AAR: Wolf River Precision Mid-Range Precision Rifle Course Feb 21-22, by Garand69

Back in February, I had the opportunity to attend a Mid-Range Precision Rifle Course instructed by Bruce Swindoll of Wolf River Precision, LLC. As a Rifle Instructor, I always like to add more tools to the training tool box, and this was a great opportunity to do that. As an added bonus, I would be able to catch up with a Friend made while training with Brushbeater in North Carolina a few years back.

When I contacted Bruce via email, his response was quick, and after payment was sent, he quickly replied with a Student Checklist, and a slide presentation to prepare for the shoot. Number one on the Checklist was “Precision rifle (.308 / 6.5mm / 6mm or similar; ~1 MOA capable) — zeroed before class”, this set the clock a running. I had recently built an 18″ AR10 in 7.62X51, and I was determined to use that rifle, but the rifle was not cooperating with me. I could have saved a whole bunch of money on ammo and simply brought my Winchester model 70 Match rifle, but my bullheadedness really wanted to run the AR10.

Well, after a lot of ammo down range, I discovered my problem(s). First thing I changed was the target. I was using the typical 100yd zeroing target, and I was having a hard time seeing it due to the reticle obscuring it, so I swapped targets for a 25yd zeroing target that has a 4″ black circle and a 1″ white diamond in the center. That helped a fair amount but I was still getting unexplained flyers, and that’s I when I discovered problem number 2, a cheap knock off muzzle brake, so I ordered a Smith Enterprises Vortex flash suppressor and BAM! I got my first sub-moa group out of the rifle. So I figure I’m good to go. Got the rest of the checklist knocked off, hopped in a rental car on my 57th birthday and headed south.

Day one started out beautifully, Sunny with temps hitting 57 deg and a light 5-10mph breeze coming and going. The day began going over the Slide Presentation that we all had received prior to the shoot, and Bruce expanded on a few things and covered the few questions that students asked. The Slide presentation covered everything, from rifle choice to accessories, scope mounting, range estimation, reading wind, etc etc. Then it was time to set out our Rifles and Bruce did a walk down the line pointing a few things out before we started shooting. At 11:35 we fired our first group at 200yds, I was happy with my group. I had a vertical spread of only 3/4″ but my horizontal spread was closer to 4″ (2 MOA), so I took the easy way out and blamed the wind LOL.

When we hit 300yds, I could not blame the group on wind, and now it was up to 9″ (3 MOA). The Target we were shooting was the same style 100yd zeroing target that I had issues with zeroing the rifle in the first place, except, instead of white and orange, it was white and black. My scope has one of those fancy PRS style reticles with a christmas tree of hold over dots. At only 10X, they cover up the target too much for me to get a clear sight picture. I was starting to regret my decision on rifle choice.

When Bruce walked up to my target, his comment was, “Your about minute of man with that rifle”. He then discussed the difference between a DMR rifle and a Precision Rifle. “A DMR Rifle will quickly put a full magazine of ammo into a window at 850yds to keep a sniper’s head down, while a Precision Rifle will hit the Sniper in the head”. Well, I can’t argue with that! When I returned to the firing line, Bruce offered me a Precision Rifle to shoot, His custom built Remington 700. I gladly accepted, and just in time, targets were about to get a lot smaller.

The next portion of the class was great. Bruce placed 5 steel targets out to varying distances, and the students had to estimate distance to each target by measuring them with the scope reticle and then using the WERM Formula to determine the range. WERM stands for Width = Range x MOA/MILS. Because we knew the size of the targets (4″, 8″, and 13 1/2″), we could plug that info into the formula to figure the range in yards to the target. Range= (Width X 95.5)/MOA or Range=(Width X 27.78)/MIL, depending on whether you had an MOA scope or a MIL scope.
After the students estimated the distances, they were to use hold over to engage each target. I am very proud to say that my range estimation was on, and I made 1st round hits on the first 4 targets using hold over. The target sizes and distances were; 4″@350, 8″@500, 8″@600, 8″@700. For the 5th Target I had to dial in the scope because the Reticle stopped at 20MOA and I needed 28 MOA to hit the 13 1/2″ target @ 850yds., but after dialing up, I had a first round hit. As day 1 wrapped up, the sun disappeared, the temps dropped and the wind picked up, foreshadowing what Day 2 would bring. Apparently Chicago weather followed me down to Mississippi!

Day 2 stayed around 35 degrees all day, which would have been ok, if the wind wasn’t at 35mph all day long! What a drastic change to the difficulty level of the class, but an added bonus of having to deal with the wind. A couple of the shooters were having a consistency issues, which lead to a discussion on ammo, and making sure once you find a factory load that your rifle likes, buy it by the case, not the box, because every lot number will change your zero. Between the shooters, we had 4 different .308 loads to test, so we each shot a 5 round group with; Hornady 168gr Match, Hornady 178gr ELD, Prime 175gr, and Copper Creek 175gr. It was interesting to see that not all rifles agreed on what was best for them. It was also during this time if I remember correctly, suppressors were removed to check POI shift.

After lunch break we formed 2 man shooter-spotter teams, and Bruce emphasized the importance of communication between the two, and that the spotter should talk in MOA or MILS and not “Clicks”. The conversations went like..
“Spotter on Target.”
“Shooter on Target.”
“Hold 2MOA right and send it”

The wind was absolutely insane and frustrating, but if you don’t shoot in it, you will never learn it. On Day 1, Bruce told us to return to zero before you make your next elevation adjustment, and all day I did well with that. Then toward the end of day 2, I managed to lose my zero, and that was the signal to conserve ammo and go into observation mode.
The beginning of day 1, Bruce said, “Your going to leave here knowing a lot more about your rifle”, and he was right, we all did. Some left a bit frustrated, but everybody learned a ton that you would never get in perfect weather. I’m sure I missed putting on paper, a lot of the info gone over in this class, but I can assure you that the topic of Mid-Range Precision Shooting was covered well, and I will certainly attend another class instructed by Bruce Swindoll of Wolfcreek Precision LLC.

Get out and train folks! I met a lot of great like minds at this shoot, and got to work as a team with a great Patriot that I met during a Scout class in North Carolina. You don’t meet these folks if you don’t get out!