Suggestions for a good book for a long range shooting novice.

#3
I found the Magpul videos to be a great addition to the book mentioned above. I have to admit that I did have to read quite a few pages over in the AB book. Its not a book that says "dial this for that", rather a book that explains effects of variables on accuracy and how they affect your intended outcome. It really helped me understand the "why".

Another book I am going through is "The Wind Book for Rifle Shooters" and have found that to be a good resource.
 
#7
I recommend The Book of Experience. Go shoot. Shoot at shorter ranges (1-300 yards) until you are comfortable, then work out to your max... when you get better, do it again. If you can keep 1 MOA accuracy then move further out. Get a log/data book, I use Impact Data Books. (Look in the Commercial Sales forum, Tony's a vendor) because they are customizable. Strive for first-round hits, at any range, any condition. Shoot F-Class, it's great for load development and the stress of competition will test your skills. Shoot tactical matches for odd positions and challenging stages.

1911fan
 
#10
"The ABCs of Reloading" goes much deeper than just reloading. It will give you a thorough understanding of the history of firearms, presented in a relevant manner, and help explain the theory behind certain aspects of accuracy. I don't reload, but I learned a ton about the science of shooting from that book
 
#12
ll thempreviousmsuggestionsmare good. Here are a couple,of suggestions:

USMC Sniper manual
US army sniper manual (the copy I had was 20 years old, but for a beginner it would be useful)
the complete 50 caliber sniper course (advanced, but over time more and more will make sense to you.)
 
#15
Long Range and Prone Shooting, by Nancy Tompkins, if you're looking for competitive shooting, be it conventional prone or F class. Tons of great information in there by one of the best long range shooters in the world.
 
#17
Wolfkin said:
The Ultimate Sniper: An Advanced Training Manual for Military and Police Snipers
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I'd like to know why you recommend this book? I read it, bought the video too. My hope was to become enlightened on the subject. I've got to tell ya, I found nothing there which revealed anything important to marksmanship in general or to long range marksmanship specifically. My thought was Plaster wrote the book from an observers perspective, documenting what he had heard to be important. Today, as experienced as I am about long range shooting, I wonder why Plaster's book could be recommended by anybody who understands the topic (marksmanship). Perhaps, the book is useful for students of tactical field craft, but, marksmanship, no way.
 
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#18
Sterling Shooter said:
I'd like to know why you recommend this book? I read it, bought the video too. My hope was to become enlightened on the subject. I've got to tell ya, I found nothing there which revealed anything important to marksmanship in general or to long range marksmanship specifically. My thought was Plaster wrote the book from an observers perspective, documenting what he had heard to be important. Today, as experienced as I am about long range shooting, I wonder why Plaster's book could be recommended by anybody who understands the topic (marksmanship). Perhaps, the book is useful for students of tactical field craft, but, marksmanship, no way.
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Gotta agree, not a marksmanship text at all. Not even a great field craft book in my opinion.
 
#19
Sterling Shooter said:
I'd like to know why you recommend this book? I read it, bought the video too. My hope was to become enlightened on the subject. I've got to tell ya, I found nothing there which revealed anything important to marksmanship in general or to long range marksmanship specifically. My thought was Plaster wrote the book from an observers perspective, documenting what he had heard to be important. Today, as experienced as I am about long range shooting, I wonder why Plaster's book could be recommended by anybody who understands the topic (marksmanship). Perhaps, the book is useful for students of tactical field craft, but, marksmanship, no way.
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user said:
Gotta agree, not a marksmanship text at all. Not even a great field craft book in my opinion.
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Coming from a non-military/LEO background, I found the book had a lot of useful information which helped me to figure out some of the behind the marksman stuff. While it may not help with the actual shooting or fieldcraft, it did explain some of the foundations to me. I learned a lot from it, which I suspect many with formal training all ready knew. So, I can see where it's benefits would be subjective depending on a person's previous training.
 
