Guidance wanted for Long range / precision shooting

[rowanshadow]

Their is a group of LR shooters named ALRHA. They have about three shoots a year at Parys shooting range. These are the people that shoot out to 1000 metres and they assist aspirant LR shooters coming into the game. Google and try and get one of the members to give advice on a LR set-up.

Will definitely do that, thank you!

[Boomstomp]

Thank you all. Learning so much here already! Can definitely push the budget up if needed on the scope, would rather buy right first time. More cost effective in the long run. What zoom would be required for distances to about 1200m?

Zoom is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to long range shooting. VERY precise adjustments are primary consideration, good glass second, and zoom only third in my opinion.

For instance, the SFWA 10x42 scope is one of the sub R10k options I can recommend to get going... just hard to find as all in SA are imported by people or either single or in bulk, but not via shops that I know of.

A scope with cheap glass but high zoom is inferior to a scope with expensive glass but low zoom. So most of the cheaper scopes will be unusable at the top 30% of their zoom, and you might also find that adjustments start changing at higher zooms.

For 1200m a good 10x or 12x upper zoom, if usable, is enough - as long as you can see target and dial precisely that is enough. Obviously 16x or even 20x is "nicer", but to get good glass at 20x zoom is expensive.

EDIT:
Choice of preferred long range discipline will also influence scope choice... For instance for Bisley a second focal plane scope is preferred.
My comments above are for fun steel plate shooting out to 1250m.

[Meteor]

Concerning FFP, don't you dial for distance?

[jager]

Concerning FFP, don't you dial for distance?

If you want to do NRL style shooting it's handy to just do holdovers at different distances, at any magnification.

If not, and you are happy to dial, then you can save a packet by goinf sfp.