One major tip: If a zombie is far enough way to use any sniper rifle, you can easily avoid it. Only use a sniper rifle while hunting or on the defense.

You don't need a .50 cal.

A fact often overlooked by people looking for long range rifles is that the sniper systems used by the military, the M40 and M24, are both based off of the Remington 700 line. You can pick up a Remington 700 sps, put a Harris bipod and a Nikon monarch on it, and shoot MOA out to 200 yds, all for about $800-$900. You could also get a higher end 700 (VSF, VS SFII, and so on) or a Tika T3 (personal favorite) and shoot MOA at 300yd with a little practice, or with a lot of practice maybe even out to 600yd.

Another fact that people seem to overlook is that most of the army's new semi-auto sniper systems are based off of the M16 design(M14s are still in limited use). It doesn't cost that much nor is it very hard to turn an AR-15 into a 600yd tack driver. You can buy an AR-15 platform with a free floated match grade barrel for around $1000, or save some money and build your own for around $800. There's a reason AR-15 variants are a favorite of varmint hunters...a prairie dog is much smaller than a human head, and you wont get much closer than 200yds to them before they get spooked and go down their hole.

My basic point is that all these $2000+ .50 cal sniper rifles that weigh upwards of 26lbs that people are talking about are really unnecessary and unrealistic options. Just try and carry around the lightest bare bones version of a .50 cal (26lbs) with all the ammo and the rest of your gear for any amount of time and see if you’re in any kind of shape to hit a zombie at 1000yds. The only reason you would need a .50 cal is to shoot between 1000-2000yds, and I’ll guaranty that you won’t be getting a head shot (assuming you can hit it at all) at that range. You'll just end up blowing the torso away and making a crawler that could end up ambushing you later on.

Keep it simple, you're not a military trained sniper, and you're realistically not going to be hitting a moving head at anything farther than 300yd (which is still pretty hard). Try and shoot some helium balloons tied down with 5ft strings at 300yds to see what I mean. Even on a calm day with minimal winds this isn’t easy. The systems suggested above have performance capabilities that will surpass the abilities of any average person shooting them. In other words, they're more gun than you will ever need.

Round Selection

Most police and military rifles shoot the 7.62x51 (.308). That doesn't mean it's the only round suitable for long range shooting. It simply has characteristics which allow it to fit most long range shooting requirements. The two main requirements are a good ballistic coefficient,((BC) how well the bullet cuts through the air) and a high muzzle velocity(2600fps+). Other rounds such as the 7mm Rem Mag, 300Win Mag, and .338 lapua also have good long range performance but are more expensive and have a bigger kick than the .308. Also, the .308 is a standard NATO round so it can be found pretty much anywhere.
(its also the only round i listed that i have data cards handy for and I'm to lazy to look up the others)

Angular Measure

There are two units of angular measure used when shooting, the Mil and Minutes of Angle (MOA). Both have their own unique characteristics which make them useful tools for long range shooting.

MOA: The basic principle behind MOA is that there are 360 degrees in a circle and inside each degree there are 60 minutes of angle. You can look deeper into what this means and how it works on your own if you wish, I've decided to just make this a primer to get the basics across. What it all basically means is that at 100 yards 1 MOA equals about 1inch and at 200 yards 1 MOA is 2inches and so on. This is important because when you use a scope it will have elevation and windage adjustment knobs that are usually measured in MOA and you'll need to know how much adjustment is required to put the bullet where you want it.

Time for an example:

You're shooting your rifle at 100 yards(basically a straight line), no wind, 0 humidity, 0 elevation....the point is there's nothing effecting your point of impact except the scope. You're hitting the target two inches to the left of the bullseye so you need to adjust your scope. Now most scopes have adjustments at some fraction of MOA (i.e. 1/3,1/4,1/6,1/8). This allows you to make finer adjustments to get the bullet exactly where you want it. We'll use a scope with knobs set to 1/4MOA increments since i find that to be the most common. So if you're two inches off to the left at 100 yards with a scope that changes 1/4MOA each click and 1moa is 1 inch at 100 yards how many clicks of right adjustment do you need?




Answer: If 1MOA equals 1 inch at 100 yards 1/4MOA adjustments will move you 1/4 of an inch per click so 8 clicks of right adjustment will get you on target.

Now try for 2 inches left at 300 yards. Remember MOA changes proportionately with distance.




Answer: If 1MOA equals 3 inches at 300 yards 1/4MOA adjustments will move you 3/4 of an inch per click so now you need 2.6 clicks of right adjustment to get you on target. This presents you with a problem since there's no way to get it exactly on bullseye with these adjustments. I'd use 3 clicks of right adjustment and hold off a tiny bit back to the left in this situation. This is where a scope with finer adjustments would be useful.

Thats the basics of Minutes of Angle.

MIL: COMING SOON
















Heres a drop/wind data card for a .308 load that you can take a gander(look) at. It basically tells you how much a bullet will drop in three measurements; Inches, MOA, and MILs at different ranges and how much a 10mph will move it in the same measurements. These can help you make adjustments and get you as close to your target as possible before taking a shot. Keep in mind this card is only good for this particular weight bullet with this particular load at this particular elevation.




***updates on wind effects and adjustment, bullet drop, possibly hand loading(may make that into its own page), and more detail on the different systems coming soon***