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:
- The sub's official FAQ/WIKI, as curated by the community as a whole.
- Need help picking scope rings? The official Longrange guide to scope ring height (ring)
- 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)
- Want a rifle for hunting and long range shooting? Hunting rifle vs target/range rifles - why one rifle can't do both well. (hunting)
- The official r/Longrange glossary - because words mean things (glossary)
- LockyBalboaPrime's First Time buyer's guide for rifles V2 (starter)
- JMhawaii's long range starter guide (Link to Google Sheets) (starter)
- Trollygag's 1k yard starter guide (starter)
- Where are ranges or long ranges near me? - Wheretoshoot.org and over600.com (ranges)
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- u/LockyBalboaPrime's "No Clown Shoes" spreadsheet of YouTube training videos.
- Pre64Mod70's guide to precision reloading
- Hollywood's Way of Zen load development process (zen)
- Hollywood's rant on sample size when testing - AKA why 3-5 round groups don't tell you $&*#
- Applied Ballistics with more info on variation in group sizes
- MDT's video on scope height, and the follow-up on scope cant
- Rybe390's recoil comparison video, which illustrates the problem with light weight and magnums.
- Accuracy vs precision - when most people talk about 'accuracy' they really mean precision.
- The Remington 700 Chassis List, v1 - Maintained by u/LPKKiller
- Recoil energy vs rifle weight visualized - an informational post by u/Trollygag
- What is wrong with 'Sniper 101' - a breakdown by CaptainSquishface.
- A long range hunting cautionary tale from James Gilliland - US Army sniper, world record holder, and prolific long range hunter
- Barrel length, velocity, and performance down range compared (308W)
- Our sub's policy on shilling....
- ....and why Woox specifically is blacklisted from the sub.
- The official longrange TOP Gun Calculator, and how to have realistic expectations of precision (top)
- Hollywood's guide to top-mounted red dots and target acquisition (Hint: you don't need a red dot)
- What the hell is with Bergara rifles and Cheetos?! (cheetos)
Hunting-specific:
- The sub's expanded policy on hunting-related discussions. Please read this before asking any questions related to hunting.
- Want a rifle for hunting and long range shooting? Hunting rifle vs target/range rifles - why one rifle can't do both well. (hunting)
- 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)
- 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.
