My first trip to the range post

[juststarting]

Here you go jerks... My first trip to the range. Something for you lot to laugh about

Before, during: http://myshootingjourney.com/2015/09/13 ... ing-range/

...and after: http://myshootingjourney.com/2015/09/13 ... -and-pain/ (fully recovered now)

[Heckler303]

Like what a lot of us know, .308s are so kind and generous with their kick


That's a pretty good go for your first trip and those groupings are awesome. Not sure if you've listed it somewhere else already, but is that a Tikka T3 in your possession there?

[juststarting]

@Heckler303 - yeah, last punch, I actually yelped (quietly), like WTF did I just do to myself, that cant be normal, lol.

I did as a matter of fact post the targets here first (and my custom frame) - I am trying to catch the blog up to my current state of gunning if you will.

Re: rifle, yep - Tikka T3 CTR with Vortex 4-16×50.

[Lorgar]

Here we go what?!

[Apollo]

What are those marks doing on your arm...????

Butt goes into the shoulder, sit upright and don't lean into the rifle, let the recoil go with you not against you.

Have fun next time, shoot twice as many with no bruise.

[juststarting]

@apollo yep, I learned through trial and error.

[Apollo]

@apollo yep, I learned through trial and error.

By the looks of it what you need is someone who shoots benchrest to watch you and correct some errors before you trial and error the wrong way.

Sit towards the back of the bench so your rifle is right beside you and you don't strain to get behind it, Don't strangle your rifle, just enough grip to have control when you fire it, relax and you will improve shot placement.

Learning the correct way at a bench will give you a lot of satisfaction when you see accuracy improve on a consistant basis. It's also getting to know your rifle and what it can do and how accurately it can do it. That leads to confidence when you go out and about hunting, you know what you can do. Plus over time you will learn to know your shots, what I mean there is that you will know if you made a mistake before you see the result on a target or creature.

Next comes reading conditions to place your shot, not only when it's windy but say at different distances. Looking and remembering where those targets are and what they look like through your scope will help also out in the field.

[sandgroperbill]

Don't ever be afraid to ask questions, when it comes to rifles there's no such thing as a silly question and most people are happy to help

[juststarting]

I am not afraid to ask questions, I just don't think of questions until I need to ask them If that makes sense. For example, one shiner on bicep = question. Before, why would I bother right, like I don't know how to hold a stick (turns out I don't)...

[Lorgar]

What are those marks doing on your arm...????

Butt goes into the shoulder, sit upright and don't lean into the rifle, let the recoil go with you not against you.

Maybe he confused going to the range with going to the gym?

Too many curls?

[joker]

Maybe not enough curls lol

Great post and read mate

[Title_II]

.308 kicks? I'm still not getting this from you guys. Doesn't the rifle have a recoil pad? I can't tell the difference from a .30-06 to a .308 to a .30-30, and can barely tell difference with 5.56. They are all the same. Goes bang. The funny thing is, my mate's .30-06 that weighs about 6 pounds (it's light) dosen't kick at all. My other mate's M1 Garand bites me, even though it is a few pounds heavier! I guess because no recoil pad on it.

That is not bad at all for starting out! I didn't read all that, I like pics, guns, and bullet holes. Us Yanks

If there is recoil issue, are you dry firing? You should be doing more dry firing drills than actual shooting. Especially with cost of ammo over there. Have a mate put a dime on your barrel and dry fire 100 times without the dime falling off and without the aim coming off target. Repeat before you shoot every day. This is the way they train us in the Military over here. It's even more important with handguns, and most of us do more drills with empty handguns than with targets. Plus it's a little safer with all the drawing and stuff, which poses some risks with live ammo. We have to do it live, but it is good to do a lot of practice with cleared firearms.

[Andrew.22]

Good on you for not being afraid to share your shortcomings. I agree with sandgroperbill when it comes to asking questions. Approach someone shooting a similar calibre and ask him for 5 mins of his time to assist a new shooter. It will save you heaps of ammo $$, bruising and time.
Look forward to seeing those groups close right up. Im sure I speak for a lot of readers when I say I'd also be interested in how you came to decide on your rifle and scope choice.

