new to long range shooting and hunting

[matt_3479]

Its not the long range your hoping for cause its my first time but please read

I made a post a while back regarding my most recent purchase of a Browning A-bolt chamber in a 300 wsm. Now i was having a lot of little problems like the recoil knocked the scope loose on the first shooting and the recoil knocked the recoil pad loose on the second shooting. I couldn't hit anything with it. Yesterday i went out to a 100 acre property with great shooting capabilities. I re-sighted in with factory ammo around a 1" group. Scope and recoil pad stayed on. we then put the rifles away to do some trap shooting and it was my first time and i ended up being a true killer with the shotgun with only missing 7 out of 75 shots with the first 25 shots being singles pigeons and the 2nd 25 shots being double pigeons and the 3rd 25 shots being a mixed with singles, doubles and triples. Whatever i was doing it was working well. We put the shot guns away to test my first try at semi long range shooting with targets from 50-800 yards. We set up and realized the majority of the targets fell over from the ground being soft from previous rain. The only targets left standing were the 53 yard, 100 yard, 172 yard and the 300 yard.

Now i have never shot anything past 100 yards. I am incredibly interested in long range shooting but i have no money to set one of my rifles up for it. I own 2 factory rifles (300. wsm and 7mm rem mag) that i would like to set up for it, with them currently shooting factory ammo, with terrible scopes (Tasco, and a really old Bushnell). I loaded up the 300.wsm and took the first shot at the 53 yard mark knowing it was a for sure hit. then chambered another for the 100 yard mark and nailed the target. Chambered the 3rd bullet for the 172 yard shot making this my longest shot on a target to date (i know its sad but im only 17 years old and im just starting out) and got a clean hit. Chambered another to make sure and another clean hit. i then loaded up the clip and set up for the 300 yard shot. NOTE* ( we were not shooting of a secure rest, we were standing, while resting off the clay pigeon thrower. The rocking arm on it.) I leaned against the arm and steady my breath. The target was an 8 X 5" aluminum plate. I fired off all 3 shots and nobody really heard anything due to it being a thin aluminum plate. I loaded up 2 more and fired them off with a total of 5 shots fired. We hopped on the atv and road down to it and there were 5 good hits. All the shots hit the plate with a about a 3 1/2" to 4" group. This is my first time shooting long range and it will not be my last.

The Browning A-bolt was as good of a deal as it sounded

 

[bigngreen]

Long range shooting is addictive and you seem well on your way to a healthy addiction!!

There are some reasonable good budget optics out there and post a WTB thread on here and something will come up, guys will come out of the woods to help a guy get started right here.

Sounds like your rig has some promise and should make a nice platform to build up a LRH rig. If you haven't done it yet look up Darrel Holland on Youtube, he has a bunch of very good vids that cover the fundamentals of good shooting form, they will really improve your form.

 

[cfvickers]

If you need a fair scope that will let you see your target, track true, be reasonably clear, and in my experience hold up well enough, I would go to your local wally world and pick up a Centerpoint 4-16x40. They are 69.98 at all the WMs around here. I have fired a few guns with them mounted on and all were quite clear for the money, tracked near perfect when adjustments were needed, and have held up on anything I have seen up to a 300 win mag. I would not however look at it as a long term optics investment, it is a $70.00 scope. But it should suffice for your purpose for the time being. It also has an illuminated retical that can switch between off, green and red. It sucks in low light though because they tend to glare a bit and deminish the view of your target, so I leave them off. My father has a 25-06 marlin XL7 with one and it is the one I have used the most. I have heard a lot good things about them and nothing bad as far as function and reliability. I know several people who can afford far better but find that 70.00 that performs the desired function is money well spent. I am sure there will be someone on here that will say they heard of one that blew up from recoil or just fell apart for whatever reason, and that you should not skimp on optics. I agree that you should not skimp on optics, but when money is tight, a decent scope that works well and is cheap may be just the ticket until you can afford better. You can spend more and get less I promise.

On scopes falling apart, I have personally seen 2 Burris, a leupold VX3, A Swarovski, a Trijicon, and a 600.00 Bausch and Lomb, its a high end one and for whatever reason the model escapes me, All fall apart from recoil or in the Leupold's and Swarovski's case, just because. Swaro was mounted on a .257 Roberts. Oh, and Pentax lightseeker I have on my 45-70 just had a lens crack as well(something about those 500 grain jacketed round nose projectiles from a plastic stocked encore makes that thing hell on scopes). The 45-70 only accounted for 4 scopes so far and only 1 burris and the Pentax are listed here, one was a very cheap scope that already looked like it could fall apart when I put it on (has a lifetime warranty though!!) and the other was a tasco where the lack of quality is expected and failures were nearly guaranteed. Those two were destroyed with the recoil of 300 grain projectiles at 2350 fps.

