What I would really reccomend is buying a few acres of land and setting up your own shooting range. Sounds far-fetched, but you'll learn much quicker if you don't have to wait for 10 other people to get done shooting to check your targets.
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<br>To begin with you'll want a spotting scope to check close targets and a rangefinder to get a feel for distances. Go out to the wilderness and eyeball different landmarks, guess the range, and check it. Eventually you'll get good at it. I've never used a rangefinder, but god I wasted many years learning distance. You'll also need to learn to adjust for foliage/hills, because they can -really- throw off perceived distance.
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<br>The main things to learn with shooting long distances is how to sight in a rifle correctly. If you want to shoot 600-1000 yards, good luck. It'll take years and thousands of dollars worth of ammo to learn it. But you can learn to sight in a rifle at 300, even 400 yards (if it's incredibly nice), and learn how to adjust for the drop. Essentially you'll need to be able to eyeball distances (very hard), and adjust your aim accordingly.
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<br>I've dropped deer at 3-400 yards with vital shots many times, but it took many many years to learn how to do it. That's not quite sniper range, but it isn't bad at all, either.
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<br>You'll also -need- a free-floating barrel, unless you want to wait for your barrel to cool off between rounds. When your barrel heats up, it expands and puts pressure on the stock. The barrel and stock can never be completely flush, so your shots will start going wide in one direction or another. Free floating barrels are ridiculously expensive I hear, but you could probably find a local (and hopefully competant) gunsmith to set one up for you a bit cheaper. If you want to sight in a rifle without a free-floating barrel, be sure to let your barrel cool off between shots.
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<br>Then, all you need to do is try different powder grains to see how tight you can get your grouping. IIRC, the more rifling in the barrel the more grains you can use. Start small, and work your way up. This is another reason you want to load your own shells - you can adjust the grain to perfection.
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<br>You also need to make sure your action works nicely. Not only smoothly, but the casing must fit perfectly into the... thing that holds it. A smooth action is only part of the deal, it also needs to hold the casing well and accurately with every shot.
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<br>After you master all that, you can begin to work on 500 yard shots and such, but good effin' luck. You'll never compare to a Navy Seals sniper.
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<br>Start shooting prone/benches to learn your trajectories, work up to 1 knee to learn to steady your hand, and then shooting sticks while standing to learn to shoot standing. You'll need to buy/make a few sandbags to steady your rifle at first, and to sight it in. Anything else is a lesson in futility. After all that, you can likely hold your barrel fairly straight while standing. You probably want to start off with a light barrel too, so I'd reccomend the .243/.270. A .243/6mm can be -extremely- accurate, if made correctly.
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<br>You might actually want to buy two rifles, too. A heavy barreled .243, and a light barreled .270. The heavier the barrel, the more accurate the gun, for the most part. It also keeps it from heating up too quickly.
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<br>There's my rifle faq. I may not be right on all of it, so you may want a second opinion before you run out and buy a .243/.308. Don't buy from a dealer, buy from a reputable gunsmith. Only they can tell trash from gems. Don't -ever- -ever- -ever- buy any gun from a pawn shop.
