Rimfire Shooting at 1000 Yards — 9-Year-Old Hits Target!
Here’s a feel-good story. ELR ace Paul Phillips took his 9-year-old daughter Addison to the range this past weekend, to try shooting at 1000 yards. Guess what, Addison got hits at 1000! That’s impressive enough, but get this, Addison made those shots with a .22 LR rimfire rifle! Yes a .22 LR will fly that far — but it took a whopping 342 MOA of elevation and five seconds of flight time.
Paul says: “So proud of my 9-year-old making impact at 1000 yards with her .22 rimfire. My 82-year-old dad also got hits at 1000. Amazing!” Paul adds: “My daughter is very excited to get into shooting sports. The .22 ELR game is very fun for her especially shooting suppressed subsonic. It helps her to learn the fundamentals without flinching.” After her success at 1000 yards, the little lady then made multiple hits on a silhouette at 322 yards (see below).
After Addison checked the ELR box at 1000 yards, she tried a 322-yard steel silhouette target. No problem — after many hits in the center, she put three into the top without any misses. This little girl can shoot!
The rifle features a Vudoo Gun Works rimfire action bedded in McMillan A6 stock by Alex Sitman. The barrel is a 20″ Bartlein, fitted with a GSL Technologies suppressor (see second photo above). On top is a Nightforce ATACR 7-35x56mm F2 scope fitted with a TACOM Charlie TARAC prism system that provides +800 MOA beyond the scope’s internal elevation. The rifle rested on a Phoenix Precision bipod. The ammo was Lapua Center-X subsonic, running 1090 FPS at the muzzle. Paul notes: “The 22 GSL silencer had no noticeable point of impact shift. It actually shot better groups with it on.”
Addison’s impressive shooting was done at the Marksmanship Training Center in Lake City, Michigan. This veteran-owned shooting facility is a very scenic venue as you can see:
Ballistics Prediction Was Nearly Perfect
The Applied Ballistics solution was within one MOA at 1000 yards. 1000 yards required 342 MOA up from the 100-yard zero. Flight time was over 5 seconds! MV was 1090 FPS. The target was a 6′ x 6′ F-Class frame, covered with white paper. That’s roughly 7 MOA, equivalent to about 3.5″ at 50 yards.
Comments from Facebook Fans (and Bryan Litz) It’s in her genes — Brian R.
Like father like daughter! — Daryll B.
Dang! And I thought my son hitting at 400 was good! — George W.
Most people I know including myself did not believe that the .22 LR genuinely flew that far (despite the warning labels). — Robert S.
Applied Ballistics was within 1 MOA on a 342 MOA solution. We’ll have to tighten that up. — Bryan Litz
All in the Family — Three Generations
Along with Addison, father Paul Phillips and grandfather Rusty Phillips (right) all took shots at 1000 yards, and all three generations of Phillips got hits. The threesome took a total of 145 shots at 1000 yards and impacted 13 times. Paul observed: “We hit almost 1 in 10 shots [with] lots of close misses. Believe it or not, most were due to elevation not wind. There were 3-5 mph winds from 3-9 o’clock. To help see hits, John Droelle was spotting for us in the 1000-yard pits.”
