Long Range Shooting Competition South Africa
Earleen Statham
Hey Ryan, we know how passionate you are about extreme long-range shooting so we wanted to take the opportunity to get to know you better and share it with our global readers. Although this sport is super popular in the US, it is gaining traction worldwide with various events sprouting at different corners of the globe from the plains in the US, to the rolling Italian hills, the military ranges in France or the flat lands in South Africa. Poland, Sicily, Romania, Norway, Germany, Australia and a few others have come our way as well. Wow what a take up!
Ryan Cheney #1: It all started when I was a kid, at age 14 or 15 my dad put me behind a Ruger M77 300 Win Mag for deer season and although it beat the hell out of my shoulder, I got good at shooting deer at 250-350 yards. Getting beaten up by the 300WM lead me into taking more precision shots with smaller calibers, shooting a Kimber 84M .243 for a while.
A few years later I ended up buying a DPMS LR308 and that lead me into shooting PRS style matches at Spearpoint Ranch. Around 2013 I had a .338 Lapua built and Steve Wirth at Spearpoint put out a 2000 yard target for us to shoot at after the matches and that was the slippery slope into ELR madness.
Ryan: So my first .338 Lapua died at the end of 2017, there was a couple prototype matches at Spearpoint in the fall of 17, and they were hinting at starting a series in 2018. So I needed to get my rifle rebarrelled and ready for March. I decided that if I was going through everything necessary for a new barrel I may as well upgrade the caliber a little, so after doing some digging I discovered the 338 Lapua Rogue, which is a 37 degree shoulder improved Lapua. I bought a hydroforming die from Whidden, formed some brass, worked up a simple load that shot accurate and went and fire formed the first match and ended up winning. That was my first ever Win, so that one definitely sticks with me.
That season I ended up winning more events than anyone in the country, including one at Valdina Ranch and a cold bore challenge at Spearpoint. That was the year that definitely shoved me down the rabbit hole of ELR.
What bedding technique was used on it and is the barrel bedded forward of the action or is it the action only?
Ryan: I just run Pro-Bed 2000 under the action with a short barrel pad out front.
Do you anneal your brass and if so how often?
Yes I have an AMP and I anneal after each firing. (editor: This is trend that most top competitors interviewed have shared in common)
We appreciate the time Ryan gave to share his Extreme Long Range Shooting Story and experiences. If like Ryan, you would like to share yours, please get in touch on r...@rifletalks.com .
Rifletalks.com
We met at his 1025-meter (1120 yards) long shooting range, used by the previous owner of the property as a bush landing strip for light aircraft. At one end was a two-story-high purpose-built tower for the activity and metal plate targets set up every 100 metres (110 yards). First, we zeroed my Howa 30.06 at 100 metres and then the fun began. It was fun and I can well understand how people can get hooked on long-distance competition shooting. However, out of curiosity, I was here to understand why hunters get a thrill out of shooting an animal at a long distance. My philosophy has always been to get as close as possible to ensure a good clean shot.
My Howa 30.06 with a Nikon Monarch (M3 4-16X42 SF) scope was going to be put to the test today. This is not a custom-built rifle and the scope is nothing fancy but it serves its purposes well as my rifle of choice to hire to clients on an African plains game safari. To me, this rifle is used just as a mechanic would use a wrench on a car engine to get the job done.
Unlike my mountain or desert hunting associates for whom long distance shots are the norm, I was a little psyched out about hitting a target at 400 meters but with Hannes as my coach, I was spared the embarrassment of missing the target in front of the audience.
First, we discussed some of the important technicalities. I do not want to bore you with the details but you need to know some facts about your rifle and the scope set up. These include things like scope height above the bore (HOB), rifle twist, muzzle velocity, length of the stock and ideally you should have an adjustable reticle scope with a zero stop if you are going to get serious about long-distance shooting.
The light breeze of 8-9 mph was perfect shooting conditions. Something I learnt that is handy when hunting in the field, especially across open flats or deserts, is that mirages are only created when the wind speed is under 15 mph. At 800 metres, we could see a mirage so we could not use the wind as an issue if we missed our targets today.
