Bone to pick with new rifle owners - 100 yards out of the box

[Ol' Red]

Shouldn't last 15 days.

If they are poor and can't afford to shoot their usually hunting rounds much, buy a 22 or 30-30 and put the vast majority of rounds through them, and just shoot say 3 box of their hunting ammo annually.
A 500 count pail of 22 is dirt cheap, and really 500 rounds of 30-30 doesn't cost much either.
For the same as 1 months mortgage payment, a person can buy a lot of ammo, and get a lot of enjoyment from it.
Why not go shoot at least once a week.

I would have to agree with you while also disagreeing with you. I try to shoot once a week during the fall until spring. I don't shoot in hot weather because it's not enjoyable to me. I won't turn my enjoyment into forced work.
My youngest son lives in Kansas City and has to drive over two hours to get to a 200 yard range and three hours to get to a longer range. Sometimes it's just not feasible to shoot weekly. You are in a situation that you can shoot regularly as am I. So take full advantage of that and enjoy getting better with more trigger time.
A month's mortgage can certainly buy a lot of ammo, but if it results in living under a bridge next month, it's hard to keep your firearms dry and secure. The most important thing is to hunt within your capabilities and strive to improve your capabilities at all times. Happy shooting and welcome to this forum.

 

[highfinblue]

No doubt some folks have a harder time spending the large amounts of time and even money required to shoot often, but there really is no substitute for it. I do most of my shooting with my old Cooper 57M 22lr. The trigger is excellent so it's very comparable to the Trigger Techs I have in almost all my hunting rifles, and that's definitely another point when it comes to me. Some guys can shoot fairly well with terrible triggers, but I am not one of them. I can't shoot with creep or a heavy trigger pull, at least not compared to how well I can shoot with a light crisp trigger. I have some that break at ounces, and some at around two pounds, but they break like glass, and I have to have that. Should you be one of the guys that refuses to spend the time and money to shoot often, and I'm not bashing you, but you've got to do something even if it's get a snap cap or whatever they call the dummy rounds and spend as much time as you can squeezing the trigger. Trigger pull is a big deal in hitting targets period, but it is huge at distance. You've got to get familiar with your setup, and you have to shoot live rounds at distance even if it's rarely if you are going to hit your target at distance. Like I said I shoot many 22 rounds a year and enjoy eating the squirrel that die as a result of some of that.

 

[Shifty Old Goat]

I have only posted a few times here. No way an expert long range shooter. Never had the time. I am very comfortable to 300 yards as in an earlier post. Everything everyone is saying should be required reading for new shooters. Shooting is a skill, period! It is the same reason the NHRA has rules for driver quals. F1 is almost impossible to qualify. Who wants to be the QB for an NFL team with no practice! I respect each of your shooting abilities and honor to the animal being harvested. Growing up in a hunting town and hunting every year, it was easy to identify and a bit unnerving to see "Great White Hunters" show up in the hills with everything new, shiny... and never used once! From the rig they were driving to the firearm in the rack, no scratches and polished like a gem when they arrived. Bent scratched and broken going home as they lacked the skill to drive and respect for the tools for which they had paid too much! It's shooters like all of you here that set the high standards accross the landscape and are the Pro's to be respected. Love the forum and enjoy all of your posts. Thank to everyone.

 

[txaggie1]

Unfortunately it is a for profit industry, corp dollars book allot of hunts and send people who are not otherwise "hunters" to the woods with professional guide and outfitters. My advise to the guide and outfitters tell them a cull is a trophy they are not deserving anyway! Just my 2cents, but as long as we keep chasing money with these multi-thousand dollar rigs and expensive hunts your not going to fix this. The guy that can afford to do that lives in his office and pays for his family to have a life away from him more often than not.

$$$ is a necessary evil - it is what it is;

 

[highfinblue]

These people want a rifle bore sighted,then when you tell them that bore sighting doesn't get the gun exact,just close, they tell me that I don't know what I'm doing. When you try to explain barrel harmonics, they stare at you like you just stepped off a flying saucer.

I totally get what you just wrote because when people started telling me they were shooting accurately at distance I thought they were lying until I saw it with my own eyes. Harmonics, yaw (not sure of the spelling), bc, wind drift, and only God knows what all else affects trajectory of a bullet seemed like voodoo to me until I started shooting distance myself.

 

[RowdyB]

In 2013 I was able to go on a dream elk hunt in NM. I shot close to 300 rounds through load development and practice. In WV, shots at deer are generally inside 100 yards. I didn't own a chrono then and had no place to shoot beyond 100 yards. We went to the Whittington Center and despite the book velocity being different than actual velocity, I had my rifle zeroed at 200 and my drop figured so that I was hitting dead on at 400 within 7-8 shots. Not being too stupid, I self imposed a 300 yard prone limit on my potential shots at elk.

