About a year ago, a buddy talked me into buying an M1A. He and his brother had been shooting them over the years in friendly competition against each other. I purchased one, and joined them in the fun. Of course the long-range-bug got me! My next purchase was a Nightforce SHV 5-20X56 scope. I didn’t know how to zero the gun. I didn’t know anything about the scope. So I payed for a private lesson at a company by the name of Firearm Training Associates out in Eastvale. The trainer (Brandon) gave me a lot of great information and helped me zero the weapon at 100 yards. Great stuff! I was getting tighter groups at the range.
As we continued going to the range (Rahagas in Eastvale) I started meeting people that had the cool setups. The chronographs, the ballistic meters, the tricked out guns, etc…. Out of those meetings, I was getting more and more interested in this “long-range” shooting thing.
I signed up for a group (“introduction to long range shooting”) lesson with Brandon to go over the fundamentals of long range shooting. It would be 2 full days (9-5) of getting to know how to work with the scope, etc….. The days the class was scheduled was going to rain, and so I canceled. I rescheduled for the next class in July.
Gun stores are a dangerous place for a guy like me! I was at Turner’s in Fountain Valley, picking up some .308, 178grain, with a BC of .527 (badass bullet). I happened to spot this Masterpiece Arms 308, Bolt Action rifle with a 26” barrel. It had the adjustable cheek riser and length of pull that you don’t need an Allen wrench for. It had a cool this and a cool that! You know, the nice trigger, the custom mag release, a Curtis action, etc…. You also know that I ended up with that puppy!!
I swapped my Nightforce Scope from the Springfield to the MPA. My buddy and I went back to Rahagas and he was my spotter for that shooting session. I needed a spotter, because at that point I hadn’t worked on “Recoil Management “. The groups were getting tighter. (Between 1/4-3 MOA). That was serious improvement for me! I was thrilled! That was before I started using the ballistic App (Strelok). Those results were based purely on taking a shot, making a correction on the scope, and taking another shot. At that point, I was fine using that method.
A couple of weeks later, my buddy and I went to the Pala Gun Range. To me, it is a long range shooter’s ideal spot to shoot. I met a guy out there that was shooting some really tight groups at a 100yds. There were plenty of guys out there that were. Most of them were competing at the PRS matches. These guys know what they’re doing. Some were shooting the 308’s. But most were shooting the 6MM, and 6.5MM guns. They also had the Kestrel meters. I was shooting at 200, 300, 400, and 678 yard targets. I was having a blast, literally!!
The guy that I met (Ammar) at Pala was competing at the PRS matches. He also owns a company (Trace Ammo) that sells custom made Ammo. I ended up placing an order for 400 rounds. I can’t wait to see the results.
I now have my own weather station/ballistic meter. I’ve got my own Kestrel!!
Ammar then introduced me to an active duty Marine that gave me my second lesson out at the Pala range. This guy (Seve Crabtree), spent 4hrs teaching me the fundamentals of long range shooting. He was thorough! I learned about my scope in depth, recoil management, proper breathing, trigger pull, bolt manipulation, etc…. He also checked and made any corrections to the inputs I had made to my Kestrel. He is well versed in his trade, and enjoys teaching! I learned so much in that lesson. I plan to take many more lessons from him.
Unfortunately my M1A will sit in the gun closet. And in the near future, my 2nd focal plane scope will do the same, as I will be purchasing a Zero Compromise, 1st focal plane, MIL scope.
Anyway, long introduction, but I’m happy to be here, and hope to meet some new friends!
Scott
As we continued going to the range (Rahagas in Eastvale) I started meeting people that had the cool setups. The chronographs, the ballistic meters, the tricked out guns, etc…. Out of those meetings, I was getting more and more interested in this “long-range” shooting thing.
I signed up for a group (“introduction to long range shooting”) lesson with Brandon to go over the fundamentals of long range shooting. It would be 2 full days (9-5) of getting to know how to work with the scope, etc….. The days the class was scheduled was going to rain, and so I canceled. I rescheduled for the next class in July.
Gun stores are a dangerous place for a guy like me! I was at Turner’s in Fountain Valley, picking up some .308, 178grain, with a BC of .527 (badass bullet). I happened to spot this Masterpiece Arms 308, Bolt Action rifle with a 26” barrel. It had the adjustable cheek riser and length of pull that you don’t need an Allen wrench for. It had a cool this and a cool that! You know, the nice trigger, the custom mag release, a Curtis action, etc…. You also know that I ended up with that puppy!!
I swapped my Nightforce Scope from the Springfield to the MPA. My buddy and I went back to Rahagas and he was my spotter for that shooting session. I needed a spotter, because at that point I hadn’t worked on “Recoil Management “. The groups were getting tighter. (Between 1/4-3 MOA). That was serious improvement for me! I was thrilled! That was before I started using the ballistic App (Strelok). Those results were based purely on taking a shot, making a correction on the scope, and taking another shot. At that point, I was fine using that method.
A couple of weeks later, my buddy and I went to the Pala Gun Range. To me, it is a long range shooter’s ideal spot to shoot. I met a guy out there that was shooting some really tight groups at a 100yds. There were plenty of guys out there that were. Most of them were competing at the PRS matches. These guys know what they’re doing. Some were shooting the 308’s. But most were shooting the 6MM, and 6.5MM guns. They also had the Kestrel meters. I was shooting at 200, 300, 400, and 678 yard targets. I was having a blast, literally!!
The guy that I met (Ammar) at Pala was competing at the PRS matches. He also owns a company (Trace Ammo) that sells custom made Ammo. I ended up placing an order for 400 rounds. I can’t wait to see the results.
I now have my own weather station/ballistic meter. I’ve got my own Kestrel!!
Ammar then introduced me to an active duty Marine that gave me my second lesson out at the Pala range. This guy (Seve Crabtree), spent 4hrs teaching me the fundamentals of long range shooting. He was thorough! I learned about my scope in depth, recoil management, proper breathing, trigger pull, bolt manipulation, etc…. He also checked and made any corrections to the inputs I had made to my Kestrel. He is well versed in his trade, and enjoys teaching! I learned so much in that lesson. I plan to take many more lessons from him.
Unfortunately my M1A will sit in the gun closet. And in the near future, my 2nd focal plane scope will do the same, as I will be purchasing a Zero Compromise, 1st focal plane, MIL scope.
Anyway, long introduction, but I’m happy to be here, and hope to meet some new friends!
Scott
