Anyone else on here that DOESN’T shoot a lightweight rifle particularly well?

[gbflyer]

My light weight long range rifle weighs 7.2 lbs scoped, I have never shot it off a bench and believe that's why I can shoot it well.
I lay in the dirt off a bipod, and I shoot it a lot all year round (which I think is key).
Took my bull at 940 yards with it last season.
Also I use a neoprene cheek piece on my ultralight stock, it really helps with shootability.

That’s good shooting with any rifle. Good on you for getting off the bench. I know I spend too much time on it.

I ordered a couple of the Beartooth comb raising kits a few days ago, looking forward to trying one out.

 

[howl]

Well or well enough? I shoot weight forward heavier rifles better, but when action gets hot I sling death better with a fast handling lighter rig.

 

[Ryan Avery]

My light weight long range rifle weighs 7.2 lbs scoped, I have never shot it off a bench and believe that's why I can shoot it well.
I lay in the dirt off a bipod, and I shoot it a lot all year round (which I think is key).
Took my bull at 940 yards with it last season.
Also I use a neoprene cheek piece on my ultralight stock, it really helps with shootability.

It's not that a lightweight rifle won't do it. I've made some crazy shots out to 2000 plus yards with a 6 pound scoped rifle. The problem lies in the fact that there is far less forgiveness with light rifles. Then throw in bad form, bad shooting positions and the stress of shooting at a live animal and shit goes sideways quickly.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Whew! I am sure glad to hear I am not the only one who has trouble being consistent with a lightweight rifle. My “light” rifle isn’t as a light as a lot - it is a Remington 700 Ti in 270 and weighs 6 lb 6 oz scoped with a 2.5-8 Leupold that I got as a alternative to my 9 plus pound 300 RUM. When I first got it, it had a 5 lb trigger pull. If I did everything just right, it would shoot three shots into an inch or less at 100 yards but I was so inconsistent, I was not too excited about hunting with it. I put a Jewell trigger on the 700 Ti and adjusted it to 2 lbs. My consistency from the bench improved dramatically but I still have groups I am not too happy with from time to time.

On my first hunting trip with it, I had a 348 yd shot at a mule deer. It was at a steep downward angle and although I had a log to rest my foreend on, I had dropped my pack up the hill a ways and had nothing to rest the butt on. I almost passed on the shot because my crosshairs were floating on and off of the buck. Fortunately, my brother volunteered his thigh as support and I got my buck. Had I had a heavier rifle, I don’t think I would have had the problem.

After that, I decided what I really needed was a rifle in the 7.5 to 8 pound range. I found a left hand Remington 700 LSS for a donor action and I was going to have a 280 AI built. After some research, it looked like it was going to take some doing and a lot of money to get a Remington 700 to 7.5 pounds scoped. While I was still deciding what parts to get, Sportsman’s Warehouse started offering left hand Tikka T3x Superlites so I decided to try one in 6.5 CM. With the 3-9 Leupold I threw on it as a temporary fix, it weighs 6 lb 14 oz. If I add a scope I think should work for dialing, I should be right around 7.5 lbs. I have not shot a whole lot of rounds through it yet, but so far, the group consistency has been much better than with the 700 Ti. I don’t know if that is because of the extra half pound in weight, or the stock fitting me better, or the balance of the rifle overall (pencil barrel on the Ti), or a combination of all of these factors and/or other factors.

I am not going to sell my 700 Ti (even though the bolt is on the wrong side) because it is so nice to carry and it would fine for most of my hunting. But, it is unlikely that I will take it on a hunt where I think there is much chance of a 400+ yard shot.

 

[FURMAN]

The lighter it is the more difficult it is to shoot from field positions. The more recoil it has the more difficult it is to shoot from field positions. Combine the two and it gets worse. As already stated you need to practice from the positions you plan on shooting from. You also need to find your threshold for weight and recoil.

 

[16Bore]

Light rifles and 22LR's will tell you really quick what you're doing wrong.

 

[Lawnboi]

I can’t shoot a light gun for crap.

That’s why I carry something that is almost 10 pounds.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

When you got buck fever it's nice to have a vertical grip, a slight bit of heft, low recoil straight back recoil.

I don't find it hard to shoot say 2" groups, but you really got to hold the gun more on a featherweight lighting off the plus side of 40 grains powder. You get more movement that's for sure. Inside of 400, not an issue.

The cross arm, supported under the butt pad works, until it don't.

 

[Tman24]

Read up Nathan Foster’s article “Hold That Forend” and give that a try

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Never heard of that guy

Taranaki is a pretty awesome place.

