I've been a Longrange competitor since the Seventies starting in IHMSA but have always played with seeing how far I could get a 22 rimfire to shoot and hit things farther than most thought possible since I was in 4th grade shooting at a muskrat every morning before leaving for school that swam across the pond below the house approximately 275 yards away. Dad kept telling me I was wasting ammo and a 22 just won't shoot that far. I never hit one but I sure scared them a few times. Anyway about 16 or 17 years ago while shooting at a buddies range with my little Buckmarks at his small steel animal targets on the 235 yard line he got the idea for putting together a rimfire rifle match.

That same year I put together my own set of targets and have been having what we called Longrange Rimfire matches but now I call it more a Midrange Match since I can only go out to 197 yards. Now the other local matches go out to 250 yards at Rayners, 300 (sometimes 400) at Crum Ridge and 300 yards at Hoo Doo Valley but I size mine to still keep it challenging. This has given me a pretty good idea on what size targets work at a distance to keep it challenging but still doable.

I attended a Long Gong match here locally (Power Line Park Range) with my old Remington Single Shot but quickly realized with the crazy wind (4moa left to 6moa right in between shots) a Single Shot was definitely not suited for that range. After 2 rounds I decided to quit wasting ammo with the Single Shot and settled for a DNF, heck they may still call me DNF Dennis. Anyway I've seen this Long Gong game grow and it's really made shooters step up their game to play it. I finally put together a mag fed gun to try it but haven't got it fully tweaked yet. (Izhmash Toggle Bolt with Shilen Ratchet barrel) in an Aluminum chassis.

This past weekend a buddy put on an abbreviated Long Gong match. He renamed it Ding Dong to not upset the creaters of this game since he only had everyone shoot 3 rounds of 10 shots due to time/heat/his health but regulation size targets and regulation scoring was used. The one thing he didn't allow was to take multiple shots at the sighter plate ahead of time but only allowed us to foul our barrel shooting at something other than the sighter. When you were ready he allowed one (1) sighter on the sighter plate, if you hit it was game on for the 10 shots. That was fine for most of us since we've got our settings to hit out past 500 yards. He then allowed 1 sighter each for the next two rounds. Total of 30 shots and you were done.

I took my Anschutz Exemplar 22 LR pistol since it's mag fed and doesn't get intimidated by any of the Vudoos, Rim-Xs or other customs that we compete with at the local LR and ELR matches. I did use Lapua SLR since it really likes it. The gun is in an Aluminum ARS chassis with a 15 7/8" Shilen Ratchet barrel. A 20moa mount with Burris XTR rings gives me 58moa of additional elevation so with the DNT 7-35 scope I can reach a bit past 500 yards without holdover and still dial down to a 50 yard zero.

Long story short, I didn't know much about the strategies for this game so I got a 12 the first round and second round a 14, I started to see something here so I pretty much stayed on the 6 inch but did get cocky and saved the last two for the 4 inch only hitting it once for an 18. That totaled a 44, each round got a tad better but luckily the wind wasn't super crazy and only caused a few misses. I think I could keep that pace on the other rounds if Mother Nature cooperated. if you take 44 divided by 3 and multiplied by 5 it would be a 73 for a regular match which I felt was decent with a pistol. A shooting buddy also shot a 44 with his Vudoo and Lapua LR. I can live with a tie for first.

I also entered with an old BSA Martini single shot, I took it the day before to see if we could even see the targets but the 18" sighter was barely visible in the Sun and even my Son with his Eagle eyes couldn't see the 8, 6 or 4 inch targets. The day of the match we attended later in the day and I could make out the sighter and sometimes the 8" thru the aperatures. Was kinda funny I had to abide by the same rules as everyone else so when I tried to foul the barrel and also make sure I was up enough clicks, yes you have to count clicks. I don't have the book with me but think it was about 325 clicks up from 50 yards. The other guys were shooting where the target legs go in the ground to get a elevation check without hitting the sighter plate. Tim who was spotting/scoring said shoot where the wind flag pole goes in the ground .......... a quick look at him and he realized what he said. I can't see the wind flag and sure can't see where it goes in the ground. He'd also occasionally say you're up near 2 O'clock can you see it? Yeah right Tim. You also can't see mirage, floaties or wind flags I gambled on Strelok being right and got a pretty much centered hit on the sighter so off we went. Can't remember each round count but when the 8" was visible I hit it, when the light changed it went away and I missed. Shot an 18 out of 30 shots so I was pretty happy, especially with 71 year old eyes. 18 divided by 3 equals 6 times 5 would be 30 which I think is doable on a day the targets are visible. A buddy (Bill Moran) shot his Martini with peeps at the Alabama Long Gong match and his last round got him all 10 hits on the 8" circle which I think is outstanding which earned him the nickname Martini Bill.

OK, I think Long Gong is a very challenging new game, very very dependent on range location and how the wind acts during the day. Power Line was definitely crazy wind and absolutely not suited for this game. My personal opinion which means absolutely zero since it's new to me and a step up in the Longrange game. It's something the better shooters will try that can challenge them and their equipment and have them pursuing a bit better score/ammo/scope or rifle. I'm not sure it's a game that average Joe Shooter that thinks he's good will continue to travel to. Target sizes are quite doable but the 4" being a 1.333moa target is at least for now a target that needs some luck to hit consistently even when Mother Nature smiles on you. I know it's been hit multple times in a row but it's not common to run them. The 8" and 6" are quite doable with good equipment in the hands of a good longrange shooter. If I'd have invented it I'd probably had started off with 10", 8" and 6" to allow higher scores but still not easily able to clean and also encourage shooters that like to get some hits/have fun and not see a score in the low teens or even less. I know it's not supposed to be easy but it's also nice to keep shooters coming back and not get discouraged. After years of running/shooting LR and ELR matches having a game for the top shooters leads to less regular competitors and growth slows or even causes the game to fail.

I've seen some matches with shorter distances and smaller targets due to range length which still promotes longrange rimfire shooting and maybe encourage them to travel to regulation Long Gong matches. I can't compete at Crum Ridge due to it being on the same weekend as my matches, some travel to both which is nice letting them have a full day of matches with different conditions and target racks.

So there is my story on my dipping my trigger finger into the Long Gong game, it's really exploded and I hope it continues. If my Izhmash doesn't live up to my hopes I know I can always fall back on my trusty little Anschutz Pistol which a lot laugh at. I am still a believer that it isn't so much the gun but the fodder you feed it that it likes and long range experience. Spend the extra bucks and get Low Extreme Spread/Low SD stuff, I like Lapua SLR or RWS R50 but have also seen some batches of SK Longrange and even some SK Biathlon do well. Guess the main thing is go to have fun and due to the distances what Mother Nature gives you realize you are not always in control. It's a lot of luck of the draw when you shoot and some ranges have WAY more Mother Nature than others so learn to live with it.




Topstrap