There are many good rifles out there that can shoot accurately at 100, 500, even 1000 yards. Many of them shoot run of the mill cartridges like .223 Remington or 6mm Creedmoor.
Others, like the CheyTacⓇ M200 rifle, are precision-engineered from the action out to the .375 and .408 CheyTacⓇ cartridges around which they are built, and promise to offer half-MOA performance as well as the ability to engage targets at greater than 2500 yards.
But you don’t just want to jump from plinking to a rifle like this. Before you get one, hone your long-range shooting technique with the following tips.
Choose an Appropriate Cartridge
First things first, there are some cartridges that are good for long-range shooting and many that are not.
Avoid all pistol calibers, as well as rimfire rifle cartridges like .22 LR. In fact, avoid any rifle ammo that isn’t loaded with a spitzer bullet. This puts .30-30 and .45-70 off the table (even though some long-range shooters do shoot the old “Government” cartridge).
Stick to cartridges with high ballistic coefficient and muzzle velocities, like .223 Rem, 22.-250, .224 Valkyrie, .300 Win Mag, and .257 Weatherby Mag.
The faster and flatter-shooting the cartridge, the better.
Invest in Optics
A good rifle deserves a quality optic. Learn the difference between MOA (minute of angle) and MRAD (milliradian) and choose a reticle that works for you. Make sure to get a scope that is specifically designed for long-range shooting.
Get a Good Base
Since you’re interested in the M200 rifle, it comes with a bipod – that’s set for you. If you start your long-range shooting journey with something else, make sure you get a good bipod for that rifle, or at least a bench shooting rest or a set of shooting bags to provide you with a stable platform. Long-range is not a discipline well-suited for offhand shooting.
Kill the Death Grip
No matter how lightly you grip your rifle, you’re putting pressure on it. That pressure imparts unwanted movement/torque on the gun. Not bad at 100 yards, and probably not even a big deal at 200. But at 1000, those small aberrations can cause a wide miss.
Control Your Breathing
Putting physical pressure on the gun is not the only place that errors arise when long-range shooting. Your natural movements – including breathing, heartbeat, and other minute, involuntary tremors, can throw off accuracy. Some of these we cannot control; breathing we can.
There’s more than one discipline here, with respect to breathing control and long-range shooting. Some argue to exhale naturally and shoot at the bottom of the cycle; others suggest holding your breath and shooting within four seconds to prevent your sight from going dim. Others are adamantly against holding the breath.
Try a few and see what works for you, and be consistent.
Practice Trigger Control
Anyone can jerk a trigger; it takes a marksman to break the trigger cleanly without imparting any undue forces on the rifle. Again, this is about minimizing aberrations that will become vastly magnified at 1000 yards and further. You can jerk a trigger at 100 yards and still drive tacks (well, sort of) but not past that.
Practice, practice, practice. Work on breaking the trigger without torquing, smearing or jerking. Try a pencil drill to see if there are any bad habits you need to break.
Still Want a CheyTacⓇ M200 Rifle?
If you can start producing tight groups at 500 or 1000 yards and really want to see what you can do with an accurate rifle, then maybe the CheyTacⓇ M200 rifle is for you.
You just need to know where to get one. Visit B&B Firearms to learn more – they carry the M200 along with other long-range precision rifles like the AR50A1, Barrett MK22 and McMillan TAC-338. Check out what they offer and contact their customer service for more information.
For more information about Mcmillan Tac-338a Rifle and Tac-338 Please visit: B&B Firearms LLC.
