The Mis-Conceptions

[shortgrass]

I recently delived a finished rifle to a customer and he decided he'd need a scope, too. He's a mid range shooter, at most,,,, and that my be stretching it. The rifle is chambered in 7mm Rem. Mag. with a 25", #3 contour Hart barrel, fit to a Rem. 700 and custom stocked in a fine piece of Turkish Walnut. I had a couple of scopes in the shop and showed them to him. One, a 2.5 x 10 and the other 4.5 x 12. Both 30mm tubes made by middle of the road makers who'd be recognized by those who frequent this forum. The mans' first question was, "which one will let me shoot further?". Unfortunately, this is becoming common. It's become all about equipment and less about the skill set required for accurate shooting, be it LR, mid-range or at 100yds. Many more than ever before are becoming involved in the shooting sports. Many have the $$$ for higher end equipment, few have the time to develop the skill and think they can rely on that higher end equipment to "do the hard work for them". You can't buy skill with dollars but it can take some (dollars) to develop that skill. There is no substitute for time spent at your favorite shootin' spot practicing squeezing the trigger and controlling breathing. And not just from a shooting bench with a mechanical rest, but from the prone, maybe using your day pack for a rest (or not!), and from the sitting position. That's where skills are developed. It's not all in the equipment. Although good equipment can help, it cannot do it for you! Just my observations of the current state of the shooting sports.

 

[DM770]

Imagine, you have to work to get a skill set, who would of thought.
Very good point that I think we lose sight of, not to mention that the skills are perishable. We just don't pick up where we left of after a hiatus.

 

[HARPERC]

Beginning with good equipment helps the learning curve a bit, but bad equipment proved tough for me to learn with.

Worst one was the first one. Waste of time and money.

 

[FearNoWind]

... You can't buy skill with dollars ...

I want a T-shirt with a rifleman image and that quote on it.
Well said, shortgrass. gun) -----------------------

 

[Engineering101]

shortgrass

I think what you are pointing out is just the "tip of the iceberg". I see this as a symptom of serious problems in our society. Many kids today are spoiled rotten as are the parents who spoiled them. I have a good friend who is an excellent parent and he tells me that when he attends PTA meetings that they are attended by less than 10% of the parents. If you aren't interested in raising a kid, don't have one! In hindsight I probably should not have been shocked to hear that 80% of kids volunteering for the Army are rejected for various reasons. Like their parents they just don't get it. In sharp contrast to them, a kid who gets it 100% is Russell Wilson (Seahawks QB). You put talent with that work ethic and anything is possible.

Speaking of good equipment, I have an interesting story. I actually got some benefit from bad equipment. Back when I was a kid I loved shooting ground squirrels around Spokane including in Idaho. My dad had this lever action Marlin 22 LR with a microgroove barrel. I have tried but have not found a 22 rifle as accurate. It was basically perfect - even with middle of the road ammo like Rem or CCI. However, the trigger on this particular rifle was HORRIBLE. It must have been 8 pounds - maybe more. I shot hundreds if not thousands of squirrels with that rifle not to mention headshots on grouse and such. Since it was the only 22 rifle available, I had to learn how to deal with an 8 pound trigger. To hit a squirrel in the head at 50 yards while using such a trigger you have to learn some things. At the time I didn't know it was a horrible trigger and just made it work. To this day I can shoot decent with any kind of trigger though all of mine are set to 2.5 pounds give or take. So sometimes bad can be good.

 

[shortgrass]

"I think what you are pointing out is just the tip of the ice berg. I see this as a symptom of serious problems in our society". Agreed. Instant gratification. Technology can fix anything. Lacks personal responsibility (it's you that is driving, isn't it?) The customer had been around to a couple of the big box shootin' stores looking at scopes. He said what the sales staff had shown him were scopes with the upper variable power being 16x to 24-25x. He was looking for a scope that'd "do it all, from 50 to 1000yds. Wondered why I wasn't recommending scopes with such magnification. How little we know, that we really don't know.

 

[Cuz]

I think you have to face the fact that long range shooting is gaining popularity, whether hunting or targets. We all want more performance than we need or can maybe handle. Rifles, trucks, outboard motors. I don't think that is bad as long as you have a good idea of your own personal limitations. I know that my rifles are capable of better accuracy than I am so it gives me goals to strive for. A lot of us that have shot for 40 plus years have seen technology that is almost unbelievable. Personally I know that for every bullet I shoot at an animal I probably shoot 200 at targets. I have talked to people that want to shoot farther, until you start explaining exactly what it takes to put a bullet in a target at long range. A lot of them lose interest pretty quick. They think its pretty neat, but are not willing to go to the trouble to be able to do it.

 

[FearNoWind]

The reality is, knowing all the truths that have been expressed in this thread up to this point, those of use who are mature/experienced shooters need to convey that philosophy to the new shooter. It's nice to be friendly and encouraging but when we recognize that someone connected with the shooting sports lacks the realistic understanding of what it's all about we need to be frank and direct in what we tell them. Politely confronting the braggart, offering advice and counsel to the new shooter and providing a living example of good shooter sportsmanship is the place to start.
If you're not involved with hunter safety education in your area you might want to look at that as a starting point. If you don't teach 'em, someone else will.

 

[Rich Coyle]

We do have a fact we can lean on. The new wanna bees, and I am one, will miss.

 

[FearNoWind]

We do have a fact we can lean on. The new wanna bees, and I am one, will miss.

I don't have a problem with the ones who miss. I have a problem with the ones that wound the animal and never harvest the kill, leaving it to die a slow painful death.

 

[shortgrass]

Unfortunately, to keep clients happy it'd be very hard to get involved in hunter safety education and still have any kind of a life. Running any kind of business is a full time job in todays world. Most have turned to the interwebs for their info, good or bad. In the last two years I've built more rifles for new shooters than in the past 20yrs. Some are pleasure to work with and others could care less about any instruction or assistance I might give. This one really makes me wonder, as he wanted me to use see-thru scope mounts on this rifle. I refused. I explained why. I think it went over his head without so much as a glancing blow. I seriously wonder if he'll fire 20rds for every round fired at a game animal. He is very technology minded and no matter how I've put it, he seems to be missing the "human equation" in all of this. When I started machining, in the mid 70s, I worked with guys, some who were almost as repeatable as CNC equipped lathes are today. I said "almost". We weren't holding +.001, -.001 tolerances. They were 'slick',,,,, experienced, skilled..... Today we depend on our computers instead of developing 'skill'. Some, way too much............

 

[shortgrass]

The Rifle; LH Rem 700, Hart #3 contour, 1-9, chambered in SAAMI spec 7mm Rem. Mag. Melonite/Blk. nitride treated, Shilen Trigger, Turkish Walnut Stock, hand fit, shaped & finished (I cheated and made a pattern and sent it along with the blank to my pre-inletter). Fired with Win. factory 150g. Shows enough promise in accuracy to call it finished. The scope, a new Burris Fullfield E1 4.5x X 14x-42 w/30mm tube w/Ballistic PlexE1. All carbon steel parts slow rust blued.

 

[Standbanger]

very nice rifle, I can hit steel at 500 yds. but not about to shoot at a deer at that range

 

[Rich Coyle]

very nice rifle, I can hit steel at 500 yds. but not about to shoot at a deer at that range

Why?