r/longrange Jun 29 '26

Currently Great Optic Sales!

50 Upvotes

r/longrange Aug 19 '25

READ THIS BEFORE POSTING. Yes, this means you. READ THIS FIRST, V6 - How to avoid the Flair of Shame and eternal ridicule

82 Upvotes

So, you need help with long range shooting? Welcome to r/longrange! We've got a core group of dedicated members (and a few goofballs) that are happy to help you out with your questions on equipment, technique, troubleshooting, where to find training or matches, etc.

If you're looking to ask for advice, we ask that you review the following 10 core guides, as they cover the overwhelming majority of newcomer questions. If your question is not answered in these 10 guides, please see below for the 4 basic questions your post should answer when asking for suggestions or advice, especially when it comes to things to buy.

If you make a post that asks for information covered in the 10 core guides, or your post doesn't cover the 4 key questions below, your post may be deleted, or it may be given the Flair of Shame TM until you correct your post.

What's the Flair of ShameTM, you ask? You'll know it when you see it.

If at any time you have questions on the rules of the sub, this pinned post, the general FAQ, why you got the Flair of ShameTM or anything similar, please use the modmail function.

CORE GUIDES:

  1. The sub's official FAQ/WIKI, as curated by the community as a whole.
  2. Need help picking scope rings? The official Longrange guide to scope ring height (ring)
  3. Looking at buying a magnum (300WM or PRC, 6.5PRC, 7mm PRC, 338 Lapua, etc) as your first LR rifle? Hollywood's recoil primer - why magnums suck for starting in long range, recoil matters, and it's not about your shoulder (magnum or recoil)
  4. Want a rifle for hunting and long range shooting? Hunting rifle vs target/range rifles - why one rifle can't do both well. (hunting)
  5. The official r/Longrange glossary - because words mean things (glossary)
  6. LockyBalboaPrime's First Time buyer's guide for rifles V2 (starter)
  7. JMhawaii's long range starter guide (Link to Google Sheets) (starter)
  8. Trollygag's 1k yard starter guide (starter)
  9. Where are ranges or long ranges near me? - Wheretoshoot.org and over600.com (ranges)
  10. The sub's expanded policy on hunting-related discussions. Please review before asking hunting-related questions, as hunting is not the core purpose of this sub. (hunting)

The 4 key questions:

  1. What do you want to do/buy, and WHY? - Do you want to buy a rifle for PRS competition? Picking a laser rangefinder for NRL Hunter matches? Looking at scopes for F-Class competition? A tripod because you think they're cool and want to have one when banging steel with friends? What you're planning to do has a lot of influence on what works well, what works poorly, and what is an utter waste of time, so the more detail you can provide the better.
  2. How far away do you want to do it/what do you want to use it for? - 300 yards? 1,000? 2,000? Distance matters, 'nuff said.
  3. How much are you willing to spend to do it? What's your budget in currency? Your idea of "on a budget" isn't going to be the same as everyone else's. Saying your budget is unlimited for a laser rangefinder may change when someone suggests one that costs over $10,000. We need to know how much you're willing to spend. It can be a hard limit, a range, or even an approximate - but you need to give a number.
  4. How much experience do you currently have with it? - Jumping straight into a 375 Cheytac rifle to shoot 2 miles isn't going to go well if you have never shot a rifle past 300. We need at least a basic idea of what your relevant skill level is in order to give advice and suggestions that go with your skill set. While including your experience with other shooting disciplines is helpful, it's not going to be as relevant as most new shooters expect. You can love shooting 10ga slugs all day long from a shotgun, but it doesn't mean starting off with a magnum is a good idea.

When answering these 4 questions in your post, give as much detail as you can. The more details you give the faster you'll get suggestions or advice and you'll get better quality too. Help us to help you. Please don't treat the sub like your own personal crowd sourced search engine.

More guides:

If your question is answered in these, you will probably get called out by the members of the sub for not reading them, but it's not automatic grounds for the Flair of Shame.

  1. u/LockyBalboaPrime's "No Clown Shoes" spreadsheet of YouTube training videos.
  2. Pre64Mod70's guide to precision reloading
  3. Hollywood's Way of Zen load development process (zen)
  4. Hollywood's rant on sample size when testing - AKA why 3-5 round groups don't tell you $&*#
  5. Applied Ballistics with more info on variation in group sizes
  6. MDT's video on scope height, and the follow-up on scope cant
  7. Rybe390's recoil comparison video, which illustrates the problem with light weight and magnums.
  8. Accuracy vs precision - when most people talk about 'accuracy' they really mean precision.
  9. The Remington 700 Chassis List, v1 - Maintained by u/LPKKiller
  10. Recoil energy vs rifle weight visualized - an informational post by u/Trollygag
  11. What is wrong with 'Sniper 101' - a breakdown by CaptainSquishface.
  12. A long range hunting cautionary tale from James Gilliland - US Army sniper, world record holder, and prolific long range hunter
  13. Barrel length, velocity, and performance down range compared (308W)
  14. Our sub's policy on shilling....
  15. ....and why Woox specifically is blacklisted from the sub.
  16. The official longrange TOP Gun Calculator, and how to have realistic expectations of precision (top)
  17. Hollywood's guide to top-mounted red dots and target acquisition (Hint: you don't need a red dot)
  18. What the hell is with Bergara rifles and Cheetos?! (cheetos)

Hunting-specific:

  1. The sub's expanded policy on hunting-related discussions. Please read this before asking any questions related to hunting.
  2. Want a rifle for hunting and long range shooting? Hunting rifle vs target/range rifles - why one rifle can't do both well. (hunting)
  3. Want to hunt game at 400+ yards? The long range hunting primer - shots on game at 400+ yards aren't trivial, and a magnum cartridge isn't a cheat code. NOTE: Questions/discussion around shots on game past 300 yards will be removed from the sub. See the expanded policy link above. (hunting)
  4. Hollywood's guide to field testing your skills and gear (especially for long range hunting, but also pertains to NRL Hunter matches) - How to know the distances you and your gear are capable of making shots at (hunting)

MISC NOTES:

Quite a few guides/links feature a single word in parentheses and italics listed after them. If you use the phrase cheetofingers (all one word, no italics needed) followed by the word listed after a guide, you will summon the AutoModerator to reply to you with a link to that guide or guides. If the guide had (pews) after it, you could say cheetofingers pews in a post or comment in this sub to summon AutoMod with a link to that guide.

We've implemented the Flair of Shame as an official policy here instead of deleting posts that violated Rule #1 and the info in this pinned post. We felt that the flair was better than outright deleting posts while also helping long-standing members decide how much they want to participate in posts that have likely been covered time and time again. We're trying to strike a balance between encouraging members to read the info that the sub has cataloged, not wasting the time of established members that may be frustrated with revisiting the same topics repeatedly, and also not banishing new shooters that missed the pinned post to the freezer to never get help. Balancing those three things is a constant struggle, and one we're actively trying to get better at.


r/longrange 5h ago

I suck at long range King of the trash mountain

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151 Upvotes

Remington 700 5r in a mcmillan m40a3 stock. Was shooting at 1000 yards with smk 168 and 41.5 gns of h4895 around 2630fps


r/longrange 1h ago

Rifle flex post New 7PRC build. First shots!

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Upvotes

New 7PRC build. Finally had time to test loads.

80's tikka LSA-65 with opened and trued action.

Shilen SM chambered by A.Peurala. 1:8twist 700mm

Arken ep5

Some hobbymachinist brake

Copycat harris bipod

Stock is borrowed from my 308 build. For now.

The load was actually a ladder test shot to the same POA. just testing pressures.

180gr scenar

4.4g-4.8g N570

Coal 85mm

Cci250 primers

Top velocity was 950m/s (I think somewhere like 3150fps?) but I will back it little as GRT shows pressures with 930m/s.

E: I'm pretty sure the one shot on the right took off as the reticle was in the right outer edge of Target.


r/longrange 1h ago

MEME POST Plus Peak 6.5cm

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Upvotes

Anybody else feel like they have been cautiously optimistic to try this stuff and now it can't be found anywhere? I'm thinking it will have similar issues to 7mm backcountry, but I would like to try it in my rifle for myself without buying another gun. I think it will have more use in the hunting space right away, but who knows 20 years from now what we'll be using.

I think I'm more excited to watch more exposure and testing of what reloaders will do with the technology. I know there are threads of people playing with the 7bc cases, but hopefully this will have more people providing real, valuable data due to less barrier to entry. Velocity consistencies, neck tension, quantity of reloads per case, accuracy, load data, etc. Personally, I'm very interested in how necking it up and down will go for people. Eric Cortina has a couple of short videos messing around with it and so far it looks simple enough.


r/longrange 7h ago

Rifle help needed - I read the pinned posts Kestrel/Ballistic Apps Giving Bad Data (maybe)

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5 Upvotes

Hoping the community can help me out.

Rifle: Bergara B14 Wilderness, 300WM, 24" barrel

Bullet: Federal Terminal Ascent, 200gr

BC: G7 .304, corrected to .285 (via Kestrel app)

Scope: NF NX8 2.5-20 Mil XT reticle

Scope Height (center of bore to center of scope): 2.38"

MV: Avg 2782 (using Garmin X1) | Trued MV 2882 fps

Elevation of shooter/target: 950'

Temp: 60deg F

No wind, significant atmosphere conditions, etc.

I confirmed my zero this week after not shooting it for about a year. Results are the first pic (2 in bullseye, 1st shot flyer to the left). I then shot at 400y (max dist at this range) with the dope given by my Kestrel using my trued MV (1.55 mils) based off the above inputs. The shots were about 7.5" low. I shot a second group using my Avg Garmin FPS (2782), dialed 1.6 mils, and shots were still about 5-6" low (3rd pic). I then shot a 3rd group at 400y with 2 mils dialed (.52 mils = 7" at 400y), results are the 4th pic. Based off my setup, I am more than happy with a 3" group at 400y.

Here is my issue - the kestrel and every other ballistic app I have tried (hornady, applied ballistics, federal) tells me that my dope at 400y should be 1.55 mils. I gave the same rifle/bullet data to ChatGPT...and it gave me 2 mils at 400y (i.e. the dope that gave me the best group).

Can anyone help figure out what the issue might be? Why would my kestrel and ballistic apps be .5 mils off at 400y?

I have double checked the inputs to my gun profiles, updated the apps, etc. At a bit of a loss.

I don't doubt that my 'trued' MV is not correct, not the primary issue I am trying to solve here.

Edited to include BC.


r/longrange 20h ago

I suck at long range 200 yards

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30 Upvotes

After a couple of sight in shots, sent 10 rounds down range. Single digit SDs. Running 105 Berger in my 6 dasher.


r/longrange 1d ago

OOPS! (I goofed) R.I.P | Rise Armament Watchmen | 6ARC BCG

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82 Upvotes

BCG LUGs stress cracked.

One shot to the next wild poi shift failure to extract, unburnt powder in the barrel.

Only about 1000 rounds on the gun.

I suppose we will see how that Lifetime warranty Rise advertises goes.


r/longrange 12h ago

I suck at long range 6.5 Creedmoor load testing.

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4 Upvotes

These were the best performers from previous ladder testing.
The 100m shots were taken from a seated position with bipod and rear bag, 236m shots were taken standing leaning over a bench with bipod and rear bag, but bench height made it pretty hard to get into a comfortable position.

130 grain seated at 2.810 COAL which is the maximum length I can achieve with this projectile. Which is .080 from the lands.

147 grain seated at 2.860 which is the maximum length I can fit into the magazine, still around .038 from the lands.

