Long Range Beginner Courses around Auckland?

Hi all,

I am wanting to get into long range shooting, just got my firearm license sorted, so basically new.
I was searching around the whole internet for long range fields around Auckland without any success. Some mentioned were like 2+ years ago, but I want some more recent suggestions post COVID.

Closest ones to me are clevedon and maybe akarana city rifle club.
What would equipment and knowledge do i need in order to start long range shooting?
Are those ranges all beginner friendly and do they have specific courses for beginners like me?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Lemon, welcome to the forum and good on you for wanting to get into it.

I'm not sure what your shooting experience is but if your just starting you are going to need a lot of practice at short range first 100m. Once you can shoot small groups consustantly at 100m then you can start thinking about 200m and so on on.

NZDA Auckalnd has a great range at Riverhead out to 100m for public and 200 for club members if I remember correctly.

Beyond that yes clevedon or best get friendly with a farmer.

Sorry for the fat finger spelling

Thanks for letting me know!

Good advice on starting at short range first! Will definitely look into it.

As for equipment, what is the general rifle purchase path for short range to long range? For example starting off 100-300m with .22LR, and then upgrading to what for longer ranges?

I've heard that getting into reloading can help when you go for longer shots, is that true?

If you can shoot to 300 with a .22 you will have learned wind and holdover like no one else

22LR is a great place to start out - just make sure you get a good rifle with a great trigger.
22LR can be practiced at smallbore clubs (Manakau Sporting Rifle Club would be an excellent start).
22LR ammo is cheap and the rifles much cheaper than centrefire competition rifles. This allow you to spend more on a decent scope and more on ammo for trigger time.
22LR can be shot on the NZDA 100m and 200m ranges. At distances past about 75m the wind gets really interesting and even more so at 200m and further - this'll teach really good wind fundamentals.

With some travel there are 22LR practical rifle matches in the North Island (and in the South Island if you want to travel further). There is even a IPRF World Champs coming up in the UK next year.
You can shoot them further than 200m - the Section22 matches down south regularly have a 300m+ target included.

Centrefire long range is more expensive to get into. If you get to any level of serious about it you will want / need to get into a custom reloading set up. NRA / Fullbore at Clevedon would be an excellent start. Full bore will teach excellent fundamental shooting and wind skills. With thse sorted you could move into the "PRS" or practical rifle matches with a higher degree of confidence.

look into Long Range Academy.

www.longrangeacademy.nz

As above 22LR is a great introduction and training for
long range centerfire.
You get to practice your fundamentals, trigger control and wind calls at a shorter distance.

There’s also the Akarana range south of Clevedon towards Kawakawa Bay which has 400-700 yd range.
But first get proficient at 100 & 200 yards. Understand the capabilities of your rifle & your own skills.

Learning to shoot long range as a first shooting discipline is a bit like learning to drive in a F1 race car.

While there are actually some benefits to starting from scratch (like not having to unlearn bad habits) it is a much bigger leap then just learning to shoot. Cost of equipment is inordanately more for shooting long range and reloading is a skill learned far more easily once you know you can shoot (When you reload you need to sample test your different loads for accuracy, if you don't have a benchmark of your own skill, or what your minimum accuracy should be, then your tests will be inconclusive and you will have wasted much in the way of time and reloading components). Also there are many purchasing choices to be made where you have to make trade offs, (weight vs accuracy vs expence vs versatility) these choices all come down to personal preference but you will have far better idea what that personal preference is once you have been doing a bit of shooting already, even if it is only at 100m.

Basically as everyone else has said, start off with a .22, anyone with decent skill can consistently hit a gong with a scoped .22 at 200m if they know where to aim.
If you get bored of target shooting with a .22 or if you don't enjoy it, then you will know that the same thing would happen with long range shooting, but you would have saved yourself thousands on dollars.

Thanks all for the advice!
I have decided to practice with .22LR for now.

Looking at Tikka T1X, and may go with a T3X 6.5CM if I decide to shoot further.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lemon

Thanks all for the advice!
I have decided to practice with .22LR for now.

Looking at Tikka T1X, and may go with a T3X 6.5CM if I decide to shoot further.

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That is a logical and robust route to pursue. You won't waste much money with that plan.

Nathan Foster is the man who literally wrote the book on long range shooting, have a read through his website.

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/

Have a read through some of the articles in the 'knowledgebase' tab of his website. If you like his writing style, you can't go wrong with buying one or all of his books, 'The practical guide to long range shooting' is a good start. I would suggest to anyone to read the book before spending any other money on long range stuff.

Both good choices. When you get a 22 buy a few different brands off ammo to see what your rifle likes, it will likely shoot one better than the other.

