Jumping from inside 400yds to 700yds

[acochran]

Also, I am wondering about ammo. Running the math, if me and my ammo/rifle can only shoot 2ish Min in mountain conditions, how are people diagnosing problems in the field? Are you just shooting at the target and if you hit it, that's good enough? Are you shooting groups to determine what your actual groups are at distance? Thinking more on the WEZ side of the math for hit probability, it's hard to diagnose what is wind vs. group size vs. position.
Any thoughts or information you can provide is helpful. I've read most if not all of the threads that have danced around this subject, but I'd like to hear how people have made the jump with a 1.2-2Min gun from 400 to 700.

It sounds like you’re on the right track. You bring up a good observation that many people miss. With a rifle that doesn’t shoot very small, it is harder to diagnose what caused your misses, at near and far range. I think most people would learn more quickly with a very accurate rifle (think 6 dasher with 105 hybrids) because it allows you to diagnose failures much quicker. To your point, shooting positionally at 100 yards, a shot that is 1” left might be you or might be rifle dispersion. The amount of shots to deduce that are much higher than with a rifle that is capable .5”ish 10-shot groups. You will start to see that your given dispersion for a 223 shooting 1.2 MOA covers a 2 MOA target very quickly, and you won’t be able to discern wind or dispersion at distance. Training at 100 should help you solidify fundamentals so that you feel more confident about missing due to other factors.

If you are training wind calling, shoot prone from a great position with your most accurate rifle to isolate your wind call as much as possible.

Shooting farther than 400-500 yards in novel condition is much harder than most people realize. Shoot some matches to simulate some stress and distraction that will inevitably be present while hunting. Also gets you access to new terrain to practice in.