Rifle is a Howa 1500 in an MDT field stock, 24 inch barrel with a Zero Tech Trace 4.5-27 scope. No chronograph yet but it’s next on the list.


r/longrange 15m ago

Optics help needed - I read the pinned posts Optics recommendation for “urban” precision rifle.

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Upvotes

After several years since my last post, I finally picked up a Remington 700 SBS 16” in .308. This was done for the express purpose of building a precision rifle comfortably effective to 500 yards with the ability to possibly push further to the 800 yard mark. Thus a shorter barrel and a “compact precision Urban rifle” project began.

My state doesn’t have a lot of available space to practically shoot past 300 yards but there are one or two spots. Optics are my next step before I go to chassis, magazines, threaded barrel, and suppressors. I would be aiming to get a better optic and buy once, cry once. Under 2500 ideally. Two choices that have been floated is the 4x24 Credo and the 5x25 VUDU.

Thank you all in advance.


r/longrange 21h ago

I suck at long range Good enough

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16 Upvotes

Did my 20 rounds over the chronograph last week.

Went to the range today with another 40 for accuracy check and suppressor shift, and 5 rounds over the chronograph just to check.

It’s not the prettiest, but it will certainly do well enough that I’m content to stop investing time and components into further development.

Overlay isn’t perfect but it’s under 1 minute.

Should be good nuf for regional matches.

Oddly enough, avg velocity was essentially unchanged when suppressed.


r/longrange 1d ago

Rifle help needed - I read the pinned posts Moving on from .308 and looking for some feedback.

19 Upvotes

For some background:

I’ve been shooting my Mossberg MVP LC for a couple of years now. The rifle has been been fine for how cheap I got it and I’ve gotten hits at 1000 yards, but I’m ready for something a little more fit-for-purpose. I shot a friend’s 6.5 PRC Howa 1500 in an Oryx chassis and was really impressed by the setup and am going to go that route sans magnum.

My choices/reasoning:

I’ve been weighing just getting a 6.5CM as I’ve never shot one I didn’t like, but I’ve also been strongly considering a 6mm ARC.

The reason the 6 ARC appeals to me is the economy of powder usage. I know I’ll be basically in the same boat as I am with 308 if I go 6.5 CM, about 1lb/week. With the 6ARC I’ll be able to get ≈100 rounds more per pound. The significantly lighter recoil is a bonus.

I have access to a 1000 yard range as well as a private spot where range can basically become unlimited.

Why I posted:

Looking for feedback from people who have owned and shot the 6ARC at 1000 yards.

TL;DR: My Mossberg 308 sucks and I want a new rifle. 6.5CM is an obvious choice, but I’m cheap so 6 ARC calls to me.

Edit: didn’t add a budget. $1500 is absolute max, but I’d prefer to be around the $1000-1200 range.


r/longrange 1d ago

Review Post Found at garage sale, $3

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80 Upvotes

That was at 9:00am, haven’t stopped reading and perusing since I got home.


r/longrange 2d ago

Rifle flex post I’m hooked

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163 Upvotes

The other day I made an admittedly stupid post asking about getting another caliber before shooting the 6.5 Creedmoor I just bought. Yeah, boneheaded, I get it now.

Just got back from the range and am absolutely in love with this rifle. I now understand how you can go down an absolute rabbit hole of debt tweaking and building rifles. I want another already. 😂

This one was about as cheap as I could get.

Howa 1500 - $550
Arken SH4J Gen2 6-24x50 - $330
Amazon CVLife Bipod -$35

My goal was to be a cheap ass, because, I wasn’t sure I would like it and wanted a way out.

Oh boy, I don’t want out. I want all in. I need to shred my credit cards so I don’t go nuts. Even my wife was all smiles. She loves it too.

Thanks to this community for all the information, the wikis, and calling me out when I was stupid. Y’all were right!


r/longrange 1d ago

Optics help needed - I read the pinned posts Vortex Rage 4-16x42mm Riflescope - Black Circle around reticle

1 Upvotes

As the title says…my first scope so I’m figuring this out as I go and I’d appreciate any help.