My two guinea pigs today were my fourteen-year-old son and his friend. First, we zeroed the rifle at 100 metres and then we went to the top floor of the shooting tower. After making the necessary scope adjustments, both boys hit their target at 300 metres. Hannes did the adjustments and the boys kept hitting the targets out to 600 metres.
Then, we ran out of ammo and opened a different box and as expected, they missed their targets and it meant we would have had to start all over again by first zeroing the rifle at 100 metres. By now they were complaining that at 800 metres they could no longer focus on the target as the Nikon scope had reached its limits. At 600 metres, the scope had already been cranked up 74 notches. However, I remain impressed that my working rifle is accurate to that distance and could still perform much further if set up correctly.
With the two boys both hitting their targets the first time round at each distance, there was no doubting that long-range shooting is about rifle and ballistics knowledge, practise, experience and confidence. Obviously, Hannes who instructs at long-distance shooting courses in South Africa and hosts a long-distance shooting competition in Denmark, also helped to fast track our experience.
Does this mean that shooting an animal at a long-distance meets my ethical expectations? Whilst hunting in Africa you will be accompanied by a professional hunter who will witness your shooting ability. It is not like back home in the woods where if you take a shot at a deer and miss, nobody needs to know about it, as you are probably all alone sitting in your tree stand.
I know a hunter can wound an animal at any distance by making the wrong shot selection and missing the vitals. Another concern is if you only wound an animal at long range, you may not be able to make an effective follow-up shot. However, in reality, even when hunting a short distance and you wound an animal there may not have time for a second shot before the animal takes off and disappears into the thickets. Making the first shot count should be the first priority no matter what the shot distance.
'Precision Rifle' is a multi-stage, long-range, practical shooting competition. During a shoot, competitors engage steel targets (widely referred to as gongs) at ranges of between 90 and 1200 metres from a variety of unconventional positions. Each stage is timed and on average competitors usually shoot between 6 and 10 stages per day, with between 6 and 12 rounds per stage. The total round count for a single day of shooting is usually between 60 and 80 rounds.
The sport had its origins in the United States but has since grown internationally and there are now Precision Rifle competitions in many countries, with well over 5000 competitive shooters worldwide.
Precision Rifle was started in South Africa with Tac Driver (Rob Ramsden & Steve Cox) running the first precision rifle event in August of 2015. Since then it's grown rapidly round the country into National, Provincial, Club and PR22 matches hosted on an almost weekly basis.
CAMP BUTNER, N.C. - Marksmen from eleven countries, rifles in hand, hung their flags, loaded their barrels and took aim, in the same direction, a target 1,000 yards away at the North Carolina National Guard's Camp Butner ranges Sept. 8-12, 2015.
The eleven countries represented included Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, South Africa, and the USA, with South Africa being proclaimed champion in the overall team grand aggregate at the end.
When the international muzzle loading championship was held at Butner six years prior, the staff and competitors were very pleased with the level of cooperation received by the North Carolina National Guard Soldiers and Camp Butner staff.
"We have a great history with the National Guard and other armed forces," said Kapper. "We work so well together because a lot of our shooters are ex-military, so they understand when they come on the post what they need to do."
"Black powder is interesting because there is a movement to go back to some of our roots and try some of the older firearms, that you don't have to put night scopes on," said Kapper. "This is open sights and you're shooting the original guns that your grandfathers and great grandfathers shot."
The shooting nostalgia isn't the only benefit. The international dynamic of the competition allows for interaction with those who share a common skill to meet their counterparts from all across the world.
"You meet new people and new team dynamics every time you travel," said Corena de Beer, with the South African team, woman's long range champion since 2011. "I've been competitively shooting black powder shooting since 2006."
Marnus Steyn, who won the mid and long range championship competition in Cape Town 3 years ago and also a member of the South African team shared the bonding and camaraderie sentiments of his teammate, de Beer.
"In the competition earlier I had a problem with a bullet on the 900 yard range because I damaged my barrel unfortunately. An American guy, a Dutch guy, and a British guy tried to help me," said Steyn. "That's really awesome."
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