Just got back from a weekend down in Pelham, TN taking Basic Long Range Precision Rifle with Precision Applications, LLC. 

Wow. If you guys want to get into this type of shooting, this is a great place to start. The lead instructor, Rob Sheppard, is a ex-Marine scout sniper and now he teaches LEO SWAT snipers, as well as various classes for civilians. He knows his stuff and is great at teaching

Number of students:

Shep keeps the classes limited to 10 students. We only had 9 which was nice.

Rifles:

I was shooting my modified Ruger RPR with NF ATACR 4-16x. Two others were shooting AR-10s, and the rest were shooting either Remington 700s or Savage on various stocks/chassis with NF and Vortex scopes. I was the only 6.5CM while everyone else was shooting .308. 

Day 1:

Class began at a little after 830am. The 1st half of the day we spent in the classroom going over everything caliber and scope selection, FFP vs SFP, different types of reticles,  zeroing, cold clean bore/ cold fouled bore/ hot fouled bore shots, databooks, measuring the effects of weather, creating range cards, understanding how to range with a reticle, etc... It really laid the foundation for the remainder of the class. The classroom section finished off around 1230 where we broke for lunch. 

After an hour lunch break, we all gathered at the firing line and checked/ established a 100 yard zero on paper. After everyone was good to go, we broke into two groups and took turns shooting. The 1st 4 people stepped up and they would engage steel targets at 150,200,250, & 300 yards. Shep gave an estimate for elevation adjustments for each distance and then would work with each student until then were smacking that steel. Shep's info was geared towards the .308 so around 400 yards, my 6.5CM was starting to differ with elevation adjustments.The rest of us would watch and could practice spotting on one of his spotting scopes and learn to to track shots and call adjustments. The two relays would swap back and forth until the day ended with each group shooting out to 450 yards. 

Day 2:

Day started at 8am again. We spent some time going over maintenance and cleaning routines, recommended products, etc... Shep kept this relatively quick and got us back out on the firing line. 4 targets were placed down range at varying distances. Each of us had to range the 4 targets using the reticle to within +/- 7 yards. Once we determined a range, Shep would check it and either pass us or makes us do it again if we were off. Once everyone finished, shooting began. Same concept as the previous day. Relay 1 would shoot 500,600, & 700 yards while the rest of us waited. Then switch. The day ended with everyone successfully hitting a 20" gong at 1000 yards. 

All-in-all great class. I learned a ton and Im looking forward to going back. Ive never shot past 100 yards before but by the end of the weekend, I was drilling 1000 with relative ease once we got the elevation adjustments right. Need to work on my trigger pull a bit more but, other than that, everything went great. Rifle performed great- no problems. The 140g ELD match ammo was very consistent so I was not chasing rounds all over the place. I did notice a discrepancy between my actual elevation adjustment and the projected adjustment by BallisitcArc so I need to figure out whats going on there.( Anyone have a chronograph I could borrow for a day???)  

 

Heres Shep's website for more info. Ill post some pictures later tonight when I get home. 

http://precision-applications.com/

 

 

would love to do this

 

what did the class run?

Not too far from my new house. Prob have to wait till spring by time I get settled in.


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Great AAR! Thanks for writing up your experiences.

Sounds like an awesome class!

4 hours ago, shooter28 said:

.( Anyone have a chronograph I could borrow for a day???)  

Shoot me a PM.  I shoot at CR but I'm sure we can work something out.  I have a Magneto Speed V2.  I can meet you at GFH if you need and help you set it up.  It'll give you what you need.  

Pics

3 hours ago, myhatinthering said:

would love to do this

 

what did the class run?

Class was $600 for 2 days. Certainly not cheap, but IMO, worth it.

22 minutes ago, Bully said:

Shoot me a PM.  I shoot at CR but I'm sure we can work something out.  I have a Magneto Speed V2.  I can meet you at GFH if you need and help you set it up.  It'll give you what you need.  

Awesome thanks. I will definitely let you know. I think I may have figured out my problem tho. After the 1st day of shooting to 450, I was messing with my turrets because the hash mark on the turrets wasn't lining up with the indicator line on the scope body. Im think I may have shifted it over a mil when adjusting that cap. That would explain why my numbers started deviating about a mil over expected at 500+. Im headed to R14 on Friday and if my zero isn't correct at 100, Ill know that was my problem.

5 minutes ago, shooter28 said:

Class was $600 for 2 days. Certainly not cheap, but IMO, worth it.

Awesome thanks. I will definitely let you know. I think I may have figured out my problem tho. After the 1st day of shooting to 450, I was messing with my turrets because the hash mark on the turrets wasn't lining up with the indicator line on the scope body. Im think I may have shifted it over a mil when adjusting that cap. That would explain why my numbers started deviating about a mil over expected at 500+. Im headed to R14 on Friday and if my zero isn't correct at 100, Ill know that was my problem.

Good enough.  I'm happy to help if necessary.

 

Thank you. Thats what I love about these forums

Thanks for sharing.

I'm definitely interested in a class like that.