Great post.

[Apollo]

.308 kicks? I'm still not getting this from you guys. Doesn't the rifle have a recoil pad? I can't tell the difference from a .30-06 to a .308 to a .30-30, and can barely tell difference with 5.56.

Every Firearm Kicks. Justs depends on who you are and your perceived version of recoil.

To say that a .308 doesn't kick or have recoil then you really need to re-think that answer. All well and good for the macho man but not all people are built the same and some have injuries that have a great influence on what one uses.

Military training, tounge in cheek....doesn't mean the person can hit the side of a barn. Bit like Police training, they are probably the worst accurate shooters going around.

[sandgroperbill]

Recoil is different for everyone, and this is why it's so important that a rifle fits you right. An example of this is my .30-06. Now, I'm not recoil sensitive, in fact, I seem to have a relatively high threshold to recoil. My .30-06 is 3.2kg (with scope), and it fits me perfectly. I can fire 180s for hours without feeling it. I have a brother that is built very similarly to me, but my rifle doesn't quite fit him right, and as a result, he feels the recoil from this rifle a hell of a lot more than I do (in fact, he refers to this rifle as a three legged ninja as it's all black but kicks like hell).

Some people just feel more recoil than others, but a lot of it comes down to how well it fits your shoulder.

On a bit of a side note, I'm headed to a local pistol club for the first time tomorrow. Now I'm used to long arms, and quite comfortable around them, but tomorrow will be a new experience. I'll be using air rifles, but I'm still going too be asking a hell of a lot of questions and try to leave any assumptions at home.

Edit: I'll be using air pistols, not air rifles.

[juststarting]

Good on you for not being afraid to share your shortcomings. I agree with sandgroperbill when it comes to asking questions. Approach someone shooting a similar calibre and ask him for 5 mins of his time to assist a new shooter. It will save you heaps of ammo $$, bruising and time.
Look forward to seeing those groups close right up. Im sure I speak for a lot of readers when I say I'd also be interested in how you came to decide on your rifle and scope choice.

Great post.

Why would I be afraid to share my short comings? I didn't have anyone to teach or advise me, just got up and did it... So, really, I actually think I am awesome

About asking someone for help, I don't have any social inhibitions about that either and as a matter of fact I have. Unfortunately and probably wrong person. I don't think his advice was very helpful and by then it didn't matter much anyway. All in the past, next time will be better, onwards and upwards, I suppose.

About the scope and rifle choice. The scope was pretty hard, rifle a little less harder to chose. I actually wrote about that before, links below:
Scope: http://myshootingjourney.com/2015/09/13 ... -selection
Rifle: http://myshootingjourney.com/2015/08/26 ... un-permit/ (somewhere in there why I picked what I picked and a funny at the bottom of the page).

[Apollo]

If you want to get some better understanding of Precision Bench Target Shooting, go to the range when there is a major competition happening. Perhaps better is the day before if they have a practise / sighting in day where people are not quite so busy. Look at the gear, look at the shooting styles in particular those that are doing very well.

Say hi to a few people and ask a few quick questions, chances are that someone will share some extra time and perhaps even offer a shot of some really nice gear.

I went to a 200 Yard Rimfire Fly shoot with my 1965 Brno Model 2 and got some real funny looks from those with very specialised custom target rifles worth many thousands of dollars, especially the juniors who were really busy shooting Dad's Custom Rifle but I did wipe the smile off a few faces and made them wonder what was going on when I was ranked in the top half a dozen out of some 60 competitors. It was a very fun day and there was a lot of tuition going on for those with little shooting experience. This was a Registered National Competition and very serious stuff, for some. It's always nice to walk away with a little trophy of some sort.

I shoot competition target, at 500 metres national and 300 metres club mainly. Would love to be able to go in a week or two for a 1,000 yard competition but can't make it. Locally it's 300 - 600 yard F'Class Open going to happen as it's much closer than the 5 odd hours travelling I have been doing.

