Dipping my toes into the longer range shooting game

[Jpsmith1]

And thinking about rifles, optics and such.

End goal for now is to consistently ring steel at 1000 yards. Currently, I'm pretty capable to 300 or so but haven't had the opportunity to stretch beyond that simply due to availability of facilities. There is a 600 yard range across the county, a 700 yard range 2 counties over and 1000 yards is a much harder nut to crack just in terms of finding a place to shoot. 1000 yards is probably a 3 hour drive.

I've got 2 rifles that are likely capable of the task. Both Remington 700s, one in 6mm Remington and one in 7mm Rem Mag. 6mm wears an old 4x12 Redfield scope and the 7mm wears a Burris Veracity 3x15 scope that I absolutely HATE and plan to remove and replace.

Both are "Sporter" rifles with the slim barrel profile and basic factory wood stocks.

What's your best advice in proceeding aside from just burning powder and getting rounds downrange?

Any first order upgrades?

 

[Macintosh]

Ditch the 7 rem mag for this purpose. You need to shoot more than a few rounds, and that recoil is going to be a liability. The 6mm is a much better choice.
Troll the classifieds for a reliable dialing scope in Mils. Mount it well. Buy yourself a pallet of ammo for Christmas. Read up on this thread. And go shoot. You’ll sort out the rest quickly enough.

 

[Chris in TN]

IIRC Burris scopes haven't fared well in the drop tests here but the average user has reported good service from them.

Why do you hate it? If I really hated it, I'd swap it, and if you're serious about the long part of long range, if I had to pick from among the cheaper 'drop test' reliable options...well, I did recently. I picked a used NF SHV 4-14 and believe that's a rock solid choice on a modest budget.

Even with a slow factory twist (9") the 6mm Remington can be a very good cartridge. So can the 7mmRM but there's no reason to hamper yourself with all that recoil.

As for upgrades, the factory 700 stocks aren't great for prone use, but aren't terrible either. Are the rifles bedded? How well do they shoot now? Does the 6mm 'walk' zero when it gets hot? How's the trigger? Do you reload (meaning, can you afford to whip up enough ammo to start practicing a bunch, since 6mmR long-range ammo isn't common in factory offerings?)

If your Burris has seemed to be reliable thus far I'd probably swap scopes and use the Burris on the 6mm and start there. If not, put something more reliable in its place. Then shoot until you develop enough skill that you can identify aspects of your gear that are hindering you. That'll take longer than you expect. Your gear likely isn't that terrible (assuming scope dials/returns and holds zero)

Also - 600 yards is PLENTY of distance to give you months (or more) of experience. From a bench with decent gear 600 will seem easy on calm days then you'll show up one day and the wind will be blowing and it'll hit you really quickly that it isn't actually so easy after all. Don't worry about seeking out those 700-1000 ranges. The local range I'm a member of goes to 1250 and I almost never shoot past 750. As a hunter I see 750 as more or less my hard firm maximum limit, ever, under any conditions. And I haven't shot past 500 since spring, as I'm sort of focused on getting my kids up to speed now.

My oldest recently got qualified to shoot past 500 at the local range (we can shoot to 500 from home here) and I am hoping next week to spend some time with her at 600 and 750. I highly doubt we even consider 1000-1250 any time soon.