1000 Yard Shot
BY Herschel Smith
1 month, 2 weeks ago
Reader Georgiaboy61 mentioned the shot I pointed out in this video where my buddy made four-for-four 1000 yard shots with a .223, and I made a 1000 yard shot with a magnum (7mm PRC) on Friday. This is what that 1000 yards looks like.
It’s a long way off. The first cars are 500 yards. The 1000 yard mark is near the single car on the ridgeline. IPSC target to the right of the car.
On October 20, 2025 at 11:12 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
A 7mm Rem-Mag or 7mm PRC is an excellent choice for long-range shooting, given proper load selection. Many sportsmen prefer the 7mm magnums for elk instead of 300 Win-Mag or 270 Winchester, and LR target-shooters can do great things with them, especially with the new highly-efficient projectiles being made by Berger, Hornady, Sierra, et al. Indeed, you don’t have to look too hard on the internet (You Tube, etc.) for people taking the 7mm PRC out to a mile!
Far as hitting at distance with .223, I have trouble banging steel at 600 yards on a windy day when it comes to those tiny pills. So I’d say a grand is off the table for the time being, at least until I learn to call wind better.
I have seen reports of service rifle competitors doing great things with heavy-for-caliber high-efficiency bullet designs, at places like Camp Perry, though. My hat is off to them. The Army Marksmanship Unit, Marine Corps Rifle Team, et al. must really know their business, and the civilian-side folks, too.
I think it is amazing what people have been able to do with .223/5.56-chambered rifles. But if I was tasked with needing to make a shot at long range, I would want very much to have something with some more throw-weight and momentum – both of which matter in performing well in the wind – and along with it, greater target effect when the slug actually reaches the target. Punching paper or ringing steel, it doesn’t matter that the slugs are so light – but that is most-certainly not the case when it comes to many real world applications.
Which is why the Secret Service use 7mm Remington Magnums as their over-watch rifles of choice, and not .223 carbines….
On October 21, 2025 at 9:00 am, Steve Miller said:
No tannerite on top of those cars? Albany Pistol and Rifle Club in Albany Oregon used to have an annual machine gun shoot yee freaking hah was it fun. I went the last 4 years they had that shoot until they decided they per reports, could not obtain insurance for the event. At the 200 yard berm a local junk yard had provide 6 vehicles and put a few pounds of tannerite atop each one. Each tannerite pile was 18″ square. 10 or so lanes with one shooter in each, a timed shot called by an announcer. That tannerite pile provide upward flames 20 feet high, above the top of the vehicle. $10 fee to enter the event then roughly $1 per round paying for a full mag for each type of firearm imaginable except of course 50 BMG where a Ma Deuce was mounted on top of the cab of a Deuce and a half truck and you stood on the bench seat and fired the Ma Deuce. 50 BMG wasn’t bad $7 a round. I typically burned $300 to $400 each event and smiled for days afterwards.
On October 21, 2025 at 8:57 pm, Ozark Redneck said:
Man- That is a long ways out! Good on you!
On October 22, 2025 at 10:02 am, RHT447 said:
In one of my old, dusty reloading books is a photo of the end of a case of bullets of some kind or other. Stenciled on the end of the box is the admonition, “BULLETS. Do not drop”. Underneath, written with Magic Marker, “They do too!”.
In my younger days, I shot in an iron sight 1000 yard match. Shot a .308 bolt gun with my handloads, shooting 190 gr. Sierra Match Kings. Match was in Nevada, somewhere north of Reno. Range faced north. Wind was from the west, left to right, gusting 15-20 mph, rolling tumble weeds across the range. My sights didn’t have enough windage for that distance and wind, so had to wait for target #9 to come out of the pits so I could aim at it to hit my target #10. No, I did not win the match.
On October 23, 2025 at 8:57 am, Heywood said:
Nicely done! I can’t even see that far out, much less hit a target!
On October 23, 2025 at 11:51 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Heywood,
To be fair, I was running a Leupold Mark 4 on top and setting dope with a Kestrel.
On October 24, 2025 at 12:05 am, Georgiaboy61 said:
I haven’t done any extended LR shooting in years, but a decade ago or more, I used to travel to Arizona a couple of times a year to visit relatives, and also do some LR target shooting if the opportunity presented itself.
