What distances do you guys normally shoot at?

[MR WICK]

I usually start at 200 and go out to 500 with increasing tight groups. I'm really looking forward to when I can proficiently go further.

 

[Varminterror]

100 to confirm zero & velocity. Then work in and out from 400 to 960. When I use my longer range, I work out to 1200. I can’t recall the last time I didn’t shoot at least 800 on a range day, except days we just take 22LR’s. On 22 days, it’s 100 for zero and velocity, then 300-400, occasionally 500.

 

[P5 Guy]

More than 50 yards takes me too long to go replace targets. The other shooters get impatient

 

[Turkeytider]

That`s pretty much controlled by the available length of the range (100 yards ), at least for me. In this part of the country a 200 yard hunting shot, deer or predator, is LONG anyway.

 

[Remington1911]

I am lucky enough to have the ability to shoot in my "back yard". That is currently 96 yards. If I get off my old ass and brave some poison ivy I can get out to a couple ticks over 100.

To do anything farther I need to travel to the club.

 

[trackskippy]

Depends on the gun and what Im doing. Point blank out to 200 yards, for the most part, these days.

 

[someguy2800]

My home range is 300. I can extend that to about 600 if I shoot across my neighbors field but I only do that infrequently as I don’t want to wear out my welcome. No public rifle ranges near me. My father in laws place I can also get to about 600.

 

[Nature Boy]

All load development at 100 yards. Verification at 500 yards. F Class matches at 600 yards and occasionally 1,000 yards

 

[C-grunt]

My fighting rifles get 25-300 yards mostly and will go out to 600 yards a bit. Precision Rifles rarely go under 300 yards and mostly out to 1100 yards. Occasionally ill go out to 1300-1400 yards and have access out to 1800 yards. But i don't shoot out that far most of the time.

 

[wombat13]

I wish there was anywhere near me that I could shoot beyond 200 yards. It doesn't affect my hunting since 75 yards is a long shot where I usually hunt. I've taken one shot at a deer over 200 yards. Other than that all have been inside 125 yards. I'd just love to learn how to shoot "long range" (which to me would be 300+ yards!).

 

[czhen]

Mostly my rifle practice is 75 to 200 mts further down, I call the shelling department.

 

[Chuck R.]

My backyard range has berms and steel from 200-760 yards. On average I mostly shoot out to 547, just because it's off my back deck.

I'm working a deal now to get access to a neighbors field that will be just shy of 1000.

 

[tominboise]

Sight in and load work at 100 yards. Then out to 300 yards on steel swingers. Then out to ??? on rocks, etc

 

[Kingcreek]

50-250 yards at my backyard range. If I want to shoot out to 600 I can go to my neighbor’s.
Depends on what I’m shooting. AR carbine is a lot different from a hunting rifle in 243, 308, or 300 mag.
My granddaughters were shooting at 25 yards and having a ball with my grandfathers .22 Steven’s with vintage weaver B4 scope.
I bought a flat of ceramic figurines at the local charity resale shop for a couple dollars just for targets. When the lady volunteer asked me what I was buying them for (apparently I didn’t look like a collector) I told her targets and she laughed and said wait here. She went in back and gave me all I could carry. She said they had loads of them just in their way and they would end up in a dumpster anyway.
Some of the unicorns only had 3 legs and some of the angel wings were chipped even before the range session

 

[BigBL87]

Currently, mainly 50 yards because that's the stretch we can use out on my in-laws' property. My father-in-law and I are planning on building up a backstop at an angle across their yard that would allow for 100 yards, which will be nice. I go to longer ranges on very rare occasions, just because shooting out there is 100% free.

There is a very reasonably priced members only shooting range I've thought about joining that is about a 35 minute drive. It has ranges out to 200 yards, and they just bought some farmland with the intent to lease it out to raise funds and eventually convert it into a 500 yard range. That might actually get me to break down and buy a membership.

 

[Turkeytider]

For those shooting 500 yards and beyond ( especially those shooting 1000 plus yards ), what`s the most common method for being able to tell if you hit the target? I can`t even see 1,000 yards! I would assume you can`t be running down there to check targets!

 

[LoonWulf]

Depends on where I'm shooting. Our "range" is only 100yds, but when we're shooting up on Mauna kea, I rarely shoot closer than 200, with our larger gong normally being at 700-900, tho now we've found an angle to get almost exactly 1k.

There's a spot that I sometimes go where you can see and shoot at well over a mile, but it's windy most of the time. If I go there I usually just plink at unknown ranges.

 

[H&Hhunter]

My local range has stands from 100 to 600 yards. In the wild I’d shoot to 1,000 and further at times.

 

[Bazoo]

The farthest I’ve ever shot was about 350 across the length of my farm. I could hit my 2/3 ipsc some of the time with an A2 bushmaster, off the roof of my truck at the time.

Mostly though I shoot 25 yards to 75 yards. I currently down have any rifles other than a 22 and a 30-30. I can hit a coke can offhand, or my 4” plate at 75. Mainly it’s just plinking and hunting practice.

I can get about 125y if I move out of the cedars so the neighbors can watch.

If anyone is around me and needs a place to shoot, message me and we’ll have you for a visit.

 

[Chuck R.]

For those shooting 500 yards and beyond ( especially those shooting 1000 plus yards ), what`s the most common method for being able to tell if you hit the target? I can`t even see 1,000 yards! I would assume you can`t be running down there to check targets!

At 760 I can usually see a splash on steel with .243 or better through my Kowa spotting scope. IF the mirage is bad, and little wind to move it, all bets are off. My range faces to the west, so I've got the sun behind me in the mornings when I generally shoot LR. For distance steel I use a 3 link piece of chain mounted the plate to add movement, so when hit, the steel moves and flashes in the sun. I'm also shooting from hill to hill, so I get a little relief from the mirage experienced at ground level. I spray my berms with round-up regularly, so it's easy to see the strikes of the misses due to the dust.

