Range Day, Daughter outshoots Dad...

[BeeTee]

Went to the range yesterday. Was a good day... This was the 4th time my daughter had been behind the wheel of a centerfire rifle. She loves the 223, and does a fine job with it!

Rifle is a Rem 700 VS 223, factory barrel, glass bedded, tuned trigger. It's had quite a few rounds down the tube. The load is Nosler 50BT, Win brass, 27.7gr W748 and Rem BR primers at a little over 3400-fps. She also gets a kick out of thwacking the 6x12 steel plate at 300 yards. All targets were shot at 100 yards.

I just restocked my Rem ADL 7RM with a Boyds' laminated stock. I glass bedded the recoil lug area and first 1-1/2" of the barrel channel, and free-floated the remainder of the barrel. First time at the range since the stock replacement. Here are three groups with my standard load of 140BT, 68gr RL19 and Fed210 at about 3200-fps.

 

[JD338]

BeeTee

Outstanding. Congratulations to your daughter, she did great!
The 7mm Rem Mag looks very nice in the Boyds Gray Laminate stock too.

JD338

 

[DrMike]

BeeTee,

You are going to have to break down and buy her a properly stocked rifle she can call her own. Man, if she can do that with a wrong handed rifle, think what she would do with a properly configured rifle! Congratulations to your daughter. The 7 RM looks quite nice in the Boyd stock.

 

[FOTIS]

Darn good shooting. What is she 12 years young?

 

[BK]

Yep, looks like a good time by all! That's some dang fine shooting!

That's one of the nicest looking laminates I've laid eyes on... classic style with a nice subtle cheekpiece. Good looking rig.

 

[SJB358]

Very nice shooting by your daughter! She looks like she had a great teacher.

That 7 mag looks GREAT. Seems like it is settling right back in as well! Gotta love those 7mm's. Scotty

 

[6mm Remington]

Very nice shooting even if she is coming from the wrong side of the rifle! :grin: That's pretty cool and is very good shooting guys.
David

 

[6mm Remington]

Had to add one more thing. Gotta love those laminates! Boyds makes a great stock. My son has one on his 6mm.

 

[cloverleaf]

At the range with your kids.....Lucky Man. Your daughter has "nerves of steel" and young eyes I think. Well done starting her out right Dad....CL

 

[Elkman]

nice !!!!! Its great to have your daughter shooting with you. As someone else said she shoots very well. !!! :grin:

 

[C.Smith]

Very nice. Getting her shoot groups like that could be addicting :grin: . Thanks.

Corey

 

[BeeTee]

Thanks guys. Yes, young eyes and a competitive spirit help. A LH rifle with a little shorter stock (she's 5'4") is a possibility! She just started her second year of college, so she'll be occupied for the time being.

Boyds does a great job with their stocks. I needed to relieve the barrel channel just ahead of the recoil lug about 1/16" to get the action to fully set into place, but otherwise, it was a drop-in. This 7RM was one of the first stainless rifles produced by Remington. I bought it in the late summer of 1992. I tried to get daughter to shoot it, but no go... BT

 

[BK]

Good call not pushing her. Too much push at the bench might scare her off... Not that he wants to, but I don't let my 73 YO dad shoot my .300 Mags or my 300 grain .44 handloads, and I suspect that I'll be really careful with Nolan and recoil, too.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Yeah I have never seen the point in giving a beginner a huge cannon just to laugh at the look on their face after they were nearly mule kicked into next week. Its not funny to them and it may make them never want to touch a gun ever again. My cousin Rusty is that way because when he was 11, a friends Dad handed him a 300 WBY Mag and let him fire a shot. He still has the scope cut scar in between his eyes to this day.

No we gotta let folks try something they want to without any nube jokes, because as I said they are not funny and don't do our shooting sport any good.

But way to go on getting her to shooting the 223, its a fun round! And that 7mm looks real sweet!

 

[BeeTee]

It was a jest when I asked her if she wanted to pull the trigger on the 7. I knew she'd decline, and I wouldn't have let her anyway. She was with us a few weeks ago, when some in our group were shooting 300WSM & 300WBY rifles. As a spectator, that let her get some feel for what recoil was all about... :wink:

 

[BeeTee]

Daughter Sarah & I visited the range this past Friday. Hadn't shot the 308 Ruger Scout since last winter, and I had recently loaded some Nosler 150BTs ahead of 42 grains of H335... Thought it would make a lighter recoiling load suitable for Sarah to use this fall on antelope. This load produced an average velocity out of the 16-1/2" barrel of 2565-fps on the day these photos were taken. For accuracy, this load wasn't bad, but... Sarah shot a couple 3-shot groups with this load, producing groups of 1-1/2" or so. OK, but....

I had also taken along about 30 rounds of another batch I'd loaded for a Rem 7400 I once owned, using 165BTs and 44 grains of W748 - a mild load that functioned well in the semi-auto rifle. Sarah wanted to shoot the little Ruger more, so I let her, cautioning that it might kick a little more... These produce about 2600-fps. As it turned out, the difference in felt recoil wasn't noticeable, but the accuracy difference was...

Sarah shot this group, which measures about 1/4" for 3 shots. Stunned me... I shove more ammo at her...

Her next group was great too, about 3/4", and the next about 5/8"... That little rifle and the shooter are both keepers...

Sarah also shot a 5-shot group with the Remington VS 223. This load was the Sierra 50 Blitz, 27.5 gr of W748, Rem 7-1/2 primers and Lake City cases that I loaded some 20 years ago.

I recently switched the SWFA 12x scope to my Remington 7mm Mag with the intention of doing some long(er) range practice shooting this summer. I also wondered what effect on group size higher magnification and precise focusing might be when compared to the Leupold 3-9 I'd had on it. Turns out, no real difference. The rifle is still a 1" gun. As long as I've owned this rifle it's produced a few smaller groups, but on average it's a 1" rifle. I'm OK with that.

Was a great day! Daughter loves to shoot, and she is very good at it...

 

[Vince]

Great write-up and your daughter can shoot the wings off a gnat at a fair distance.

Happy shooting and hunting to you both.

 

[sask boy]

BeeTee thank you for the report & photos I can see how proud you are of your daughter & really can't wait until she gets a crack at a true lefty rifle :wink: you might have to get real close before you can tell there is more than 1 hole in the target.
So glad to see Dad's taking time to be with their daughter!!!

Blessings,
Dan

 

[SJB358]

Great report buddy! That's awesome. She's a shooter and those rifles sound pretty danged good.

 

[DrMike]

Great report! Congratulations to Sarah! I note that she is shooting left-handed; is Sarah left-handed, or left-eye dominant? I have a few rifles that I specifically picked up for my grandchildren. Yesterday, I discovered that the two with me this summer are left-eye dominant! I guess that means I'll be doing some horse trading at the LGS. Forgot to check this minor detail.