Bone to pick with new rifle owners - 100 yards out of the box

[Frank in the Laurels]

..yep, it's called DELUSIONS OF GRANDURE caused by the promotional gimmick cartridges for the most part and the companies boosting sales of them and the fancy add-ons, stocks, scopes and so many gimmicks on the scopes that I laugh at times...best part the owners for the most part couldn't hit a gallon jug at 200 yards...there I said it !! ..all part of Capitolism in our sport..

 

[Rosebud]

I too have watched a guy at the range with a brand new Christian Arms rifle right out of the box. He started shooting at a 10" gong at 340 meters. His buddy was spotting for him. after missing with a complete box of ammo, he was getting hot under the collar. I made it worse when I pulled out a Contender with a 10" barrel and hit the target. His buddy told him someone just hit the gong and he wanted to know who. I shot again and hit. He slammed his rifle back in the box and left. To be fair I shoot at this range almost every weekend from Fall until Spring and know the holdover for that gong with that pistol. Trigger time, trigger time and trigger time.

See how CA Rifles get a bad rep!

 

[Unionsparky46]

I wish people that hunt the methow valley here in WA state would read this post! Thank you OP! Great article!

 

[Grey Goast]

I bought my first 6.5 Creedmoor almost one year ago the Ruger American predator . Though I've been trained to shoot in the Navy and know my dope I have treated it as a new child learning to shoot it. I go to the range every week or so and shoot for two hours with it. 100 yards, 200 yards, 300 yards up to 500 yards without dialing my scope that was zeroed at 100 yards . I use 2 different loads a 143 gr. and a147 gr. using my reload recipe for each. I ajust my point of aim due to wind and hit bullzi. Knowing the drop of each bullet you shoot through the scope Teaches you about the rifle your shooting and the bullet your using and knowing just where your bullet will hit and accounting for wind of coarse. In 1 month deer season will open and I will take it out for the first time and hunt a deer but I know I will make a ethical kill each time. Some just pick up a new rifle and shoot they go to the range and ask people like me how to zero it end and like good people we are we help them and as soon as they get it zeroed in the leave with out learning anything else about there new rifle (toy) and it make me real sad because I dont see them at the range any more and I think about what they will shoot and how it might suffer. If your a new shooter with a new rifle and should read this Please take the time to learn about you new rifle ask any shooter at the range you might go to, the old guys you see will help teach you if you ask dont be afraid to ask learn all you can from them and the next hunt you go on you will hit the deer your shooting at but with a ethical shot. You will be proud you took the time to learn. And the best part you will make freinds along the way and have meat to share.

 

[CMP70306]

Has anyone had someone ask you to sight in their rifle for him?Had a guy I worked with ask that.
When you try to help them understand why THEY needed to sight their own rifle in and the final question is,"Will this Saturday be ok"?
Didn't hear a word!

I usually end up sighting in my cousins rifle every year, he has zero interest in shooting and only comes up once a year to hunt with his Dad. We put him in stands where he only has to shoot 50 yards and he usually does ok but we usually loose at least one shoulder due to poor shot placement.

Let's not even talk boats. Other than the cost for the Coast Guard and local rescue groups the boat thing is kind of self policing.

Boats add the whole other dynamic of Mother Nature does not give one **** if you live or die. Case in point just a couple weeks ago at an inlet in NJ a guy with his two sons was coming back from fishing on a rough day.

As they went to line up and time the waves to go in the inlet a 15ft wave broke in the dark and hit them broadside rolling the boat in an instant. Dad and one son barely made it to the rocks and had to be drug up on shore, the other son was missing and wasn't found until several days later. An experienced guy who had traveled the inlet for years but wrong place, wrong time got his son killed.

 

[Gamesniper19]

having spent much of my adult life working in various countries in africa as an engineer has afforded me the chance to hunt most all of the game the continent affords. from the mid 1970's when i arrived to the mid 1990's when i left i do not EVER recall shooting anything beyond 300 yards and virtually all my shots were under 200 yards and many well under 50 yards. in fact i doubt i could hit much of anything at 600-1000 yards and would not even try. frankly as an old school hunter and animal lover shooting at that distance unless you are an honest to god expert marksman is an irresponsible fools errand and to me takes away the best part of hunting..........the stalk where your skills and instincts rise to their best or not. the accurate shot is the cherry on the sundae for all your hard work to make it.

Each hunter has to decide their own ethics. Each hunter has to KNOW their limits. If those are your limits, great! Some of us have proven and repeatable confidence at limits farther than yours. The point here is to know them, prepare for them, practice them and be able to perform with your equipment at the moment of truth.

 

[kfreeze]

I will add my $0.02 into the mix. The following is a quick story about my last hunt.
I shoot to 600 regularly. I shoot from the bench, prone off of a bipod or a pack, and sitting or kneeling using a standard Bog Pod tripod or Rudolph sticks (https://www.rudolphoptics.com/products/rudolph-ph-shooting-sticks). I have shot animals at between 300 and 400 yards numerous times from various positions, most commonly off of a tripod or prone off of a pack. I am a "dial for elevation and hold the wind" shooter.
2 years ago I built a .300 Win Mag on a Savage action specifically to hunt Nilgai in S. TX, which is an annual executives trip in my company. Last January I shot a bull at 206 and shot a cow at 342 with that gun, both while using the Rudolph sticks.
Last week I was in Manitoba on a moose hunt. We hunted hard all week and on the last morning I had a bull step out unexpectedly as we were packing up for the morning (the hunt was from ground positions on remote lakes overlooking marshy areas surrounded by bush). He stepped out at around 450, got into the water and started swimming towards us. We were expecting him to get into the wild rice area at around 200 yards, which would have made the shot pretty easy. Instead, after a little swim, he turned back towards shore and walked back up the lake's edge. I had about a 15 mph cross wind, right to left, with an island of about 60 yards wide at 100 yards away.
In my rush to get positioned, I didn't get my tripod set up right and, as such, was not nearly as stable as I should have been. My first shot was at right around 360 yards (slightly quartering away, facing right) and missed completely. I shot right over his back. I missed because I let my excitement and "bull fever" get in the way of my process. The next two shots I got was when he got out of the water at around 425. Again, he was slightly quartered away (facing left). I missed both of those shots as well. In my continued excitement and getting into my own head about missing the first one, I completely forgot to hold for the wind. At that distance with the wind that was there, there was about 4.25 MOA of wind drift (180 grain Nosler Partition at 2900 fps). Add in my 1.25-2 MOA margin of error due to my continued poor positioning, and voila, two shots that ended up passing right in front of the bull as he stood there trying to figure out what was going on. At that point, he walked up the shore and into the bush.

So, sometimes it isn't inexperience that causes bad shots, it is bad decision making and "bull fever". A truly humbling lesson for me as I have not gotten that rattled on an animal since my first buck at age 12.

I couldn't believe how well I could shoot off of that style of shooting sticks like that when I was in hunting in Africa. 200-250 meters was almost like shooting off of a bench.

 

[Rosebud]

While I don't do it as much now, during the ammo shortage I reloaded quite a bit for guys that had been referred to me. They brought the components, or bought from me, and I'd reload their ammo doing custom load work. Have them drop off their rifles and components to work up a load that would shoot well in their rifles. Picked up a nice chunk of change doing that. But my lord, some of them were stupid, with a capital S. Almost to a person I was asked to take their rifles to the range and sight it in at 200 yards. I told them the same thing others have said, you need to shoot it for yourself before hunting. Some actually did. I'd hear back from a few saying it doesn't shoot like you said it will. I'd tell them to bring it back, and they could go to the range with me and I'd shoot it. If it doesn't shoot as I said it did I'd give you the money back. Otherwise you owe me another range fee. Only had to do that twice in four years. But most of them admitted that they just went hunting with it and thanked me for a great job. Some of them I knew well and they were very busy guys trying to establish a business and rapidly growing family. I even hunted with a couple of them They would even say, Mr. Bill took care of my rifles. I know there on the money. I'd just smile.

 

[Jim’s Hunt]

I see it here at our local gun club range in northwest Colorado every year. We open our range to the public for pre hunt sight in new rifle scope big magnum but has never shot a high power rifle after first shot he now has a case of flinching or I have a 338 Lapua mag I can hold dead on at 500 yds but can't hit a 10" piece of steel at 300. To many long range tv programs and YouTube shooters

 

[kfreeze]

I've had two acquaintances who would pay me $50 each every hunting season to take them to the range and help them verify zero of their rifle.

I never understood why it was so hard, but they just needed handholding I suppose. And I wasn't going to turn down $50 and free ammo so I did it for several years. I would shoot a group, show them it still shot fine, make them shoot a couple groups and show them it still shot fine for them too, and off we went. Every deer season.

I wish everyone would do that. They just wanted the confidence that came with training from someone that they though was smarter than them on the subject. I get people asking me stuff like that a lot when they see me roll up at the range and go right to 300 yds and hit good (in MN that's a long ways haha)

 

[trollsonpatrol]

All of these posts re-enforce what Canada has done. Before you can acquire a firearm a firearm safety (knowledge) course is required! Then a hunter training course before you can buy a hunting licence and tags. No-one likes more restrictions but it does eliminate or at least reduce the possibility of idiocy! No -one knows anything unless they are taught!

My two cents worth!

 

[Gamesniper19]

I wish everyone would do that. They just wanted the confidence that came with training from someone that they though was smarter than them on the subject. I get people asking me stuff like that a lot when they see me roll up at the range and go right to 300 yds and hit good (in MN that's a long ways haha)

I have done this exact thing in elk camp. Was in camp and some guys from back east came out to shoot their first elk. Got on a raghorn at 400 and shot over and around the elk 3-4 times and go so flustered thankfully the guide said stop.
Took him back to camp and had a 1 hour coaching session. Going through the basics all the way through the shot. Over and over and over.
Next day killed a 5x5 at 250. One shot kill. Even the guide came back and thanked me.

Again, know your limits. Practice and know your equipment!!

 

[marksman1941]

I wish everyone would do that. They just wanted the confidence that came with training from someone that they though was smarter than them on the subject. I get people asking me stuff like that a lot when they see me roll up at the range and go right to 300 yds and hit good (in MN that's a long ways haha)

That's exactly what it was. Just a confidence boost for them and a quick coaching session to remind them of the basics. And they got their critter every year, so I guess it worked well enough

 

[Glenn Tullius]

aaaahhhh yes, the ego and arrogant "money is no object gang" continues.....I could fill this page with stories from a couple of elk camps I was at in the 80's. The new magnum rifles the week before was one thing, but the total lack of understanding how to dress, or what to wear in a Montana elk camp in November was hilarious. They didn't last a day, quit and went to the closest casinos, then drove back to PA! I think the object might have been an excuse to get away from their "significant others"!