At matches I've seen sound activated strobes used. Won't help with where on the steel you are, but does confirm hits.

Honestly IF you want to see holes at distance, you're going to have to go the TGT camera route.

 

[Varminterror]

For those shooting 500 yards and beyond ( especially those shooting 1000 plus yards ), what`s the most common method for being able to tell if you hit the target? I can`t even see 1,000 yards! I would assume you can`t be running down there to check targets!

I’m getting a LOT of mileage out of this quote lately…

How do we keep track [of our impacts] at 500-1000? Spotters and steel targets. Reactive targets tell you where they were hit, high, low, left, right… splash in the dirt tells you if it was a miss. Flashers on targets help too - I’ll often put a big check target downrange with smaller targets which challenge my raw precision at that distance, so if I can hit the big target and see how it swings, then I’ll adjust to center up, then see if the group is tight enough to hold onto the little targets too. Bullet wake/trace can show impacts if your spotters are skilled at watching it. Or you have guys working the butts downrange and plugging spotters into your bullet holes.

OR you have electronic targets or target cameras.

Here’s an example of one set up I use - a hit on any of these 3 will trigger the flasher (just below the reticle at 5.5 mils right), big 24” round gong with two 12x20” 66% IPSC’s at 800 yards because I was shooting 2 different rifles to prep for a match. Usually I have a 10” round instead of the second IPSC, or some days I’ll hang a 10” and a 6” when I really want to push it. This is a ~$1200 3.5-21x optic near its top end, you can see the mirage distortion… ain’t seeing those bullet strikes through that…

View attachment 1051890

 

[AzShooter1]

I do most of my practicing at 20 yards. It's a good distance to sight in at for Steel Challenge matches were targets range from 10 to 35 yards. I find I'm dead on at 20 - 25, 1 inch high at 15, 1 1/2 inches low at 7 and somewhere in the middle at 35. It works for me.

 

[jmr40]

The range where I shoot has target boards out to 300. There are some steel plates hanging from tree limbs at 250, 300, and 400. I zero my centerfire cartridges at 100, but after that shoot more often at 200.

More than 50 yards takes me too long to go replace targets. The other shooters get impatient

Where I shoot 200 is a reasonable compromise. It is a small private club and no one seems to mind a break in the action long enough for guys to hang, or check targets out to 200. I don't shoot at 300 nearly as often unless I happen to have the range to myself. I'm retired and can get there on weekdays so that does happen quite often.

I zero my 22's at 50 yards, but use a CDS scope and/or long range reticle to shoot them more often at 100. Sometimes as far as 250.

For those shooting 500 yards and beyond ( especially those shooting 1000 plus yards ), what`s the most common method for being able to tell if you hit the target?

I have a friend who is a hay farmer. I could shoot at a mile + in one of his fields, but I ain't good enough for that. I can't shoot during hay cutting season and he leases it during deer season. I can shoot there from Mid-January until late April. But when I go I bring my ATV which I use to check targets. When shooting beyond 200 locally it is a lot easier to just shoot at the steel plates. You can see and hear hits.

It is about a 2 hour drive for me, but I've been to the Talladega shooting park in Alabama a couple of times where I can shoot out to 600. It is high-tech. There is a monitor at each shooting station that shows where you're hitting on a computer generated graphic. It is not a video of the target. They use microphones placed around the target board to pick up the sound of the bullet passing through. They use those sound waves to figure out where the bullet is impacting. They rarely change targets. There are literally thousands of bullet holes in the corrugated plastic they use for targets.

 

[Steve S.]

I have shot my Shiloh Sharps out to 900 yards at 3’ x 3’ 1/2” hanging steel - my nephew would trench spot for me near the target - we both had walkie-talkies.
I was very consistent on calm days; when I hit and rang the target, my nephew could key the mic on his walkie-talkie and I could hear that ringing on my walkie-talkie before I heard that same ringing through the atmosphere back at my shooting position.
Lots of shooters have it in their head that long range shooting success is somehow very difficult to impossible. A consistent shooter can be very successful at longer ranges if they just try it - it does take some skill but it is not magic. Once you are familiar with the forces that act on the bullet (meaning from practicing), it is very predictable and not at all that hard. I would recommend trying longer ranges to everyone, it is fun.

 

[Turkeytider]

I have shot my Shiloh Sharps out to 900 yards at 3’ x 3’ 1/2” hanging steel - my nephew would trench spot for me near the target - we both had walkie-talkies.
I was very consistent on calm days; when I hit and rang the target, my nephew could key the mic on his walkie-talkie and I could hear that ringing on my walkie-talkie before I heard that same ringing through the atmosphere back at my shooting position.
Lots of shooters have it in their head that long range shooting success is somehow very difficult to impossible. A consistent shooter can be very successful at longer ranges if they just try it - it does take some skill but it is not magic. Once you are familiar with the forces that act on the bullet (meaning from practicing), it is very predictable and not at all that hard. I would recommend trying longer ranges to everyone, it is fun.

Steve, in no way am I being critical of you when you say that long range shooting is " not at all that hard ". Having said that, I personally would be more likely to sprout wings and fly to the moon than to hit a target at 1K yards, I don`t care what kind of contraption I was shooting. I do very much envy those that can do it, however. I chuckle to myself when I see some saying something to the effect of, " Really was off today. So disappointed. My groups were the size of a silver dollar today at 500 yards ". Hell, here I am happy to shoot a 1 MOA group at 100 !