallax adjusted properly, the target and reticle are clear and stable, as seen through this **US Optics FDN1 7 X**

Last Thoughts

You should be able to identify parallax in your particular setup. Knowing what to look for, and how to correct it is an important part of long-range shooting. Hopefully it makes a little more sense to you, and you can apply it to your shooting for improved results. Remember; Little things matter at a distance.

-CBM

Building Long-Range Hunting Skill

September 7, 2024huntinglong range hunting, long-rangecoldboremiracle

Preface

Long-range shooting has become extremely popular in the last few decades. More and more people continue to join the folds of precision rifle shooters, pushed forward by marketing campaigns from every rifle manufacturer out there. Long-range shooting has infiltrated many activities, but perhaps none as controversial as hunting. With so much activity in this practice, I figured it was a good idea to discuss building long-range hunting skills.

A good rifle like this **Tikka T3** is important if you plan to shoot far

Every gun manufacturer out there seems to have at least one long-range model now. What used to require a huge investment in time and money, can now be purchased at your local Sportsman’s Warehouse. When I started out in precision rifle shooting, the only way you could get a suitable rifle was to build it. But today you can get pretty impressive results from common names like Ruger or Savage.

many modern rifles are both inexpensive and useful for long-range shooting, like this **Mossberg Patriot**

This lowering of the entry requirements has caused the general hunting public to run a train on the long-range shooting and hunting scene. And for those who wish to do it well, and as ethically as possible, it will still require some dedication the same as it always has.

The Why

If you hunt long enough, you will see animals go unrecovered. We have all seen someone either through negligence or no fault of their own make a poor shot, that ended up in loss of the target animal.

I used to think that most (surely not all) long-range hunters were better than the average hunter when it came to ensuring recovery of their animal. Mainly because the dedication and effort required to hunt like that typically resulted in some serious diligence and practice. Conversely, the numbers of non-long-range hunters who simply pulled out their daddies rifle once a year to plug a deer on the back end of their property might not be so diligent. And there are significantly more casual hunters than dedicated hunters out there.

I practice extensively with my Desert Tech SRS M2, and it pays off every year

As technology has allowed lower and lower costs to get into the long-range game, it seems more and more folks are following the trend. I don’t mean to disparage some of these people, but there is no doubt a number of them who buy into the marketing and thinking their purchase has made them ready. Essentially its the “now I’m a sniper” platitude.

Most of us want to hunt ethically. So in the interest of helping those who might be new to long-range hunting, I have gathered my thoughts to give you at least a starting point to building long-range hunting skill.

this **Steiner T6i scope** makes a fine long-range hunting optic

The How

There is no substitute for practice, things like dry-fire and other activities are helpful. But when it comes to judging distances, wind trends and the other conditions necessary to be an effective long-range hunter, you need real world practice. I make no claim to be a particularly exceptional shooter, but this is how I have practiced and built a skillset that I think most would find useful.

I spend a lot of time in the mountains where I also hunt in the spring and fall. In order to hone my shooting skills I spend my time there both observing and engaging with the landscape. Every morning the wind comes down these canyons, and in the afternoons it goes back up.

adding a suppressor to your hunt also helps increase your odds, read about that **here**

On any given day I will practice by picking out random targets that closely mimic what I would see during a hunt. I pick out small targets, smaller than a deer’s kill zone for example, usually a small rock surrounded by dirt. And I pick them out in places where a deer might appear, and not always in an easy and comfortable position to engage. The range to these targets varies every time, depending on conditions and what I choose to practice on.

picking out targets across a long draw through this **Kahles 318i**

The whole idea is to present myself with a challenge every time, I evaluate each target as though it were an animal. I evaluate the range to the target, the angle at which I am shooting and the wind conditions between me and the target. Using the ballistic app on my phone, any other information I have as well as known data from previous engagements I come up with a firing solution. And after thinking long and hard about it, and making adjustments, I fire a single shot.

Making sure I followed all the best practices with breathing, trigger pull etc. I usually get a really good idea, based on my point of impact from that shot, whether I’d of gotten a deer, elk, or otherwise. Sometimes you miss by a little, other times you center punch the target. This practice also teaches you to shoot in such a way as to spot your own shots. Which is incredibly valuable if you are going to be any good. You must be able to spot a hit or miss to evaluate your tactics.

I would then move, hiking to a new location, and start over again. Following this practice over and over, creating realistic hunting scenarios is excellent for sharpening your skills. And the more you do it, the more common first round hits will come.

The Where

I would repeat the process wherever I might hunt. Whether that be at 9,000 feet high in the Rocky Mountains, or at 2300 feet in the parched desert badlands. Different density altitudes will greatly change the performance of your rifle, so if you are going from Oklahoma to Montana you will need to acclimate both yourself and the rifle to the change.

putting together a long-range rifle can be a fun experience, **here is how I do it**

I always like to get out and shoot a bit when I’m in new territory. Getting in more practice can only improve your odds of making a good shot. And changing up the variables of where you shoot will help you build a knowledge base of basic changes and how they affect you and your rifle.

The goal of these practices should be making that first shot as close to perfect as you can. After all, the first shot is worth all the rest. If you mess up the first shot, you may never get the second shot that would have been perfect.

this antelope fell to a well placed shot from 500+ yards from this **6mm ARC**

Conclusion

Repeating the process outlined here, has helped me refine my shooting skills. Make sure that if you are not hitting where you intend to, understand why. If you don’t know why you are missing, you are just wasting ammo. Figure out why you missed, and how you could have corrected or anticipated it. Or if its even possible you could have anticipated it, which sometimes is the case. Thats why its called hunting. But don’t let your lack of effort and practice be the excuse for such a miss.