Bottom line, check out the centerpoint until you can afford better and I think you will be pleased. Don't sweat about if it falls apart, keep your reciept and Wal Mart will replace it. Any scope can fail, Except maybe a Night Force, but its way over a grand.

Good luck, and thats some pretty good shooting for a 17y/o who had never tried that far. You are on the right track. Hardly anyone here started off with the best and most expensive, most of us were much like you or started with less in many cases, mine included.

 

[matt_3479]

Thanks for reading and all the reply's. With being my first time i was really excited to share. Thanks.

 

[Chas1]

On scopes falling apart, I have personally seen 2 Burris, a leupold VX3, A Swarovski, a Trijicon, and a 600.00 Bausch and Lomb, its a high end one and for whatever reason the model escapes me.

Man the scope manufacturers must love you keeping them in business...+1 for helping the economy.

 

[cfvickers]

I have one gun that is hard on scopes. But I am not bs'n either. I have been around enough guns in my life that the failures I have seen are still very uncommon even to me. Just was raised around a lot of shooters and during my teenage years I hung out two to three nights a week with my dad and a very well regarded gunsmith and my dad had a gun shop and sold and returned a lot of scopes from 1996-2004. So if it can fail, I have probably seen it. they weren't all mine. The only scopes I have had fail on me were the 4 on the 45-70 and one on my 300 win mag, and that was an Elite 4200 and was a manufacturer defect, but the scope failed so I count it. The 45-70 has ranged like I said from broken reticles, to scopes falling apart and one cracked lense. Burris scopes in my experience are notorious for broken reticles, Tascos lose their seal, bushnell sport views last forever but aren't all that clear. Sightrons have a life time warranty that you will never need. Bushnell/Bausch&Lomb Elite series suffer a defect from time to time, the adjustment screw sometimes doesn't have a stop that you can detect and this can cause the reticle to detach from the screw/turret. making further adjustment impossible. I am not talking out of my butt, just didn't realize I needed to explain my background. The Swarovski by the way just fell apart, but it may have suffered a blow of some sort, it was on my nephews gun and he is a screw up. We just couldn't prove it. Kid didn't realize he had 1100.00 worth of glass on his gun, and my dad put it on there because he thought it would be pretty much indestructible.

 

[Chas1]

I have one gun that is hard on scopes. But I am not bs'n either. I have been around enough guns in my life that the failures I have seen are still very uncommon even to me. Just was raised around a lot of shooters and during my teenage years I hung out two to three nights a week with my dad and a very well regarded gunsmith and my dad had a gun shop and sold and returned a lot of scopes from 1996-2004. So if it can fail, I have probably seen it. they weren't all mine. The only scopes I have had fail on me were the 4 on the 45-70 and one on my 300 win mag, and that was an Elite 4200 and was a manufacturer defect, but the scope failed so I count it. The 45-70 has ranged like I said from broken reticles, to scopes falling apart and one cracked lense. Burris scopes in my experience are notorious for broken reticles, Tascos lose their seal, bushnell sport views last forever but aren't all that clear. Sightrons have a life time warranty that you will never need. Bushnell/Bausch&Lomb Elite series suffer a defect from time to time, the adjustment screw sometimes doesn't have a stop that you can detect and this can cause the reticle to detach from the screw/turret. making further adjustment impossible. I am not talking out of my butt, just didn't realize I needed to explain my background. The Swarovski by the way just fell apart, but it may have suffered a blow of some sort, it was on my nephews gun and he is a screw up. We just couldn't prove it. Kid didn't realize he had 1100.00 worth of glass on his gun, and my dad put it on there because he thought it would be pretty much indestructible.

Relax, don't read anything more or less into my previous post. I have no reason to doubt what your experience has been. Take care

 

[cfvickers]

Not bitter. Apologize for the apparent tone. You guys don't know me, and it is rare for someone to see that many scope failures. I understand the seeming skepticism you may have or have had. I get a little riled at times but I don't mean any disrespect by it, and I try my best not to ever use disrespectful comments in any reply. It's cool on my end.

 

[Chas1]

Not bitter. Apologize for the apparent tone. You guys don't know me, and it is rare for someone to see that many scope failures. I understand the seeming skepticism you may have or have had. I get a little riled at times but I don't mean any disrespect by it, and I try my best not to ever use disrespectful comments in any reply. It's cool on my end.

All's cool here too. I saw no tone or disrespect. New or not I think you'll find most folks here are pretty relaxed and even if a debate insues...in the end we're all good. Enjoy yourself here and don't worry whether folks believe the number of scope failures or not...personally I take folks at their word unless I have a basis for skepticism which in this case I don't. Take Care.