Anyone who has been in the gun hobby for any length of time knows how many facets there are to the hobby.
Some people only like to hunt, some only like to target shoot, some only shoot pistol, others only shoot rifle at loooong distances.
While I enjoy shooting at targets, especially reactive ones, I also revel in being able to hit one at a great distance. Before last month that distance was 100 yards give or take and the rifles were typically .22 rimfires.
Keep in mind I only own a few guns with scopes, most of my guns have open sights.
A friend of mine bought a Savage 110 BA rifle in 338 Lapua Magnum and had dreams of hitting targets beyond 1000 yards.
Another friend moved to Montana, bought himself a rifle for hunting and wanted to learn how to adjust his scope for longer shots.
One of them, or both of them, decided to attend a school for long range shooting. This particular one is run by the Long Range Shooters of Utah. After looking into it, they convinced me to attend along with them.
The school is held at the North Springs Shooting Range, a fantastic, world class facility outside of Price Utah (about 2-hour drive SE of Salt Lake City).
Here is the main building at North Springs.
Day one of the class was just that, a class, in a classroom with lots of PowerPoint slides.....don't worry though, the teacher, Bryce Bergen, is a great instructor, keeping everyone engaged....by the way there were 19 of us in the class.
At the end of day one we went to the 100-yard range and zeroed our scopes, that is Bryce in the center of the picture.
Now you may be wondering what I was going to shoot if I didn't own a rifle with a scope capable of hitting a target at 1000 yards.
I rented one from Bryce. It was an Aero Precision Solus Sendero in 6.5 Creedmoor. The price was very affordable.
Here is the rifle, it was equipped with a Leupold Mark 5HD scope and a suppressor.
I was shooting ammo provided, and recommended by LRSU, Hornady 140 grain ELD Match, FYI ....ELD stands for "Extremely Low Drag"
Day two was all shooting, taking the things they taught us about trigger control, breathing, checking your level and a host of others and hitting targets beginning at 200 yards and moving up.
The targets in the picture look small, but they are not. I believe they said that the targets past 400 yards were 2 foot square.
Once everyone hit their target out to 1000 yards, it was time to hit the milk jug.
They weren't actual milk jugs, they were milk jug shaped steel targets 7.5" x 9" if I recall correctly, set at 1000 yards.
Even with the scopes magnification dialed all the way up, they were small dots on the horizon.
Thanks to the lessons learned in class and the expert tutelage from LRSU staff, all 19 of us hit the milk jug.....although some of us took longer than others :)
Here is our group, BJ, Bobby, Me and Danny with our trophies, a sticker really, but you can only get it by attending the class and hitting the milk jug at 1000 yards.
The class was a bit expensive and a pain for us to get to (we drove from western AZ), but well worth it. I recommend it for anyone who shoots long distance or who might want to shoot long distance.
A warning though, this could be addictive and very expensive.....
If you are interested in attending a class, you need to book in advance as they sell out quick and weather in the fall/winter will most definitely play a factor.
Links:
Long Range Shooters of Utah: Home of Long Range Shooters of Utah
North Springs Shooting Range: North Springs Shooting Range – Carbon County Utah
Aero Precision Solus: SOLUS Competition Rifle - 22" 6.5 Creedmoor, Sendero | Aero Precision (aeroprecisionusa.com)
Leupold Mark 5 HD: Mark 5HD Rifle Scope | Leupold
Hornady Ammo: ELD® Match (Extremely Low Drag Match) - Hornady Manufacturing, Inc
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