long range accessories

[smoakingun]

I had a chance to take my rifle out and stretch its legs a bit. I learned a few things. 1) at 300yds, my eyes are no longer good enough to see a man sized target with iron sights, so my first question. Is there something I can add to the rifle (not a scope) to fix this, maybe a different sized peep?

2) I attached a scope, and by 400 yards my heartbeat was becoming a real problem, so the second question. Does a shooting glove and jacket do a lot to remedy this?

 

[5RWill]

Not sure about the peep sight but controlling heart rate takes some definite time to learn/aquire. Do you drink anything before going to the range? Any kind of stimulate? Nicotine, caffeine, etc anything like that will increase heart rate and make it more difficult to shoot. I used to like having a dip and a Dr. Pepper on the way out to the range, i already shake from adrenaline if i haven't shot in a while and i'm thoroughly stumped if i've done either of those two things when trying to shoot groups.

 

[smoakingun]

thankfully, this was not a competition. This was a day of rifle work ups, I can only imagine how much worse it could have been. I didn't have any stimulants or anything.

 

[brmfan]

Try changing your shooting position so that your chest and diaphram are slightly off the ground and can expand/ contract more freely. This means turning slightly to your side and bringing your legs up. Also, get used to dry fire/ .22 practice and lighten your trigger up so it breaks clean and with minimal travel. BlackOps makes several good points about pre-shooting intake. For what it's worth, and it may not have any real effect but makes me feel more confident at least, I always eat plenty of chicken livers during the week leading up to a competition. Somewhere I read that the minerals in the liver were good for helping to keep your eye's sharp. I wear glasses so I need all the mojo I can get!

 

[tobnpr]

Breathing control....

http://www.gunslot.com/videos/shooting-between-heartbeats

There's so many things about long-range shooting that we're just beginning to learn.

I find it utterly fascinating that, when standing 600 yards from the bench (I can barely see it) at the 8" gong we've been shooting at, that we can even hit it...

When you think about how absolutely still that muzzle has to be kept-and how the most miniscule amount of movement will result in a miss- it's really mind boggling to me.

Since getting bit by the long-range bug, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the guys that can do it well under a variety of conditions. Takes a lot of trigger time to get good at it.

I often walk downstairs and find my 14 year old son prone in the family room, his cheek welded to the stock on his tactical .308 Savage...dry firing away.

I need to do more of that myself. We do it a lot for handgun practice, but I think it's a valuable tool for just what you're talking about that's often overlooked. Getting the feel and break of your trigger to a precise science is critical to this, and dry-firing is free, and convenient.

 

[kraigwy]

A smaller apeture in the rear will help to see the target, The target should be fuzzy, the front sight should be clear.

Two or three sweat shirts under a shooting jacket will dampen heart beat. The scope doesn't make your heart beat, it just magnifys it. Glove helps also.

The rifle should be held firm but not tight. You don't hold the rifle with your non-shooting hand, you let the rifle rest in the palm of the hand.

The sling should be tight, but not unduely tight, you want it to hold the rifle in your shoulder, but not so tight your wrist is all twisted out of shape.

You don't want to muscle the rifle, use bone support.

Buy this book from the Civilian Marksmanship Program, best $6.95 you can spend.

https://estore.odcmp.com/store/cata...pmax=&note1=&note2=&note3=&note4=&note5=&max=

 

[smoakingun]

Chicken livers?
My shooting position is pretty solid. I do keep my trigger side leg pulled up high enough to ease the pressure on my diaphram. I took the rifle out to 500 yards with the scope and managed to hold a pretty consistent 2 to 2.5 moa group. My iron sight issue came from being unable to separate my target from the shooters target next to mine. I really feel like I should be able to shoot a sub 2moa group, but timing my heartbeat is proving to be a hard thing. I am also trying to figure out just how tight my sling should be, my groups seem to be tighter when I have to force the rifle up into my shoulder, but when the sling is that tight, it is tough to keep my arm under the rifle.

 

[Scharfschuetzer]

Aperture Front Sight

A lot of National Match shooters shooting in the any rifle class use the obligitory aperture rear sight with a Merit or Gheman iris disk.

They also use an aperture front sight. Some have variable irises to adjust the inner diameter, but most use something like the Redfield sight that has interchangable apertures.

By using the aperture front sight, you maintain sight allignment by the target, the front sight and the rear sight in concentric circles. I still use a blade front sight as I shoot in the service rifle class, but I do have a bolt rifle with such a set up. Once I retire, it will become my match rifle.

I think this set up is best used on the range, but lots of guys can hit other targets pretty well with it too. Our back up sights for the M-24 SWS are a Redfield Palma rear sight and a Redfield aperture front sight. Both have the interchangeable apertures to taylor the sight picture for the individual shooter.

I think that you will find that you can see that target at long distance again if you try it.

Look for:

Redfield International Front Sight
Redfield Hi-Power Front Sight
Lyman 17A Front Sight

The 17A is much small than the Redfield products and looks pretty good on a lever action rifle, Sharps replica or other 19th Century rifles. It comes with several apertures as well as a blade for a service rifle sight picture.