Scope maintenance, or the lack thereof, also was dealt with in this first classroom session. A commonly overlooked detail of scope use is leveling or squaring the scope with the rifle. This is extremely important in long-range shooting as the reticle must be perpendicular when being dialed for longer ranges. The discussion on ammunition selection and the
benefits of handloading for long-range shooting was pretty straightforward, with the use of high BC projectiles being emphasized. The ammunition used by those in the class was just about an even split between factory match ammo and handloaded ammunition. The discussion of long-for-caliber- bullets with high ballistic coefficients, as they relate to trajec- tory and wind drift, was a real eye opener and was extremely valuable for those who were really new to the long-range game. The topic of caliber selection for long-range shooting emphasized two important points: Get a caliber with recoil that you can tolerate and shoot well and, if you’re not going to handload, that you can readily obtain ammunition for almost anywhere. Jamie emphasized that the high BC of a good bullet in a mild caliber often trumped the high velocity of some magnum cartridges, and was easier on the shooter. I found Jamie’s discussion of the basic fundamentals
of marksmanship to be very good. Jamie breaks down the fundamentals into two segments: preparing to take the shot or “shooter ready,” and firing the perfect shot. Preparation for the shot begins with building a good position. A com- fortable and in-line body attitude was emphasized as being key to establishing a solid natural point of aim. This position is given a final check by relaxing and watching the scope’s reticle rise vertically over the target. Once a good position is built, the shooter needs to pay attention to sight picture, head alignment, and getting a proper grip on the rifle, and, finally, breathing. Consistency is the goal here – running through a mental checklist in preparation for each and every shot. With the above preparation accomplished, the physical act of shooting follows with a consistent trigger press and a good follow-through. The final act in all of this is to cycle the bolt, as the firing stroke is not complete until your rifle is reloaded. Following a tasty catered lunch, it was off to the range
where a tent had been erected to provide for a covered firing line for sun and rain protection. This “range” actually was a huge field that belongs to a friend of Jamie’s. This chunk of property is part of a working farm and it is big enough to allow shooting out past 1,000 yards. Range exercises began with a cold bore shot at 100 yards followed by six shots on individual targets. In keeping with Jamie’s “aim small, miss small” philosophy, the targets were ½-inch dots. Instead of the common exercise of shooting a group, Jamie had the class fire six shots on each of six individual targets to evaluate each rifle’s zero. After any zero adjustments were made, the class fired an exercise of 15 shots, again on half-inch dots. This exercise was designed to reinforce the Mental Checklist of preparing for the shot. Between each of the 15 shots the shooters got up off their rifles for a minute and then got back on their rifles, rebuilt their positions, and fired one shot again. This was a very good way to emphasize position building and reinforce the basics of marksmanship. Other shooting drills throughout this first range ses- sion gave Jamie and the class participants the opportunity to
fine-tune body positions, experiment with different heights of bipods, and try different rear bags for rifle butt support. Some folks found loading their bipods with forward pres- sure to be better than pulling the rifle into their shoulder. In contrast, some preferred to pull the stock solidly into the shoulder pocket. With the small class of just twelve shoot- ers, and Jamie’s additional range staff, there was plenty of individual attention to go around while we all fine-tuned our shooting positions. In preparation for the longer range shooting to be
done on days two and three, each participant’s rifle was chronographed near the end of the day so Jamie could print out a come-up chart for each shooter to use. Also, the
This shooter is dialing an elevation correction into his scope. A scope with target turrets is mandatory for this type of shooting.
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