Short or long? NO! Short and long.

Short or long? NO! Short and long.

I read a lot of guys asking whether to train at short ranges or long ranges. Wrong question. You should train at both.

Look, the majority of your training should be for close range for a number of reasons. At close range you have less time so your responses must be reflexive. You are in much greater danger at close range so you have to deal with the problem as efficiently and effectively as possible. The rifle CQC skill set is more complex and requires more learning and training time. And, statistically, you are more likely to end up in a close quarters engagement. (I think this trend toward shorter ranges is dependant on a number of factors including terrain, current doctrine, current training, and weapon characteristics.) Too, there’s the problem of dealing with the enemy when, despite your best efforts at long range, he manages to close with you- CQC is your safety net.

However, despite all the above, marksmanship is never wasted.

Even in an urban environment, shooting the length of a street, from rooftop to rooftop (or roof to ground or ground to roof), shooting in commercial districts with wide streets and parking lots, or even shooting inside large industrial buildings can give you some fairly long shots. The guys in Panama made kills on snipers out to 450 meters with iron-sighted M16A2s. More recently, I saw some footage from Iraq that showed shots out to at least 250 meters (although it can be difficult to make estimates through a camera lens).

The other advantage to marksmanship is that if I can hit an exposed man at 600 meters, the guy at 150 meters just peeking around the corner exposing nothing but his pointed little head is shootable.

There also may come a time when you don’t have air or arty support and your machinegunner and sniper are busy elsewhere. It would sure be nice to be able to do something other than sit back and wish you had some long range capability.

As stated before, the long range skill set is simpler and easier to learn than CQC so there’s no reason not to add it to your repertoire. We’re not talking 1,000 meter sniper quality shooting. We’re talking about any range beyond your point blank and hitting close enough for government work.

First, you should be familiar with the standard target shooting positions. These include prone, sitting, kneeling, standing, and offhand. Add squatting and field rest positions and you’re good to go. You should understand the principals and become familiar enough so that you’re comfortable in whichever version of each of these you choose to use. If you choose to use a shooting sling, make sure you understand how it will change your point of impact - particularly with the hasty sling.

Next, you should have a basic understanding of exterior ballistics. Again, we’re not talking about memorizing a complete drop and windage table out to 1,000 yards for multiple elevations and atmospheric conditions. What we are talking about is understanding the difference between the ballistic curve and your line of sight. When you get out past your far zero, the bullet will drop more and more in relation to your point of aim. Also, the wind will push your bullet and, the stronger the wind or the farther your target, the farther downwind the bullet will drift. Make a point to do at least some shooting at longer ranges so you get a feel for approximately how far the bullet will drop or drift and what longer ranges really look like.

We’re fortunate that most military rifles have taken most of the guesswork out of bullet drop; the ballistic curve is engineered into the sights. Just estimate your range, set your sights, and you should be pretty close.
For simple harassing fire or area targets close enough is good enough. But, point targets are a little trickier. There are a couple of techniques you can use to increase your odds of hitting a point target at longer ranges- creating a beaten zone and spotter rounds.

Machinegunners create a beaten zone by aiming at a target (for direct fire) and firing a burst or bursts. The natural dispersion of the individual rounds creates a pattern similar to the multiple pellets in a shotgun round. You thereby increase the odds that any single round will hit your target. As an individual rifleman you won’t be firing a burst but what you will do is fire several carefully aimed shots as quickly as possible. You might also fire one round to your best range/windage estimate and then bracket your target with a round on either side of that estimate in case you’re a bit off. With a self-loading rifle you can probably get the bracketing rounds off before the first rounds strikes.

If you are part of a unit you can use mass fire to do the same thing. Everyone in the fire team, squad, whatever, fires one or more carefully aimed rounds to create a beaten zone. If you are uncertain about range or windage, you can have some teammates adjust for more range or wind and others adjust for less range or wind again bracketing your target.

You can also use spotting rounds to adjust your aim the same way the artillery boys do. If you can observe your bullet impact, you can adjust your next shot. Tracer rounds will let you see where your bullet is impacting. In bright daylight and the right atmospheric conditions, you may be able to see the bullet trace with standard rounds. Depending on what’s around or behind your target, you may be able to observe the bullet impact. Note that it’s easier to see a round that impacts short of your target and there’s the chance that it will ricochet into him so underestimating your drop is better than overestimating. Also bear in mind that, as soon as he’s aware of incoming rounds, your target will probably move to cover.

While you should familiarize yourself with longer ranges, simple marksmanship can be practiced at short range or even with dry-firing. Sight alignment and trigger control are the same whether you’re shooting at 100 meters or 400 meters. The U.S. Army has issued 25 meter targets that consist of a series of silhouettes scaled to give the appearance of varying long ranges. These targets also indicate where the bullets should strike if your holdover is correct for the longer range. Several websites have these targets available for download. While short range practice can’t replace long range, it will let you keep your hand in when you don’t have access to longer ranges.