finding a practice round?

[mtwarden]

I'd like to save my $3 a round hunting ammo for hunting, but I still need to burn a couple of boxes at the range pre-season practicing. Other than purchasing multiple boxes of "cheaper" (nothing cheap anymore) to try and find a round that has a similar (not exact) POI, any suggestions?

I'm thinking a bullet of similar or identical weight, bullet shape, stated velocity to start????

My rifle shoots at ~ 1 MOA off the bench, at the range I'm banging 10x12" gongs from 100-400 yards so obviously this practice round doesn't have to punching holes through the hunting round, but reasonably close would be good.

If by any slim chance someone has already gone through it with the same round (.308 168 Accubond in Nosler Trophy ammo) and you know what works, I'm all ears

 

[cmahoney]

I load midway blems in a similar bullet that I hunt with. They don’t shoot exactly the same but I have different dope for different rounds. You can do the same with factory stuff.


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[Reburn]

doesnt much matter where your practice round hits. If your doing it right 50% of the rounds you fire at the range anyways will be snap caps.

 

[PNWGATOR]

Set up a .223 to dupe your hunting rifle and shoot it all year. Confirm zero and dope with your hunting rifle prior to the season and go hunt. Or, better yet, just hunt with the right bullet in your practice rifle. Win. Win.

 

[Lawnboi]

What are you running for a scope? If it’s something you could dial you can pick whatever for a practice round, write down the zero offset, then go back to hour hunting round zero and confirm before the season.

All factory ammo is getting expensive, even 223. I don’t think it’s going to be easy to find a cheaper practice round in factory form.

Are you able/willing to reload?

Building a copy rifle in 223 would be nice too, for more than just shooting at a target.

 

[mtwarden]

it's not a dial scope (Leupold 2-7)

I reloaded 30-ish years ago when you couldn't get good hunting bullets (read Partition) in factory rounds, when manufacturers started loading premium bullets is when I quit reloading. Unfortunately at this juncture, probably not the most optimum time to jump back in.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

The following is my opinion and folk are free to agree or disagree with it.

Reburn is spot on. Dry fire. Dry fire. Dry fire. If you want to mix it up, there are laser training kits available for rifles.

Your goals should be to improve your fundamentals, consistently get shots off faster, and consistently getting more accurate shots off during unfavorable shooting conditions. Doing this will make you a more effective hunter. Once your rifle is "on" you do not need to keep confirming it by attempting to shoot tiny groups at various distances.

You can grab practice ammo and accept its shortcomings. Your POI may be off and it may print shotgun-type patterns. But it absolutely can be used to work on fundamentals. If your fundamentals are sound, they'll be sound on all rifles and at all distances. You can use it to practice getting shots off faster. Better to get a shot off in 5 seconds, be 1" off POA, and have a dead animal rather than taking 90 seconds to get a "perfect" shot on an animal that is no longer there. You can use the ammo to practice shooting from various positions and various rests. Just be aware that you have to be honest about your misses: was it you or the ammo? Change the distances so you can practice dialing (but to be honest, once you have your ballistics confirmed it is not rocket science).

You can grab a practice rifle (same make/model) in 223. It can be a similar situation as above. Especially with things now, you may not be able to get the most accurate 223 ammo in sufficient quantities. This will lower your practice costs from an ammo perspective. By using the same make/model you will be continuing to build muscle memory which makes things easier. Here's a painful (to this day) lesson. Nothing like practicing with a single-stage safety while your hunting rifle is a two-stage safety. Muscle memory was trained for a single "click" which led to a an audible "click" which led to a B&C buck taking off. Should have been a double "click" leading to a "boom" leading to a dead B&C buck. Now I always have a comparable rifle that I can train with for all of my hunting rifles.

 

[JimGa]

If you can find some, Fed Gold Medal Match is cheaper than your hunting ammo and should be real close.

 

[mtwarden]

^ thanks, well I found some 168 gr (spitzer boattail) Nosler target rounds for about $20 cheaper per box, so ordered a few and will see how those do

 

[ElPollo]

Not same caliber, but before the ammo debacle I was able to find some 130 gr PPU 270 Win for $13/box and bought a few hundred rounds. It hits basically same POI as my TTSX load to 500 yards. Unfortunately those days are probably gone and won't come back for some time. Nowadays, my suggestion would be to buy a good airgun if you want to practice a lot.

 

[MedServ60Driver]

I shoot a lot with a .22. Cheap practice, even in these times, and the fundamentals carry over. Outdoors to 100-150ish it really makes you stay on top of the winds.

I use a Remington 504, which closely duplicates my R700 hunting guns, but honestly IMO you don't need to do that. Trigger control is trigger control.