Must read books for Long Range Shooters

10 Must read books for Long Range Shooters if you are serious about long range shooting and want to take your skillset to the next level . The books are presented in no particular order as all of them are important and bring a different piece of the puzzle to the table. Every facet is equally important to the other from solid fundamentals, good ammo, understanding ballistics to reading wind, each part is a piece of the puzzle to success.

 

Secrets Of Mental Marksmanship: How to Fire Perfect Shots

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

There is one thing that all marksmen-whether they’re soldiers, cops, hunters, or competitive shooters-agree on: only hits count. Depending on your role, it may be more important to be faster or it may be more important to be ­precise, but in the end it’s the shooter who can achieve perfect shots on demand, all the time, who wins. To fire a perfect shot, you need to bring together a mix of very specific conditions into that single moment when the trigger breaks. Some of the required conditions are technical, some of them are physical, but the requirements that are most important-and most elusive-are the mental skills. Once you have mastered the mental skills required to fire the perfect shot, you will find they’re the same for any gun, any time, anywhere.

Secrets of Mental Marksmanship is a detailed guide to developing conscious and subconscious powers that will elevate your ­marksmanship practice, training, and performance to the level of expert shooters. Keith Cunningham and Linda Miller-both champion shooters and master instructors, with decades of experience in the field and on the range-provide a set of tools that can be used to acquire and access the mental skills needed to perform to the best of your ability. True ­stories from military and ­l­aw-­enforcement professionals, seasoned hunters, and world-class competitors illustrate key points about marksmanship in the field, on the range, and on the streets. By mastering the tools, skills, and ­lessons ­outlined in this book, you will be able to get into “the zone” and produce the perfect shot under pressure and on demand, whenever you look through the sights of a gun.

 

The Wind Book for Rifle Shooters: How to Improve Your Accuracy in Mild to Blustery Conditions

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

All other factors being equal, it is your ability to read the wind that will make the most difference in your shooting accuracy. The better you understand the behavior of the wind, the better you will understand the behavior of your bullet. The knowledge contained in this book coupled with a Kestrel 5700 will take your skills to the next level.

Now, champion shooters Linda K. Miller and Keith A. Cunningham reveal everything they wish they’d known about reading the wind before they started shooting (instead of having to learn as they went along) in concise, easy-to-read terms and accompanied with handy ninety-five diagrams. The Wind Book for Rifle Shooters contains straightforward guidance on the simple thought process they use to read the wind, the techniques and tactics they use to win matches, and the underlying skills that support both.

Let these champions show you how to put together a simple wind-reading toolbox for calculating wind speed, direction, deflection, and drift. Then learn how to use these tools to read flags and mirage, record and interpret your observations, and time your shots to compensate for wind. Other topics covered include:

  • Analyzing shot placement
  • Recording and record keeping
  • Confidence and following your hunches
  • And much more!
    The essential wind-reading basics taught in this book will absolutely improve your shooting skills, whether you’re a target shooter, a plinker, a hunter or a shooting professional.

 

Long Range Shooting Handbook: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Precision Rifle Shooting

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

25% of this book’s proceeds will be donated to two military charities: the Special Operation Warrior Foundation and the Sua Sponte Foundation.This book is the complete beginner’s guide to long range shooting written in simple every-day language so that it’s easy to follow. Included are personal tips and best advice from my years of special operations sniper schooling and experience, and as a sniper instructor. If you are an experienced shooter, this guide will be a resource covering the principles and theory of long range shooting. This is the preliminary book to help you understand fundamental concepts such as MOA vs Mils and external ballistics, that can be like a trusted resource at the range.Learning to shoot long range isn’t that difficult. Once you understand the basics, you can start to master your technique and you’ll be hitting targets in no time.

The author has a series of online instructional videos known for their ability to take seemingly complex areas of long range shooting and breaking them down so that they’re easy to understand. This book was motivated by the feedback from those videos. The handbook is broken down into three main categories: What it is/How it works, Fundamentals, and How to use it. “What it is/How it works” covers equipment, terminology, and basic principles. “Fundamentals” covers the theory of long range shooting. “How to use it” gives you practical advice on how to implement what you’ve learned so far to make you a long range shooter.

 

Applied Ballistics For Long Range Shooting 3rd Edition

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

Exterior ballistics is a very mature science. Unfortunately, most shooters have not been able to take full advantage of this field of knowledge because it’s always been described in a highly technical language. In this book, author, champion shooter and Ballistician Bryan Litz breaks down the complex science of accuracy into layman’s terms that are easy to understand and apply. The objective of each subject matter is to present information to the reader which they can use to hit targets at long range.

