A forum member asked me recently what common mistakes I've seen and how to avoid them. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take that conversation into the open and invite other trainers and long range shooters to comment.
Equipment:
Biggest issues I see with equipment are-
1. Unsatisfactory scopes brought to courses (Made in China/Russia optics that slip gears, backlash, won't track, won't repeat, reticles break and cant over, etc.)
Solution: Buy a reputable scope and don't waste a single dime on optics that are garbage. You have to pay to play at long range, and especially on self-loading firearms with reciprocating masses that bash into themselves when chambering the next round.
2. Garbage mounts and mounting methods. Chinese and Amazon special mounts simply will not cut the mustard. Cross bolts strip the cheap aluminum even at lower torque specs, fasteners strip the rings, everything is wrong about them, dimensions off, cheap, soft alloys made in airsfot-grade factory.
Torque specs: You need to know the torque specs on your bases, rings, and AR mounts, and follow the manufacturer-specified torque ratings for the different fasteners. On bolt guns, bases need to be attached more securely than you would think. For me, I degrease the surfaces, then use Loc-tite 272 as a gasket between the bottom of the base and the top of the receiver. I also like to rough-texture these surfaces so that they form a better interface for mating, rather than a super-smooth surface that doesn't facilitate good adhesion with the compound.
You need to have access to a torque wrench with inch-lb ratings and the tool heads that will allow correct interface with your fasteners. I use a Wheeler FAT Wrench. Also, zero out your torque setting each time you use the wrench so that it doesn't have chance to find a new memory.
Most of your small ring fasteners will not exceed 20 inch-lbs, so don't Gutentite them. The combined clamping force of at least 4 fasteners per ring is more than sufficient to correctly secure your optic in the rings and mount. Also, if you ever see rings with only 2 fasteners per ring (1 on each side), avoid them like the plague. They are probably Chinese, and they will not hold your optic securely.
The most common factor in bad optic/mount selection is not really budget, but patience. I was there myself many years ago. Just had to have that new scope on the new rifle and couldn't wait to get the one I knew I really needed. Waste of money. Buy the mount with the money you would have spent on garbage optics, and save for the quality optics.
Showing up to a course without a solid zero on your rifle, with no idea what the muzzle velocity is.
Solution: Confirm your zero well before attending the course, and get chronograph or Magnetospeed readings for your rifle. If you don't have access to mv measurement, look at the factory ammo specs, compare with your barrel length, and calculate from there with one of the online programs or one of our velocity estimator charts if using 6.5 Grendel. When you do chronograph, take note and record the ambient temperature as well, and get 10 shots for a better sample for your average, as well as barometric pressure for that 100yd zero and fine-tune the zero while you measure the speeds so that POI = POA at 100yds.
Rifle: Your rifle needs to be reliable with the ammunition and magazines you bring, and be able to hold a group on the target sizes and distances provided in the course. For my DM Courses where we mostly shoot out to 600yds with ARs, a 1.5 MOA rifle/ammo combo is plenty. Your wind calls are more important than the accuracy potential of your barrel.
Some problems I'm seeing are rifles that don't fit well to the shooter. The SCAR-17 stock and comb is one example that pops up if the scope mount is not really low. Human interface with that and several of the AR15 stocks and scope mount combos is often poor, where 95% of the time, the optic height is so elevated, that the shooter needs a modified jaw weld to gain sight picture even with the best glass and forgiving exit pupil. One thing I see often enough to mention it is scope risers on the top rail, topped with another scope mount. Maybe the idea was 2 is better than one, but not in this case unless your cheek bone is right on your upper teeth level and you have a size special order head of Philistine proportions.
Heavy triggers are another factor that will significantly reduce your hit probability. With the market the way it is now, there is no reason not to have a quality trigger in your AR or bolt gun, as most of the bolt guns come with some good/great triggers nowadays. The LaRue MBT-2S or Geissele triggers are more than sufficient for a precision rifle class. Rack-grade triggers will make life very hard on you, unless polished.
Techniques
Biggest problems I see, and I was guilty of this too, are guys showing up who think they already know how to shoot. Almost every one of them has horrible trigger control, before, during, and after breaking the shot. Most common specific issues I see are:
Position
Shooters tend to focus more on the ground than the target, so lose any attention focused towards the target when setting up their position. Once they get into position, they finally look over their rifle and don't see their target, then have to try to re-build their position, range mat, bipod legs, etc.
As you get into position, the target is your #1 and only reason to be there. Constantly look at the target as you get into position, whether your'e setting up on a mat, tripod, seated, kneeling, prone supported, standing barricade, whatever. Look over your optic at the TGT as you settle in, and then finalize your position with your body and Natural Point Of AIM (NPOA) directed straight and through the TGT.
