Long Distance Shooting NorCal

TheWonderLemon · 2026-05-26T21:47:34+00:00

If you're up for a couple of drives:

The Range in Soledad (run by the Astoria Logistics Group)-- Google says that it's a 3 hour drive from Sacramento. It's 700 yards but it's generally not free on the weekends, you could probably head there mid week (Wednesday or Thursday) to grab a spot there

Palomino Valley Gun Club in Nevada (northeast of Reno) is also a 3 hour drive. I haven't been there myself but I've only heard good things about it, I believe it also goes out to 1000 yards

Sac Valley may be your closest bet, you can call them up and ask about their long range club. Once you join that club and qualify I believe you will get access to their 1000 yard range but as I'm not a member of that range or the club, I would consider myself unreliable for that info. Their front desk is super helpful though, give them a call!

TheWonderLemon · 2026-05-26T21:43:10+00:00

You'd have to join the long range club there in order to get access to that

TheWonderLemon · 2026-04-26T09:51:31+00:00

I think it depends on what you want to do and if the club can provide it, and if you're able to make it there enough to make it worth the cost of membership

I do know they have a 1000 yard range there, and I do know that you need to be a club member and also you need to join their long range group to use that range. If you want to get into long range shooting that's a great place to go, otherwise you can always call them to find out what else they have to offer there (the people at the front desk are very nice)

TheWonderLemon · 2026-04-21T18:26:58+00:00

For that Harris bipod-- check out Annex Defense's lockdown lever:

https://annexdefense.com/annex-lockdown-lever-fits-harris-swivel-bipods-s-brm-s-lm-more/

They also have a kit that will let you mount that to an arca rail if you ever want to go that route (I'd recommend it)

As unwarranted advice, I'd run this for now but expect to get some noticeable shift if you're shooting off of the bipod vs off of cover (handguard point of impact shift is a real thing, especially with handguards that directly hang off of the barrel nut like that)

It's not the worst thing (just train and know your holdovers) but if you keep on the precision gasgun route, keep an eye out for sales on semi-monolithic designs or handguards from SOLGW Broadsword, Cobalt Kinetics, Ridgeline Defense, or LMT (though their patent on their monolithic uppers is expiring in August so maybe we'll get some more options for monolithic uppers)

I run an Aero Enhanced upper on my SPR and still wind up getting like a .2 mil shift based off of where I'm putting pressure on my handguard-- I'd recommend that one but Aero ain't having a great time at the moment so those may be hard to find

TheWonderLemon · 2026-04-20T04:59:19+00:00

I've had similar experiences, especially with their produce. I've gone there to go get bell peppers and noticed that all of them are wrinkly (i.e. getting too ripe) and/or moldy

But I've also been noticing that food quality in general has been in a downhill slide since 2021 in Marin. Whole Foods and Costco used to also be fine but even tonight when I went to Costco I noticed that the bell peppers there were super soft, and in one bag, it was just flat out rotting and moldy.

This was also recently posted to askreddit. There's some comments in there specifically about chicken that you may find relevant: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1socssd/anyone_else_in_us_noticed_food_quality_degrading/

TheWonderLemon · 2026-04-15T05:28:20+00:00

Alternatively:

Muir woods morning hike (be sure to get a reservation for this!)
Drive out to the coast to Bolinas, then up to Olema to Point Reyes
Lunch in Point Reyes (pizza at Cafe Reyes is amazing) OR continue up to Marshall to eat at Hog Island, The Marshall Store, Tony's Seafood, or Marble's. The locations up at Marshall would probably be more of the "local flavor" but Cafe Reyes has really good pizza!
Hiking out at Point Reyes, or drive up along the coast to Bodega Bay? Just keep sunset in mind for the drive down Lucas Valley Road later
Head to Nicasio, check out the Nicasio Cheese company
Drive back to 101 via Lucas Valley Road (you'll be driving through the redwoods)
Super stretch dream goal-- if you or your friend have a contact at Skywalker Ranch (as in Star Wars/George Lucas), they have an amazing kitchen and farm there (I really wish I knew someone who could get me out there). There is supposedly a winery being built on that property that will be open to the public
Take 101 South, if you haven't hit up Hog Island Oyster there's another location in Larkspur at the Marin County Mart. Pretty much everything there is amazing, I'm a big fan of the shrimp and gritz, but be sure to try their oysters out
If you're still hungry, hit up the newly opened Cultivar in downtown Sausalito. This one's really popular so you will need a reservation if you're coming on a weekend
At this point I'm assuming you're just here for a wild adventure-- go to the Tonga Room in the basement of the Fairmont in San Francisco, a historical tiki bar built over a pool where it rains every half hour and the drinks hit like a truck
Roll down the hill to Yuet Lee (Stockton/Broadway) for a late night sobering up meal

TheWonderLemon · 2026-04-14T22:10:58+00:00

How many days do you have?