#20
Sniper Uncle said:
Coming from a non-military/LEO background, I found the book had a lot of useful information which helped me to figure out some of the behind the marksman stuff. While it may not help with the actual shooting or fieldcraft, it did explain some of the foundations to me. I learned a lot from it, which I suspect many with formal training all ready knew. So, I can see where it's benefits would be subjective depending on a person's previous training.
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Can you give an example of "some of the foundations" that were explained to you. And are you confident what was professed is accredited doctrine? I'm not trying to dog ya, just would like some details, it's like you read a different book than the one I read.
 
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#21
Sterling Shooter said:
Can you give an example of "some of the foundations" that were explained to you. And are you confident what was professed is accredited doctrine? I'm not trying to dog ya, just would like some details, it's like you read a different book than the one I read.
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It's been a while since I read it, but two things come to mind. In the part on glass and various observation tools, I learned about parallax, and also about not trying to have one glass do it all. I also learned some about people's natural movements/patterns, and how to watch to record and map those movements. Yes, I am relatively certain that these two examples are sound doctrine, as all that I have read since then has in no way discredited any of that. Is it the most detailed and best learning tool?----I would bet not. Do all these things get taught to soldiers, especially snipers in their training?---Probably. These may be very basic things, but things I had not encountered yet in my learning curve.
There are probably many more examples, but at this point I those were what I thought of first.
 
#22
tracker7 said:
Accuracy and Precision for Long Range Shooting by Bryan Litz of Applied Ballistics

It's just awesome. You will need to read it a few times but it's a great book
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Bought this on the recs here. As a beginning rifle shooter interested in LR hunting, I can't say enough about it so far. It's the perfect mixture of technical data and new terminology combined with easy-to-understand reasoning. He is very data-driven and explains each variable in detail, making it easy for a new person to appreciate the difference in how they all play out in the equation. Great illustrations. First chapter covers WEZ and it makes perfect sense, even to the uninitiated shooter...from there, he builds on the concepts.

Bottom line, this book seems to go pretty far down the rabbit hole but the writing doesn't lose you along the way. Very well written. Thanks for the rec!
 
#23
Precision Rifle B.I.B.L.E by Nicholas Irving Parts I and II. It's only available on Kindle (you can read it on your PC). It does the fundamentals very well and goes in depth on many of them. The two parts are fairly cheap too. Worked well for me. I just completed the Magpul Precision Rifle 1 class. They complimented each other well.
 
#24
Well I've read the book by Plaster and it was alright. I could see where it might help some folks. Not a great book in my opinion, but I'm also not a really experienced shooter in the long range field that could be a good judge. I think everything is subject to perspective and personal experience. I mean is there really anybody that knows everything? I am currently reading Precision shooting at 1000yds and it's been a good read so far, but I'm not too deep in it either.

I think I'll see about obtaining a copy of the book by Litz, since he seems to be on top of things and well recommended. I think I'll also look at Tubb's book. I couldn't find the book by Nancy Tompkins, so I guess I'll keep searching for that one. I don't mind putting out a little money for these things, as all in all if I pick up 1 or 2 things then it's probably worth the small investment, as opposed to spending a bunch on some training or schooling that yields little results as well.

I saw another post on recommending Gun Digests Shooters guide to Rifle Marksmanship here, so I ask has anybody else read this and is it worth a tip or trick? Is there any good books out there on ranging, dope, adjustments, etc? Or would that be included in one of the above mentioned books? This is seemingly where I'm suffering from inexperience, which I fully intend to fix and most likely not in the pages of a book. I'm sure there's no real substitution for the real experience in that department.
 
#25
user said:
Gotta agree, not a marksmanship text at all. Not even a great field craft book in my opinion.
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+3. The whole line of books/DVDs that Plaster put out is really pretty crappy IMO, be it the marksmanship aspect or the copy paste of fieldcraft info from the "then" current "Sniper" training manual. I generally tell people to stay away from this whole series of books.
 