One other event I have had a go at is 300 metre Factory Class, meaning it has to be a Factory Standard Rifle. No special target types allowed ie Tikka TRG or Savage Custom stuff. Many different calibres but it all depends on the day. I've seen a couple of rather big strong lads shooting their factory 30-06 and/or 7-08 and they didn't do very well other than showing off their bruise after a full day's shooting. My Tikka T3 Varmint .243W was good enough to take out 1st place.

Like I said before, all this builds confidence.

[Title_II]

.308 kicks? I'm still not getting this from you guys. Doesn't the rifle have a recoil pad? I can't tell the difference from a .30-06 to a .308 to a .30-30, and can barely tell difference with 5.56.

Every Firearm Kicks. Justs depends on who you are and your perceived version of recoil.

To say that a .308 doesn't kick or have recoil then you really need to re-think that answer. All well and good for the macho man but not all people are built the same and some have injuries that have a great influence on what one uses.

Military training, tounge in cheek....doesn't mean the person can hit the side of a barn. Bit like Police training, they are probably the worst accurate shooters going around.

I can hit a man standing still at 500 meters with no scope. I think that's respectable.

Now if I can just get the SOB to stand still

[Apollo]

.308 kicks? I'm still not getting this from you guys. Doesn't the rifle have a recoil pad? I can't tell the difference from a .30-06 to a .308 to a .30-30, and can barely tell difference with 5.56.

Every Firearm Kicks. Justs depends on who you are and your perceived version of recoil.

To say that a .308 doesn't kick or have recoil then you really need to re-think that answer. All well and good for the macho man but not all people are built the same and some have injuries that have a great influence on what one uses.

Military training, tounge in cheek....doesn't mean the person can hit the side of a barn. Bit like Police training, they are probably the worst accurate shooters going around.

I can hit a man standing still at 500 meters with no scope. I think that's respectable.

Now if I can just get the SOB to stand still

I don't shoot people....!!!!!

But I can hit a Golf Ball size target 5 times in a row at 500 Metres, mostly it's not that good as the wind / mirage is not my friend. Mainly I shoot a 6.5x47 Lapua which I love for it's renown accuracy. The competition comes from the likes of 6mm Dasher and 6mmBR. All are very good hunting calibres as well. No sore shoulders either.....

[Title_II]

That's pretty hard to believe but I'll take your word for it. That's some nice shooting!

If I even claimed to be consistently sub-MOA it would be a lie. I don't even have any sub-MOA weapons. That must be some rifle. Around 0.2 MOA?

[Apollo]

That's pretty hard to believe but I'll take your word for it. That's some nice shooting!

If I even claimed to be consistently sub-MOA it would be a lie. I don't even have any sub-MOA weapons. That must be some rifle. Around 0.2 MOA?

The only rifle I owned that was MOA or slightly worse was a Winchester 94 30-30 with open sights, rimfire .22LR is probably the other but that's a different story.

Yes, around 0.2 MOA but actually the better one is 0.1 MOA or a tad worse. I used to base my accuracy testing by shooting 5 shot groups @ 200 Yards and if I couldn't group those shots in 0.250" or better I would go back and tune the load. That means my base accuracy test was to achieve 0.125 MOA. I don't and have never done any tests at 100 yards with groups as it simply is too hard to measure one hole.

Now being fair, a few people have shot this rifle and can achieve that accuracy so it's not just me. It's a very accurate calibre and very accurate rifle. Custom Stolle and using a March 8-80x56mm Target Scope. A few dollars worth.

I have a Custom Remington 700 and a Custom Tikka T3 in the same calibre that can come very close to the same accuracy but not as consistantly. The art here is precision hand loads and custom made bullets.

The best part is that I tutor a mate (50yo) and his young son (18yo). The youngster is getting better and going to be a force in this competition, now hard to beat but inexperience lets him down from timt to time. At 65yo with disabilities I'm finding it hard going to keep it all together but I will continue to advise my friends and keep making competition ammo for them.

