Could use some advice

[HDTony]

First off I'd like to say howdy this forum has been a welth of info

A little about my self I now live in AZ after growing up in Wyoming and have been hunting for around 25 years. I like most people from the area where I grew up think of an average shot to be around 200 - 300 yards My first deer @ 14 was with my trusty 30-30 bolt action Stevens open sights @ 100 yards.

I have since graduated to first a Husquvarna 270 Now I shoot a Browning 1885 that I had re-chamberd to a 7STW with a VX-III 3-10.5 X 50.

This is the rifle I would like to outfit to be able to poke out to 1000+ yds if need be. Right now it has a sling, scope and nothing else.

What I would like to get some help on is type of bi-pod (name brand / hieght of legs) and Scope to replace the VX with. I have always used Leupolds and have been looking at a Nikon 6.5-20x44 Monarch UCC with the fine crosshair reticle and target knobs and not the BDC rectile (due to price) cause I know their scope will never match my loads (140 Barnes TSX BT with H1000 @ aprox 3400 fps) If this scope will work. I am limited to type of mount for the 1885 right now I have Leup. high mounts due to the 50 mm scope and having a hammer on this rifle. Is this mount shimmable to drop the front of the scope if I need to?

Also anyone in the PHX area that would like to do some shooting? or if you get drawn unit 1 in AZ I can help out for deer elk goats or turkey's

THX in advance
Tony

[britz]

Hello and welcome to the site!

I am not a fan of the falling block guns. With that said, a friend of mine has a Ruger number 1 in a 6-284 that will hold 1.5" groups at 400 yards with a Shillan 2" x 30" barrel and lots of fancy loading.

In my opinion, you will have a problem shooting the browning from a bipod unless you can find one that mounts very close to the reciever. Your problem will ley in putting pressure on the barrel.

I think Nikon monarch's are good for the money (34 MOA adjustment), but there are lots of other models that will be right in that ball park such as the sightron big sky (45 MOA adjust) or the Bushnell 4200 or for a couple hundred more the VX III (@35 adjust), and for a few hundred more the Leupald vxIII LR with a wopping 75 moa adjustment).

You shouldn't shim your scope, I've done it and had problems with the scope comming loose under recoil and also had problems with damaging the tube. If you need more elevation, use Burris Signiture rings with shims or find a custom rail that you can put on. Burris sig rings come in the same dove tail mount that Leupald come in (twist in front and fit between in the rear). You can get different sized shims to give you between 10-20 moa of angle increase depending on how far you rings are from eachother. Looking at a balistics cal like JMB, I see you will need to be able to adjust 20.5 inches per hundred to make a hit if zero at 200. You will need a scope with a minimum of 45 moa of adjustment - or suitable shimming.

[HDTony]

Britz
Thanks for the info. I had never seen the Burris Signiture rings before that looks like the way to go for me if I need to adjust up more.

As far as the Bi-pod I have used a Harris on it at the range one time and didn't seem to be a problem. The Browning mounts the forarm a little differant then the #1 it's more of a free float mounting right to the reciever.

Right now I'm shooting .25" groups @ 200 yds. My current scope and the things I use to see through the scope are not letting me go out farther then that right now. Sucks to get old. Bring on the 24X

[britz]

Sounds like you got a pretty good shooter there. I reread my previous post and I want to clarify that my friend's rifle has gotten 1.5 " groups at 400 -- it doesn't do that all day long. I just didn't meant to exagerate too much lol!