I discovered there was a 1000 yard range a half hour from my house and I’m going to take advantage of that. I’ve got a Remington 40x in 7.62x51 that currently has a Leupold Mk4 10x with mildot reticle.
I don’t have a spotting scope, bipod or a rifle rest, but a guy has to start someplace and shooting is better than not shooting, even if I don’t yet have all the gear. I’m going to start with Sierra 175 gr Match King ammo. The range has steel targets all the way out to 1000 yards and I’m going to see if I can get hits.
I have a Leupold VX-6 7-42x on order which will replace the 10x. The first order of business is ordering rings & mounts for the new scope. The VX-6 7-42x has a 34mm tube. Who makes 34mm rings and a 20moa mount that worth a darn? I’ve heard Badger Ordnance is a good choice. Are there others?
Is the 175 gr Match Kings a good bullet to start with? Or is there something better? For now, I’ll be using factory ammo. Getting the reloading gear back in action will come later.
Will a bipod be steady enough? Or should I plan to get some type of rifle rest? I don’t know if my foray into long range shooting will lead to competing or not.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been behind a spotting scope. What are the pros and cons of the angled or the straight eye piece?
I don’t know what I’m doing yet, but I’m gonna get a coupla boxes of ammo and start finding out!
I wish I had access to a 1K range. I’d happily drive a few hours for the opportunity.
I’ve had good luck so far with Seekins Picatinny bases and rings. Badger Ordnance woule be an
outstanding choice as well.
175 grain SMKs are definitely worth trying out. Another option would be Hornady’s loads with the
ELD-X bullet, and likely a bunch more. I handload, so don’t pay much attention to factory ammo.
From a bench, I have better luck with a front rifle rest than a bipod. I bought a Caldwell The Rock
about 25 years ago, and have had no desire to upgrade. A front rest like this is roughly the same
price as a Harris that swivels and has leg notches…and a lot cheaper than an Atlas, KAC, GGG, etc.
175 gr SMK’s will get you there. You may also want to look at the new tipped version and/or the Berger 185 gr. Juggernaut. A F-class style bipod (Sinclair makes a few) may be beneficial but I’ve had great luck with regular Harris units as well- specifically the 6”-9” S-BRM model.
Angled spotter eyepieces are easier to use while prone, IME, straight eyepieces are easier to use offhand and/or mounted to a vehicles window.
Nightforce makes a nice direct mount for the Rem 700 receiver.
Spuhr is the best mount period. However, it’s pricey. I think the sp4601 would work for you. But research anyway. There are other rings like Seekins that will be good for less $$. There are a ton of reasonable options but Spuhr is the best and what I use on my Tikka with Kahles k525i.
Factory GMM 175 SMKs are perfect for 1000 yards. I hand load them, but of all the options out there, the 175 SMK is all I like to shoot for .308 bolt gun.
Same for me. I’ve messed with other rounds but always came back to the 175.
For rings, my experience is Nightforce ultra lite and Seekins rings. Both solid but I have no knowledge of 34mm options. I use Nightforce based on both my 700’s. Reasonably priced imo.
Bipod, I have both friction lock and notched log type Harris in 6-9 height. Never felt the need to look further until the recent Magpul bipod came out. Might be giving one a try in the near future.
Last of all, get yourself a ballistic calculator for which ever smart phone flavor you use (assuming you don’t have one already). I use Strelok personally. Plug the ammo and atmospherics in; and away you go. Happy shooting!
Nice first strike Mistwolf. I shoot a bunch of practical precision rifle matches. We often shoot to 1000 or farther. Welcome to the obsession.
Your lupy will serve you fine for prone or bench shooting to 1k. Hopefully you factored your chosen bullet and loads drop in elevation and selected the scope and base needed. Great 34mm rings can be found at Seekins, Badger and Nightforce.
Not trying to be a jerk, but you admitted you don’t know what you don’t know. The old Mark 4 will get it done until YOU learn what you’re doing. Cancel that order, run the Mark 4 and get a training course, a kestrel, and a case of ammo. You’ll be far ahead. Try to make some local matches and see what gear those that are successful are using.
Not knocking the VX6, but reticles, knobs, and all that are almost the opposite of what you want in a field rifle unless you intend to get into short range bench rest or belly bench rest. Magnification is also not your friend. You’ll pick up a ton of mirage and that high-power won’t help all that much. Then, being SFP, the reticle won’t do you much good. The most successful shooters dial elevation and hold wind using a FFP reticle. In PRS, I rarely found myself above 12x except for the longest shots at small targets. Shooting F-Class, I would use a little more magnification but typically don’t end up much above 16x because of mirage.
On bases and rings, lots of good makers out there. I’m a big fan of NF ultra light rings.
I also like Badger bases/rings if you want heavy duty steel that it bomb proof, though that doesn’t seem the direction you’re going.
I don’t see him saying he’s doing PRS shooting. I interpret his post as he wants to shoot stationary at 1000. So, his 2nd focal plane choice of scope would be fine, depending on reticle. If he has enough elevation getting the 308 bullet there.
Agree on the comments on magnification. Many folks rarely go above the 15-18x range for 1000 yards and 25x is a rough practical limit, hence the popularity of 5-25x range and the 3-18x range in PRS. Mirage is a real thing… I will also second and third comments on the wind. That’s a biggie there.
2nd really is probably fine for many guys. I don’t like 2nd with a mil dot reticle… especially with a high magnification scope because I run at 10-12X, and that forces you to spin up the magnification to get accurate mil measurements.
SFP is fine for guys that are shooting static and want to spin their windage knob to match conditions. I have seen that in F-Class and bench rest with some success. The problem is wind isn’t static. Most do better holding wind.
How do you hold wind with SFP? You’re stuck on, typically, max magnification or an approximation dialed down. Therein lies the problem. The mirage won’t let you use full and you want as much magnification as you can without seeing too much wobble and still seeing a precise POA. That usually isn’t a nice round number.
Holding wind also forces the shooter to make dynamic adjustments each shot rather than relying on a previously dialed call.
I found my scores going up when I made be switch from SFP to FFP. I’ve also found that students do better holding wind than dialing it…often getting lost in the knob and often getting confused which direction to turn the knob even after the “push/pull” explanations.
