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What are your solutions are to the problem of spotting your rounds on target at long distances?

How do you identify your shot placement at long distances. Any distance, all distances; any/all targets.
 
Basics can be learned here: (I own the book...not DVD)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-Sniper-John-Plaster/dp/B0000A5BVY

Also, having knowledge of the round to be shot and how it performs at various distances helps. I have a chart for the Rem700 .308 w/168gr BTHP (equal to FedGM Match). The chart is reduced and laminated on the scope. Rifle is zeroed at 200yards and the chart shows how many clicks of elevation needed for ranges beyond. Knowing how much your load will drop at 600yards from a 200yard zero allows one to do a quick hold over instead of making any adjustments to the elevation. Mostly it's just time at the range and becoming confident.

Not sure any of that helps.
 
What do you do when you have too many rounds on target to identify which was your last shot? New target?

(I'm building up to something, obviously a new target is the easy answer, but I want to know other solutions to the problems of shots being hard to see at long ranges, and keeping track of all of them)
 
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What do you do when you have too many rounds on target to identify which was your last shot? New target?

(I'm building up to something, obviously a new target is the easy answer, but I want to know other solutions to the problems of shots being hard to see at long ranges, and keeping track of all of them)

We use a 3 foot round by 1/2" steel plate painted WHITE, with a 6 " swinging plate covering a hole cut thru the center for bulleye..when you hit it -the impact is black, easy to see at up to 1200 yards, with a rifle scope or spotting scope., after about 20-40 rounds,, we go down and paint it white again. It has had probably 500 rounds on it so far,, looks like it will outlast me, as there is no damage yet.
 
Last Edited:
What are your solutions are to the problem of spotting your rounds on target at long distances?

How do you identify your shot placement at long distances. Any distance, all distances; any/all targets.

For regular paper targets out to 300 yards, a good quality 20-60x spotting scope works quite well. There are many brands that you could consider.

What do you currently use to spot with? Are you shooting beyond 300?

For either a self-defense rifle or a hunting rifle, there is very little need to plan to shoot past 400 yards. Going beyond that is rather impractical for the former, and ethically challenged for the later.

.
 
Depending on the distance and the caliber, AR-500 really isn't necessary. I have 1/2" mild steel at 400 and 600 yards. Shooting mostly 308 or smaller, the 400 yard target has plenty of dents and is actually a little concave. The 600 yard target basically good as new.

Shooting painted steel does seem to be the best way to spot shots. Repaint as necessary.
 
What are your solutions are to the problem of spotting your rounds on target at long distances?

How do you identify your shot placement at long distances. Any distance, all distances; any/all targets.

You basically need a second person looking for it...a lot of times someone looking over bore scanning the "wake" or "trace" of the bullet helps. If you have a team (one person on a spotting scope and one person standing over or behind the shooter) it helps tremendously. The person on the spotting scope should be able to see where the bullet impacts while the person standing over or behind you can trace the bullet's path. I've even intentionally shot at steel targets to hear something to verify on target and have intentionally shot at debris (rocks, clumps of dirt, etc.) to verify my shots...especially if I'm alone.

Note: I do not advocate doing the below...I've only ever done this for two shooters and on a specific range that was closed to just us. I trusted (and still do) both shooters with my life...having said that, I have done the following...

What I've done in the past (especially for long distances) is I will actually go down range once the shooter is on paper. I will go down to the target, then stand off to the side of the target (to the left or right) about 100 yards, then take a knee (having a radio helps). The shooter will shoot one bullet, then go to a standing position (if benched) or a kneeling position (if prone) to signify that they are clear of the rifle and raise a hand. I will then go to the target, mark it and signal over the radio for any corrections or if the shot needs to be repeated (if you think the shooter had an error or want to verify the zero when the barrel warms). The shooter will not touch the rifle (even to make corrections) until I am away from the target and have taken a knee and raised a hand. Note that you will still need ear protection (from the bullet breaking the sound barrier) and eye protection (from any bullet splashes or ricochets).

If you don't have a radio, I would suggest pointing to the bullet impact spot as the shooter looks through with the spotting scope (never the rifle for obvious reasons).
 
If you are on the paper (white paper is the best) use colored permanent markers and color the bullets. Mark each load a different color and take good notes. Send them down range and check out the holes in the paper, the bullets will transfer the ink to the target. Just review your notes and you know what happened on target. It is great for ladders and beats hiking through slash 500+yds.
Best of luck,
 
You're question is too broad you need to be more specific. What range, what target, and what purpose behind spotting the shots as seeing a shot to make a quick correction is different from marking shots for a ladder test. What I use to view shots at 300 yards Is different from what one might want to use at 1000 yards so basically. Your general question gets a general answer...It Depends.
 

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