Precision Shooting Long Range Course
29th and 30th of June 2019
The course held in late June was for 3 people – Darren, Pete and Nori. Nori is from Japan and is in Australia on a working holiday. He had never shot a gun before, so this was going to be a good experience for him.
Nori commented on how large Australia is – on this crisp morning the other side of Dowerin, on the top of a crest, the horizon seemed miles and miles away. Wild kangaroos and Wedge Tailed eagles greeted us at the farm, as did Bill and my mate Dave, who was helping me out for the weekend.
The two Aussies that were getting trained did fantastically well throughout the course, though some of their gear didn’t want to play ball. Not to take anything away from them, but they did have their own guns and previous experience with shooting. Nori had never shot a rifle before, plus there was the language barrier. Trying to explain the affect atmospheric conditions has on the external ballistics of a projectile to someone who taught himself to speak and write English in the last 7 months was challenging but I am immensely proud of how well he did.
Nori with our Weatherby Mk5 .243 and Leupold LRP scope
Pete was shooting a 223, Nori a 243 and Darren a 30-06. A good spread of cartridges. Unfortunately, Pete had some issues zeroing his rifle. His rifle normally shot well, but with 69gr factory ammunition his groups were more than 100mm in diameter. It was hard to pick, but if you looked at the holes that the rounds left in the target, the tear and powder residue was entirely on one side of the hole, suggesting the projectiles were corkscrewing. The barrel in Pete’s .223 wasn’t a 1/8” twist like he thought but was a 1/12” twist – he changed to 55gr ammunition and this fixed the issue.
June’s Long Range Shooting class on day 2, with Bill and Dave spotting
While everyone was shooting different guns and different cartridges, it was interesting to see every shooter was using a Leupold LRP scope. For a line that’s only been out for a couple of years, it’s great to see a huge amount of support for them, but they do deserve it. For a sub $2,000 scope, it’s got all the features needed for long range shooting with excellent optics for hunting and a brilliant guarantee.
Leupold’s VX-3i LRP range of scopes are a fantastic option for shooters looking to shoot long range
The other thing that really impressed me was the .243 OSA ammo loaded with an 87 grain Hornady V-Max projectile. It shot very accurately at 100 meters, but it was also consistent enough to hit the 1030-meter target with the second shot. Very impressive for factory ammunition. Worth considering for hunting or target shooting.
Zaine was quite impressed with the performance of this OSA-branded factory ammunition, and would highly recommend it for beginner shooters looking for consistent long range results
So the great thing about this course was there were lots of new and different things. Different guns; different shooting skills; different problems to solve. I’m proud that my skills as a trainer are improving to meet these challenges and that I’m successfully helping shooters improve their skills at the same time.
The next Long Range course is scheduled for the 6th and 7th of September. If you would like to know more about either the Precision Shooting Long Range course or the Marksman course, contact us.
How do you explain what this is to someone who is new in the country and has only a few months of experience speaking English?