Aiming
All that stuff about the optic and optic height really comes into play here. If you don't have correct optic height and eye relief, your position in relation to the rifle is going to suck, and you won't have a good sight picture that is solidly formed with your head and stock mated naturally. If you have to apply odd or uncomfortable muscular stress to your neck and face, you're going to have a bad day of headache from neck strain. Setting up the rifle/mount/optic combo is crucial in this. You need a concentric field of view into your optical elements of the scope, as close to the ocular lens without being too close. Scope body shadow should be perfectly placed within the alignment of your eye with the scope.
The next biggest thing I see (and was guilty of with long range shooting as a noob) was not trusting the instructor or my spotter's wind call/hold. It just doesn't make sense to you at first to aim off to the side of the target, even though the theory has been explained to you. Trust the spotter's wind call and hold exactly where they tell you to, or if shooting alone, trust your own wind call and see what happens. It's funny how I take kids who have never shot past 25yds and have them connecting on steel at 500-600yds first-round, because they don't know any better and just figure I knew what I was talking about when I told them how the reticle is incremented, and how to follow my wind calls, yet almost every adult man seems to always miss that first shot about as many mils as I told him to hold with the wind direction.
Breathing control
If your chest is inflated differently or changing shape as you break the shot, don't expect to hit what you're aiming at. With rear bags in the prone, we don't see too huge of a problem with this because the rifle is so insulated from normal human input. This usually means that breathing control and trigger control get neglected, especially with a super accurate rifle with a light trigger.
Once you start shooting positions outside of the prone, breathing control is huge. You need to be calm and smooth, with a low resting/working heart rate. Your ability to mentally focus and process several things in quick succession will help out tremendously.
Trigger Control I see this as if it was a rule-
- Slapping the trigger
- Off-centric trigger finger placement and force
- Knee jerk off the trigger once the shot has broken (along with coming off the cheek weld and sight picture as if they will see something better well after Time of Flight outside of the optic.
Solutions: Blend your calm, breathing and trigger control together in a sequence when executing the fundamentals. Sight picture and alignment with the TGT, Exhale and take up slack in the trigger simultaneously. Effortlessly feel the timing of the tiny icicle trigger break coincide with optimal placement of your reticle on the TGT.
Follow Through
This is a huge one because many people have never heard of follow through, and like to rip their head off the stock and out of the sight picture, for some reason not understood. Don't move when you break the tiny icicle trigger.
Watch the shot fly true to your target or near it, and quickly see how many increments of measure you were off of POA. If it was a miss, use your reticle to quickly adjust your POA and make another shot if appropriate. Perfect follow-through is where nothing moves but the bullet and your action if a gasser.
Equipment:
Biggest issues I see with equipment are-
1. Unsatisfactory scopes brought to courses (Made in China/Russia optics that slip gears, backlash, won't track, won't repeat, reticles break and cant over, etc.)
Solution: Buy a reputable scope and don't waste a single dime on optics that are garbage. You have to pay to play at long range, and especially on self-loading firearms with reciprocating masses that bash into themselves when chambering the next round.
2. Garbage mounts and mounting methods. Chinese and Amazon special mounts simply will not cut the mustard. Cross bolts strip the cheap aluminum even at lower torque specs, fasteners strip the rings, everything is wrong about them, dimensions off, cheap, soft alloys made in airsfot-grade factory.
Torque specs: You need to know the torque specs on your bases, rings, and AR mounts, and follow the manufacturer-specified torque ratings for the different fasteners. On bolt guns, bases need to be attached more securely than you would think. For me, I degrease the surfaces, then use Loc-tite 272 as a gasket between the bottom of the base and the top of the receiver. I also like to rough-texture these surfaces so that they form a better interface for mating, rather than a super-smooth surface that doesn't facilitate good adhesion with the compound.
You need to have access to a torque wrench with inch-lb ratings and the tool heads that will allow correct interface with your fasteners. I use a Wheeler FAT Wrench. Also, zero out your torque setting each time you use the wrench so that it doesn't have chance to find a new memory.
Most of your small ring fasteners will not exceed 20 inch-lbs, so don't Gutentite them. The combined clamping force of at least 4 fasteners per ring is more than sufficient to correctly secure your optic in the rings and mount. Also, if you ever see rings with only 2 fasteners per ring (1 on each side), avoid them like the plague. They are probably Chinese, and they will not hold your optic securely.
The most common factor in bad optic/mount selection is not really budget, but patience. I was there myself many years ago. Just had to have that new scope on the new rifle and couldn't wait to get the one I knew I really needed. Waste of money. Buy the mount with the money you would have spent on garbage optics, and save for the quality optics.
Showing up to a course without a solid zero on your rifle, with no idea what the muzzle velocity is.
Solution: Confirm your zero well before attending the course, and get chronograph or Magnetospeed readings for your rifle. If you don't have access to mv measurement, look at the factory ammo specs, compare with your barrel length, and calculate from there with one of the online programs or one of our velocity estimator charts if using 6.5 Grendel. When you do chronograph, take note and record the ambient temperature as well, and get 10 shots for a better sample for your average, as well as barometric pressure for that 100yd zero and fine-tune the zero while you measure the speeds so that POI = POA at 100yds.
