Bergara Long Range Shooting Academy
Hello all, my name is Patrick and this is my review of the Bergara Long Range Shooting Academy. I will start out by telling a little about myself. I grew up in a small Central Texas farming and ranching community of less than 1,100 people. My Great-Grandfather amassed right at 3,000 acres of ranch land beginning in the 1890’s up until the 1950’s. The land was rough on cattle, but the wildlife loved it. I got my introduction to firearms walking the fences on the outside of the property carrying a H&H 22LR pistol loaded with rat shot starting at 4 years old. The pistol was for any snakes that I came across on my journey and I became fairly proficient at either killing them or scaring them away. I got my first “real” gun at age 10, a Remington 870 Wingmaster 28 gauge. I have hunted every type of bird that you could imagine with that gun to date. My first rifle was purchased after working the entire summer in the hay fields, cutting, raking, square bailing (I know that shows my age), hauling, and then putting it in the barn. It was a lot of work, but that Remington 700 BLD chambered in .243 Winchester with a Leupold scope has put lots of venison and pork on the table and gotten rid of many predators over the years. That is a very brief introduction to me and how I learned to shoot and hunt.
My youngest son decided about a year ago that he wanted to get into some long-range target shooting so that normal, ethical shots on game would be easier to accomplish. My son has been shooting for over 15 years. So, I decided that if that was what he was interested in, then I would try my hand with it as well. A long shot for both of us deer hunting was about 300 yards and we would stretch it out to 500 yards occasionally on feral hogs on the ranch. That was the extent of our long-range experience before the class. I started researching classes that would teach us how to be successful out to much longer distances (out to a mile) and what I found was kind of disappointing. Most of the classes were between $3,000 and $5,000 for the class. You had to provide your own room and board, rifle, and up to 500 rounds of match quality ammunition. So, for the two of us, this proved to be very cost prohibitive.
My son and I both really like the Bergara brand of rifles and one afternoon while I was dreaming of my next rifle on their website, I noticed a link to the Bergara Long Range Academy in Belt, Montana. When I followed the link, it described almost everything that we were looking for! (I think the only exception was that my son wants to shoot a mile consistently). That was it…The Academy would pick us up at the airport in Great Falls, they provided room and board, guns, scopes, spotting scopes, rangefinders, and ammunition, all we had to do was reserve our spot and get to Great Falls. We also wanted a small class size so that we could get intensive and personalized instruction. The class size is limited to 8 students so it fit the bill perfectly. I have to applaud the staff for accommodating my son and I as well. My son recently has retorn the labrum in his right hip so he was using 1 crutch to take some of the weight off of his hip. I was diagnosed with “Long Covid” almost a year ago, so my stamina and energy levels are low. Neither of these issues presented a problem to the staff and what we were able to learn and accomplish.
The Academy is headed up by Head Instructor and Range Officer Chad S. All that I can say about him is I wish that I had the wealth of knowledge that he possesses. He has been a lifelong hunter and has guided for decades. His knowledge of the firearms industry and what modern day students want and need is the best that I have seen. He led all of the classroom portions of the class and shared his vast experiences hunting across 5 continents. He also has a way to explain things that can take a complicated topic (MRAD vs MOA for example) and make it easy for this old Texas boy to understand. His knowledge of reading the wind blew my mind…and Chad helped everyone at the class be successful.
Now we come to the “backbone” of the Academy, Mrs. Marsha S. Marsha is the arrival coordinator, the hospitality coordinator, the head chef, and the behind-the-scenes guru. There was nothing that we lacked the entire stay.
Chad and Marsha’s two sons were the Assistant Marksmanship Instructors. Walker S. is a lifetime hunter and has almost as much knowledge as his father. He also taught the positional shooting part of the class. His wealth of knowledge allows him to have a very good eye for minor problems that can lead to major problems at distances over 500 yards. He watched me during the first shooting session and saw that I was canting the rifle with my grip which was causing misses at extended ranges. He fixed a problem that I didn’t know that I had in about 30 seconds. He and his wife have a newborn and they livened up the group whenever they showed up to visit.
Wyatt S. is their younger son and he worked with us most of the time. We had 7 in the class so he spotted for the single class member and he happened to setup right next to us. He was invaluable as a resource for my son and I. Wyatt is also a lifetime hunter and since he and my son are about the same age, they hit it off quickly. Wyatt taught both of us how to estimate size of animals and their horns by using the mils in the scope. He also helped us call the wind and DOPE so that we had success quickly.
Last but definitely not least, was Keely. She is Wyatt’s finance and she helped ensure that everything ran smoothly. She was the Assistant Hospitality coordinator, the assistant chef, the housekeeping guru, and the Merchandise Coordinator for the group. She was a delight and made everyone feel comfortable and welcome.
