PRS From the beginning, by a beginner - By Andy Sterling
Who is this bloke? I’m not your typical PRS shooter, for a start, I don’t reload (but no doubt it will come to that) and I don’t have years of target or tactical shooting under my belt despite being close to 50 years old. No, I’m just an average shooter who runs a vermin control and deer management business alongside my plumbing and heating business. Many of the competitors are seasoned competition shooters and, or professionally involved in the shooting industry.
I first ventured into PRS after finding out just how accurate modern rifles are. A day at Bisley with my trusty 243, 30-06 and 17 hornet all providing 100-yard thumbnail groups. So out to stretch the legs to 200-300-600-1000 yards and what a revelation that was. Hunting rifles, all of them and the 17 to 300 243 to 600 and 30-06 to 1000 yards groups were quite remarkable All using Hawke Frontier optics supplied by Optics Warehouse.
After a day playing on paper, it soon became obvious this wasn’t really presenting a challenge from a shooting perspective, but more a journey into the limitations of various factory ammo offerings which did on the whole group sub-moa.
So armed with confidence in my abilities I set off to challenge myself at PRS, after all the targets are a health fat 2-3 moa or 0.75-1.0 mils or thereabouts, surely I’d be top 10 first time out. I went for the ever-popular 6.5 Creedmoor Tikka T3 TAC A1 and an IOR crusader supplied again by Optics warehouse (what a piece of glass!!)
Then the reality – this is the most challenging shooting you can imagine, needless to say, my tail was firmly between my legs for the whole day and by the end, my newfound respect for those at the top of this game was soundly established. I have no shame in saying I hit no more than 20 of the 136 available targets in the blustery wet condition of mid-Wales and only fired 90 rounds due to timing out on most stages.
It may look easy on youtube but get on the range and time speeds up and targets shrink. After a few comps during 2022, I did gradually start to get some basics sorted, its a slow steady process and I felt and still do that P – precision should also be P – positional, because that’s half the game, if you can quickly get in position on target your first steps are beginning to join up and your scores start to improve.
Then comes the wind – the great leveller and mystical art of wind calls, now here kit does help and a kestrel meter made a big difference to me with the ballistic apps and wind metering facilities, if you use it correctly your firing solution will be correct ( again if you use it correctly) If you don’t you’ll miss guaranteed. This got me to the dizzy heights of 50% of the possible targets hit, I’m still slower than the top competitors often only getting 80% of the maximum number of available rounds off but the trajectory was upwards
Upping the game, a better kit does not make a winner, it simply gives you a better opportunity to have only yourself as the deciding factor. So off to the nice folks at Optic Warehouse again and 2 more IOR scopes to sit on top of a 22lr Begara and 6.5 Creedmoor CADEX SS Pro, Match one 2023 and the stakes are raised with tight targets out to 900 metres some as small as 1moa, coming in 19th from 38.
Not too bad but hitting less than a 3rd of the available steels and another reminder this is tough shooting and that the top 5-10 are in a different league.
Practice is key – No, not firing 1000s of rounds down range, but getting into positions quickly and dry firing under time – it's amazing how quickly the seconds start to slow and you find that you can acquire the painted screws you have diligently put in the fence at the end of the garden, getting your 12 shots off in 120 seconds on 3 different screws from 3 different positions on the back of the sofa. Then practice dialling the scope for imaginary distances and oh those seconds speed up again.
PRS is difficult and it can sometimes seem one step forward and then crash back to reality ( I blanked 3 stages out of 8 last weekend in bitterly cold windy conditions – always take warm clothing as the elements will make you want to go somewhere warm as opposed to focusing on the shooting) but persevere and you will improve.
What of the first year
The people involved are all enthusiastic, friendly and helpful, with a wealth of experience and expertise they are happy to share. Ask them, they are your best resource and boy can they shoot!
Don’t go mad on the kit the first time out, yes a half-decent dialling scope is essential and Optics Warehouse will gladly sort that out at the most competitive rates out there, more the point the SOG facility (something I have taken advantage of) means you can relax if you don’t jell with the first offering you choose.
A good ballistic app on your phone will do and one of the very top shooters still uses this method.
Give it a go and you’ll improve your shooting massively – make good shooting friends along the way and learn there is a lot more to PRS than you could ever imagine.
I’m trying to qualify for the world in 2024 and hope you will follow me along the way, success is not guaranteed, but the journey continues and this is only the beginning.
