How To Shoot Long-Range Consistently: Techniques and Positioning

Much like any other shooting sport, to get good at long-range shooting, you need to be consistent. Consistency means predictability. If you address the rifle the same every time, your rifle recoil and bullet impact will be more consistent and predictable. When a fraction of an inch of movement at the rifle can result in multiple inches at long range, consistency is key. I have a few tips and techniques that I have used throughout the years to make my shooting more consistent and predictable.

The first thing that really helped my consistency was having less face pressure on the comb of the stock. Traditionally people (including myself) would raise the comb of the stock up with an adjustable comb or foam. They would also jam the scope as close as they could to the bore axis to help achieve the same result. This came from the sniper community, where they had to basically lay on the rifle and look through the optic for an extended period. Being able to just lie behind the rifle and use the minimal number of muscles to stay in the scope meant they could stay in the scope longer with less fatigue.

I started off shooting this way but always found that I would have a lot more unexplained “flyers” and very inconsistent grouping from one group to the next. While there were multiple things at play that caused these problems, I tackled the face pressure issue first. I isolated that variable and lowered my stock comb. I almost immediately saw more consistent results. Having the minimal face pressure (jaw weld) meant that under recoil, my face would not be contacting the stock and driving it downwards and/or driving it away (laterally) from my face.

I have since recommended this to several buddies that would experience weird diagonal stringing of their groups. Everyone saw immediate improvement of their group size. If you struggle with vertical/diagonal shot stringing of your groups, try less face pressure.

Techniques that Translate

Being a former competitive archer, I look at techniques that translate across multiple platforms. I found that with archery, if you have face pressure on your string or torque in your release, you will have erratic arrow flight. To combat this, I usually have people raise their peep height to lower their hand on their face. This helps people look down the string without needing to torque their hand or push pressure on the string. This is the same way that lowering your comb or raising your optic works for rifle shooting.

When most people have a high cheek weld or a high comb, the way the face is constructed, their facial features will push the eye away from the centerline of the stock/scope. So, for people to look down the scope, they must smash their face into the stock. This kinks your neck and puts a lot of inconsistent pressure on the stock. You will also find that with the lower comb (or higher optic), heavy recoiling rifles will not punch you in the face.

The next tip is along the same lines as the first one. Historically, precision rifle shooting was done at a bladed angle to the rifle. Again, this was done for comfort and not recoil management. While you can shoot accurately and consistently from a bladed position behind the rifle, your recoil management will not be optimized. You can see this firsthand if you watch some hunting videos on YouTube. You will see someone shooting at an animal; the rifle recoils so much (because their rifle isn’t set up right) that they don’t track their shot in the scope.

With a bladed angle to the rifle, the rifle recoils to the path of least resistance. That's usually up and to the right. If you have your scope on too high of magnification, you will not be able to track the shot and spot your impacts. To solve this issue, align yourself perpendicular to the rifle. Being squared up will create a better natural point of aim (NPA) and a more consistent recoil control.

Squared Up Positioning

Unfortunately, most people set up their rifle scopes for a bladed position to the rifle. You will find with a squared-up position will allow you to be neutral behind the gun and allow for the head positioning I spoke about earlier. With the squared-up position, you will likely have to push your optic significantly farther back than you likely have it. This is easy enough to do at home or take it somewhere to have it professionally done. You should never have a scope mounted without you being present to check the placement.

The squared-up neutral position (NPA) and the upright head placement will allow you to track your shots better, especially the further you get off the ground. Tripod shooting is big for hunting and shooting out West. Without the good form I’ve been discussing, spotting shots with hunting weight rifles (under 16 pounds) is tough to accomplish. While I do not “free recoil” my rifles, I do try to have the least amount of physical input into that system as I can.

The last tip is the trigger work. I lump the breathing cycle, trigger press, and follow through into my Trigger Press Process. I was fortunate enough to be able to take a class from Joel Turner of ShotIQ. The class I took was an archery class, but the same principles apply to whatever weapon system you shoot. If you have a good, controlled shot process you will without a doubt be more consistent. If you ever get the opportunity to take one of his classes, it will be life-changing for your shooting.

After you have established a good position behind the rifle, and acquire your target, that is when my shot process starts. I take one more moment to confirm my wind call through my scope and start timing my breathing. I watch in my scope where my reticle moves when I’m breathing. I want to break the shot at my natural respiratory pause at the end of my exhale.

Hand and Thumb Positioning

I don’t use the grip of the stock like you would think. I place my thumb on the top/right of the stock (depending on what stock), but I do not apply pressure with my thumb. The tips of the bottom three fingers are placed on the front of the grip, placing slight rearward linear pressure with those fingers. I place the pad of my trigger finger on the trigger shoe with my finger bent at a 90-degree angle at the second knuckle.

Once I am at that touch point, I start my “here we go” talk in my head. That’s when I start applying slow rearward pressure on the trigger shoe as I start to exhale. (My triggers are all set to 1.5 pounds no matter if it’s a hunting rifle or a target rifle.) As I start to put rearward pressure, I say in my head, “presssssssss." I am starting my “pressssssss” when I’m at the bottom of my exhale and my wobble zone is within my target. If I must briefly hold my breath at the bottom of the exhale for the shot to break, I will, but only for a couple seconds. Press the trigger slow enough that you can stop the press at any time until the shot breaks.

When the firing pin falls and the shot is fired, I focus on trying to see the bullet trace through the air in the middle of my scope. This is the beginning of my “follow through” process. I watch the target and see if the shot missed or impacted and try to identify where on the animal or the plate. This is vital information and no matter how good your spotter is (if you have one), he will not be as fast at telling you your correction as you are at seeing it as it's happening and making that correction immediately.

As soon as I get the information down range from the bullet flight, I will run the bolt (while still in the scope) and prepare to send another if needed. All too often I see people in a hunting situation come out of the scope too quickly. Stay on the gun and watch the animal for at least 30 seconds if not more. If they are still on their feet, no matter what cartridge I am shooting nor what animal it is, I am shooting them until they are down. Yes, I might have some meat loss but that is a risk I’m willing to take to kill that animal quickly and to keep them from running off. Any time you lose sight of an animal that is shot, the risk of not recovering that animal increases.

Just trying to implement these three changes to your shooting form/technique will cost you nothing. I hate to break it to people but if your gun doesn’t shoot good, it’s likely the nut behind the bolt so to speak. Work on you as a shooter and you will be amazed on how easy long-range shooting can be with the right techniques and the right setup.

Bonus Tips!!

• Trust your wobble. Don’t try and time your trigger press. Trust that your natural proprioception will bring the reticle back to the target. Build a good position, make a good wind call, press a good trigger and you will increase your hit percentage.
• Back off on your magnification. You obviously need enough magnification to see your target but too much magnification can hurt you. This is a big reason why I love hunting with a first focal plane reticle. When you are higher on the magnification; you will be able to notice more movement in your reticle. The movement is still there at lower power, but you don’t see it.

When most people that suffer from “target panic” can see that added “wobble” it gives them the target panic anxiety causing them to try and time their shot. This leads to jerking the trigger. I see this a lot as a firearms instructor when teaching people how to use handgun optics. Their “wobble” is more noticeable with the dot in the optic rather than iron sights.

Backing off on your magnification will also increase your field of view. It will be easier for you to watch the trace under recoil and be able to see your impacts. This is more critical while hunting. It pains me whenever I watch a rifle hunting show and see the shooter mess this up. You will be able to tell that they were zoomed in too much because they always reach up and back off the magnification while asking the spotter or camera guy, “Where did he go?”

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