Slide 2

Long rifles or hunting rifles as they are more commonly known, are used for hunting at a fairly long range. The three additional sub categories of long rifles are Sniper Rifles, Black Guns (AR/MSR), and Black Powder. The way that these four categories are differentiated is by range, and caliber. In the United States of America caliber is the diameter across the opening of the barrel. This comes out as a decimal, usually to two or three decimal places.

Basic hunting or long rifles have a range that is usually between 100 and 800 yards depending on the round and the shooter. Most hunter’s sight their rifles into the range at which they hunt. This is typically 100 to 500 yards. Most hunting rifles are used for hunting bigger game at longer ranges. This includes things such as moose, caribou, antelope, and other such animals. Some hunters sight their rifles in at a range up to 500 to 800 yards for hunting game that is harder to get close to, such as mountain goats and sheep. For this kind of shooting one would need a rifle with a long, flat trajectory.

The reason that a rifle has such a greater range than that of a handgun of the same caliber is because of "rifling." Rifling is a series of grooves cut into the bore (barrel) of the gun that causes the bullet to spin. Just like when a quarter back throws a foot ball, they put spin on it to make it fly further, rifling uses the grooves cut into the bore to put a spin on the bullet helping it to fly further and more accurately. Every rifling pattern is very different and it puts a specific amount of spin on each rounds.

These higher caliber and higher power firearms have a greater recoil or kick back. In order to make a bullet "fly" further it must have more power behind it. Newton's third law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This means that when the rifle is fired it will push back on the shooter with the same force that it pushes forward on the bullet. In order to hang onto the firearm, maintain an on target bearing, and to minimize the harm to one’s self there is a proper way to hold rifles. When holding a rifle it is important to keep the rifle tight to the shoulder. When getting ready to make a shot lean forward in

to it to help mitigate the recoil. Make sure to allow your shoulder roll with the force of the shot. This not only keeps the firearm from hurting you but also helps keep on target. In addition to this it would also be wise to keep the feet shoulder width or better apart. This keeps the force of the recoil from knocking the shooter off balance if shooting from a standing position. When I shoot from a standing position I make sure to keep my off hand foot, for me that is my left, a little forward and my torso slightly twisted putting my left shoulder a little forward of my right. As is depicted in the image to the right.

http://theshootingchannel.com/2013/07/07/shooters-review-dpms-panther-arms-ar15-sportical-carbine/

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=56996 http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=56996

Let's take a look at one of the most popular rounds for Alaska, the .30-06. Like the trajectory of most bullets, the .30-06 actually arcs itself even when it is aimed flat. From the table above you can see that the .30-06 shoots dead on target at 200 yards. In order to do so the round must travel in a parabolic arc even if the firearm is aimed flat. One of the reasons that that the .30-06 is a popular round is that it provides the knock down power, kinetic energy transferred from the round to the animal without the recoil energy that could injure people if held improperly. Looking at the charts directly above, we see that the .30-06 round is about midway on the chart of recoil energies, 17.82 foot pounds at a rate of 11.97 fps.