I think you’re now on the right track.
Gaining confidence in your rifle is important, shot placement shooting a rabbit will gain confidence, knowing the sound of a neck shot to head shot & the almighty gut shot
Have you confirmed your eye dominance?
Muscle memory will develop over time
Sort out your breathing, sounds simple…that first deer through the scope, breathing turns to shit

What is long range?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lemon

Thanks all for the advice!
I have decided to practice with .22LR for now.

Looking at Tikka T1X, and may go with a T3X 6.5CM if I decide to shoot further.

---

This is a great idea, a T1x is a great place to start.
The factory stock can do with a few upgrades in time (I could probably help you out with a few accessories) but they work great to start with.

If you are keen on long range start out with a decent scope, make sure it's FFP and Mil, you'll thank yourself in the long run.

There are other ways to begin too.

I started with an off-the-shelf Savage Model 12 in .223 with a 2nd hand scope, 2nd hand bipod and rear bag shooting FTR on a NRANZ affiliated range.
Some help with handloading and started shooting from 300 to 1000 yards.
Wasn't much good to start with but improved with practice.

The .223 was/is a great first rifle, little to no recoil, cheap to reload for.

Then moved to a custom rifle built around a Barnard 'P' action in .308, scopes were upgraded as was bipod and loading equipment.

MOA and 2FP scopes.

The biggest source of error is still the nut behind the bolt.

Second for Nathan's books, very much underrated.
Rifles come and go, good glass is here to stay.

Tibosauraus used to have a fairly good Playlist called long range 101, I see it's gone now.

I'd say there are two legs to the story.
1) learn to shoot well. That means an accurate 22. Learn trigger control and shot management, then positional shooting. A 22 will show any flaws in your technique as the transit time in the barrel magnifies any errors, and the lack of noise and recoil allows you to just concentrate on the shot and follow through.
When you have prone figured out, try sitting. I find a lot of my tops shots are a modified sitting/prone position, and learning a solid seated technique is really handy in the tussock. When you are able to call your shots with the 22, move your target further away and start studying the wind. I find it helpful to think of it as likeca wave in a rock pool - the general direction is one way, but as the water moves around rocks it can shift at very different angles - and the wind will be doing the same on the hill. Practice and thought will teach you what is going on, and how to manage it. Then...
2) take your centrefire and your knowledge out. I found shooting f class with a hunting rifle super handy - and the old guys with iron sighted 308s at Clevedon taught me a bundle - mostly about the wind.
Magpies are great for teaching you also. You turn up and have to create a shooting position, range, estimate the wind and as the little darlings are always moving you have to learn to pull the trigger before the shot is lost. If you're hitting magpies at 250, deer will seem huge at 4-500.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bent Barrel

I think you’re now on the right track.
Gaining confidence in your rifle is important, shot placement shooting a rabbit will gain confidence, knowing the sound of a neck shot to head shot & the almighty gut shot
Have you confirmed your eye dominance?
Muscle memory will develop over time
Sort out your breathing, sounds simple…that first deer through the scope, breathing turns to shit

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I do have an airsoft background and have learned a lot from it. Trained to right eye dominance.
I often do practice breath and trigger control with replicas in the backyard.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beetroot

This is a great idea, a T1x is a great place to start.
The factory stock can do with a few upgrades in time (I could probably help you out with a few accessories) but they work great to start with.

If you are keen on long range start out with a decent scope, make sure it's FFP and Mil, you'll thank yourself in the long run.

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I happen to find an NF SHV 3-10x42 and a Strike Eagle 1-6x24 in my storage of goodies.
Are those enough? Should I invest in higher quality stuff later?

If you put the NF on your .22, it will be a good one for the initial practice that people have suggested, it will be a bit marginal for the longer stuff that you want to do with the 6.5, but you can cross that bridge when you get there.

Practicing trigger control is a good move, but if you do it with a rimfire, make sure to use snap caps, dry firing a rimfire will cause eventually cause damage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lemon

I happen to find an NF SHV 3-10x42 and a Strike Eagle 1-6x24 in my storage of goodies.
Are those enough? Should I invest in higher quality stuff later?

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If you already have those scopes then I'd start off with the SHV 3-10, that will be more than enough to get you started.
Basically any range that you can shoot 100-200m is going to be good for 22lr, Waiuku pistol club, NZDA, etc will all be good places to get started.

It depends what your final goals are wth regards to long range shooting to the next step but 22lr is definitely the best starting point.
$90 for a brick of 500 rounds vs $70-$100 for 20 centrefire rounds is a no brainer. Not to mention the pracise you can do at 100-200m with a 22lr is considerably more useful than a centre fire at those distances.

You can start here. Many of your questions will be answered through demonstration.
Unlike most LR courses, this one is free

https://youtu.be/w8aJUkvoWzU