Precision Rifle :: Long Gun Training

Send It.

Those words ring in my head still from the class. With Curt, owner and lead instructor for Long Gun Training LLC, spotting our shots out to 600 yards, we were all eager to hear the command to let the best round we could go down range. Let’s step back a bit and talk about this awesome 3 Day training experience that I had the opportunity to attend.

Day 1 – External Ballistics

Prior to the Precision Rifle 101 class, we attended the External Ballistics lecture, which offers a great precursor to the actual shooting that would be done in the following two days. We covered some great topics such as forces affecting a bullet’s travel, atmospheric conditions, trajectories and final firing solutions, bullet energy, bullet design, and finally the various ballistic programs available.

It was probably the most interesting lectures that I have ever been to because of the amount of misinformation and “talk” out on the Internet. Much of it I had no idea about and it was great to learn about it. As someone who does not reload ammunition yet, learning about the bullet design and its impact on aerodynamics was quite fascinating.

The information was taught in a very easy-to-understand manner and I certainly felt that it was technical enough to keep my attention and wet my appetite for the weekend to follow.

Day 2 & 3 – Precision Rifle 101

Precision Rifle 101 is a two day class designed for the Beginner to Intermediate long range shooter. The emphasis is on driving the rifle and key marksmanship fundamentals. According to Curt, focusing on these fundamentals rather than overloading the shooter is a better way to learn the basics of extreme long distance shooting.

We began the day zeroing our rifles from 100 yards out. For this class I brought out our Allstar Tactical prototype AT7 rifle, shown in some of the pics below. It is a hopped up Remington 700 in .308 sitting in an Accuracy International AICS2.0 chassis system. I struggled a little bit with the eye relief of the scope, but otherwise, it was a dream to shoot.

Once our rifles were zeroed in, we started with some fundamentals drills, which were crucial to being able to shoot from the longer distances out. As someone who puts a ton of rounds down range each year, however mostly pistol and AR15, this was great to get behind this system, relax, and focus on what I needed to work on. For me, trigger management was crucial, and it showed as I got tired and the day went on. Honestly, I would have been disappointed if I didn’t find something that I knew I needed to work on after the class was over.

Once we had the initial marksmanship drills at 100 yards under out belt, we started moving out in 50 yard increments. We were now shooting at steel targets so we could easily spot our own shots through the scope. However, it was much easier than that since Curt was there spotting us from his huge scope. At each 50 yard increment, we dialed in elevation and sent a round down range. Sometimes we needed to tweak that elevation, but once we were on the mark, we recorded it down in our log book for that elevation. We also took note of the barometer and temperature readings for the day.

As we worked our way back, we had to account for the wind. Thankfully, Curt was there to help us with the wind calls, because frankly, that was probably one of the harder things to do. On day one, we worked our way back to about 400 yards.

As day two came we started out at 450 and started working our way even father back. With a fresh head and some rest, it felt great to really stretch the legs of the rifle, and more importantly, my skills. As we worked our way back to 600 yards, I was starting to get sore and a little frustrated, but it was a good feeling for sure. I ran out of the ammo that I brought right after 600 yards, so I was done for the day. However, we worked our way back down to 250 yards to verify all the dope we created for the rifle in the past two days.

I would absolutely recommend these two classes for anyone interested in long range shooting. Curt and his team have a great offering and the price is well worth the wealth of knowledge that you will come out with. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I cannot say enough good things about them. I look forward to jumping into Precision Rifle 102 and 103 in the future, and will certainly report back on those as well. Thanks for reading!! Now check out some pics!