New for this Third Edition The traditional role of exterior ballistics has been to account for the variables related to bullet flight so accurate fire solutions can be computed. Author Bryan Litz believes that ballistics has more to offer. Weapon Employment Zone (WEZ) analysis is the calculation of hit percentages. New for this third edition, the subject of WEZ analysis is explored and some enlightening topics are presented regarding the effects of environmental uncertainties on your hit percentage, as well as how the ballistic performance of your rifle and bullet affects hit percentage as well. This edition also includes the latest version of the Applied Ballistics Point Mass Solver on CD. Combined with experimentally measured BC’s, this program is capable of modeling extremely accurate trajectories as verified in Chapter 8.

 

Accuracy and Precision for Long Range Shooting: A Practical Guide for Riflemen

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

About the Book
There’s a lot of good information available on long range shooting which explains how to correct trajectories for drop, wind deflection, etc. This book takes it a step further and discusses how various uncertainties affect your hit percentage.

Weapon Employment Zone (WEZ) analysis is a method for showing how effective a weapon system is throughout its range of employment in terms of hit percentage. WEZ analysis is explained, and applied throughout the book to show how effectiveness can be improved thru various means.

Accuracy and Precision for Long Range Shooting is written in the same easy to understand language that made Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting such an enjoyable and effective book. Long range shooting can be very technical. However, author Bryan Litz, communicates these complex ideas in layman terms, so most average shooters can master the subject with little difficulty.

 

Modern Advancements in Long Range Shooting

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

Modern Advancements in Long Range Shooting is a book series by Bryan Litz which documents the ongoing R&D taking place in the Applied Ballistics laboratory. Many topics are covered in this first Volume, including the effects of twist rate on muzzle velocity, BC (supersonic and transonic), precision, even spin rate decay for various rifling profiles is tested experimentally. Other sections detail the evolution of modern rifle, bullet, and optic design. Results from extensive chronograph testing are presented which show the strengths and weaknesses of available commercial chronographs.

High tech instrumentation such as laser rangefinders and wind measurement devices are explained in detail by contributing author Nick Vitalbo. The series is heavily based in experimental ballistics, and takes a sort of ‘mythbusters’ approach to many of the questions and problems faced by modern long range shooters. In today’s world of marketing hype and movie magic, Applied Ballistics continues to explore long range shooting using the scientific method, and publishes the results in a non-biased way that’s easily understood by the layman. Future volumes are planned to cover the ongoing testing and evaluation activities of Applied Ballistics.

 

Modern Advancements in Long Range Shooting Vol. 2

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

Volume 2 of Modern Advancements in Long Range Shooting contains all new content on the research being done by Applied Ballistics. Author Bryan Litz along with contributing authors Nick Vitalbo and Cal Zant use the scientific method and careful testing to answer the important questions faced by long range shooters. In particular, this volume explores the subject of bullet dispersion including group convergence. Advanced hand-loading subjects are covered such as: bullet pointing and trimming, powder measurement, flash hole deburring, neck tension and fill ratio. Each topic is explored with extensive live fire, and the resulting information helps to guide hand loaders in a deliberate path to success. Nick Vitalbo’s material on laser rangefinder performance is a landmark piece of work in the industry, and Cal Zant’s chapter on composite wrapped barrels presents detailed test results on how these barrels perform compared to conventional options. The current bullet library of measured G1 and G7 ballistic coefficients is included as an appendix. This library currently has data on 533 bullets in common use by long range shooters. If you’re a long range shooter who strives to understand the science of your craft, this latest installment of the Modern Advancement series is a must read!

 

Top-Grade Ammo a step by step guide to creating quality ammunition

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

Top-Grade Ammo is the newest book from Glen Zediker and Zediker Publishing.

This one is a step-by-step-by-step guide to producing quality handloaded ammunition. It’s written for the beginner all the way through to the advanced handloader. No one is excluded from this book, and nothing is excluded from this book! Give this one to someone who’s never even fired a rifle and they’ll be able to sit down and produce a quality round, and tell you exactly why they did what they did to get there.

In a way of looking at it, this is the Builders Guide equivalent for reloading…

The focus and emphasis in Top-Grade Ammo is loading and reloading for semi-automatic rifles, specifically the .223-Remington-based platforms.

Reason is clear and simple: That’s popular. It represents the focus and interest of the majority of new reloaders. Another is that, if someone can learn the ins-and-outs and considerations to follow to produce and reproduce quality semi-auto loads, he or she is certified and verified as competent to load ammo for any rifle. When there are options and alternative methods, these are clearly defined and detailed. Another reason is that misinformation is rampant, actually way beyond rampant. Don’t wreck your AR15! Read this…

Bolt-action rifles, and other rifles, are covered too!

