Equipment versus practice posts and Rifle practice/shooting

[Castle Rock]

The Tikka 8 twist in 22/250 is a beast, and the 3-9 is also

 

[TX_Diver]

Been shooting my bow a lot more the last few years but after shooting my rifle a few weeks back and not being able to hit a paper plate offhand at 75 yards I've been looking for some ways to improve.

I definitely believe in instruction and practice over equipment and am signed up for an appleseed in 2 weeks. But now y'all have got me consider selling my RRA Predator Pursuit upper to fund a bolt .223 also!

 

[backcountry_hunter]

Is your 17hmr the old one without the accutrigger? I have an old savage 93r17 and it is doesn't have the accutrigger. The trigger suuuuucks! It's really heavy and creepy and I've been thinking about getting one of those rifle basix replacement Sears for it, as that seems to be the only solution for making the trigger better. My gun also has the 6-24 tasco scope and it's hilariously large on the gun

If yours has the same trigger as mine, I wouldn't be surprised if that is part of the large group size for laying prone. But yes, the wind does blow those bullets pretty easily so it could also be that. I plan to use my 17 for this practice drill also but need to get a smaller scope put on first and I would do it at 50 yds with a smaller target size.

I have the old 93r17 w/ no accutrigger. It came out shortly after I was given mine..... I had a gunsmith tweek the trigger (could have done it myself if I knew then what I know now). Factory components and 5 mins with a very fine grit wheel. Buddy was the gsmith and sat there while he did it..... stupid easy and the thing breaks like glass now.

 

[TX_Diver]

What's the opinion on a Savage Lightweight Storm in .223 for this vs the T3X?

20" barrel w/ 1:9 twist being the major difference as both Tikka and savage make rifles more accurate than me.

What gr bullet would the shorter barrel at 1:9 favor? I have a case of 55gr fmjs that would be great to use for this as possible. I do have the equipment to reload but have never really got into it due to time. I'd much prefer to spend the time shooting rather than loading.

The savage is also $681 and 5.6lbs vs the Tikka at $790 and 6.4lbs
Edit - blued Tikka is $600 on gunbroker and stainless is $699.

 

[Formidilosus]

What's the opinion on a Savage Lightweight Storm in .223 for this vs the T3X?

Feed, function, trigger, stock, ability to shoot 77gr bullets, scope mounting are all compromised on the Savage. But other than that- it’s great!

 

[TX_Diver]

Feed, function, trigger, stock, ability to shoot 77gr bullets, scope mounting are all compromised on the Savage. But other than that- it’s great!

hmmm....

Printed the targets from earlier in the thread and gonna see how it goes tomorrow. I'm fortunate to be able to shoot to 400 at the place I'm living now so I'd like to take advantage of that!

Local shop has the Ruger American Predator (22" 1:8 Twist) in stock... I'll keep looking around for a bit though. If I do get a new rifle I'd strongly prefer stainless as I hate cleaning as well.

 

[KClark]

Feed, function, trigger, stock, ability to shoot 77gr bullets, scope mounting are all compromised on the Savage.

Brutal man, but it needs to be said.

 

[Formidilosus]

Brutal man, but it needs to be said.

Yes. Despite people wanting it to be so, everything’s not equal once it comes off the shelf. Of course someone can kill the snot out of animals with a Savage or most anything else, but that doesn’t remove their shortcomings in use. I don’t have brand “likes”. If there were something better for the purpose, I’d simply use it.

 

[TX_Diver]

I’m at 6 after round 2. Does this score like archery?

 

[fightthenoise]

Line cutters count!

 

[TX_Diver]

Line cutters count!

If that one counts I’ll take 10 then. I figured I’d shoot about a 10 but was way off on how I got there. Hit 3/5 offhand and missed 4/5 kneeling supported. Will post target and thoughts from computer later. Great drill though.


Would be cool if Rokslide made this into a challenge like the cold bow challenge somehow!

 

[TX_Diver]

Shot this in the morning for the first time.

Used a RRA Predator Pursuit (20" Upper 1:8 twist) shooting American Eagle 50gr tipped vamint rounds. SWFA 3-15x42 FFP Mil Reticle set at 6x for this.

Temp in the low 40s with a 10-15 mph breeze somewhere between half/full value.

I know I suck offhand and am not great sitting/kneeling so I surprised myself a bit when I hit 3/5 offhand and missed 4/5 from the kneeling/sitting supported. The first round with no time limit probably took me 5 min to shoot. I sat sitting/unsupported for the 2nd target, and then sitting w/ primos trigger sticks and my pack for the 3rd target. Prone off the pack for the last one. After missing both of those I put 5 rounds on my sticker target and found out I'm about a 1/2 Mil right In my head I'd had those 2 points as a gimme! (1 would've been out anyways but 1/2 mil would've moved 1 in prone and 1 in from seated/supported)

Definitely going to check zero before next time.

I dialed a 1/2 mil left and went onto the 2nd course of fire.

The 2nd course I definitely felt the time crunch. I had my pack on, hip and chest straps buckled, rifle in hand. I completely blew the offhand shots. I slowed down just a hair for the seated/unsupported (still wearing my pack) and nailed both of those. 3rd target I took my pack off and put it across my lap and ran out of time. I shot that again for the sake of practice and missed both anyways. No problems getting from standing to prone and shooting from the pack but I pulled the last shot a bit. If we're scoring like archery then it may still count.

3rd course of fire wasn't too bad. I went quick for the offhand shot as more time wasn't really going to help me and I wanted to have time to get the hits I was more confident on. Got a hit anyways. Just missed the seated/unsupported shot and the seated supported shot (pack across lap). Went to prone and got the last round in no problem. 6 seconds to spare.

I scored it a 9/20 but the post above suggests I can claim my prone shot that was on the line so that'd put me at a 10/20.

Next weekend there's an appleseed event an hour away so I'm going to attend that. I can shoot to 400 where I live right now so might as well work on my shooting through winter while there's no crops up!

Will shoot this again in 2 weeks and report back after the appleseed. Cheers

Edit - Just picked up a SWFA 6x off snipershide and some 77gr SMKs from Midway. Think I'm going to sell a Gen 2 Razor to fund some practice. I can move this scope to that rifle, and throw the 6x on here for now. I'll keep an eye out for a deal on a T3X in the meantime too though. I don't shoot that other rifle much but really not looking to sell any guns after the boating accident and based on the election results.

 

[jstamper1979]

Well, hell...

I can't buy the swfa 6x due to backorder, and its hell to find the dang tikka .223 as well...

Considering .308 or 6.5 tikka. Ammo cost isn't much different currently. It would be capable much further...

The 6x is backordered but the have the 3-9 in the same scope.

Thoughts?

I’m totally unaffiliated, but there is a modified 6x on the 24hourcampfire classifieds now...

Swfa 6x moa windage chop and machined elevation

Swfa 6x moa. Used very briefly on a 6 cm. No longer have the gun and am long on scopes. Sent to Shaen to have the elevation knobs machined off. Windage wacked off by yours truly and has a slot cut to fit a coin. Covered by vinyl chair leg cap. (She's a real campfire special). Glass is clea...

www.24hourcampfire.com

 

[Stu]

Looks like SWFA has the 6x mil-quad back in stock at the moment for anyone who has been looking

 

[307]

Looks like SWFA has the 6x mil-quad back in stock at the moment for anyone who has been looking

@Stu, I owe you a beer my friend.

Got one! And 10% off and free shipping was icing on the cake!!!

 

[TX_Diver]

They're gone now. I never even got the e-mail notification that they were back in stock haha. But they did have 10% off the stainless T3x and some talley rings. I also grabbed a fixed 10x w/ rings and a level to put on the .308 that I'm pulling the razor from.

 

[Don Qui Puncher]

I saw the 3-15 was 200 off

 

[307]

@Formidilosus

Is there an online resource where a person can learn the proper fundamentals of shooting a hunting rifle?

In archery, a beginner would do well to go through the School of Nock videos put out by John Dudley. He lays down fundamentals all the way from basic to more advanced in a systematic way so that a beginner is at least going to have a solid foundation.

I'm looking for something similar dedicated to shooting a hunting rifle.

I've watched some things by Ryan Kleckner (sp?) and it seems pretty reasonable/credible but thought I'd ask.

Thanks in advance.

 

[WRO]

Tagged in

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[bruno747]

Been reading through this thread. Makes me appreciate that I live where I do.

I can go to the grasslands quite a few times a year and really test my skills. When Prairie dogs are in season, they are by far the best test I have seen. If you can nail a prairie dog at several hundred yards with your normal big game rifle in prairie winds you are good for that elk. Plus, you build an incredible amount of confidence.

In addition to practice, skills, and the hardware, confidence is the next thing I have seen make people miss longer shots. You need to not only have the skills and the practice to make the shot, you need to have the confidence in your tools and yourself otherwise you start doubting yourself. The only way you gain that confidence is getting in the field multiple times per year proving that time and time again, you and your rifle do exactly what you expect when asked.

I also believe in set it and forget it for hunting. All my rifles that see more than 250 yards have FFP scopes with capped turrets and a Christmas tree reticle with counts marked (I use MOA just cause thats what I started with). All I have to do to make a good shot anymore is measure with my sig bdx range finder (which has all the details about the rifle and load input including chronograph measurements), set the parallax to the measured distance, account for wind and hold over for wind and drop on the reticle at any magnification. No twiddling with turrets, no remembering drop tables, no dope cards to lose or become unreadable. At first I was worried about batteries and kept CR123 batteries on hand, but almost 3 years later, and many trips hunting anything from elk to prairie dogs, it still has yet to even show a low battery alert.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy dialing turrets in when on a range, but when hunting I want to minimize the human error and exposed parts, even if the scope has a zero reset or lock.