Long-range shooting is a discipline sometimes perceived as for "champions" or in any case people who want to compete at good levels. Well, let's dispel this myth: if you appreciate the competition, there will be no shortage of opportunities but in the same way, those who simply enjoy attending the range can still be passionate about this theme and will be able to appreciate the many particularities that it entails.

First of all, we will think about the balls to use so as not to leave anything to chance. The profile of the ogive for shooters it is typically tapered. The radius of curvature can be defined as tangent (when it is without "edges"), secant (when the center of the circumference is set back by a certain delta, thus obtaining ogives up to 15 calibres long) or hybrid, i.e. the main part of the curvature is secant but is joined to a tangent portion of curvature. If we speak from the point of view of aerodynamics, the secant profile is more advantageous than the tangent profile which, however, would have the advantage of engaging the rifling of the barrel more easily. The hybrid solution is therefore the one that has most gained ground in trying to combine the advantages of the two types. When considering a projectile it is necessary to observe the base which can be flat or truncated cone. If the flat surface of the tail is decreased, the turbulence generated also decreases, reducing the braking action generated by the depression. To the undecided shooter who does not want to try all the possible combinations and sum up, the advice is to stay on flat-based bullets if the priority is accuracy, while if the focus is on long distance then it is better to focus on bullets with the highest coefficients ballistic possible.

The anemometer cannot be missing from the shooter's equipment that is, the instrument that measures the intensity of the wind. The ideal characteristics are: dimensions that are not too bulky and a display with few clear functions that can possibly be connected to a smartphone to be able to configure it more precisely. The smartphone can also further help the shooter thanks to applications that calculate the trajectory of the projectile. Obviously you have to do some tests on the shooting range to verify the data of the app with those of your optics but once you have the patience to set up this preparatory phase you can avoid ballistic calculations that are not always immediate. Typically these apps require you to enter the diameter, length and magnification range of the scope, selected magnification, velocity and ballistic coefficient of the cartridge, range, tilt angle. If it is then completed also with the environmental parameters, even more precise data will be obtained and the purpose of the application will be to have the corrective values ​​to be set on the optical turrets or the position of the reticle where to aim. A parameter that often puts the shooter in crisis is how to measure the height of the optics compared to the rod. Our advice is to take the scope bell measurement with a caliper, measure the rear of the barrel, divide both measurements by two and measure the light with the caliper beaks between the bottom of the scope bell and the top of the barrel. Adding these three values ​​gives the distance of the scope from the barrel.

The shooter must take care of the weapon and if it is new never forget the break-in . It is obvious that the weapon will have already passed through a recognized test bench, it is therefore advisable to carry out an initial thorough cleaning with the appropriate products. Moisten a cloth with a detergent product and slide it 5-6 times with a rod to which the jag has been screwed up to the muzzle. Remove the jag, screw on the nylon brush which, once moistened with the product, will be slid about 20 times and then repeat the passage with the 5-6 patches. You have to keep running the patches until they come out clean, after which you can start breaking in the barrel by letting the barrel cool after each shot (or a couple of shots). After 10 shots in which we clean after every single shot, we move on to a further 10 shots in which we will clean every 2 shots and then a further 10 shots with cleaning every 5. After running in, a complete cleaning is performed with a special paste after the second passage with the patches moistened to eliminate residue on the barrel.

If you are thinking about which optics to match your rifle for long distance shooting, Konus's offer is very varied. The highlight is given by the model #7179 Absolute 5-40×56, with priceless light transmission thanks to ED optics. Going down the magnification, another very successful optics is the model #7173 Diablo 6-24×50 with its extremely large field of view and incredible image quality or the #7189 Glory 3-24×56 if you are also interested in low magnifications to have versatile optics with impeccable mechanical quality.