The other hunter in camp showed up with a new 700 CDL in 7Mag with a high dollar Leupold that had never been fired and one box of I believe 175 grain shells!!! After 15 "practice" shots, the outfitter took the gun and got it on at 100 yards. The rest of the day was spent driving all over the place trying to find more shells. Fortunately, he was able to take an elk with one good shot at about 70 yards with a rest.

There were a number of family and medical factors that contributed to the above situation. I am glad that story had a happy ending because he was a heck of a nice guy and that was probably the last hunt he was ever able to take.

 

[CaneBrake]

Unfortunately it is a for profit industry, corp dollars book allot of hunts and send people who are not otherwise "hunters" to the woods with professional guide and outfitters. My advise to the guide and outfitters tell them a cull is a trophy they are not deserving anyway! Just my 2cents, but as long as we keep chasing money with these multi-thousand dollar rigs and expensive hunts your not going to fix this. The guy that can afford to do that lives in his office and pays for his family to have a life away from him more often than not.

$$$ is a necessary evil - it is what it is;

This is the truth. Every hunting show nowadays is 20 mins of product placement, testimonials, and commercials. The other 5 mins is them actually hunting the animals and then proclaiming at the end that the kill wouldn't have been possible without "insert product here".

Hate it or love it, that's why Meat Eater was my favorite show. No product pushing, it was all about you, the target game, and the lessons learned along the way.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

It has alway been the Man behind the Gun and not the Rifle.
The Military has proven this and Match Shooting.

 

[marksman1941]

This is the truth. Every hunting show nowadays is 20 mins of product placement, testimonials, and commercials. The other 5 mins is them actually hunting the animals and then proclaiming at the end that the kill wouldn't have been possible without "insert product here".

Hate it or love it, that's why Meat Eater was my favorite show. No product pushing, it was all about you, the target game, and the lessons learned along the way.

Meat eater is still going strong. Last season it seems to have lost its way a bit, but this season it's back to what it used to be like. It's the only hunting show I'll watch. The focus is on the animal, not the product, and it shows all the successes and failures. I've recently been watching back through the old episodes and was surprised that at least 25% end in no kill. You don't find that on any other show.

 

[Turkeytider]

One thing I noticed in some of these shows, and a reason I don`t really watch them anymore, is that a lot of times somebody would kill an animal and they would laugh like some kind of silly hyena. I`m in no way saying that someone shouldn`t take satisfaction in a nice shot to culminate an honest hunt. Just somehow seems a little disrespectful to a life taken. But that`s just me and I`m getting old.

 

[skipglo]

Shouldn't last 15 days.

If they are poor and can't afford to shoot their usually hunting rounds much, buy a 22 or 30-30 and put the vast majority of rounds through them, and just shoot say 3 box of their hunting ammo annually.
A 500 count pail of 22 is dirt cheap, and really 500 rounds of 30-30 doesn't cost much either.
For the same as 1 months mortgage payment, a person can buy a lot of ammo, and get a lot of enjoyment from it.
Why not go shoot at least once a week.

Your 30-30 shells must be Ranch supplied. One of the more difficult shells to buy or find here for nearly 2 years. As for not costing much 500 will run over $1200.00. That's alot of disposable income these days. Since January 01,2023....my mortgage payment has gone up 110%. So I'm starting to know what poor is looking like! I for one am not looking to put 3700.00 into ammo... anytime soon!

 

[CaneBrake]

Your 30-30 shells must be Ranch supplied. One of the more difficult shells to buy or find here for nearly 2 years. As for not costing much 500 will run over $1200.00. That's alot of disposable income these days. Since January 01,2023....my mortgage payment has gone up 110%. So I'm starting to know what poor is looking like! I for one am not looking to put 3700.00 into ammo... anytime soon!

These old rounds are dying out. It's $60 per 20ct for my pre-64 .32 Winchester Special. Buffalo Bore is the only place I can still get it. It's became crazy.

 

[Rflshootr]

Better, I have chest waders.

Good! I'll probably need 'em.....it just keeps getting deeper and deeper.

 

[skipglo]

It has alway been the Man behind the Gun and not the Rifle.
The Military has proven this and Match Shooting.

I don't see any big winners shooting 400.00 rifles in the past 20 years or more. I believe it's a combination of both...You could be the best marksman in the world and be given a weapon not capable of shooting a 5 " group at 100 yards...the man and the gun are a pair!