Excellent afternoon at the range!

Guy Miner · Mar 13, 2015

Sorry, not a single photo..

A buddy and I took a self-described "new shooter" to the rifle range today. He sure seemed to know all the basics. Eventually I pried out that he's been on two antelope hunts, and an elk hunt, and has Africa in mind for next year...

He isn't thrilled with his current hunting rifle and wanted to try a few others. We shot from 20 and 200 yards with:

.270 Win Tikka
.30-06 Rem 700 CDL
.300 Win mag Browning A-Bolt w/BOSS
.375 H&H Ruger Number One, scoped
.375 H&H Win Model 70, iron sights only

He did really well! It sure is fun, putting that gong out at 200 yards and smacking it, first shot, with the hunting rifles!

Oh yeah, took it real "easy" on him with the .375, I donated a box of 300 gr Sierras loaded to 2600 fps for the day... :mrgreen:

Guy

DrMike · Mar 13, 2015

Gotta' watch those "new shooters," Guy. They can take you for a ride. Hey, any afternoon at the range has to be better than many of the alternatives.

nvbroncrider · Mar 13, 2015

Yes sir can't complain with that.

Guy Miner · Mar 13, 2015

Yep. This wasn't some kind of load-development shooting, or shooting to see who could make the tightest groups. This was just letting him check out some different rifles & cartridges & scopes, while we all shot from various "field" type positions.

There is something very satisfying in smacking the target, from sitting on the ground, with a 300 grain SPBT sent from the good ol' Ruger Number One. :grin: I hadn't shot that puppy in a while.

The .30-06 700 CDL delivered great hits too, no problem, no matter who was shooting. It's just doesn't smack the steel as hard... :mrgreen:

Lots of grins all around.

Guy

6mm Remington · Mar 13, 2015

Great fun Guy! Now tell me that when he pulled the trigger on that #1 that it was not a special grin coming from ear to ear. There is something about those buggers. I might be biased, but there is something meaningful that comes from carrying a rifle that only lets you do it one at a time.

You sort of let us down though because we need pictures Guy and you know that!

Guy Miner · Mar 13, 2015

Yeah, I was pretty busy making things happen, rather than taking photos. Apparently my buddy took a few, might be something worthwhile. I'll check.

Vince · Mar 13, 2015

If he's going for plains game I suspect you sold him on the 30-06?
I'm impressed by your willingness to share. We should all try to to more of that. Thank you for being a good role model.
Vince

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

Guy Miner · Mar 14, 2015

Vince - I think he was very impressed with the .30-06 rifles. He hasn't been exposed to a lot of different rifles, and is not fond of his current hunting rifle - I believe it's a Model 70 in .270 WSM. Said it doesn't feed smoothly at all and he doesn't like the short action. Interesting, because he's not a large man.

He had no experience with the "standard" cartridges, like the .30-06 & .270 Win, only with various magnums that he and his buddies used on their antelope and elk trips - and it appeared to me that he was a bit surprised by the power level of both the .270 and the .30-06 rifles/ammo he was shooting yesterday.

The guy can hold steady... He put the first round from the .300 Win mag right on the "head" of my silhouette gong at 200 yards... Told me that his first shot from a friend's .264 Win Mag took a pronghorn at 420 yards... I think he's got the whole "hold steady & squeeze" thing figured out... :grin:

He also did really well with the Browning A-Bolt & .300 Win mag - that factory muzzle brake sure takes the bite out of magnum recoil.

Pleasant surprise for him was the pair of .375's he shot - neither the Winchester or the Ruger kicked him around much. He did all his .375 shooting from standing, to be able to "give" easily with the recoil. Liked the Model 70 better - and I'll admit that stock does a real nice job of taming down recoil.

Fun afternoon at the range, interesting bringing along a newer rifleman, who is about 12 years my senior! BTW, he's looking hard at some really nice rifles, including Cooper and Nosler. I told him about the nice showroom at Nosler, in Bend, Oregon. I think he's headed there soon...

Also had a lot of questions about the .280 and the .280 AI. After learning a lot about those cartridges, right here on the Nosler Forum, I had nothing but praise for them. The only drawback for him is that he has no intention of handloading, and wants to buy a good amount of factory ammo, and be done with it.

Is also thinking that Africa may not be a one-time hunt, but several hunts over the next few years. My hunting buddy has recently hunted South Africa and cautioned him that common cartridges like the .270, .30-06 and .300 Win mag were readily available in Africa, but less popular cartridges like the .284 Win & .280 AI might be difficult to find there.

Guy

truck driver · Mar 14, 2015

Hey Guy, show him this nice 300 Weatherby that I'll sell him reasonably. You could reload the brass for him. $700 plus shipping with out scope. B&C Medalist stock, Timney trigger and Talley rings along with brass and dies. :mrgreen: