DIY Precision Rifle Class Curriculum

General Firearms Precision Rifle - Bolt Gun
1

I and a couple of friends have been playing around with precision/long range rifle shooting for the past couple of years. We don’t have any formal training (beyond the Magpul DVDs ;)), but have really enjoyed learning on our own.

We have a lot of other friends who are active in shooting sports, but have never tried this type of shooting. Lately, I have gotten a lot of requests to take people out, and show them what we have been doing.

With that in mind, I am thinking of inviting about 8 friends out for a day-long shooting trip. My experience tells me that a bunch of guys shooting without a plan turns into a bunch of noise without much to show for it. I would like to formalize the experience enough to produce actual skill increases while still keeping the atmosphere casual and fun.

Prerequisites would include basic knowledge of firearms safety and operation, centerfire rifle with minimum 9X scope (sighted in at 100 yards), bipod, rear bag, 100 rounds of quality ammunition, shooting mat, ear and eye pro, and binoculars or spotting scope.

Here is my plan, and I would greatly welcome suggestions for feedback:

Morning Session 7AM - Noon
Confirm Zero, Develop DOPE out to 700 yards in 100 yard increments, work on body position fundamentals, practice spotter/shooter dynamics.

Afternoon Session 1PM - 4:30
Team exercises, friendly competition drills, unknown distance work, shooting under stress (time or cardio).

End goals would be to empower participants by showing them their own ability to make hits at longer distances than they previously believed possible, develop new skills, and have fun hanging out with friends. We are not going to memorize ballistic charts or learn every detail of Mil ranging. Duplex reticle scopes and deer rifles are fine for what I am envisioning.

Does all of what I have proposed seem reasonable? Am I missing anything?

2

Box test. Ladder test. OCW…verifying BC by drop. Ranging with reticle, hold over, hold under. Loop hole, high angle, high wind. Environmental effects, danger space.

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3

One could easily spend a day confirming drops and wind.

From Tapatalk:
Jack Leuba
Knight’s Armament Company: Military/Govt Product Liaison
F2S Consulting: Director of Shooting Stuff

4

I see time management as the biggest challenge. The goal would be to give people their first taste, rather than a comprehensive training experience. Thanks!

5

And walking back and forth to set/read targets. Walking back and forth when you start talking about long range set ups can soak up a lot of time and people loose focus. Reactive targets that clearly indicate and reset are awesome

I wish I could spend a week working on wind reading and compensation.

If you get everyone leaving after a day with dope for the gun they can trust, knowledge about their capability at range and a feel for wind and ranging- that would be pretty awesome.

How far?

6

We use a Honda mini bike to run back and forth. It saves a lot of time. Steel targets are the only way to go past 200 yards for sure.

7

Since I don’t know alot of what you have available to you range wise and what the students will bring, it’s hard to give certain advice.

Control the line, you will find you may spend an hour squaring away gear and rifle set up-you would be surprised!

Control the line during zero, some will spend(or try to)a ton of ammo trying for that perfect zero group. Keep in mind grouping capability with their system and understand that it is what it is. (example, Joe bob shows up with a pencil barrel 300wm, brand whatever and someone convinced him or he believes because he shot a running deer last year at 447 yards that he can hold 1/2moa groups and 60 rounds later he can do no better than 2moa-for various reasons)

Different thoughts on paper vs steel for data collection-many ways of doing it and ways of accomplishing multiple task.

8

I am thinking 500 yards as the starting max with an option for farther if the interest and time are available. We will be going out to one of several public land spots I have in Nevada where available distance is nearly unlimited. Wind is often an issue out there, and may add to the complexity of the excersise.

All invited will be experienced shooters, but in other disciplines.

Thanks!

9

North or South Nevada?

I agree. There has been multiple days where I’ve spent 5-6 hrs with two people and barely even got them to hit a steel target at 500 at the end of the day. I’d take any estimate on time and triple it at least.

10

NW Nevada N of 80. PM if you are looking for a place to shoot.

Regarding the wind, we typically tie flagging tape to all of our targets and shoot on dry up-slopes where it is fairly easy to spot misses.

11

I’m in the Vegas area :slight_smile:

12

i wouldn’t waste a lot of time getting them dope until they learn to shoot. you’ll just be wasting ammo. especially if you only have 100 rounds each.

make sure they know how to build a solid prone position, starting with the trigger finger.
make sure their gear is properly set up. stuff like setting the diopter on their scopes, moving the scope in the rings, adding spacers to the stocks etc will be worth a lot more to them than dope, although it is not as fun and will take the whole day. maybe do that in somebody’s back yard earlier in the week
make sure they know how to pull the trigger.

then confirm zeros and chrono everybody. teach them how to use a calculator to get their dope. then just confirm the dope. otherwise when it changes in the afternoon due to DA, they will just be confused.