remingtonman_25_06
Handloader
- Nov 17, 2005
- 2,807
- 402
Today was a very nice day so I decided to take the 338 EDGE out and do a bit of shooting at 800 yards. I also took my little brother and let him shoot a few at 800 yards. Hes only shot a rifle a couple times, and nothing over about 200 yards, so I thought he would get a kick out of doing some LR shooting with me.
Some history behind the rifle. Its a Rem 700 LSS in 338 EDGE set up to shoot the 300g SMK at 2850fps with 92g H-1000. It has a 28" HART stainless, 1-10", sendero contour, fluted, with a DE muzzle brake. The factory trigger is set at 1.5# and breaks like glass. Scope is a Leupold VX3 LR 6.5-20x50, SF, set in Leupold PRW base/rings. It also has a bubble level and a cosine angle indicator. Harris bipod in the prone position was used for all shooting. The rifle was built and action trued up by Shawn Carlock of Defensive Edge Gunsmithing. He does a nice job and really knows how to build a LR shooter.
Anyway, I layed the big 338 out on my shooting mat in the back of my truck and flipped the legs down on the harris bi pod. I also used a rear bag. Target was a piece of steel about 10"x30" and I painted the bottom section white. I looked at the chart and it said to go UP 20 MOA so I cranked the leupold up 20 MOA. Wind was maybe a few miles an hour, switching, but I figured I would give it a shot before I touched any windage. This thing bucks the wind a lot better then my 25-06 and 7 RM. So I get all snuggled in and touch the 1st off. Second later I hear the resounding "dong". I could see through the scope it looked like a center hit, so I decided to shoot 2 more and see what it looked like. After the 2nd shot I could see it was right in there with the first. So I load the 3rd and final shell and shoot and get a nice 5" cluster, about 3-4" from dead center of where I was aiming. I was pretty happy with that. Just barely over 1/2 MOA off a bipod at 800 yards.
My brother doesn't do a lot of hunting/shooting. As a matter or fact, I'm just trying to get him started. I thought I'd let him have a crack at 800 yards and see what he thought. He was pretty intimidated at the range at first. Seems like it took me forever to point him in the right direction, hes one of those that has a hard time looking at something through a scope and picking it up. He is also left handed for some very odd reason when shooting rifles. I told him to just put the crosshairs dead on the plate, and squeeze the trigger when you were ready and the rifle would do the rest. Well my coaching skills were about to be put to the test.
His 1st shot was a solid hit. You woulda paid $100 to see the grin on his face when he came back from the recoil and heard the solid whack on the gong. I told him to go ahead and shoot again. His 2nd shot he barely missed over the top. I told him not to worry about that and shoot again. He got nice and settled in, took a deep breath, aimed and squeezed the trigger. A second later, you could hear the solid thunk of bullet hitting steel. 2 for 3 at 800 yards for his 1st time ever shooting 800 yards aint to shabby. His fingers are pointing to his 2 hits on the gong, they are about 8" apart, his 2nd shot wen right over the top.
He was pretty stoked and I was excited for him. I told him with a bit more practice, he could start giving me a run for my money, LOL.
Some history behind the rifle. Its a Rem 700 LSS in 338 EDGE set up to shoot the 300g SMK at 2850fps with 92g H-1000. It has a 28" HART stainless, 1-10", sendero contour, fluted, with a DE muzzle brake. The factory trigger is set at 1.5# and breaks like glass. Scope is a Leupold VX3 LR 6.5-20x50, SF, set in Leupold PRW base/rings. It also has a bubble level and a cosine angle indicator. Harris bipod in the prone position was used for all shooting. The rifle was built and action trued up by Shawn Carlock of Defensive Edge Gunsmithing. He does a nice job and really knows how to build a LR shooter.
Anyway, I layed the big 338 out on my shooting mat in the back of my truck and flipped the legs down on the harris bi pod. I also used a rear bag. Target was a piece of steel about 10"x30" and I painted the bottom section white. I looked at the chart and it said to go UP 20 MOA so I cranked the leupold up 20 MOA. Wind was maybe a few miles an hour, switching, but I figured I would give it a shot before I touched any windage. This thing bucks the wind a lot better then my 25-06 and 7 RM. So I get all snuggled in and touch the 1st off. Second later I hear the resounding "dong". I could see through the scope it looked like a center hit, so I decided to shoot 2 more and see what it looked like. After the 2nd shot I could see it was right in there with the first. So I load the 3rd and final shell and shoot and get a nice 5" cluster, about 3-4" from dead center of where I was aiming. I was pretty happy with that. Just barely over 1/2 MOA off a bipod at 800 yards.
My brother doesn't do a lot of hunting/shooting. As a matter or fact, I'm just trying to get him started. I thought I'd let him have a crack at 800 yards and see what he thought. He was pretty intimidated at the range at first. Seems like it took me forever to point him in the right direction, hes one of those that has a hard time looking at something through a scope and picking it up. He is also left handed for some very odd reason when shooting rifles. I told him to just put the crosshairs dead on the plate, and squeeze the trigger when you were ready and the rifle would do the rest. Well my coaching skills were about to be put to the test.
His 1st shot was a solid hit. You woulda paid $100 to see the grin on his face when he came back from the recoil and heard the solid whack on the gong. I told him to go ahead and shoot again. His 2nd shot he barely missed over the top. I told him not to worry about that and shoot again. He got nice and settled in, took a deep breath, aimed and squeezed the trigger. A second later, you could hear the solid thunk of bullet hitting steel. 2 for 3 at 800 yards for his 1st time ever shooting 800 yards aint to shabby. His fingers are pointing to his 2 hits on the gong, they are about 8" apart, his 2nd shot wen right over the top.
He was pretty stoked and I was excited for him. I told him with a bit more practice, he could start giving me a run for my money, LOL.