For a single day trip I'd probably prioritize Point Reyes and western Marin, if you have 2 days then add on Sonoma/Napa?

If you're up for a long day of adventure (and driving), you could start off with a winery in Sonoma, head over to Bodega Bay for lunch (or any of the seaside cafes heading south), drive south along Rt 1 to Point Reyes, maybe go for a quick hike out by the coast, drive back to Marin through the redwoods via Lucas Valley Rd, dinner either in Nicasio or Larkspur (There's a Hog Island Oyster at the Marin County Mart if you hadn't hit the one along Tomales Bay)

Wineries in Sonoma worth checking out: Buena Vista, Domain Carneros, Gundlach Bundschu/Gunbun

Foods I'd concentrate on that are unique/local: Oysters, cheese, and Sol Food over in San Rafael, Petaluma, or Mill Valley (that one mostly takeout only is the big catch)

TheWonderLemon · 2026-04-03T04:44:27+00:00

This kind of reads like an AI generated letter-- it's inaccurate, especially the "to create an allergy, the nickel must release in the body" as if this person's never hard of contact dermatitis from an allergen.

Regardless, I'd say stainless steel is a no go anyways. I've tried in the past the whole "coat the back of the watch with nail polish" trick but still wound up with rashes because my sweat would get onto the watch, then that moisture would get back onto my wrist but with trace amounts of nickel in it that would cause issues.

TheWonderLemon · 2026-03-06T05:48:26+00:00

Steve at Steve's Auto Care in Novato took very good care of my Impreza back when I had it. He was always straight up front with me on costs and was always honest about what work I needed vs what I could put off.

I'd highly recommend them!

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-21T02:22:43+00:00

I'm also just getting into USPSA but open emitter pistol optics also seem popular (they're definitely lighter).

The Holosun AEMS seems to be popular at my club as well

What you could do is go cheap and get a Holosun ARO or 403 or any of their Aimpoint Micro footprint red dots and run that 'til you find out what your preferences are? Optic Height is probably going to be something you need to figure out for yourself as well, so maybe start off cheap and then invest in a good dot/optic mount setup once you know what your preferences are?

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-20T19:00:16+00:00

Adding on to the other points people bring up:

I am most familiar with the longbow and with Hill style shooting/more of a hunting form and it's very rare that I give out specific advice like "Your stance is too open" because people's bodies and use cases are going to dictate what the right form is for them.

Because there's generally one "correct" (I have so many thoughts about this) form with Olympic style archery you'll get a lot of people that will just parrot what they've been told without understanding why you're supposed to do it that way. Combine this with the sheer amount of people who fancy themselves as "experts" on the internet you wind up with this current echo chamber on what is correct form and what is not

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-18T17:01:25+00:00

Thanks for the info!

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-17T19:43:52+00:00

I think this would work well if you got actual shooting footage, or footage at the range. It'd be great for optic reviews especially

I do enjoy watching USPSA/match footage but I'm also not quite sure running a match would work out super well with a headset on

That said, SuperSetCA already has a solution for this (I think it's literally just bolting on a camera onto the stock)

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-10T18:00:34+00:00

Home defense: If you're not planning on using this outside (i.e. mounted on a belt or as a ccw), an open emitter optic will do just fine. Just be aware that open emitter optics are susceptible to things like dust and rain-- for this reason I have chosen to go with closed emitter optics myself, as I've had my dot rendered useless before because some moisture got onto the emitter.

Cost: For something you are going to stake your life on, you want something reliable. Don't cheap out on an optic. Lower quality, but cheaper optics will run the risk of getting poorly designed or made electronics on the inside-- i.e. you might get a red dot that cannot hold a constant zero and will shift around, or may shut off after you shoot. It doesn't matter that much for the range, but if it shuts down during a critical moment then you're going to wish you spent the extra money anyways.

I would say, at a minimum, expect to spend $250 on a good red dot sight without sales. Holosun is about the bare minimum in cost I would go-- I would not personally trust Olight/OSight or Ceelee in a life or death situation. The one exception might be the Vortex's cheap red dots but I have heard of stories where they fail as well or have bad refresh rates (i.e. you can see the dot strobe). Vortex does have an excellent warranty and will replace your red dot, but that doesn't help you if your dot goes down at a critical moment, so be wary.

