Hi,

I saw some information on your club at calguns and like the friendly nature I have seen while surfing your forums. Kudos for having newcomer classes and members willing to be helpful to new shooters.

I am very interested in coming out to a training session, as long range shooting fascinates me. I have never done any shooting beyond 100 yards at a range. I would need a new rifle and caliber as the only rifle I own is a 22.250 Ruger No. 1V, which I am assuming would be mostly useless much past 200-300 yards, even on a relatively clam day. I would assume I can get started with it, but know a larger caliber is called for.

My first question is regarding the positions for competitions. I am unable to shoot prone due to the fact that my entire neck has been fused, literally from my skull to beyond the base of my neck. I am really only able to shoot from a bench due to the fixation of my neck and some residual weakness from the injury. Do all competitions require a mix of positions or are some bench-only?

Next, in terms of a long range caliber, where is a good place to start? I know that is a pretty general question and there are lots of answers, but it would be great to have a place to start my research. Due to my injury I am really recoil sensitive. I would probably need to experiment with rifles in various calibers, maybe muzzle brake equipped, to see what I am able to handle. The other option for me would be to build an autoloader. I'd be interested in comments here as to the practicality of this option.

My injury has had me on my back for eight years and I am looking forward to the prospect of long range shooting, reloading, etc.

Thanks in advance for any and all input.

There are quite a few good match bullets available in .224. Depending on the twist you can run the heavier bullets and get out past 600 yards easily. Most people start with .308 and are recommended the Remington 700 SPS Varmint because of the large aftemarket support for the 700 series rifle and that the SPS-V comes with a long heavy barrel that will allow you to shoot more before it gets too hot.

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your injury. Most of the shooting we do is from the prone, sitting, kneeling, and offhand positions and never from the bench. However you may want to seriously look into Benchrest shooting and competitions.

I personally am not to familier with benchrest but there are several people here who have the knowlege. I hope Ben (aimsmallmisssmall) chimes in as he has been doing a lot of benchrest lately. You can almost always find him at Angeles.

Guys,

Thanks much for the information and prompt replies. Thanks for the tip on benchrest competition. I'll PM the member you mentioned and see what I can learn there.

Thanks again!

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Team GAP, Shooter #7
Draining squares and banging steel