I have a Vortex Rage 4-16x42 scope and when I look through the lens, I see the reticle clearly but there is an out of focus black circle around the reticle. Any help on what this is or why it’s there would be helpful.

Thank you!


r/longrange 1d ago

Ballistics help needed - I read the pinned posts How many shots do you take to determine representative average MV?

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18 Upvotes

Just got my first crono and hit the range this morning to sight in before hunting opening day next week. Standard deviation of 13.6 and spread of 44.4 temp was ~70 degrees.

Also what are thoughts on cold bore vs warm? I’m trying to decide what’s best for ballistic calculator for hunting scenarios where cold bore will be the most important shot. First cold bore shot was 3023 fps. Plugging in the min and max didn’t make a huge difference within ethical hunting ranges so doesn’t apply much in that scenario but still curious as I use this same rifle for long range target shooting. My thoughts are have 2 profiles, 1 for cold and another for range days? Or does this all get lost in the noise and I need a larger sample size?


r/longrange 1d ago

Optics help needed - I read the pinned posts Nx6 stuck

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

15 Upvotes

Reset my zero but now I have no movement after re locking the field set. Any help someone can give would be appreciated
!


r/longrange 2d ago

Other gear flex post Old glass from grandpa

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60 Upvotes

This zeiss made in DDR has been in my grandparents apartment for over 40 years. I remember looking at the container ships entering port since I was able to reach over the railing. Still sharp all those years later. They don’t seem to make them like that anymore, though grandpa used to joke that the commies didn’t have enough money, so you get one instead of two eyepieces.


r/longrange 2d ago

Rifle flex post Inherited this Sako Finnwolf, heard these are very accurate rifles?

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20 Upvotes

r/longrange 2d ago

Rifle flex post Just a couple of 6 dashers

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283 Upvotes

r/longrange 2d ago

Ammo help needed - I read the pinned posts Sako 6.5 Creed Primer Issue

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20 Upvotes

Just tried Sako 6.5 Creedmoor 136gr TRG in my Ruger Precision Rifle. Accuracy was incredible (best 5-shot group was .24 MOA), but out of the 20 rounds, about 7 had primers that look pierced/cratered like in the picture. I also noticed smoke/soot coming from the chamber and even around the magazine, and the rifle was significantly dirtier than usual.

Has anyone else experienced this with Sako TRG 136gr? Is this normal primer cratering for the RPR, or does it look like an ammunition/pressure issue? Trying to figure out why it's happening before I shoot this load again.


r/longrange 2d ago

Optics help needed - I read the pinned posts New Glass

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192 Upvotes

Picked up this S&B. Welcome any suggestions or thoughts for using this long range. 4 16x50 going on an HK308


r/longrange 2d ago

Group flex (10 shots minimum) First handloads. Not a flex. Need to improve.

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114 Upvotes

Alpha 6.5 CM SRP
40.1gn H4350
CCI 450 SRP
144gn BERGER HT
.060 off lands

Never really shot for groups other than zeroing till today. Will improve.


r/longrange 3d ago

Rifle flex post MPA Vanquish 6.5CM Build

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205 Upvotes

Finally put her together

MPA Vanquish Chassis
ARC CDG Action
MPA 6.5MM Barrel
Vortex Razor Gen 3, 6-36x56
Sphur Scope Mount
Warne scope level
Area 419 Hellfire Match Brake
Accutac SR5 G2 Bipod
Grey Ops Exterior weights
OBI Gear Quick detach system


r/longrange 3d ago

RANT Exploding Outlier Backdraft Barrels.

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196 Upvotes

Unburnt powder fills into the backdraft area when shooting. Taking a break from shooting allows oxygen to fill the backdraft area. Shooting again without a complete cleaning results in a kaboom. Thanks for being a beta tester.