Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,496
- 4,684
After six months of shooting no center fire rifles, while recovering from neck surgery... I got the .30-06 out to the 300 yard range today.
Shot from sitting, no support other than the sling wrapped around my arm:
Very little wind today, warm, 80 degrees:
Cold bore and next four shots. The cold bore and two others are in the "A-zone" and I pulled two shots right and low.
Rifle is a Remington 700 CDL, free-floated and nicely bedded, trigger set at 3 pounds. The scope is an old 2-7x Redfield. Set at 6x, and zeroed at 200 yards. Used my standard .30-06 load: 165 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, over a healthy dose of H4350 for 2850 fps.
These things were very clear to me:
1. This is the most recoil my new neck can handle, for now. Ruled out using my .300 WSM for this year's hunting and the mere thought of torching off the .375 scared me! :shock:
2. Knowledge of marksmanship didn't go away, but my skills have deteriorated a bit, despite doing a lot of pistol shooting, and a tiny bit of .22 rifle shooting. I wasn't even allowed to dry fire for months, as the surgeon didn't want me in a rifle shooting position... And yeah, he knows what he's talking about being both a very good surgeon and an experienced shooter.
3. The rifle, scope and load remained true! This makes me so happy! After setting up my target, I sat down on the mat, wrapped the old leather sling around my left arm then:
Breathe
Relax
Aim
Sights
Squeeze
First round hit smack in the A-zone as intended!
I managed to drop a couple out to the right, but also put a couple more in the A-Zone. It was a very gratifying start to the range session.
Looks like I'm hunting elk with the .30-06 this year, which is just fine with me. It's a good cartridge, and a good rifle.
Enjoy your range time, and your hunting time all!
Guy
Shot from sitting, no support other than the sling wrapped around my arm:
Very little wind today, warm, 80 degrees:
Cold bore and next four shots. The cold bore and two others are in the "A-zone" and I pulled two shots right and low.
Rifle is a Remington 700 CDL, free-floated and nicely bedded, trigger set at 3 pounds. The scope is an old 2-7x Redfield. Set at 6x, and zeroed at 200 yards. Used my standard .30-06 load: 165 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, over a healthy dose of H4350 for 2850 fps.
These things were very clear to me:
1. This is the most recoil my new neck can handle, for now. Ruled out using my .300 WSM for this year's hunting and the mere thought of torching off the .375 scared me! :shock:
2. Knowledge of marksmanship didn't go away, but my skills have deteriorated a bit, despite doing a lot of pistol shooting, and a tiny bit of .22 rifle shooting. I wasn't even allowed to dry fire for months, as the surgeon didn't want me in a rifle shooting position... And yeah, he knows what he's talking about being both a very good surgeon and an experienced shooter.
3. The rifle, scope and load remained true! This makes me so happy! After setting up my target, I sat down on the mat, wrapped the old leather sling around my left arm then:
Breathe
Relax
Aim
Sights
Squeeze
First round hit smack in the A-zone as intended!
I managed to drop a couple out to the right, but also put a couple more in the A-Zone. It was a very gratifying start to the range session.
Looks like I'm hunting elk with the .30-06 this year, which is just fine with me. It's a good cartridge, and a good rifle.
Enjoy your range time, and your hunting time all!
Guy