My son and I arrived Sunday afternoon and Chad and Marsha picked us up at the airport and transported us to the lodge. After settling into our room, we were introduced to the other 5 members of the school. After a wonderful dinner, Chad gave us an introduction to the school and how it was organized and setup for our success. He gave us the requisite safety briefing and covered how the communication between the staff and students was expected to be handled. The next information we were given, was one of the most important things that I was looking for, and that is spotter/shooter communication. If my son is going to be able to hit a target at a mile, he and I will have to work together to get the elevation and windage call perfectly.
After an amazing breakfast, we started off with some classroom work. Probably the most important thing that we learned was how to set the rifle and scope up specifically for us. We put this into practice later in the morning. We then learned about the specific rifle and scope that we were going to use for the next three days. We then had a very good explanation on the difference between First Focal Plane and Second Focal Plane scopes. We were then issued our rifles for the class and went through the setup process and sighted in our rifles at 100 yards. We then took a lunch break and headed to the range. We all took turns (one at a time) firing at targets that the instructors called out for us. We started at 220 yards and then extended it all of the way out to 750 yards. It was further that any of us had shot before. After we each shot all 5 targets, we then had a competition by firing at each of the 5 targets. It was impressive that with the staff calling DOPE and windage, most of the students shot 9 out of 10 shots in less than 4 minutes. After we completed the competition, we went back to the lodge to clean up and eat dinner. The distances of the targets we shot were 220, 375, 480, 630, and 750 yards.
The next morning, for our classroom instruction we learned how to estimate wind. That is a very hard skill to master. All of the instructors helped by giving us real world experience. Chad then taught us how to build a DOPE card and a data book for each rifle. Next, we received instruction of how to use the classes rangefinders. The final portion of the classroom instruction was on Ethical shots on game. We then broke for lunch and then the range. We were broken up into groups then for positional shooting instruction by Walker. Whenever we were not in the positional shooting class, we were shooting at targets from 450 to 1440 yards in CRAZY wind. The weather started out with wind of 10-20 mph with gusts of 30+, this is important because we had to range the target, estimate the wind calls, and then take the shot. The weather kept changing from wind, to rain, to sleet, and snow, then started the cycle again. We all learned by “jumping into the fire” and then being instructed by Chad and Wyatt on how and why we were off on our calls. The target distances were 450, 460, 550, 650, 700, 750, 780, 800, 1400, and 1440 yards. For the positional shooting portion we were instructed in prone, off-hand, standing with a brace, sitting, kneeling and off of a couple of different tripods. We finished the range time off with the same contest we competed in the previous day. Because we were calling our own wind, the hit rate dropped to an average of 7 out of 10.
After breakfast our final morning, we had a short classroom session covering things like do you take the shot or let the animal walk. Chad also taught us how to call elk. It was tons of fun… We also went over the hunting gear that the S’s recommend by using them for years. We loaded up and went to the range. Since it was the last session, we were able to select any target that we wanted to shoot and any positional shooting that we felt like we needed to work on. After a couple of hours of shooting and then switching with our spotters, we then set up for our final competition. Our group selected 5 HARD targets, and we each had 5 shots total to hit all 5 with spotter calling elevation & windage in another day of crazy wind.
My final thoughts and conclusions are:
- I am a better shooter now than before I attended the Academy. I am more confident that I can make a successful shot out to 500 yards and that it will be an ethical shot.
- Shooting is a perishable skill. I was one of those guys that would dust off the deer rifle close to season, fire 3 shots at 100 yards at a paper plate target. If all 3 were on paper, I would hunt with it, and would repeat the process the next year. I shot ARs and shot guns pretty regularly, but my skills were not up to par. It was really exciting to hit a moose sized steel target at 1,400 yards in 20+ mph winds 4 times in a row. That was exciting, but I am most proud of my son hitting a 12” circle at 780 yards 5 times in a row in those same winds.
- Get the very best equipment that you can afford. A high-quality rifle that is adjustable, an excellent trigger and a scope that is of the highest quality/precision out there may cost more up front but will last you a lifetime and help you be more successful in the long run.
- Wind is the great equalizer and the bane of a hunter’s existence, unless you learn how to read it and practice, practice, practice, and practice some more.
- Practice makes perfect. If I am going to shoot anything at longer ranges, I have to shoot as much as possible.
All of the folks at the Bergara Academy Montana are doing the best job of providing instruction, critique, the needed equipment, and the food and hospitality to make anyone shoot better. I highly recommend the Academy to any serious hunter/shooter that wants to get better without reservation!
If you are interested in going in 2025 contact Marsha at bergaraacademymt@bpiguns.com and she will send you the link a few days before it goes “public.”