The long-range shooting craze has taken off in recent years, and why not? Banging steel at distances beyond the quarter-mile mark — like, twice that far, or more — is both quite challenging and lots of fun. And more and more hunters who ply the wide-open spaces of the West are building rifle-and-load combinations that make taking game at extended distances practical.

These hunters and shooters spend serious dollars on their rifles, a bunch more on the scope, more on a top-end laser rangefinder, then test multiple loads for precise accuracy, and, finally, put in countless hours refining their skills on the range. All this is necessary to be good enough to take an ethical shot at an animal at any distance, of course, but triply so when we’re talking about long-range hunting.

Affordable Long-Range Accuracy

If you want to enter the long-range shooting and hunting game but, like most of us working stiffs, don’t have a champagne and caviar budget, you need look no further than the Mossberg Patriot LR Hunter.

Mossberg? The same company that has built its reputation on those affordable hunting rifles and shotguns, guns that favor function over fancy? 

That would be a resounding “yes.”

First brought to the public in 2015, the Patriot line of rifles was introduced to provide the shooting and hunting public with accurate, functional rifles at low prices. It has been one of the most successful bolt-action rifle launches of all time. 

Essentially, the Patriot line is built around its push-feed action, which is based on a tubular receiver in conjunction with a washer-type recoil lug and a barrel lock nut. The Patriot’s bolt head is secured to the bolt body by a cross-bolt with a hole through its center that allows the firing pin to pass through. This design allows the lugs to precisely seat themselves against their abutment surfaces. The bolt body has six functional spiral flutes that collect any dirt or foreign matter as the bolt is rotated, which helps keep junk off the bearing surface while reducing friction. All Patriot rifles feature a carbon steel, button-rifled barrel, many featuring fluting and a threaded muzzle for those who wish to add a suppressor, and a thread cap for those who don’t.

Patriot rifles also feature Mossberg’s sweet and easily-adjustable LBA (Lightning Bolt Action) trigger, which is adjustable within a range of 2-7 pounds. Mine on the LR Hunter broke right at 2.5 pounds out of the box, which is where I like it. It’s also creep free. A two-position safety is located behind the bolt handle on the upper right side of the receiver; it does not lock down the bolt when engaged. A drop box magazine is easy to load and even easier to slip in and out of the rifle.

A very big difference between the LR Hunter and other Patriot models is the stock design, which is designed expressly with long-range accuracy in mind. While most Patriots feature injection-molded stocks, the LR Hunter stock is a composite stock, with a hardwood core with a dark gray polymer exterior.

Aluminum bedding pillars mate the barreled action to the wood stock, the pistol grip works nicely to allow you to grip the rifle solidly when shooting prone, and the raised Monte Carlo cheekpiece works together with the included Picatinny rail to make it easy to position your eye properly, even when using scopes with large objective lenses.

Also, the bench rest-style flat-bottomed forend is perfect for going prone over a shooting bag or, as I like to do when hunting, over my daypack. It also has dual sling studs so you can mount both a rifle sling and bipod simultaneously.

Currently, four caliber options are available: 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, .308 Win. and .300 Win. Mag. The .308 Win. and 6.5 Creedmoor-chambered rifles weigh 6.5 pounds and feature 22-inch barrels, while the 6.5 PRC weights 7.25 pounds and the and .300 Win. Mag. version weighs 7.5 pounds and have 24-inch barrels. Both the .308- and .300 Win. Mag. models use 1:10-inch twist rates, while the 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5 PRC have 1:8-inch twists. Magazine capacity is five rounds for the .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor versions, four for 6.5 PRC, and three for .300 Win. Mag. rifles.

My LR Hunter is chambered in 6.5 PRC. On top I chose a Trijicon AccuPoint 3-18x50 scope with ballistic turret — a superb optic with which I’ve had a lot of good luck with over the years. This rifle really, really likes Hornady Match ammunition featuring the 147-grain ELD Match bullet, consistently printing .75-inch three-shot groups at 100 yards. That’s accurate! The zero line on the turret was set at 200 yards, and the rifle dialed into 800 yards. Muzzle velocity is right at 2910 fps.

Old Mexico Adventure

As something of a Coues whitetail hunting nut, I was tickled when I had a chance to try out my new LR Hunter on a Coues deer hunt in Sonora, Mexico, in January 2024. I’ve hunted Coues deer extensively in Old Mexico, and it’s an adventure I’ll do many more times downstream. On the best ranches, deer numbers are high, mature bucks plentiful, and the January season allows you to hunt them during the peak of the rut — something impossible to do with a rifle stateside. On this hunt were Mossberg’s Linda Powell, and freelance gun and hunting writers Joseph Von Benedikt and Jeff Johnston —  all excellent and very experienced hunters and shooters. 

The wide canyons and semi-open terrain of Coues deer country lends itself to shooting at extended distances, though at times shots can be close. In my near 40 years of hunting them, the average shot I’ve seen is about 250 yards. The country also requires you to hike over some steep, rocky terrain at times; I use a hiking stick for leverage and balance, so you want to carry a rifle that balances well slung over your shoulder. 

On our hunt, shot distances were typical of a Sonoran Coues deer camp: 80, 125, 350, and mine at 375 yards. The morning of day No. 3, guide Richard Paun, Joeseph (who had tagged out already), and I were glassing right at daylight. After an hour and looking over several deer but nothing interesting, we moved to an adjacent ridge overlooking some big country. In minutes we picked up a good buck across the canyon. Taking a quick laser rangefinder reading, I went prone, rested over my daypack, turned the turret to 375 yards, found the buck, dialed up the optic to 16X, and asked Richard, “Yes or no?”

“Shoot him, Bob,” he said, “he’s a nice one.”

With Joe filming with his iPhone, I squeezed one off — and hammered him. It takes a rifle/scope/load combination like the one I was using to confidently make this kind of shot on a diminutive whitetail subspecies with a live weight of just 100 pounds.

Final Thoughts

There’s no doubt the LR Hunter is an excellent choice suitable for serious hunting in any situation, from stand hunting whitetails in semi-open terrain to stalking the open-country game anywhere you choose. If you’re also interested in getting into the long-range shooting game and want to shoot just one rifle, you’ll be more than happy to do so with the Patriot LR Hunter. With the MSRP on the Mossberg website of just $847, the Mossberg Patriot LR Hunter is one of the great bargains on today’s market.