Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,804
- 6,122
Met my 80 year old cyclist & retired carpenter buddy at the range this morning a bit before sunrise. Perfect day for target practice! Temp was 37 degrees, cool, clear, still air... Made me wish I'd brought a longer range rifle too.
My buddy has an elk hunt coming up next week, and he wanted some help making sure his rifle was good to go. It's not an expensive rifle, but dang, this thing can shoot! He got a 7-08 Ruger American, put a nice recoil pad on it (for his bony old shoulder) and a Vortex scope of some sort.
Interestingly he'd selected 140 gr Nolser AccuBond factory ammo! I was excited about that and told him what a fan of Nosler bullets I've been. He used that same ammo to take a decent mule deer buck last year.
We fired his rifle at 100, 200 and finally at 300 yards. I did adjust the scope a bit to the right, and got rid of some elevation for him. He'd just done a rough sight-in last year with it, but it worked on that buck. This year? Nothing should be safe if he can get a bit of a rest to use. His last shot rang that 300 yard gong so nicely!
I shot his rifle a bit as well, and have to admit, I'm very favorably impressed by the Ruger American. The action is slick. The bolt handle very comfortable. The trigger is pretty doggone sweet too! The detachable four-shot magazine worked flawlessly. And it's accurate! Managed to print a three shot group just over an inch with it... at 200 yards! Nosler factory ammo... Hmmm... Nice.
After we had his rifle all dialed in (which was really a pretty easy task), I pulled out the ol' 30-30 Glenfield just to check things at 100 yards. Last year I'd pulled the 2.5x Leupold off and installed the Williams receiver sight. It could still use a little tweaking on the sight-in, but... at 100 yards it produced a three shot group of about 1.25" with this Winchester 170 gr ammo... I'm satisfied.
What a nice fall morning! Time at the range with a good friend. Two solid, inexpensive rifles that are shooting just fine with factory ammo... Love it!
Guy
My buddy has an elk hunt coming up next week, and he wanted some help making sure his rifle was good to go. It's not an expensive rifle, but dang, this thing can shoot! He got a 7-08 Ruger American, put a nice recoil pad on it (for his bony old shoulder) and a Vortex scope of some sort.
Interestingly he'd selected 140 gr Nolser AccuBond factory ammo! I was excited about that and told him what a fan of Nosler bullets I've been. He used that same ammo to take a decent mule deer buck last year.
We fired his rifle at 100, 200 and finally at 300 yards. I did adjust the scope a bit to the right, and got rid of some elevation for him. He'd just done a rough sight-in last year with it, but it worked on that buck. This year? Nothing should be safe if he can get a bit of a rest to use. His last shot rang that 300 yard gong so nicely!
I shot his rifle a bit as well, and have to admit, I'm very favorably impressed by the Ruger American. The action is slick. The bolt handle very comfortable. The trigger is pretty doggone sweet too! The detachable four-shot magazine worked flawlessly. And it's accurate! Managed to print a three shot group just over an inch with it... at 200 yards! Nosler factory ammo... Hmmm... Nice.
After we had his rifle all dialed in (which was really a pretty easy task), I pulled out the ol' 30-30 Glenfield just to check things at 100 yards. Last year I'd pulled the 2.5x Leupold off and installed the Williams receiver sight. It could still use a little tweaking on the sight-in, but... at 100 yards it produced a three shot group of about 1.25" with this Winchester 170 gr ammo... I'm satisfied.
What a nice fall morning! Time at the range with a good friend. Two solid, inexpensive rifles that are shooting just fine with factory ammo... Love it!
Guy