I also enjoy short range precision shooting and that is with a beautiful Terry Leonard Carbon Fibre Stocked Stolle Panda in 6mmPPC. This is 100/200 Yard Group competition.

I live on a farm and my mates and I use all this practise to go long range varminting. Very rewarding.

[Andrew.22]

Good on you for not being afraid to share your shortcomings. I agree with sandgroperbill when it comes to asking questions. Approach someone shooting a similar calibre and ask him for 5 mins of his time to assist a new shooter. It will save you heaps of ammo $$, bruising and time.
Look forward to seeing those groups close right up. Im sure I speak for a lot of readers when I say I'd also be interested in how you came to decide on your rifle and scope choice.

Great post.

Why would I be afraid to share my short comings? I didn't have anyone to teach or advise me, just got up and did it... So, really, I actually think I am awesome

About asking someone for help, I don't have any social inhibitions about that either and as a matter of fact I have. Unfortunately and probably wrong person. I don't think his advice was very helpful and by then it didn't matter much anyway. All in the past, next time will be better, onwards and upwards, I suppose.

Ok Juststarting, it appears you either have trouble accepting compliments or just can't recognise them. To answer your question about why you would be afraid about sharing your shortcomings. Not everyone who shoots groups like that and injures themselves in the process would be so open about it, fearing ridicule.
I've been shooting for 27 years so I was just happy to see a new shooter sharing their first experience.

[juststarting]

Andrew.22, thanks That was tongue in cheek...

[juststarting]

Regarding, fearing ridicule, to be honest that didn't even cross my mind.

[brett1868]

Nice bruise Think most of us have at sometime had the same thing happen. I've certainly had my share of bruising, firstly from a .375 H&H I bought as a 19yr old. Being young and brave I bought the biggest gun on the rack cause I had to prove my manliness + being a short bugger gave me a bit of attitude. I drove out to Silverdale range and put 40 rounds through it, had to stop when I couldn't move my hand. Drove home with the window down in the middle of winter just to get the cold air on my shoulder. It was all pretty colours of black, blue and purple before turning yellow. That was 28 years ago and the only thing since that cause me any pain is my mates Ruger .308, it's like shouldering a jack hammer for me. I shoot all manner of large calibres these days and none bruise me if I pay attention to the proper technique of holding them.

[Andrew.22]

Andrew.22, thanks That was tongue in cheek...

All good. Some forum members aren't so kind.
Heaviest kick I've had was pulling both triggers on the 12g coach gun shooting magnum shells with no recoil pad. Skin off my knuckles and a bruised shoulder. I only did that once. I wonder what it would be the equivalent to in a rifle calibre? Made the 303 feel like a 22.
Have you thought about buying a 22 to practice technique without having to worry about recoil?

[Title_II]

I always come home black and blue and my firearms hardly kick at all except my .50 and my 12 gauge. I do about 90% of my shooting off the collar bone instead of the shoulder (not a technique for you juststarting) and hold on for dear life so I doubt the recoil has much to do with all the bruises.

[juststarting]

Ha, see, I shot 75 rounds through 12ga, nothing, no bruising or muscle discomfort what so ever, perfectly fine. People are weird.

[brett1868]

A tip on technique if using a bipod...loading the bipod. I see many shooters get into position, shoulder the rifle and push forward on the bipod to get comfortable before taking the shot. This will increase felt recoil as there's no resistance to recoil from the bipod, I get comfortable then drag the rifle back into my shoulder so the bipod is taking some of the recoil force. It also makes for better consistency as the rearward force on the rifle remains similar shot to shot rather then a variable of how much slack is in the bipod. This holds true for the Harris style bipods where there's a bit of fwd / aft movement and coupled with always gripping the fore end should take some of the bite out. I have a 1" bar at the front of my bench to pull the bipod legs back against to prevent the rifle recoiling excessively.

[Title_II]

Harris bipod is another thing that needs a whole lot of loctite!