Passion for long-range shooting sparks local business

Hatcher Pass Precision is teaching shooters how to be more accurate, efficient and effective when shooting and hunting at distance this year.

Owner Luke Conner, with help from his wife Rachel and their children, has turned the family’s passion for long range precision shooting into a full-time job and helping others become the best shooters and hunters they can be. Luke’s courses incorporate over two decades of shooting and firearms knowledge to provide Alaskans with the skills that can equate to new hunting opportunities that fills freezers with delicious and healthy game meat each and every season.

“The long range shooting side of it is a passion and a hobby, first and foremost. I love it,” Luke said. “I love shooting targets. The side effect of it is it buys a lot of opportunity to put little white packages in the freezer. Which, at the end of the day, that’s what we’re doing.”

Luke said he grew up hunting and that his father worked on the Slope, providing ample time for family hunting trips. He said he didn’t grow up with precision rifle shooting and his introduction to hunting in Alaska was similar to that of every kid that gets started at a young age.

“I grew up like probably most kids in Alaska, shooting Rugers with Tasco scopes and if you could hit a pie plate three times at 100 yards that was good enough,” Luke said. “We just didn’t ever consider shooting past 200 yards. It was never an option. You got close or you didn’t and that’s just the way it was.”

As he matured in his hunting and shooting, Luke said he became more fascinated with different firearm calibers and types of ammunition. At a time before the internet and easy access to information, Luke said he started learning from dvds and reading magazine articles on dialing in his rifle setup.

Now with years of practice and experience building and shooting custom rifles, Luke and his family are passing that information on to the next generation of hunters in Alaska.

Students can sign up for the level one class, a two day event that incorporates time in the classroom and time at the range. The first day consists of learning about shooting positions, fundamentals, breath control, squeezing the trigger and fitting the rifle to the person. The first day ends with shooting groups at 100 yards to put all of that knowledge on paper.

Day two is spent shooting at longer distances. Luke rents out the 1000 yard range at the Upper Susitna Shooters Association and has up to a dozen, 1 foot by 1 foot steel targets setup from 300 to over 1100 yards. Students will be incorporating all of the knowledge from the previous day to shoot upwards of 100 rounds at distance, mostly from the prone position and off of bipods with a rear rest. Shooters leave the class with a better understanding of the proper fundamentals of long range shooting, better marksmanship and an understanding of bullet data and environmental effects on bullet performance.

Future level one courses will be held on July 20 and 21, August 3 and 4, October 4 and 5 and October 12 and 13. Each course is capped at eight students. Custom dates may be possible for groups of people and dependent upon range availability. Courses are $750 per person for the two days of instruction, with a minimum of eight hours of instruction each day. A complete precision rifle setup can be rented for use during the course for $250 and includes 100 rounds of ammunition.

“If my 40 year old self could teach my 20 year old self what I know now, I would pay $10,000 for that,” Luke said. “I learned the hard way. You’re going to pay for an education, one way or another. You can do it the fast way and get someone to get you lined out, or you can do it the hard way, which is what I did. And I can tell you right now that it is 0% cheaper.”

Luke encourages his students to use their own firearms and gear if they are suitable for long range shooting. Smaller calibers that lend themselves for repetitive, comfortable shooting over a two day period work best. Student rifles should be able to shoot a one inch group at 100 yards reliably and have a high quality scope with the ability to dial elevation if they wish to use them in the course.

A level two course is available for shooters once they complete level one. These courses incorporate more advanced shooting in real-world hunting scenarios. Students will learn how to shoot in different positions, like off of a backpack or against a tree, and at different angles they might encounter while on a hunt.

“Still all the same fundamentals that you learned in the level one class, but now you’re transferring it into straight field use,” Luke said. “And that’s a humbling experience.”

Taking the course with hunting partners is beneficial, Luke said. Everyone in the group knows the same information, understands the same shooting lingo and can help each other make the decisions while in the field. His most recent course was taken by a father and son duo.

The demand for these courses has been high, Luke said. Other courses in Alaska cover similar topics, but with a greater focus on competition shooting rather than real-world hunting scenarios. Luke hopes to offer one-day reloading classes this winter that will cover the entire reloading process from start to finish, what he calls an “entry level class to advanced reloading.”

Ultimately, Luke and his family want to pass on the tradition of ethical, safe and effective long range shooting and hunting tactics to others. Whether their students have been hunting for their entire life, or are new to hunting and shooting in Alaska, the information they take away from these courses will benefit both their hunting success and understanding for the sport long into the future.

“I want people to be able to fill their freezers and do it effectively,” Luke said. “I have a lot of respect for the animals that we take and I want to help people not make bad shots and not make bad decisions in the field to fill their freezer and also protect our resource.”

The best way to get ahold of Luke is by phone at (907) 841-4860