Long Range with a AR15

[Jeff Burgess]

I wanted to post this because I see people ask about this and then get overwhelmed with a lot of technical information. I know I did when I wanted information on it.
I shoot a post ban Bushmaster with 14.5” barrel and pinned brake on it using 5.56 55 gr white box Winchester and iron sights.
I had always wanted to try 600 but was nervous to say the least.
I shoot at the CMP range with electronic scoring.
The RO ask me if I wanted to try it and ask
Me what grain and ammo I was shooting.
He told me where the hold over should be.
Not sure how many feet it was but it was way over the target but his information was right on.
There targets are 36” square and I can put them all in the black and even few dead center.
Never knew the wind payed that big a part till now. What I’m getting at with all this is don’t be afraid to go the distance. Yea you might can improve your groups with this or that but it’s not needed if you don’t want to. Hope the pic works. This is a group I shot couple days ago. Had it going good till wind took one to the left.
I’m hooked at 600

 

[taliv]

nice shooting! it is addicting

 

[Jeff Burgess]

Here’s a pic of the targets. I was on station 40 and my hold point is right where the line crosses the 4

 

[someguy2800]

Try some 75 grain BTHP ammo. Hornady steel match is dirt cheap and shoots great.

 

[Milt1]

Jeff, to give us a better grasp of this type of shooting, what are the dimensions of the target at that distance?

 

[ontarget]

Nice shooting. I haven't been able to shoot over 500 yards since becoming a civilian. 400 is my longest opportunity now. Still a load of fun though.

 

[Jeff Burgess]

The range master told me when I ask said it’s 36” in the black.

 

[Drail]

Having to hold "feet above the target" is just like lobbing mortar rounds in on a target. If your numbers are good and your math is right - you'll hit that sucker. And it's about the most fun you can have with a firearm. We used to take a .45 1911 and shoot at a 300 meter steel ram. You had to hold your sights even with the top of a treeline behind the ram - maybe 25 feet above target. The rifle guys would laugh and howl so hard they would fall off their bench. Until we started hitting the ram.

 

[Varminterror]

I say this all the time - just go shoot st range!!

The worst thing which can happen is you miss and don’t see your splash, so you don’t learn anything more than learning what you don’t know, and need to work on. Not a bad day, if that’s as bad as it gets.

 

[redneck2]

If you wanna have some fun, take some pumpkins and shoot at them in a dirt field at distance. You can see your hits and misses.

 

[imashooter]

55 @ 600. That's pretty good. Catch an updraft? What's the twist on that barrel? I've been wanting to go to CMP Talladega for a while now. About 1.5 hours north of there. Not that it matters other than principal, I read somewhere a week or so ago they don't allow AR pistols. Not sure about SBRs. I researched the best I could and found a couple of guns and calibers not allowed but, not those.

Anyhow, looks like you had great fun.

 

[Jeff Burgess]

The twist on this Bushmaster is 1/9, AR pistol not allowed nor do they allow pistol caliber rifles. I think they allow up to a .338 but not sure. Ive been the only one at 600 with iron sights other then the M1 guys. I live 20 min from there.
They usually make you start off at the 100 yard and you have to put several in the black before moving up. Same with 2-300 yard. I always pay $10 for a hour, they don’t watch it by the min and you can get a lot of shooting done in a hour since there’s no walking back and forth.

 

[FL-NC]

Nice shooting. 5.56 isn't wind friendly, that's for sure. Try some 77 grain Black Hills or 75 grain Hornady BTHP match.

 

[Varminterror]

If memory serves, it should be a 36” Black, 60” largest scoring ring, and 72” white target page.

500 shouldn’t be daunting for anyone to shoot with almost any bottleneck rifle cartridge, if they have access to a safe range. Just gotta give it a large enough target to respect the cartridge, but a scoped 1moa rifle at 100 should be able to run an 8-10” target no sweat, even with a 1-4x at 500.

 

[Peakbagger46]

Fun, isn’t it? With that 1-9” twist you should try some 68 or 69g hp rounds. You should do even better with the reduced wind deflection.

 

[12Bravo20]

Jeff,

What sights are you using and at what distance is your rifle sighted in at? If your rear sight has the standard 6/3 or 8/3 elevation adjustment (depending on if fixed carry handle or removable handle/sight) try using the elevation knob for shooting at longer distances.

When I was in the Army, we used the standard 25/300 meter sight in for shooting targets from 25 meters out to 300 meters without making any sight adjustments. We would adjust the rear sight elevation to hit targets beyond 300 meters out to 500 meters. 500 meters is the farthest I have ever shot with an issue A2 with iron sights.

 

[Jeff Burgess]

Mine is a fixed carry handle. It’s sighted in at 100 yards with a 6’oclock hold. At 200 yards I can aim dead on. 300 I put post on top edge of the black. This is with 6” circle. When I got this rifle the sights were all screwed up. I zeroed everything back out and went to the 100 yrd. Only had to raise the front sight 3 clicks to be where I wanted. I have been wondering about the battle sight zero. If I sight it dead on at 25 and then turn the elevations knob to 600 should I expect to be on the target and where?
Today at the range there was about a 30 mph cross wind. Played heck with me and after awhile I just went back to the 300 to finish up.

 

[12Bravo20]

Yes, with a 25/300 zero, you should be on at 600 by rotating the elevation to 6 for 600. You should then be very close to/on target. Remember that the Army uses meters for ranging. Yards will be slightly different.

 

[Jeff Burgess]

The more I read about the more I think I’ll just leave it be. I hate to screw up my other zeros just for the 600. I can hit the 6 now just not going to get tight groups so I can go back to 3 and below when I want to shoot tight groups.