 

[n816kc]

Practice is the key -pick up a lightweight 22 and a couple of bricks of ammo. Shooting from field positions at small targets is a lot of fun and it will quickly improve your accuracy with a hunting rifle.

My nephew’s favorite game is African safari - animal cookies spread out from 10-50 yards.

 

[JeffRaines]

Practice is the key -pick up a lightweight 22 and a couple of bricks of ammo. Shooting from field positions at small targets is a lot of fun and it will quickly improve your accuracy with a hunting rifle.

My nephew’s favorite game is African safari - animal cookies spread out from 10-50 yards.

I like to try to pick the heads off of daisies(in season) from 50-100. Yeah the 100 yard is a crapshoot for me, but it sure is fun trying.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Not seeing the correlation between 22lr and field shooting a 6.5 pound 308.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

I do think pellet rifles help a lot for practicing big game shots.. artillery hold and a bit of recoil.

 

[westsloper]

I'm following this conversation with a lot of interest. My only big game rifle is a Weatherby Vanguard 270 that weighs about 8lbs 5 ounces scoped. I feel pretty good shooting it, but boy is it heavy. I've been looking at the Tikka Superlite and am nervous about just not being able to shoot it well. The normal lite version isn't much heavier, but I've thought it might be a better choice.

I know everyone's different, but at what point for you does a rifle start to take extra effort to shoot well with?

 

[JeffRaines]

The SL just shoots for me.

The Kimber requires some thought for me as far as hand placement/pressure/cheek/trigger pull.

I’d say it hits somewhere around 5.5lb bare rifle weight. Of course if you buy a 5.5lb rifle and slap a 2 pound scope on it I’d imagine it would negate the light weight.

Also consider recoil. A 5.5lb magnum(or even -06 size) is going to be harder to control than a 5.5lb short action cartridge. Honestly, the 308 thumps pretty good.

 

[ianpadron]

I didn't grow up shooting so I had zero bad habits to break when I started hunting in my early 20s. You just have to realize that shooting ultralight mountain rifles is a completely different animal.

My heaviest rifle is a Tikka T3. My main setup is a hair under 6 pounds with scope and a full mag.

I've picked up several fantastic tips regarding shooting tight groups with these guns.

1) get straight behind the rifle. If you are shooting prone and are cocked to one side or another, you're going to have problems.

2) figure out the grip situation. With you coming from a benchrest gun that basically shoots itself, you'll need to find the sweetspot in terms of grip strength. An old-timer told me to treat a lightweight gun like a bird, hold it tight enough that it won't fly away and not so tight that you hurt it. Thumb-less grip is a great start.

3) practice using dry fires. Even the most microscopic flinch is amplified with a lightweight rifle. You need to make sure that your technique is absolutely dialed. I like to rest my rifle on my pack. I was taught to close my eyes for 3 seconds and then open them to check that the reticle stayed put, that's how you know you're not moving the rifle.

4) set your trigger as light as it will go. Again, any force or torque that would otherwise be mitigated by the weight of a heavier rifle can lead to all sorts of mayhem in a lightweight mountain rig. I have all mine set at 2#

Good luck, hope some of these tips help out!





Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

 

[n816kc]

My thoughts behind the 22 are more practice ( I can afford to shoot a lot of 22lr) and not developing any bad habits due to recoil.

My Remington Ti 270 weighs 6 lbs 8 ozs with sling and 3 rounds, my Ruger 77/22 6 lbs 4 ozs. They balance and handle very much the same when mounting, putting on target and taking the shot. Recoil is all together different, but that's why i practice with the 22. Triggers were both replaced - Trigger Tech on the 270 and Volquartsen on the 22, they both break around 2.5 lbs.

I enjoy shooting my 270, but after 15-20 rounds it starts to wear on me. The 22 is just fun, it's easy to go thru a hundred + rounds a session without form breaking down or fatigue. It has definitely improved my field shooting.

 

[kcm2]

With a heavier rifle, you hold it with little pressure on the bench. I was taught that you pull a light rifle in tight to your shoulder, as they will tend to bounce more on recoil. My LW rifle is 6.5 lbs scoped and loaded. It'll shoot 3 into a nice, tiny group consistently. Try it, you may find them shooting better.

 

[ssssnake529]

A heavy rifle allows for techniques which won't work on light rifles. I have some very light hunting rifles, and I have to shoot them very differently than I do my heavy rifles.

Here is an article that helped me learn to shoot my lightweight rifles much better:

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Hold+that+Forend.html