#26
I just finished reading "An American Rifleman Goes to War," and for those of you who said it was a must read, especially the one or two who also said Plaster's "Ultimate Sniper" wasn't of much value, I strenuously disagree with you. I personally learned very little from MacBride, and learned much more from Plaster.
Maybe both books each have some merit???

I do hope that Litz's books prove to me more informative...
 
#27
McBride was about the passion, and desire to shoot and live. It's not recommended because it teaches you anything about shooting rather it tells why he did what he did.
 
#29
Sniper Uncle said:
I just finished reading "An American Rifleman Goes to War," and for those of you who said it was a must read, especially the one or two who also said Plaster's "Ultimate Sniper" wasn't of much value, I strenuously disagree with you....
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I guess it depends on your exposure level to the subject. If you learned something from those books then good for you, you e broadened your knowledge base. However, once you have more exposure to the subject from other creditable sources you will probably see why most knowledgable people don't recommend plasters books to the uninitiated.
 
#30
Sterling Shooter said:
I'd like to know why you recommend this book? I read it, bought the video too. My hope was to become enlightened on the subject. I've got to tell ya, I found nothing there which revealed anything important to marksmanship in general or to long range marksmanship specifically. My thought was Plaster wrote the book from an observers perspective, documenting what he had heard to be important. Today, as experienced as I am about long range shooting, I wonder why Plaster's book could be recommended by anybody who understands the topic (marksmanship). Perhaps, the book is useful for students of tactical field craft, but, marksmanship, no way.
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there was a time, in the 90's, that the Ultimate Sniper was on the pre requisite mandatory reading list prior to going to Sniper School, there were maybe 3 other books on the list that I can't recall but US was one of them, I remember cause it stood out as not all that high speed of a book with some good parts thrown in. A couple years later the infamous "plaster disaster" stock came out and I recalled reading his book, and thinking that stock is horrible, maybe that's why the book was just so so

Updated to add- Apparently now there is an expanded and updated version, I havent seen or read that one, wonder how much they added to the original compared to the one I still have in my personal library
 
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#31
Sniper Uncle said:
Coming from a non-military/LEO background, I found the book had a lot of useful information which helped me to figure out some of the behind the marksman stuff. While it may not help with the actual shooting or fieldcraft, it did explain some of the foundations to me. I learned a lot from it, which I suspect many with formal training all ready knew. So, I can see where it's benefits would be subjective depending on a person's previous training.
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With no background one wouldn't know useful info from the other kind. Bad info is bad info, period. Much of it, like the Mil dot stuff, was corrected in later editions of the book.
Sniper Uncle said:
In the part on glass and various observation tools, I learned about parallax, and also about not trying to have one glass do it all.
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Some of the info in the optics section is wrong, too.
Sniper Uncle said:
Do all these things get taught to soldiers, especially snipers in their training?---Probably.
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Probably not, although some of the myths and mistakes taught by the military are repeated in the book.
 
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#33
Sniper Uncle said:
Which Edition did you read? As I understand it, this book has been revised and updated several times. Perhaps you did read a different book than I read.
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I read each one as it came out. Some of the information is still wrong.

Plaster isn't a sniper, he's an historian of sniping, meaning that he gathers information about sniping and either prints or reprints it. Ultimate Sniper isn't a bad compilation about which end of the rifle is the dangerous one, but it's far from a technical manual for snipers written by snipers and reads more like a Guns & Ammo annual edition. Nice pictures, though.
 
#35
Mike Lau's book is a bit dated, but it's good info as an introduction to the craft. It's a cheaper book, too. And the next time you go to TacPro you'll probably bump into Mike and he'll autograph it for you. Speaking of 'about by snipers for snipers', I recently acquired Brandon Webb's book that Brandon wrote with Glenn Dougherty (RIP/Benghazi). It's even better than Plaster on the historical stuff (but limited on technical info). Caylen's section of the Magpul video was an attempt to uncluster the ball of string that became the original video. Caylen's info is solid - as is Caylen. Nick Irving has a new technical book out, available on Amazon, that is a compilation of info from other sources plus his experience. It's not a polished work, but the information is good. Nick is the real thing and he knows his stuff.
 