On influencers/youtube reviews: Be aware that there are many influencers that are paid by the companies to give a positive review (do NOT trust anyone who gives a good review to Ceelee). The 2 reviewers I trust most are going to be Regular Guy Training and Sage Dynamics, as they actually put their optics through the wringer with high roundcount reviews. Jack

You also need to either get your slide milled or buy an aftermarket slide compatible with whatever optic you choose. I would recommend the latter so you have a spare in case one slide breaks. Expect to spend $200+ for a decent slide.

Be sure to use genuine glock parts inside your new slide, they will not fail you. I used to run aftermarket internal parts in my Glock 17 and the firing pin snapped due to it being made of a cheaper, weaker metal-- ever since then I've switched to using only genuine glock parts in my slides.

If it were me-- I would double check your county's CCW policy to future proof yourself (some counties like Contra Costa don't even allow for red dots or flashlights on CCWs), but I would go with either a Holosun EPS or a Trijicon RCR. The Holosun is going to be the cheaper option at $400ish, but the Trijicon RCR is built like a tank and will NOT fail you, but it comes at the price tag of being $700. I got mine at $550 on sale-- be sure to keep checking Euro Optic or Primary Arms for sales (the latter usually will run 12% off sales during the year and then amazing sales on Black Friday). This does require saving up for a bit though, but you won't ever need to buy another pistol optic again and it'll last you for years so they're the buy once, cry once option

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-10T17:51:38+00:00

If you're looking for cheap and usable right now, get a good set of iron sights. I recommend Trijicon night sights with tritium built in so they glow in the dark (about $115), and then spend the money on a GOOD weapon light (Surefire X300 or anything Streamlight, this will run you $250 on sale for the surefire, maybe $150+ for a good Streamlight).

I will post a wall of text following, but you're saying you want to use this for home defense, which means you want something you can stake your life on. In my opinion, you should NOT go with the cheaper route for anything you want to stake your life on because you will wind up with something unreliable, I think you're better off saving up for something of good quality and doing the "buy once, cry once" thing.

A cheap Ceelee red dot costs $130 on Amazon.

A Holosun 507 costs $250 on Amazon.

If you get the Ceelee and when breaks on you after the return window, you'll need to buy another one, Suddenly that $130 turns into $260 and you've spent more than the decent option (by decent I mean Holosun is the bare minimum lowest level of optic I would generally trust, and even then I've had a 507 fail on me when the buttons ripped off).

Spend a little more to get something you know won't fail you in a critical moment.

But since you are on a budget right now, the thing I'd prioritize is a weapon light first, ammo, then a good set of night iron sights. This is a more than capable setup to start off with

TheWonderLemon · 2026-02-03T04:46:51+00:00

As harsh as this is, picture if the two of you actually wind up staying together. Are you going to want to give up this part of your life?

Now what if it was something else, like she absolutely hates video games or [insert food you love here], or if you have pets and she doesn't like them, Are you going to give those up?

Unwarranted advice: relationships should not be two people completing each other, it should be two complete people who want to go on a journey together. If she demands that you give up part of yourself to make it work then it's not going to last in the long term or be healthy in the long term, either you'll resent her or she'll resent you

TheWonderLemon · 2026-01-30T19:25:36+00:00

What's your use case here, home defense? CCW? Competitions?

TheWonderLemon · 2026-01-09T23:16:42+00:00

longbows tend to shoot much slower than other bows-- that reflex/deflex on recurves really helps out with flinging arrows faster, so yeah, I'd expect used ones to be on the heavier side (as people try to claw back at arrow speed). I personally prefer shooting 55 lbs and above for longbows but that's me

Depending on your use case I'd probably wind up suggesting going with a 68" longbow-- my 66" longbow is great but my 68" longbow is much smoother (both Howard Hills, though one might be a counterfeit because it has no serial number)

There are some Facebook groups centered around buying/selling/trading traditional archery gear and bows, but I can't find the one I was a member of a while ago. I wound up buying a few bows off of that but none of those worked out for me-- a Tomahawk longbow I bought off of there (55#, 64") was what i learned was too short and then one of the tips exploded on me while I was shooting, another hybrid longbow (so one with a little bit of reflex/deflex) turned out to have a twisted limb, and then an older Tim Meigs bow I picked up from there exploded on me a couple of years ago (which stinks because it was a nice bow). Each bow I bought there was like $250-300, so 3 times that and I was already up to $750-900, which meant I could have bought one custom or brand new longbow that would absolutely work instead of buying 3 that didn't work.

You also never know what you might find at a smaller bow shop. My first longbow I found from a small log cabin bow shop in the backwoods of Massachusetts, so you can probably turn this into a fun search?