Check out the CONTENTS and see what you’ll learn about.

 

Handloading for Competition, Making the Target Bigger

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

Handloading for Competition is a brand new book by the author and publisher of The Competitive AR15. It’s a guide to “practical precision” in producing high-performance ammunition. Ten major sections and one hundred separate segments detail all aspects of developing and producing ammunition for High Power Rifle, Silhouette Rifle, or serious varminting. Tools, methods, and processes for sizing, seating, case preparation are examined. Fixing “primer problems” like pierces and blow outs (and what really causes them). Bullet selection, real world accuracy and ballistic performance, and proven (because they win) loads for all popular competitive cartridges, plus “both sides” of bullet coating. Testing and development have their own sections, and there’s also a special Long Range chapter by Scott Medesha, U.S. Palma® Team member. This book is a very large collection of information, ideas, and essays on the production of high-performance ammunition for use in competition rifles. We promise you’ve never read a loading book before like this one!

This book details every nuance of realizing maximum ammunition performance, and finding out why if it’s not working like it should. Unlike reloading manuals, Handloading for Competition discusses the integration of the loaded round into the shooting system (which includes the shooter). Confused? You won’t be for long! Learn to make the right choices custom tailored to the unique needs of shooter, rifle, and course of fire.

Handloading For Competiti on has an extremely “readable” format. Just like The Competitive AR15, this book is designed for easy access and clear identification of each topic. Open the book to any spread and there’s something there to enjoy, whether you’ve read everything preceding it or not. The unique format features a blend of fact and opinion, each presented separate from the other. We do our publications that way because we understand that not all experiences are shared, and that it’s a big mistake to ever assume that what works for one will work the same for all. Within these pages, however, are answers!

There are 450 pages and over 350 photos, charts, graphs, and illustrations. 7×10 size, very high quality. It’s packed! If you liked The Competitive AR15, you’ll love this one!

 

Berger Bullets Reloading Manual 1st Edition

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read

Every long range shooter needs a reloading manual and this is the one to get. This manual contains data for over 70 of the most popular centerfire rifle cartridges used today. We will continue to develop reloading data that was not included in the 1st Edition.  Listed below, you will find data for additional cartridges, along with new bullet offerings in the original cartridges.

Reloading Manual Cartridge List

The following is a complete list of the cartridges found in our reloading manual. This book contains load data for 71 cartridges. We tried to include as many popular cartridges as possible; but due to time and size restraints, we were not able to accommodate every one. These additional loads will be listed on our website once the manual is released (along with data for new bullets, etc).

17 Caliber
17 Ackley Hornet
17 Fireball
17 Mach IV
17 Remington

20 Caliber
20 Tactical
204 Ruger

22 Caliber
22 Hornet
22 K Hornet
221 Fireball
222 Remington
223 Remington
22 PPC USA
222 Remington Magnum
22 BR
22-250 Remington
220 Swift
223 WSSM

6mm
6x45mm
6mm PPC USA
6mm BR Norma
6mm BR Remington
6mm Dasher
6×47 Lapua
243 Winchester
6XC
244 Rem/6mm Rem
6mm-284 Winchester
243 WSSM
240 Weatherby Magnum

25 Caliber
250-3000 Savage
257 Roberts
25-06 Remington
25 WSSM
257 Weatherby Magnum

6.5mm
6.5 Grendel
6.5 Creedmoor
260 Remington
6.5x55mm Swedish Mauser
6.5 Remington Magnum
6.5×47 Lapua
6.5-284 Norma
6.5mm-06
264 Winchester Magnum

270 Caliber
270 Winchester
270 Winchester Short Magnum
270 Weatherby Magnum

7mm
7mm-08 Remington
7x57mm Mauser
280 Remington
284 Winchester
7mm Rem Short Action Ultra Mag
7mm Winchester Short Magnum
7mm Remington Magnum
7mm Weatherby Magnum
7mm Dakota
7mm Shooting Times Westerner
7.21 Lazzeroni Firebird
7.21 Lazzeroni Tomahawk
7mm Remington Ultra Magnum

30 Caliber
7.5x55mm Schmidt Rubin 7.5 Swiss
300 Savage
308 Winchester
30-06 Springfield
300 Rem Short Action Ultra Mag
300 Winchester Short Magnum
300 H&H Magnum
308 Norma Magnum
300 Winchester Magnum
300 Weatherby Magnum
300 Remington Ultra Magnum
30-378 Weatherby Magnum

10 Books every Long Range shooter must read to help up your skillset!

 

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