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#36
Graham said:
Mike Lau's book is a bit dated, but it's good info as an introduction to the craft. It's a cheaper book, too. And the next time you go to TacPro you'll probably bump into Mike and he'll autograph it for you. Speaking of 'about by snipers for snipers', I recently acquired Brandon Webb's book that Brandon wrote with Glenn Dougherty (RIP/Benghazi). It's even better than Plaster on the historical stuff (but limited on technical info). Caylen's section of the Magpul video was an attempt to uncluster the ball of string that became the original video. Caylen's info is solid - as is Caylen. Nick Irving has a new technical book out, available on Amazon, that is a compilation of info from other sources plus his experience. It's not a polished work, but the information is good. Nick is the real thing and he knows his stuff.
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Thank you, Sir. This is what I have been looking for, and I appreciate your thoughts. I'll set about procuring some of these as I can, and read them carefully.
 
#37
Graham said:
Nick Irving has a new technical book out, available on Amazon, that is a compilation of info from other sources plus his experience. It's not a polished work, but the information is good. Nick is the real thing and he knows his stuff.
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I found that book to be incredibly bad when it came to the editing and grammar and the actual information was more along the lines of the basics/fundamentals, which are covered and explained much better here in the forums IMO. Honestly, there isn't a good commercial book out there, that covers this topic well from A to Z. My suggestion to the OP would be to acquire and read the Army sniping manual and supplement it with the Snipers Hide articles that are part of the online training as well as the DVDs offered by Rifles Only. The Manual will give the reader a basis of employment from a military standpoint and the Snipers Hide/Rifles Only info will provide more in depth fundamental to intermediate skills explanations/examples that are typically taught in person from instructor to student.
 
#38
There's no substitute from proper professional instruction. The problem is that there are too many pseudo-professionals starting their own 'training' schools and spreading bad information, even to military clients. For a 'how to' fundamentals primer it's hard to beat Jacob's Rifles Only DVDs, but then again I am biased. If you watch them you'll see why.
 
#39
Yes, Graham, true qualified professional instruction is the best. Problem is, many of us, myself included, have great limitations upon being able to evaluate and choose those instructors----you allude to the self appointed "pros" out there. Also, for some of us, funds limit the options too. That is why we look for reading (or other) materials to learn as much as we can on our own.
It can work, look at Alvin York.


Cheers,
Tim
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms Shall NOT be Infringed
 
#40
Sniper Uncle said:
Yes, Graham, true qualified professional instruction is the best. Problem is, many of us, myself included, have great limitations upon being able to evaluate and choose those instructors----you allude to the self appointed "pros" out there. Also, for some of us, funds limit the options too. That is why we look for reading (or other) materials to learn as much as we can on our own.
It can work, look at Alvin York.


Cheers,
Tim
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms Shall NOT be Infringed
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Sgt. York learned from professionals like his kin. It was important to shoot what your aiming at and to learn it at a young age. The alternative was going hungry. Like York, my father died when I was young. My mother was a pretty good shot during the Great Depression growing up in East Texas. She thought it was important enough that she enrolled me in the NRA youth program when I was 11 and I never looked back. I consider her a professional adviser even at the age of 91. Today she asks me, "why are you still shooting?". I tell it is her fault.

So yeah, I believe it is important to get instruction and advice from somebody with some pedigree. You owe it to yourself. Buy a cheaper scope and rig. Get a good instructor. I believe somebody did just that with just a Bushnell and a range card taped to his stock. He finished the course in the top percentile. You will see it mentioned in the training clips here.

But your OP is for recommended reading that's cool. There are many good books out there. I'll suggest just one...

The Hunter's Guide to Accurate Shooting: How to Hit What You're Aiming at in Any Situation by Wayne van Zwoll
 
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