A club south of Tucson in S. Arizona had a thousand-yard range, well out in the desert and in a valley or amphitheater which served as a natural shot-trap for safety purposes. Great location, too, because spotting your fall of shot in dry conditions is considerably easier than in some locations. It still helped to use a spotter, but good conditions for sports shooting.
I’ve hit shots that long with a .308 and with a .338 LM, and it was considerably easier with the Lapua. That cartridge is just getting unwound at a grand… whereas the .308 Winchester with 175-gr. SMK BTHPs is starting to run out of gas near the limit of its supersonic flight envelope.
There’s a club in Utah which hosts a “milk jug” challenge, the objective of which is to hit a milk jug at 1,000 yards or more (out to 1500 yards, if memory serves) with the rifle and ammunition of your choice, in ten shots or less. They have spotters, range cameras and a good time is had by all, if the videos are any indication. Don’t know the name of the range or the club, but they’re in S. Utah. Anyway, it is a fun sport, that’s for sure….
On October 24, 2025 at 9:20 pm, X said:
“I have seen reports of service rifle competitors doing great things with heavy-for-caliber high-efficiency bullet designs, at places like Camp Perry, though. My hat is off to them. The Army Marksmanship Unit, Marine Corps Rifle Team, et al. must really know their business, and the civilian-side folks, too.”
I have been shooting at Perry for over 20 years. The AMU is still there but no other services send marksmanship units any more. The USMC quit doing it after they gave up the M16 in favor of the M4. Some individual Marines still come, but no marksmanship team.
Shooting out to 600 is very doable. It’s intimidating at first but if you put a little planning into it and make a good dope chart it becomes second nature. The elevation come-ups and the windage adjustments aren’t terribly big compared to 1000. The Sierra single-load 80 Match King has been around for decades and is a hammer at 600. It has now been superseded by Bergers and some other offerings. The 77 Sierra, designed for magazine-length loading, is respectable but nobody wins matches at 600 with it. (It’s a killer 300 yard bullet though). I shot my best 600 ever this summer, a 196/200. It was fun. Having a fresh barrel helped, I got slaughtered at 600 in 2024 with my old barrel that had 6-7 thousand rounds on it. A shot-out barrel will still shoot good out to 300 but at 600 it will cost you a lot of points.
I have never shot at 1000 but that is a whole ‘nother level compared to 600. The windage and elevation adjustments almost quadruple. It is possible to shoot an 80 out to 1000 but people who do it with an AR tend to use specialty 90 grain bullets with barrel twists faster than 1:7. The other thing you really need at 1000 is a scopes base with 20 minutes of elevation to minimize your elevation adjustment. If you are shooting irons you need a shorter specialty front sight to get a good cheek rest. It can be done with a Garand, as the USGI sights elevate out to 1200 yards, but if you do not have a specialty front sight the aperture will be really high and you will get a lousy cheek weld. You will not be competitive with a Garand at 1000 but you might have fun.
As GB correctly points out, shooting a 5.56 at 600+ yards is of limited utility unless you are shooting at paper targets. An 80 grain bullet at 600 yards will have the energy of a .357 Magnum. Not ethical for an animal, not enough to penetrate a vehicle or Level III body armor. An 80 grain bullet at 1000 will hit with the energy of a .38 Special. That’s why combat snipers use .30 cal or bigger.
On October 25, 2025 at 6:33 am, sh68137 said:
In Nebraska/Iowa there are several “Long Gong” matches with 22LR. The first type of Long Gong is 8″. 6″ and a 4″ set at 300 yards. Course of Fire is hit to move, misses are reconfirm next larger gong prior to advancing to smaller gong. 8″ gong 1 point, 6″ is 2 points 4″ is 3 points. All strings are 10 rounds, 5 strings are a Match. 27 maximum points per string, 135 points per Match. Rules bipods and bags ONLY, no sleds, etc…
Second type of Long Gong is the KYL-er (KYL = Know Your Limit). Hit to move, misses need to reconfirm on next smaller gong. Set up is KYL rack at 116 yards. 10 gongs on rack, in descending order 3″, 2.5″, 2 “, 1.75″. 1.5″, 1.25″, 1″, .75″, .5″, and the .25”. Points are 3″ is 1 point, 2.5″ is 2 points down to the .25″ is 10 points. 55 points max per string, 5 strings maximum points 275.
On October 26, 2025 at 7:26 pm, Heywood said:
@Herschel
Magnification or not, that is still impressive as heck!