Rifle: Your rifle needs to be reliable with the ammunition and magazines you bring, and be able to hold a group on the target sizes and distances provided in the course. For my DM Courses where we mostly shoot out to 600yds with ARs, a 1.5 MOA rifle/ammo combo is plenty. Your wind calls are more important than the accuracy potential of your barrel.
Some problems I'm seeing are rifles that don't fit well to the shooter. The SCAR-17 stock and comb is one example that pops up if the scope mount is not really low. Human interface with that and several of the AR15 stocks and scope mount combos is often poor, where 95% of the time, the optic height is so elevated, that the shooter needs a modified jaw weld to gain sight picture even with the best glass and forgiving exit pupil. One thing I see often enough to mention it is scope risers on the top rail, topped with another scope mount. Maybe the idea was 2 is better than one, but not in this case unless your cheek bone is right on your upper teeth level and you have a size special order head of Philistine proportions.
Heavy triggers are another factor that will significantly reduce your hit probability. With the market the way it is now, there is no reason not to have a quality trigger in your AR or bolt gun, as most of the bolt guns come with some good/great triggers nowadays. The LaRue MBT-2S or Geissele triggers are more than sufficient for a precision rifle class. Rack-grade triggers will make life very hard on you, unless polished.
Techniques
Biggest problems I see, and I was guilty of this too, are guys showing up who think they already know how to shoot. Almost every one of them has horrible trigger control, before, during, and after breaking the shot. Most common specific issues I see are:
Position
Shooters tend to focus more on the ground than the target, so lose any attention focused towards the target when setting up their position. Once they get into position, they finally look over their rifle and don't see their target, then have to try to re-build their position, range mat, bipod legs, etc.
As you get into position, the target is your #1 and only reason to be there. Constantly look at the target as you get into position, whether your'e setting up on a mat, tripod, seated, kneeling, prone supported, standing barricade, whatever. Look over your optic at the TGT as you settle in, and then finalize your position with your body and Natural Point Of AIM (NPOA) directed straight and through the TGT.
Aiming
All that stuff about the optic and optic height really comes into play here. If you don't have correct optic height and eye relief, your position in relation to the rifle is going to suck, and you won't have a good sight picture that is solidly formed with your head and stock mated naturally. If you have to apply odd or uncomfortable muscular stress to your neck and face, you're going to have a bad day of headache from neck strain. Setting up the rifle/mount/optic combo is crucial in this. You need a concentric field of view into your optical elements of the scope, as close to the ocular lens without being too close. Scope body shadow should be perfectly placed within the alignment of your eye with the scope.
The next biggest thing I see (and was guilty of with long range shooting as a noob) was not trusting the instructor or my spotter's wind call/hold. It just doesn't make sense to you at first to aim off to the side of the target, even though the theory has been explained to you. Trust the spotter's wind call and hold exactly where they tell you to, or if shooting alone, trust your own wind call and see what happens. It's funny how I take kids who have never shot past 25yds and have them connecting on steel at 500-600yds first-round, because they don't know any better and just figure I knew what I was talking about when I told them how the reticle is incremented, and how to follow my wind calls, yet almost every adult man seems to always miss that first shot about as many mils as I told him to hold with the wind direction.
Breathing control
If your chest is inflated differently or changing shape as you break the shot, don't expect to hit what you're aiming at. With rear bags in the prone, we don't see too huge of a problem with this because the rifle is so insulated from normal human input. This usually means that breathing control and trigger control get neglected, especially with a super accurate rifle with a light trigger.
Once you start shooting positions outside of the prone, breathing control is huge. You need to be calm and smooth, with a low resting/working heart rate. Your ability to mentally focus and process several things in quick succession will help out tremendously.
Trigger Control I see this as if it was a rule-
- Slapping the trigger
- Off-centric trigger finger placement and force
- Knee jerk off the trigger once the shot has broken (along with coming off the cheek weld and sight picture as if they will see something better well after Time of Flight outside of the optic.
Solutions: Blend your calm, breathing and trigger control together in a sequence when executing the fundamentals. Sight picture and alignment with the TGT, Exhale and take up slack in the trigger simultaneously. Effortlessly feel the timing of the tiny icicle trigger break coincide with optimal placement of your reticle on the TGT.
Follow Through
This is a huge one because many people have never heard of follow through, and like to rip their head off the stock and out of the sight picture, for some reason not understood. Don't move when you break the tiny icicle trigger.
Watch the shot fly true to your target or near it, and quickly see how many increments of measure you were off of POA. If it was a miss, use your reticle to quickly adjust your POA and make another shot if appropriate. Perfect follow-through is where nothing moves but the bullet and your action if a gasser.
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