Precision Rifle
Marksmanship:
The Fundamentals
A Marine Sniper’s Guide to Long Range Shooting
by Frank Galli
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Teaching Precision Rifle Excellence
Chapter 3: The Fundamentals of Marksmanship
Chapter 4: Infantry School to Amphibious Reconnaissance School
Chapter 5: Before You Go to the Range
Chapter 7: On the Range with a New Rifle
Chapter 8: First Deployment with the Marines & Weaponized Math with Marc Taylor
Chapter 9: Doping and Cleaning the Precision Rifle
Chapter 10: Arabian Gulf Deployment
Chapter 11: Advice on Buying a Scope
Chapter 12: Wind, The Great Equalizer
Chapter 13: Ballistics Calculators
Chapter 14: Practical External Ballistics
Chapter 15: Distraction-Free Shooting
Chapter 16: Sniper’s Hide History
Introduction
Author Frank Galli in the wilds of Alaska leading a training session. He strives to experience as much variety as possible. Traveling to teach classes gives him a broader understanding of the various effects he sees when shooting a precision rifle.
Welcome to Precision Rifle Marksmanship: The Fundamentals. It’s been a long time coming, putting a collection of my thoughts and previous work into a single book. Over the years, the topic of precision rifle shooting, accuracy and ballistics has changed. I like to say from the turn of the 20th century until just before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11, these topics moved at a snail’s pace. For the most part, we just repeated what we were told previously and accepted it as gospel. If we read it or even heard about it, we took it on faith to be correct. It added an air of voodoo to the discussion as if there were secrets ready to be unfolded if you could only crack the code.
Let me start by reporting there is no voodoo. Since 9/11, the precision shooting world has changed how we engaged targets weekly, if not daily. As more money was invested, people started to test the theories previously put forth. At the same time, many respected and accurate methods for successfully engaging a target at a distance have been swept aside or forgotten because of technology. My goal is to mix the two in a way that creates a better marksman, instead of having competent system integrators. By system integrators, I mean shooters who put all their faith in technology or a single method of operation. They are not adaptable, but force you to use a particular product to demonstrate success. Believe me when I say, these are just different tools in the toolbox, and we have more than one method to solve our shooting problems.
The author, right, sitting with David Tubb, 11-time NRA World Champion in precision rifle, at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. He thinks Tubb is easily 10 years ahead of the curve when discussing shooting and bullet theory.
Different people have different needs. If I focused this discussion on strictly using my methodology, it would not work for a large portion of shooters out there. I am unique, just like you are, so we all have to fine-tune our techniques to fit our particular styles. That isn’t to say we don’t have universal truths that go beyond the individual. The fundamentals of marksmanship translate across all disciplines. They are not focused on a specific style of shooting. Yes, we can attempt to write the shooter out of the equation, but is that really why we are here?
It’s about best practices and relaying one’s experience so you can decide for yourself the perfect path forward. Rather than shrink your wallet or pull a few zeroes from your bank account, I want to arm readers with enough knowledge bombs to clear their paths through the jungle. This is a journey, one that never ends. I started this journey with an air rifle in the backyards of rural Connecticut, continued to the Marine Corps deploying as a Scout Sniper, and it continues today through the Sniper’s Hide website and my work as an instructor. It’s about passing on your experience to save the next guy the time and effort. But it still takes personal responsibility to get out there and put into practice the topics covered.
The author, left, at a Sniper’s Hide Cup competition with Adam R., from Mile High Shooting. The relationships made during shooting events, be it training or competition, can last a lifetime.
Push yourself to the limits. The author is shown here shooting a Seekins Precision SP10M in Hells Canyon, Idaho, in less than ideal weather conditions. Rain, sleet or snow, get out and shoot. The more experience you have, the better.
It’s not enough to read a book or watch a video on the Internet. Nothing beats actual shots downrange or being under the guidance of a competent instructor. Successful employment of a precision rifle is a thinking man’s game. We call it Weaponized Math: using a series of complicated math formulas to align the sights downrange so you can hit the target.
My goal with Precision Rifle Marksmanship: The Fundamentals is to give you the tools necessary to purchase a precision rifle system, and, without a lot of drama, set it up correctly, dope it to distance and use it successfully in the field. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but you’d be surprised how many shooters struggle with this. We get vapor lock, information overload, with just enough people telling us how hard it is instead of giving us the right tools upfront.
I wanted to go in a different direction. Some people wanted to hear my personal story. How did I get here? Others wish to see the technical data without having to wade through the voodoo being sold every day on the Internet. Over the years, especially with Sniper’sHide.com and conversations that take place there every day, we can boil down the B.S. to refine the methodologies into a tasty dish. It’s not about “grabbing a case of ammo,” but instead having a plan of attack. Having a straight path from beginning to end without being faced with a questionable fork in the road every 100 yards. I am answering the questions upfront.
I call it W.T.F.
Wind,