Long-Range Legacies: The Good and the Bad

Hornady introduced the 6.5 Creedmoor in 2008 and only a handful of long-range competitors really cared. But in 2014, after the movie “American Sniper” came out, Chris Kyle was vaulted to John Wayne status, and instead of a cowboy hat and a six gun, everyone wanted a sniper rifle and a tattoo. Today, the Creed is phenomenally popular, and that movie, along with those aspiring to have sniper-like skill, have influenced our hunting rifles and the way we use them. Some of these influences have been good. Others, not so much.

GOOD GIFTS

One benefit long-range shooting has brought to the hunting rifle is the adjustable length of pull, which is now quite common. Steyr incorporated it into the Scout Rifle in 1997, but custom builders have been crafting rifles to perfectly fit clients for a long time. Since the Steyr Scout, we’ve seen manufacturers incorporate an adjustable length of pull on factory rifles intermittently over the years. However, it wasn’t until it became a recognized necessity to achieve a proper launch platform for precision long-range shooting that many shooters began demanding it and manufacturers routinely offered it. Bipod and tripod interface with the stock has also greatly improved through the incorporation of various rails on the stock’s fore-end.

Comb configuration and height have improved, too. For quick and/or precise shooting, it’s critical to maintain a good cheek weld while simultaneously having your eye aligned with the riflescope. Savvy marksmen have always known this, but oddly, manufacturers just kept stocking rifles to work with open sights, even though we’d mostly abandoned them decades ago. In 1985, Melvin Forbes of New Ultra Light Arms pioneered a stock with a high comb and negative drop. It lined your eye up with the scope and allowed the comb to slip by—as opposed to pound into—your cheekbone during recoil. Many modern rifles now have adjustable combs with neutral or negative drop, and we can all shoot better because of it.

Along with the desire to shoot at greater distances came the need for better triggers. This led to the incorporation of aftermarket triggers in hunting rifles right from the factory. Hunters used to have a gunsmith tune their trigger. Today, many hunting rifles come with a Timney or TriggerTech trigger from the factory.

Back in those bad-trigger days, hunters would argue about sectional density. Now those discussions are about ballistic coefficient (BC) and the twist rates needed to stabilize high-BC bullets. Manufacturers have responded with barrels, bullets and cartridges to take advantage of all this.

But maybe the best thing to come from long-range shooting is simply more shooting. Whether done recreationally or competitively, those who play the long-range game shoot more than those who don’t. This is partly because to be successful at making decisive strikes at distance, while compensating for bullet drop, wind drift and the rotation of the Earth, you must shoot frequently. It’s also partly because shooting at distance is fun, especially when you hit.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

However, there’s a yin and a yang to the long-range game. Riflescope quality has increased tremendously, with more precise and reliable adjustments and clearer and brighter images. But many riflescopes themselves have become more complicated. It can be difficult to find a reticle that wouldn’t confuse Elon Musk.

There’s also a good and bad side to the high magnification associated with long-range riflescopes, especially those with a first-focal-plane reticle. With the common 3-9X riflescope of yesteryear, if your scope was at maximum magnification for a close shot, it was bad, but not terrible. With a modern riflescope that has a much higher magnification range, you must always be cognizant of your scope’s magnification setting. And too many of these riflescopes have a first-focal-plane reticle that can nearly disappear on low magnification.

And then there’s gadget dependency. Those engrossed with long-range shooting are seemingly reluctant to shoot at any distance unless they’ve clamped and leveled their rifle in a tripod and dialed in the perfect shooting solution. Savvy shooters from back in the day just used a point-blank zero. They held dead on out to around 300 yards and a little high if the animal was a bit farther. Or they just simply snuck closer. Multiple guides and outfitters have relayed frustrating stories about clients never firing a shot because they were too busy screwing with their rifle, scope, tripod or wind meter, even at ranges where none of that really matters.

Finally, though we’ve become infatuated with flat-shooting bullets, we sometimes lose sight of terminal performance. At extended range, velocity drops significantly, in some cases enough to prevent the bullet from deforming on impact. Some of the toughest premium bullets need to impact at speeds faster than 2,000 fps for optimum tissue damage. With some cartridges and bullets, the range where velocity drops below this threshold is closer than you might think.

SNIPERS AND HUNTERS

There’s an undeniable allure to the skill set of the sniper. It’s been around since Timothy Murphy climbed a tree in 1777 and shot a British general from his horse at 300 yards. It’s intrigued riflemen since “Old Jack” Hinson took out more than 100 Union soldiers during the Civil War. And, of course, there are the legends of Chris Kyle and Carlos Hathcock. It’s only natural that riflemen would want to emulate the marksmanship skills of these men. And that’s OK; America is a better place with better riflemen.

However, hunters are bound by an unwritten code to close the distance to a range that offers not just a shot opportunity, but shot certainty. Having the skill and gear to successfully engage targets at extreme distance is not a bad thing. But launching bullets at animals way out there sometimes speaks more to a lack of hunting skill than to shooting ability. The rule of the hunting rifleman has always been if you can get closer, get closer, and if you can get steadier, get steadier. At times it seems like we’re optimizing the latter while forgetting the former.

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• This article was featured in the August issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.

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