Whig,  The target WAS nearly impossible to see!  The X ring is 12 inches across, and the 8 ring (the largest of black) was about 48 inches.  The 7 ring was the largest ring, and if you were outside of that ON paper, you scored a 6.  The target itself was (estimating) about 6 foot square!  Once we found our hold (through the help of a Marine with a very large pair of binoculars), the front sight blade completely covered the target, so our hold with zero wind was between the adjacent targets with a top frame hold (the top of the blade even with the top of the target frame).  Believe me when I say that it was VERY HARD to achieve that because just the mirage of heat coming off the field blurred the targets!  LR shooting is a whole different game!!!

We shot my 1903A3, and our ammo was detailed earlier.  We were competing against Long Range rifles, Match rifles and Palma rifles.  They allowed unlimited sighters, but you had to fire 20 shots for record and you only had 30 minutes to do it all... so you didn't want to fire too many sighters.  In the second match, once we confirmed that out hold hadn't changed, we shot for record after 5 or so sighters. 

Another thing to note:  There is NO coaching... so your scorer can't call out your shots once you've indicated that you're shooting for record.  You MUST have a spotting scope just so you can see where your shots are hitting.  Ron and I only had one scope... so I wound up buying a second, and way more expensive scope for that purpose!  If you are by yourself, one scope is enough because your scorer will use his for scoring.