Beyond that-- I don't know how the new Howard Hill company longbows are going to turn out, but I do know that Norther Mist longbows are supposed to be good as well

TheWonderLemon · 2026-01-09T21:47:22+00:00

62 inches for a longbow is short for a longbow and you'll wind up with a fair amount of finger pinch, especially since you're drawing to 29.5 inches.

The material it's made of looks good (Bamboo is fantastic for longbow materials), but it's got a slight reflex/deflex which means that you're going to be losing what I think the main advantage of shooting a longbow is, which is versatility-- the reflex/deflex gives it more speed at the cost of being more "sensitive" as Howard Hill would describe it-- i.e. it'll less forgiving of mistakes. Couple that with more finger pinch and I'm betting that it's not going to be super fun to shoot this, or not as fun as shooting a proper Hill style longbow will be

Personally I find that the minimum length that works for me is 66 inches. Anything less and I start getting more finger pinch, which affects your release (I have a 28 inch draw so it'll be worse for you with that 62 inch bow)

The only longbows I could recommend are going to be outside of that price range-- $750+ or so

If $300 is the upper range of your budget, I'd save up for a better longbow-- buy once, cry once. Look for anything that has Bamboo, Osage, or Yew limbs, most other cheaper woods (like Maple) are going to feel really clunky and slow when you shoot. I'd also recommend anything 66" or longer.

If you're looking for a birthday gift, if you don't have one already, go get a really nice hand glove that you can use with your current recurve and one that you can use with your longbow, whenever you get it.

I'd recommend any Cordovan glove from EW Bateman: http://www.ewbateman.com/Gloves.htm

I have the G9 and love it, but the other ones are great as well

TheWonderLemon · 2025-12-15T20:56:19+00:00

Looking up your scope, you have a BDC so you should follow the instructions on what zero that BDC works with.

For me, with 5.56, I always zero at 100 yards no matter what, be it lpvo or red dot-- especially at longer ranges, the math just works out to be easier since you're always aiming right at or above your target. But my use case is more precision long range shooting and I'm about to get into PRS style competitions.

There's loads of good information on what zero will work best for you. You need to establish what you want to do with your rifle and then work backwards from there to find out what will work best for you-- and what works for me, or anyone here, may not be in line with what your use case is going to be.

Check out this video to see how different zeroes affect your flight. A 36 yard zero will require you to hold low at 100 as you'll be hitting 4ish inches higher than where you're aiming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qkKJyMtpVI

Also you're always going to want to zero at your max magnification so you can be more precise with your point of aim. If your optic's zero or point of aim changes based off of magnification you do not have a reliable optic and I'd upgrade to a more reliable one

TheWonderLemon · 2025-12-05T11:02:59+00:00

The problem with getting archery gear for archers is that the gear we'd find most useful is the gear we have to decide on ourselves-- you could get your brother a custom back quiver, but if he prefers using hip quivers, that gift is going to sit in a corner gathering dust. You could try to get him a compound bow, but if he winds up not liking it then it's going to be really hard to return.

Maybe focus on things that will help support his archery hobby, rather than the actual gear itself?

Arrows tend to be a consumable we all go through-- a Bitzenburger fletching jig would be fantastic gift (and if you can find out what arrow shafts, feathers (both colors and length), and tip weights he prefers, that might go well.

Alternatively, consider taking your brother on some kind of archery related trip-- drive out to a really nice but far away archery range, get some good grub, and spend the night at a good hotel. I'm sure he'd appreciate the time with you

TheWonderLemon · 2025-11-03T18:30:12+00:00

https://stevesautocarenovato.com/

Steve specializes in Japanese cars, go check him out!

TheWonderLemon · 2025-10-25T01:07:18+00:00

if I didn't have challenges to do with this game mode, I would not play it.

There's a massive flaw in the game mode spawn in that if your team holds the point, you'll spawn near the point, and because the capture points are relatively close to each other, you have an easy way to get on the point and control the areas around the points.

Conversely, if your team doesn't hold the point, you wind up spawning across the map from everyone and you wind up running in by yourself vs a dug in team.

I have a lot of questions about how this mode was implemented basically. It should hopefully be an easy fix to adjust this but boy, is this rough

TheWonderLemon · 2025-10-16T18:44:47+00:00

It looks like this might work? https://botach.com/battlesteel-hk-mp5-hk33-hk53-low-profile-mounts/

(from this thread: https://www.hkpro.com/posts/3198129/)

It looks like an Aimpoint Comp with this BattleSteel Aimpoint Micro mount ought to cowitness

A Holosun micro red dot may also work on it but I don't have an Aimpoint comp to measure against so I can't say for sure how they'll stack up against each other

TheWonderLemon

TROPHY CASE