Hi, guys -
I'm in the Southwest and have access to remote public lands where I can set up targets as far as I want. Recently, I have decided to set the targets on terrain that is not accessible to vehicles. So, we have been strapping plates to an old ALICE pack (or an EXO pack) and humping them up the hill a mile or more. It's hard work, but we like the adventure and are using it as training for backcountry hunting. These plates are 3/8" AR500 steel and weigh from 25 pounds to over 90 pounds. It makes for a long hard satisfying day!
Anyway, I usually put out targets that are 1 MOA from our shooting position, so 12" at 1200 and 18" at 1800 and so on, roughly. The problem is, we're shooting in a direction that has a highly variable crosswind, over varied terrain. On a GREAT day, it will be 3-5 MPH, on an average day (like today) 5-10 MPH, and when it's higher than that I don't even bother to shoot. We could reorient so we're shooting in a head/tail wind, but it's suboptimal in this location, and I kind of consider it cheating to do that. Today, we basically could not hit targets with a 338 LM in the varied winds. We're pretty dialed with equipment and know what we're doing, but we're not world class shooters and don't aim for that (pun!). We still have fun getting close and practicing, but let's face it, we don't hump hundreds of pounds of steel up a steep hill to just record misses - we wanna hear them ring.
The answer is obvious - larger targets closer. So I'm thinking move the 18" target to 1400 yards, the 24" to 1800, and so on, making them be 1.3 or even 1.5 MOA targets. Or, cheat the wind and shoot into it (which I don't favor because we want to shoot into the hill as a backstop).
What is a reasonable size target at like 1200, 1500, 1760, and 2000 yards? At what point do you make it too easy? Because right now, it's too hard, and the work involved humping them is considerable.
If you were setting up a range at those distances (past 1000 yards) to shoot with everything from 260/308 to 7PRC, 338LM, and 375CT and 50 BMG, what size would you have (in MOA) at those distances? Or would you just cheat the wind and shoot into it?
I'm in the Southwest and have access to remote public lands where I can set up targets as far as I want. Recently, I have decided to set the targets on terrain that is not accessible to vehicles. So, we have been strapping plates to an old ALICE pack (or an EXO pack) and humping them up the hill a mile or more. It's hard work, but we like the adventure and are using it as training for backcountry hunting. These plates are 3/8" AR500 steel and weigh from 25 pounds to over 90 pounds. It makes for a long hard satisfying day!
Anyway, I usually put out targets that are 1 MOA from our shooting position, so 12" at 1200 and 18" at 1800 and so on, roughly. The problem is, we're shooting in a direction that has a highly variable crosswind, over varied terrain. On a GREAT day, it will be 3-5 MPH, on an average day (like today) 5-10 MPH, and when it's higher than that I don't even bother to shoot. We could reorient so we're shooting in a head/tail wind, but it's suboptimal in this location, and I kind of consider it cheating to do that. Today, we basically could not hit targets with a 338 LM in the varied winds. We're pretty dialed with equipment and know what we're doing, but we're not world class shooters and don't aim for that (pun!). We still have fun getting close and practicing, but let's face it, we don't hump hundreds of pounds of steel up a steep hill to just record misses - we wanna hear them ring.
The answer is obvious - larger targets closer. So I'm thinking move the 18" target to 1400 yards, the 24" to 1800, and so on, making them be 1.3 or even 1.5 MOA targets. Or, cheat the wind and shoot into it (which I don't favor because we want to shoot into the hill as a backstop).
What is a reasonable size target at like 1200, 1500, 1760, and 2000 yards? At what point do you make it too easy? Because right now, it's too hard, and the work involved humping them is considerable.
If you were setting up a range at those distances (past 1000 yards) to shoot with everything from 260/308 to 7PRC, 338LM, and 375CT and 50 BMG, what size would you have (in MOA) at those distances? Or would you just cheat the wind and shoot into it?
Last edited:
