Precise Shots at Close Range

Years ago I wrote an article about low power optics that I've used on the AR-15 platform. Since then, I’ve been using the Vortex Crossfire II 1-4x24 regularly on both my 20” service rifle and my 16” utility carbine. Both are mounted in the same manner, but the optic is used differently in each case. With the 20” service rifle, I manually dial in the 200, 300, and 600 yard drops for my shots. With the 16” utility carbine, however, I set it to a “maximum point blank range zero” and call it good. 

At my last “two gun” experience I was the only person using a low powered variable optic (LPVO) on top of my 16” utility carbine. I normally keep the Crossfire dialed down to 1x and use it like a red dot sight for competitions that require both speed and accuracy, but the one stage where having an LPVO gave me an incredible advantage over the competitors who were using no-magnification red dots and holosights was the 14 yard, United States Air Force Rimfire Alternate Qualification target. The targets were just far enough away that people couldn’t see their bullet holes in the target through the no-magnification optics, but I could as I cranked my LPVO to 4x. I fired my first shot, saw that my impact was low, and used the bottom stadia line of the reticle as an aiming point to place my shots carefully.

The illuminated reticle on the 1-4x24 has a 1.5 MOA center dot, 6 MOA separation between the ends of the stadia lines surrounding the center dot, and 12.5 MOA distance between the thick outside stadia lines. Using the top of the thin stadia line I was able to precisely place my shots at 14 yards, almost 3 MOA low, which is exactly as predicted by my JBM ballistic software.

Vortex Crossfire II 1-4x24 

The match director laughed when he briefed the stage, saying that everyone who shot it hated it. I think this is because the trend in the centerfire rifle community has two main communities: the “long range precision” community that shoots F-Class, PRS, and High Power; and the “action shooting” community that sets up a battlesight zero on a carbine to compete in 3 gun, 2 gun, or cosplay CQB drills. There really isn’t a “short range precision” community outside of rimfire and air rifle, which makes these types of precise, short range shots something well outside the training norm for most centerfire shooters. After all, why train to hit a 1” dot at 14 yards with a rifle capable of first round hits out to 300 meters? If I want to hunt squirrel or rabbit, I’m much more likely to choose a rimfire or air rifle to handle that chore. 

The reduced range target we shot that day had silhouettes that represented 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 meter targets, and the vast majority of competitors that day hit less than 10 out of 40 possible trigger pulls because they were impacting under the target. Most of their scored hits were on the larger silhouettes where the bullets were clustered near the bottom of the black on the larger 50 and 100 meter sized silhouettes. Any optic on an AR is about 3 to 3.5 inches above the rifle bore (meaning that you have to aim above the intended point of impact for short range targets) and having an optic with reference points in the reticle makes this much easier than a no-magnification optic, or a “fine line” cross hair optic.

I wasn’t a better marksman than anyone else on that stage; I was just the one with the better gear for the problem. Even if I’d only had a fine line reticle, the 4x magnification would have allowed me to see impact on the target and hold by guesstimate, which would have still let me win the stage, but would NOT have let me get first round impacts on an animal.

I hope you get to the range and practice this skill for yourself. If you have your rifle set up with irons, a red dot, or a holosight you can still practice short range precision, but it will be more difficult than with an LPVO. To keep your training expenses low, I recommend that instead of buying commercial targets you get some 1” round orange stickers and use them as targets to see how many shots it takes you to break the color.

https://amzn.to/41urZym

Try to see how well you do at 7, 14, and 21 yards (common pistol ranges) and see if you can’t rapidly transition between those ranges with your carbine and get first round hits in the orange.

Given the nature of the world, you never know when you might need to make short range precision shots with your rifle. It might be placing a head shot on a young feral hog about to root up your potatoes, or perhaps winning a shooting contest with your friends for bragging rights, or maybe for a more urgent situation when the SHTF. 

No matter the reason, that rimfire stage identified a skills gap I was lucky enough to adapt to on first attempt. Next time, I won't have to rely on luck, and this cultivated skill will come in handy.