Self spotting while shooting 7.5-8.5lbs 7mm rem mag?

thinair said:

Hey,

might be a dumb question, but for the first rifle, would it be possible to spot own shots with 7mm rem mag weighting at 7.5-8.5lbs, while shooting of bipod or backpack, 180gr bullets at relative mild fps of 2750-2850 and top quality can like ~9.2 inch mirage ulr, by the way its can with a break cap. Cans of course are not as good at mitigating recoil as brakes, but still probably 30-50% less recoil. I saw brake tests, top notch ones mitigate up to 77% of recoil, but i'm more fan of cans.

Thanks

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Creedmoor shooter said:

My 7mm rem mag weighs 8.5 lbs ready to go. It wears a 3-9 power scope and I can spot my own impacts at 1000 75% of the time. I think it must be because of the lower power scope. I'd probably keep your scope at a lower power to give you more of a field of view. Recoil management is huge. Make sure your directly in line behind the rifle and preload that bipod to reduce hop. A brake would definitely make your life easier. Mine doesn't have a brake or a can on it so it really likes to bounce. I run 162s that I just chronoed the other day at 3146 fps.

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yobuck said:

Two things, #one id like to know more about your gun and load for the 162s for that velocity.
#two, seeing hits @ 1000 would be a challenge with a 3x9 scope for me, but id be interested in how well you do seeing them at say 5 or 6 hundred, especially having no brake?

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thinair said:

I just ran some recoil calculators and numbers given in here.

1. 162 gr eld at 3148fps, 69gr load gives ~27.3 felt recoil.
2. 180gr at 2750 ~57gr load gives 22.8 felt recoil.
Both have close to pretty much same energy left at 1000yards (8000 elevation)... ~1518 vs 1508.
3.Bump it up 180gr to 59.9gr load at ~2850fps and it gives 23.3 recoil. 1636 energy.

If you can spot 75% of your shots @1000 with ~27 felt recoil, then my given numbers for 22.8 recoil should be close to 100% (i understand a lot of variables comes in place such a technique etc but talking in relative examples).

Putting a can let say mitigates 50%, it puts at 11.4 felt recoil which is basically equals to shooting 7.25lbs .243 Win. (95grain @ 3100) which gives 11 felt recoil according to chuck hawks tables. If can mitigates ~33%, felt recoil is ~15.2 and puts in category of 8 lbs 6.5mm-284 Norma (140 at 2920) felt recoil of 14.7.

So i maybe answered my own question? Spotting own shots with 243, and 6.5x284 definitely should be possible? Therefore 7mm rem mag with good can should be definitely manageable?
p.s. i never shot bolt rifle, only ak47, as i mentioned, collecting info about 1st possible rifle... learning how to shoot targets without spotters up to 800yards, and later one hunting alone.
p.s.2. i do have a lot info as i read forums for past 2 years, and watching a lot of youtube videos, just never shot rifle so do not know what to expect.

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thinair said:

Hey,

might be a dumb question, but for the first rifle, would it be possible to spot own shots with 7mm rem mag weighting at 7.5-8.5lbs, while shooting of bipod or backpack, 180gr bullets at relative mild fps of 2750-2850 and top quality can like ~9.2 inch mirage ulr, by the way its can with a break cap. Cans of course are not as good at mitigating recoil as brakes, but still probably 30-50% less recoil. I saw brake tests, top notch ones mitigate up to 77% of recoil, but i'm more fan of cans.

Thanks

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WildRose said:

You'll definitely need a good muzzle brake. Recoil mitigation really isn't as important as controlling muzzle flip.

I highly recommend the NWP muzzle brake from Mac's Gunworks in Wyoming.

https://www.macsgunworks.com/product-page/copy-of-nwp-muzzle-brake#!

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Country Bumpkin said:

Hold on, I'm missing something. If you are spotting hits, I'm assuming you mean you are shooting steel and that you are wanting to see it impact and rattle the plate?

If you are shooting with a can, provided there isn't too much wind, you should be able to hear the impact if you are only wearing muffs or foamies, out to about 600 depending on your hearing. Beyond that I would think that proper form could get you back on target to visibly spot impact.

Regardless of whether you "spot" the initial impact, if you hit steel it WILL swing (indicating hit), obviously at some point you lose too much energy and it might not swing a large plate at distance. I don't personally have any use for big-*** plates at distance, if I can't hit vitals then I'm beyond my effective range. After enough iterations you can start to figure out approximately which quadrant of the plate you hit based of swing action.

If you are shooting paper, then I'm stumped, I'd be lost without a spotter on a really nice spotting scope standing about 20 yards behind me to avoid muzzle blast and decibels (no flinching spotter...).

I have an 8.25 lbs rifle, 7RM. No brake, no can, I can ALMOST get back on target to spot impact on steel at 500, but I'm not quite there (either haven't got the right form or I'm just not quick enough to recover from a nice relaxed trigger break to get back in motion without detriment to my follow through). I have tried very hard NOT to give into the temptation to scramble back on target because I feel like it ruins my form (but I'm a simpleton and have a real hard time NOT WANTING to peek).

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